The awesome grandeur of nature

[speedy3471 10,655]

Another sunset viewed from my yard

[speedy3471 10,655]

Just some clouds from last evening 

[Ozabot 63,207]

 

[steve25805 126,015]

[steve25805 126,015]

[speedy3471 10,655]

Sunset last night 

[gldenwetgoose 21,486]

Here's some real life grandeur from the north of England...

I have an app on my phone from a local university that monitors solar activity and gives an alert when there's a chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights).  It's very rare to see them in my part of the UK partly because of us being slightly too far south but also a lot of the UK being populated and suffering light pollution.

Last night 11pm and my app pinged, a quick look out of the back door confirmed the skies were at least partly clear, so I jumped in my car with camera and tripod.  I'm fortunate to live with an area of moorland 5 minutes drive north so headed that way to try and avoid the bright lights... which was partly successful.

I don't think I caught any Aurora, but I'm quite happy with the images (tip - view them in a darkened room for maximum contrast).

For the technical geeks - Nikon D800 18mm focal length, 20 sec exposure at f5, ISO 1250.  Minimum processing in Lightroom.

For the less technical, during one of these pictures I was enjoying an outdoor pee standing in the middle of a dark country lane.

[Sophie 24,410]

Gorgeous photos

[speedy3471 10,655]

On 10/24/2020 at 3:35 AM, Sophie said:

Gorgeous photos

Absolutely Sophie 

[gldenwetgoose 21,486]

Thank you both of you @speedy3471 & @Sophie.  Looking at the small images here, the stars are too small to stand out and so the pictures just look like black rectangles.

It's only when enlarged that you start to see any detail.  Hence when I exported them from Lightroom I kept the image file sizes at original sized, the full camera resolution.  I'm sure Speedy you'll see much better sights in your own backyard - we're a tiny island and so there's always someone else's light pollution in the way as you can see reflecting off the clouds.

One day I will see the Aurora...

[speedy3471 10,655]

Sunrise this morning 

[steve25805 126,015]

The Andromeda galaxy....

 

[steve25805 126,015]

This is Jupiter - the largest planet in the solar system - and the comparative sizes of it's four largest moons - Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, and Io. The largest of the four - Ganymede - is the largest moon in the entire solar system, larger than the planet Mercury, though it only has half the mass of Mercury which has a much higher iron content and much less ice. The reddish yellow moon Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system.....

 

[steve25805 126,015]

As we get older we may forget some of the wonder up in the skies and take it for granted. But who amongst us has never looked up in the sky and wondered at the full moon? It is worth remembering some of the awe we felt as we gazed upon it.....

 

 

 

[steve25805 126,015]

A beautiful coastal scene......

 

 

[steve25805 126,015]

Drake's Island, which lies off the sea front of my home city of Plymouth UK, pretty much near the start of the Tamar estuary....

 

 

[speedy3471 10,655]

Sunset just now

[steve25805 126,015]

An awesome sunset in Plymouth this evening....

 

[speedy3471 10,655]

Sunset tonite

[Kupar 13,339]

On 11/4/2020 at 7:07 AM, steve25805 said:

As we get older we may forget some of the wonder up in the skies and take it for granted. But who amongst us has never looked up in the sky and wondered at the full moon? It is worth remembering some of the awe we felt as we gazed upon it.....

Seeing a beautiful full moon this morning I was reminded of @steve25805's photo earlier in this thread, and of my attempt a few months ago to capture the beauty of the moon with my camera, lensless, attached to a bird-watching telescope. It's not as good as the photo Steve posted - some vibration blur is noticeable here (and I'm not sure I got the focus spot on anyway). It's a pity the image stabilization on my camera is actually in the lenses, not the camera itself. This was my best effort. No colour correction.

[speedy3471 10,655]

Yet another blizzard yesterday. Winds of up to 110km/h!

[steve25805 126,015]

[speedy3471 10,655]

Sunny blue skies, a nice January day

[Kupar 13,339]

7 hours ago, speedy3471 said:

Sunny blue skies, a nice January day

What an extraordinary part of the world you inhabit, my friend. Beautiful light in these photos.

[steve25805 126,015]