A short trip to Australia - Part II

[John Baker]

Continuing from my previous post – a  couple more shots from my recent trip to Gatton near Brisbane.

 

This is a single shot on the Skywatcher Star Adventurer , this handles the weight of the 1Dx and 15-30mm very well - a single shot 120 seconds, ISO 3,200 stopped down to f4

A bit of light painting, there ar only so many straight shots you can do...

A selfie - 15mm, 30 seconds, f2.8 at ISO 6,400

We managed to get 2 x trips to the coast, the first was to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. While I was not expecting anything interesting astro, I was amazed to get some great shots off the beach. The white water is illuminated by the hotels behind me, the illumation in the clouds on the horizon is an electrical over Moreton Island in the Coral Sea

Another flash of lightening in the cloud, nice view of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds

Back on the farm, not every night was clear - I thought I would add these as they are impressive & a bit of fun

Not a star in sight, but this more than made up for it....

Car light trails, night clouds and lightening...

Not seen quite this sort of weather in the UK

Same night the clouds started to clear and things got interesting again

This was bit different, I stayed out all night and the sky started to brighten, this is the blue hour just before sunrise - a single shot f2.8, 26 seconds (I was using bulb mode) at ISO 3,200

Milky Way looking North - over the tomato crates

This is the farm we were staying, a totally amazing holiday, this is the core of the Milky Way still visible during the blue hour, single exposure on 59 seconds (it was supposed to be the full 60), f2.8 ISO 3,200

While I was only able to visit a very small part of an awesome country, over the 3 weeks I was able to get close to 1,000 astro shots when  I was able to get out - a totally amazing holiday.

I must do some shots of the spiders, damn things were the size of your hand and also liked to be out and about at night. Thankfully the common eastern brown snakes did not like the cold!!!

 

[carastro]

Wow, impressive collection of images.

Carole 

[John Baker]

5 minutes ago, carastro said:

Wow, impressive collection of images.

Carole 

Thanks Carole, the trip was really to see my daughter who was graduating, so these were  not really on the agenda, but it was too good an opportunity to miss  

 

[johnfosteruk]

Stunning collection. Those storm clouds are scary

 

 

[laudropb]

Terrific collection.

[John Baker]

10 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

Stunning collection. Those storm clouds are scary

 

 

Not quite astro, but too good not to post, I was amazed at how quickly it moved away and the sky cleared

 

[tooth_dr]

Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing. The tomato crates MW is my favourite. 

[John Baker]

18 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing. The tomato crates MW is my favourite. 

I should have sorted the verticals  This is the vertical version

 

[Mick J]

Like those John, what an outstanding place to stay. good work.

[carastro]

Quote

this is the blue hour just before sunrise

Can you please explain this.  I remember going to Ayers Rock in a coach from our Ayers Rock hotel to watch the sunrise, and was obviously going through this Blue Hour, I remember seeing 4 prominent stars in the sky, two pairs - each pair at an angle to the other.  It was the two major stars in Centaurus and Crux.  However I don't recall anything about a blue hour.  Is it just an ozzie term for a half lit sky?

Carole 

[SkyJamie]

Cracking pics John

[John Baker]

12 hours ago, carastro said:

Can you please explain this.  I remember going to Ayers Rock in a coach from our Ayers Rock hotel to watch the sunrise, and was obviously going through this Blue Hour, I remember seeing 4 prominent stars in the sky, two pairs - each pair at an angle to the other.  It was the two major stars in Centaurus and Crux.  However I don't recall anything about a blue hour.  Is it just an ozzie term for a half lit sky?

Carole 

 

12 hours ago, carastro said:

Can you please explain this.  I remember going to Ayers Rock in a coach from our Ayers Rock hotel to watch the sunrise, and was obviously going through this Blue Hour, I remember seeing 4 prominent stars in the sky, two pairs - each pair at an angle to the other.  It was the two major stars in Centaurus and Crux.  However I don't recall anything about a blue hour.  Is it just an ozzie term for a half lit sky?

Carole 

Ok I will try, it is the time just after sunset or before sunrise when the sky is a very saturated blue, see the graphic below. For a more complete answer have a look athe following

 https://petapixel.com/2014/06/11/understanding-golden-hour-blue-hour-twilights/

[bob-c]

a lovely set of pictures

                                 bob.