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Venus Transit Anchorage, Alaska
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Jun 15 06:59:01 2012 UTC
Unfortunately, I was delayed in Anchorage, away from my larger equipment
during the recent Venus transit. Fortunately, I was able to purchase the
last #10 welding filter in town. (Between the recent eclipse and the
transit there wasn't a proper #14 to be found.) Although the #10 was not
sufficient for visual observations, it sufficed for imaging with the
cheapo digital camera that I had with me. It was also fortunate that the
sky was clear on this momentous occasion... So, Here is what I was able
to get... maybe I'll have better equipment for the next one! Copyright
(c) Dennis C. anderson Night Trax Photography contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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The Spirit Dance
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Wed Mar 28 21:03:01 2012 UTC
Here is another overhead crowning aurora from the intense auroral
display on the evening of March 8, 2012. The aurora was at the magnetic
zenith for less than two minutes as it swung southward over Homer,
Alaska. I captured this image using a 6x7 cm medium-format camera with a
38mm wide-angle lens and Kodak E100G film. Copyright (c) Dennis C.
Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or
visit: www.auroradude.com
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Electric Angels
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Wed Mar 28 20:39:01 2012 UTC
On the night of March 8-9, 2012, we saw some of the most intense auroral
displays of recent memory. This is one of just a couple images of a
brief but intense overhead crowning observed as the aurora surged
southward over Homer, Alaska. I used a 6x7 medium format camera with a
38mm wide-angle lens anf Kodak E100G film to capture the moment. This
crowning was so bright that it didn't even notice that there was a full
moon! Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact
at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Venus, Jupiter, Moon March 25, 2012
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Mon Mar 26 22:54:01 2012 UTC
The planets Venus and Jupiter, are joined by our crescent moon and a
few stars in the westerly sky as viewed from near Homer, Alaska.
Illiamna volcano is seen at the right against the last of the evening's
twilight. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography
Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Fisheye View of Aurora with Russian Church
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Mar 16 21:05:01 2012 UTC
While in the village of Ninilchik, Alaska on March 10-11, 2011, I had
just received an emergency tsunami warning on the local radio station.
Japan had just suffered a devistating earthquake and the subsequent
tsunami was racing across the Pacific ocean and headed for our coast.
While I stood here at the 100-year-old Russian Orthodox Church with the
moon about to set in the west, I wondered, should I stay or should I go?
The 5-minute exposure is using a 35mm lens on 4x5 Fuju Provia 100-F film
and is facing north. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax
Photography Contact at auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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Fisheye View of aurora March 8, 2012
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Mar 16 20:41:01 2012 UTC
The aurora borealis fills the northern sky as photographed from Diamond
Ridge near Homer Alaska. I used a 35mm lens on a home-built 4x5 camera,
which creates a circular fisheye effect, to capture this moonlit scene
on Kodak E100G film in unprecedented detail. The sun has finally come
out of its deep slumber and we can only hope that scenes like this
become more and more common as we move towards the solar maximum.
Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Early Start March 8, 2012
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Mar 9 12:33:01 2012 UTC
Not long after dark, a green glow appeared on the northern horizon and I
fired up my van to have a session with the aurora. Multiple green bands
appeared and I snapped a couple shots from my driveway near Homer,
Alaska around 9:00 p.m. local time. Later, there were at least three
substorms, one amongst the nicest that I have ever seen. Copyright (c)
Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography contact at
auroradude@acsalaska or visit www.auroradude.com
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Lunar eclipse December 10, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Sat Dec 10 23:11:01 2011 UTC
The moon was just beginning to exit the darkest part of the Earth's
shadow as viewed from near Homer, Alaska around 6:00 a.m. Local time.
Very thin clouds were beginning to move in and scattered the light of
the brightest portion. The reddish glow of light refracted through
Earth's atmosphere is still plainly visible. This was a pretty bright
eclipse with the moon glowing a bright reddish orange for about 50
minutes during totality. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Noctilucent Panorama July 28, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 28 18:29:01 2011 UTC
Noctilucent clouds or NLCs were visible over Alaska's Kenai Peninsula on
this entire short summer night. At this time of the year, the geometry
of the sun is perfect for illuminating ice crystals high in the
atmosphere to create these electric-blue glowing clouds. I stitched
togeather four separate images to create this panorama of the northern
sky as seen from our home near Homer, Alaska around 3:30 a.m. The clouds
were visible well past 4:00 a.m. when the increasing twilight finally
obscured the display towards sunrise. Copyright (c) Dennis C.Anderson
Night Trax Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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Noctilucent clouds July 28, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 28 11:10:01 2011 UTC
NLCs light up the north with a mysterious blue glow as seen from near
Homer, Alaska around 2:15 local time.
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Noctilucent Clouds July 27, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 28 11:10:01 2011 UTC
NLCs light up the northern sky from near Homer, Alaska July 27, 2011
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Noctilucent clouds July 27, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 28 10:48:01 2011 UTC
NLCs near Homer, Alaska July 27, 2011 Detail of bright area.
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Noctilucent clouds July 27, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 28 10:11:01 2011 UTC
NLCs visible from near Homer Alaska July 27,2011 around 1:20 a.m. local
time.
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Jupiter, Moon March 6, 2011
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Wed Mar 9 13:04:01 2011 UTC
Our crescent moon and bright planet Jupiter make a nice pairing in the
colorful western sky as viewed from near Homer, Alaska.
Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or
visit www.auroradude.com
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Twilight over Cook Inlet
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Wed Jan 12 22:17:01 2011 UTC
January 11, 2011 brought yet another beautiful blue-sky sunny day ending
with a pretty sunset over the water, but it wasn't until later that the
color of the sky had grown quite remarkable. I grabbed my wife's little
digital and snapped three images from the deck of our house, near Homer,
Alaska, and stiched them togeather to form this panorama of our
southwestern skyline. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax
Photography Contact at auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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Baloon to the Moon
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Dec 23 21:34:01 2010 UTC
During the lunar eclipse of December 20-21, 2010 we launched a hot air
baloon into the night. The eclipsed moon is seen at the very top of the
frame as the baloon streaks up and out of the frame on its way to... who
knows where?
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"Solstice" Lunar Eclipse
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Tue Dec 21 21:19:02 2010 UTC
Clouds came and went all day, but when it came down to business, we were
able to scare them away and had a great clear night to view the
"solstice' eclipse on the night of December 20-21, 2010. This is an
image of the totally eclipsed moon taken from near Homer, Alaska shortly
after the moon was fully in the Earth's shadow. I've seen several
eclipses but this was a real beauty. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson
Night Trax Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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Royal Purples II
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Dec 16 03:00:01 2010 UTC
Above a ribbon of green, tall rays reach up into direct sunlight where
they are transformed by extra boost of energy creating violet hues
during the evening twilight. This image was taken on April 16, 1999 from
near Kluane Lake in Canada's Yukon Territories. Copyright(c) Dennis C.
Anderson Night Trax Photography Visit www.auroradude.com or contact at
auroradude@acsalaska.net
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Too Little Too Late
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 15 08:57:01 2010 UTC
The aurora was visible from dusk to dawn on this April 10, 2010 night.
Here, above Birch Lake, located southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, we see a
glowing band begin to brighten and move but it is ultimately lost in the
growing twilight of dawn. Perhaps next season will bring an increase in
solar activity and the auroras that come with it.
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Lights Over Arctic Man
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 15 08:34:02 2010 UTC
Every year in the Central Alaska Range a small temporary town appears on
the map. Thousands of Alaskans gather for the annual Arctic Man
competition. This extreme event is a race envolving skis and snow
machines. They don't compete against each other but rather work as a
team. For part of the race a skier is pulled behind a snow machine at
speeds reaching 90 miles per hour! I call it the Crazy Man! The northern
lights were dancing low over the mountains but the race enthusiests were
oblivious to them while bathed in all that man-made light.
I used a home-built 6x7 medium format camera equipped with a 38mm
wide-angle lens and Kodak E100G film for this 30-second exposure taken
on April 10, 2010.
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Sub-Visual Red
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Thu Jul 15 02:10:01 2010 UTC
2010 was starting out like 2009 ended. Auroral activity was minimal as
the sun was stuck in the quietest period for about 100 years. I did
manage to see some activity during our times of darkness but not much.
Here we see a modest display from Alaska's Kenai Peninsula in the early
morning hours of January 20, 2010. There is some red visible abobe the
green which was not vivsible to the eye. Human vision suffers color
blindness at night but the film does not so a faint aurora might not
appear very colorful visually. I used a home-built 6x9 medium format
camera with a 98mm f1.4 lens and Kodak E100G film for this 8-second
exposure.
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Solar Spike Feb. 4, 2010
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Feb 5 19:59:01 2010 UTC
Ice crystals in the air are responsible for this solar spike that was
seen over the setting sun across Cook Inlet as viewed from near Homer,
Alaska on the evening of February 4, 2010.
Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Mount St. Augustine and Fata Morganna
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Feb 5 19:59:01 2010 UTC
A layer of warm air over cold air creats a type of lensing effect known
as fata morganna. In this type of mirage distant features are seen to be
streached vertically. The distant volcano island of Mount St. Augustine
normally has gentle slopes when seen in profile but here they are
distorted into impossible cliff faces as seen from near Homer, Alaska on
January 31, 2010. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax
Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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Moonset over the Aleutian Range
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Feb 5 19:59:01 2010 UTC
After another bright moonlit night our moon, now just past full, heads
towards the western horizon as seen from near Homer, Alaska on the
morning of January 31, 2010.
Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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January Sunset Over Kamishak Bay
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Feb 5 19:37:01 2010 UTC
Even though the aurora has been somewhat elusive from Alaska's Kenai
Peninsula, the skies have been full of color. This sunset was on January
30 and is taken from near Homer, Alaska looking SW toward Distant Mount
Douglas /Four-Peaked Volcanos on the left and Mount St. Augustine
Volcano on the right. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax
Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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Solstice Sun Rays
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Sat Dec 26 20:44:01 2009 UTC
The December solstice was at 8:47 a.m. Alaska time on the 21st but our
shortest day actually fell on the 22nd. This image is looking south from
near Homer, Alaska around local noon. We almost got to see the sun on
this short day but had to settle for some beautiful crepuscular rays as
it was being a little shy and never fully emerged from the clouds.
Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Lenticular Sunrise
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Wed Dec 9 22:14:01 2009 UTC
Lenticular clouds are seen above the Kenai Mountains on the southern end
of the Kenai Peninsula as viewed from near Homer, Alaska on this
December 6, 2009 morning. These couds are formed by strong winds rising
up over the mountains. Dutch Harbor had reported 100 mile an hour winds
the day before with damage to roofs and other objects but we are glad to
report that the winds never materialized at our location. Copyright (c)
Dennis C. Anderson Night Trax Photography Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit: www.auroradude.com
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Mammatus at Sunrise
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Wed Dec 9 21:50:01 2009 UTC
The sunrise was no less than spectacular on the morning of December 6,
2009. There were many interesting cloud formations catching the early
light of a rising sun. Here we see an example of mammatus in the
southern sky over Homer, Alaska. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson Night
Trax Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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A Little Glory
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Fri Nov 6 23:32:01 2009 UTC
While on a flight from Mazatlan, Mexico to Los Angeles this past March
2009, I looked down to see a small glory on the clouds a few thousand
feet below. A glory looks similar to a solar or lunar halo except that
it is opposite the sun and is caused by reflection and refraction of
sunlight from droplets in the clouds. It is similar to a rainbow that
forms a full circle. The size of the droplets determines the size of a
glory. Large droplets make for smaller glories. If the droplets are of
uniform size, up to four concentric rings might be seen. The shadow of
the 737 jetliner is visible at the center of this glory. Copyright (c)
Dennis C. Anderson Night traxPhotography Contact at:
auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit www.auroradude.com
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"Aurora Dawn"
Submitted by:
Dennis Anderson at Tue Sep 1 20:24:01 2009 UTC
Solar cycle 23 began in June of 1996 and was already well under way when
I took this image 11 years ago on August 26, 1998 from Alaska's Kenai
Peninsula. We were already having large sunspots accompanied by major
flares and it only got better and better. It would be nice for the
current cycle 24 to be in a similar part of its cycle but the slowest
solar minimum in 100 years continues as of this writing. It seems that
there is plenty of time lately to reflect on past auroras and dig
through the acrhives for these gems. Copyright (c) Dennis C. Anderson
Night Trax Photography Contact at: auroradude@acsalaska.net or visit:
www.auroradude.com
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