Damsel

Went to Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens this morning to shoot some macro with Hayden and Andrew. Here's a damselfly (about 50mm long) that was patient enough to let me get close.

Merry Christmas 2012

Falcon

Hayden not quite there will his catching skills yet :)

More of Hayden's photos

Just thought I'd post some more of the photos Hayden took on Sunday at RSP. I'm finding it amazing seeing the world through the eyes of a 2.5yr old.

Hayden and Daddy's photography session at Roma St Parklands

Hayden and I took a trip to Roma St Parklands on the train on Sunday.  He loves trains, was a good excuse to get out of the house, and have a bit of a scout around RSP to see if there were many insects around for some macro photography opportunities.

This was an unusual fly I found.  It's a treehopper mimic fly, a very pregnant one by the looks of it.



And I quite liked the purple velvet texture of the stalk this robberfly was perched on.  Was hoping to get a better shot, but there was a brown flash in the field of view, and when I looked up from behind my camera there was a female blue wren licking her lips right next to where he was.  Can only assume the predator (robberflies are insectivores) became lunch.



To keep Hayden entertained, I gave him our compact digital camera and taught him how to click the shutter.



I figured he could take thousands of photos, it costs nothing.  He absolutely loved it.  And these are some of the shots he took.  Some not too bad.  I honestly had nothing to do with these, he did everything himself.  All I did was download them and do some very basic white balance/contrast adjustments.  No cropping or anything.  Not bad for a 2.5 year old?

M20 Trifid Nebula and friends in Sagittarius

Kind of wider view of the well known pair of M20 Trifid Nebula and M21 the open cluster just below and right of it in the constellation Sagittarius. This was taken at home with virtually a full moon. Surprised how much red Ha was around the area. I don't recall seeing a shot of the area with this much Ha.

Here's the area just with the Ha filter. Shows up the nebulosity with better contrast.

M16 Eagle Nebula in Serpens

This is the famous Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens, shot with monochrome Ha filter due to full moon being nearby. Some of the most famous Hubble Space Telescope images are of the "Pillars of Creation", which are in the core of the nebula.

The smaller bit of nebulosity top right is RCW162, another Ha region.

IC4628 Prawn Nebula in Scorpius

This is the Prawn Nebula in Scorpius. It was nearly full Moon, so I used a Ha filter and only showing it in monochrome. Too many gradients in the colour version.

Family Gathering

Kyle, Sam, and Ella came up for the weekend, so we met them down at Currumbin beach for breakfast, spent the morning at the beach, and the rest of the day at Mum and Dad's place. Was a very enjoyable morning. Hayden and Ella got along famously.

The Wishing Well

This is NGC3532, the Wishing Well Cluster, in the constellation Carina.  I like the faint red stream of nebulosity going through the cluster.

Red Rooster

We've had some pretty clear nights with good seeing lately, so I've been up all hours gathering as many photons as I can. This is IC2944, the Running Chicken Nebula, in the constellation of Centaurus. The name comes from the small dark part at the top right looks like a chicken running upside down around that curved brighter nebulosity. Don't worry if you can't see it. Took me 18 months to see it.

Making pikelets

Just some photos of Hayden helping Mummy make some pikelets this afternoon.

How exciting:

Enjoying the spoils:

Ok, so that one didn't turn out that well:

Gabriela Mistral Nebula

NGC3324, commonly referred to as the Gabriela Mistral Nebula, is the roundish nebula bottom centre here. It's located in the constellation Carina, and the nebulosity you can see on the left hand side is the corner of the massive Eta Carinae Nebula that you may have seen before.

Cat's Paw Nebula

I just love this nebula. Looks so much like its namesake.

M41 Little Beehive cluster

This is M41, the Little Beehive open cluster, in the constellation of Canis Major. It is very close in the sky to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

Taken at him in light-polluted inner-city Brisbane. Quite pleased with how well it turned out.

Mars

Took this shot of Mars the other night. My first of this planet. Not the best, the seeing wasn't very good at all. Still, happy I can make out some of the dark patches on the surface.

Orion Nebula

This is the often-imaged and very bright Orion Nebula M42 in the constellation of... Orion.

Rosette Nebula

This is the Rosette Nebula NGC2237 in the constellation Monoceros. Only managed to collect Ha data before clouds rolled in, so no colour at this stage.

Currumbin Rocks

Had to do a site inspection at Coolangatta Airport this morning at 7am, so decided to go a bit earlier and shoot sunrise at Currumbin Rocks.

Got down there in the dark, before dawn. Hadn't scouted the area and only noticed this cool little depression after I had packed up and on the way back to the car. Wish I had spent more time there. Next time...

Mt Coot-tha lookout

I live over there...


... don't I?