Is the drought over?

Is the drought over?
It might just be.We've had a little rain and there's more coming this week.
Here's the forecast from Environment Canada:

So...I did  little night shooting last week with the A-610.That old 5mp camera is always shooting the night sky,unattended,weather permitting...looking for meteors or other 'anomalies' in the sky.Nobody  says those 'streaks' are definitely meteors but those of us that know....know.It's actually quite amusing that some bloggers say you can't get pics of meteors......umm....wrong!! 

Two things to know about night sky photography:

a)learn how to use your camera and 

b) learn how to use your camera. 

As for equipment...depending on what what you're looking to do,cheap cameras work as well as 'big bucks' setups if you follow the rules above and use some good photo editing programs.I may comment on some of them over the next few weeks.I have my favorites and they are not hard to use at all.

The following pics are taken with the old Canon A-610 running CHDK software ....

The Milky Way...ISO1600 at 40 secs (unguided)

The Milky Way and maybe a meteor...ISO1600 at 40 secs (unguided)

Anyways.....some things to look for this week if the sky permits:

Have a great week!!!

- Al

Will It Ever Rain Again?

Heading out of town today,may not be back until tomorrow,so making the weekly entry now.

So...the drought continues here.The longer it lasts the drier it gets.Rivers are nothing more than trickles,wells are dry,the grass is dying,the trees are starting to drop their leaves and turn color.....it's not good.
There's a chance of a little rain in the next day or so but the models are showing not even 20mm ...no where near enough.Not familiar with the size of a mm? It's only about the thickness of a dime.
Anyways,there's nothing we can do about it and eventually we will get some rain but it will take months to recover from this dry spell.
The forecast for today and most of next week from Environment Canada:

In the meantime,cloudy skies are few and far between so we might as well get out there and enjoy them.

A few pics from the past few days:

An Iridium flare taken with my 'new to me' E-PL1

A possible meteor caught by the unattended Canon A-610 last night

Time lapse from last night's session.9PM to 3AM.Shot with Canon A-610,each from 40 secs @ ISO1600 via CHDK software.

Some things to watch for over the next week:

All for now.Have a great week and keep praying for rain!!

-Al

Remaining Dry

The dry weather continues in this part of Canada with no relief in sight.This week will be dry with only a slight chance of a shower.Models were showing approx 100 mm of rain early next week but that has currently been revised to only 40 mm.Domestic wells are are now at critical levels and major rivers are nothing more than a trickle.
This week's forecast:

Even though it's been very dry most evenings have been foggy over the past week so I did very little sky imaging.As a matter of fact,I sold the EOS and all accessories last week.....have ordered an Olympus and hopefully that will arrive before the end of the week.
Anyways,I did capture a few sky objects early last week:

Polar orbiting dual satellites 

A small meteor

Coming up this week:

That's all for now.Have a great week.
-Al

Sept 4,2016 - The Drought Continues

So,we are now in September and the very dry weather continues.Other than a few showers there has been no rain here for months in this part of the province and it's turning into a desperate situation with many rural wells drying up.We are also under another burning ban that includes all open fires,camp fires included.Tropical storm Hermine was originally forecast to bring some rain here but now it appears that may not happen and if it does it won't be until later in the week.The storm's position is currently east of Virginia and it is expected to move further out to sea soon and stay well south of us.

The forecast for this week from Environment Canada:

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The only good thing about the lack of rain is the clear skies.I did quite a lot of astrophotography over the past week.Here's a few pics:

A nice convergence of two of the brighter planets and a bright star caught by my automated camera.

A possible meteor caught by the automated camera last night.

Another possible meteor.

A confirmed meteor.Taken with the Canon Rebel XS.I was looking for the aurora when this one zoomed through the northern sky.

Some things to look for this week:

That's all for now.Have a great week and pray for rain.

- Al

Notes: Aug 28,2016

It has cooled slightly here and there's been some rain and fog but temps still remain generally above normal and the water table is still low.There's a little rain coming our way this week and every little bit is welcomed.
The vegetation has rebounded a little and the deer that visit my back yard on a daily basis are much happier now.....and the little ones are growing and looking quite healthy.

This week's forecast my area:

Did a little sky imaging over the past week.The Saturn/Mars/Antares alignment was a nice sight.I missed the Jupiter/Venus conjunction last night.Going to try again tonight a little earlier and in a clearer location.

We also had a short Northern Lights event early last week:

And the Milky Way was glowing 

Thinks to look for in the night sky this week if the weather permits:

That's all for now.Have a great week!!

- Al

Aug 22,2016

Was out of town for most of the weekend so no Sunday post.

Not much happening other than it remains hot but we have had a little rain and water levels are beginning to recover.There's still a long way to go to reach normal.

Low water levels in the Petite Riviere.Quite easy to see on the rocks where the water levels are normally. 

This week's forecast:

Haven't been doing very much sky shooting...too many clouds but did catch one lonely meteor.

A few things to look for this week if conditions permit:

Have a great week !!

Al

Getting back to normal + Perseids

The weather is starting to return  to normal and we have had a little rain.It's good to see that the hot and humid weather is behind us but for how long? There's more heat moving this way from the central US so time will tell.
All in all,this week appears to be within the normal range for August.

Sky conditions were favorable a few nights last week to photograph the Perseids ,the ISS and some Iridium flares.There were a few very bright meteors spotted and lots of dimmer ones.There has been some controversy over what is a meteor and what is not.Here's a little explanation:

'It's really not that difficult to determine what is a meteor and what isn't meteor to an observer.Meteors usually move extremely fast and disappear quickly.Planes are much slower and usually have blinking navigational lights.Here they generally travel from east to west or vice versa.The ISS is seen as one solid dot of light and is much slower than a meteor.The ISS always rises from a westerly direction...it can be anything from SW to NW, but it's always seen coming into view from the western part of the sky.Iridium flares start as a small,fairly fast moving, dot of light and,after the 'flaring',it returns to being a small moving dot while fading to below the visibility level.Iridium flares are seen travelling N to S or vice versa since the Iridium satellites are polar orbiting which means that they traverse the earth from pole to pole in a continuous loop.Visible ISS passes and Iridium flares are predictable and listed ,location specific,via various apps and websites ( Heavens-Above for one) .Meteor showers are almost always predictable as to their general sky location but where any one meteor will appear at any given moment is basically unpredictable.'

Hopefully this will help night sky viewers / photographers.

So....here's a few pics I took last week:

Two frame composite of the ISS and an Iridium flare.Both were  visible within minutes of each other with the flare being first.

                                                               A small Perseid meteor.

Prior to the photo of the meteor in the pic below,this 'debris was spotted.

The three most common night sky objects for August.

........and just for fun,the Moon....

If the skies are clear this week,here's a few things to look for:

Have a great week!!

-Al