Astrophotography

Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse early this morning... also called a 'Blood Moon'. 🌕

"It's as if all the world's sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon" -NASA

Over about 30 minutes the moon went from full brightness, to dim enough to allow photographing stars (usually impossible during a full moon).

Aurora Boreallis

Bear Loop Trail / Ingalls Field in Hot Springs Virginia.

Virginia is typically too far south to catch the Auroras, but conditions were just right.

A severe Geomagnetic Storm from a moderate, but well aligned solar flare yesterday afternoon expelled "a billion tons of superheated magnetized gas from the sun known as plasma". When this plasma collides with the earth's magnetic field, you get Auroras.

Comet

Rare green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZFT)

This comet is not actually visible to the unaided eye yet, and with the moon brightness and weather contentions - it might not be visible even at its closest point to the earth Feb 2nd.

This comet has an extreme elongated elliptical orbit that takes it out ~70 times further than Pluto into deep space before it falls back toward the inner solar system. This orbit takes ~50,000 years to complete.

I adjusted my eyes, and I stared at the darkness around the lower curve of the "Draco" constellation. I saw nothing.

With a 25 second exposure, with my brightest lens, and with light sensitivity up, my camera sees what I cannot!

(Ignore the man-made satellites streaking by)