Taken from Haleakala Observaotry, Maui, Hawaii.

Wide Angle Lunar Eclipse

As the sun gets low in the sky, its light is refracted through a thicker and thicker section of the atmosphere. Eventually, the atmosphere not only refracts the light but begins to disperse it. Redder colors towards the horizon, and greener near the sun’s top.

As the last bit of sun vanishes below the horizon, there is a fraction of a second when only the green portion is left.

For many years, the Green Flash was only observed visually and was thought to be a complimentary color after-image on the retina caused by the disappearance of the bright red sun below the horizon. Only after the invention of color photography was the Green Flash captured on film and its true nature understood.

Even though it was the wee hours of the morning, the temperature was still in the low 100′s. A nice place in general, but don’t visit there in summer. Step outside and you literally burst into flames.

These aurora were from the summer of 2004 and were taken from Miller State Park, on Pack Monadnock Mountain, New Hampshire.

This was recorded in 720p HD with a Pentax K-7 DSLR mounted on a William Optics APO Refractor.

For the full effect, make sure you watch it in 720HD mode, full screen.

Here’s the setup; mine on the right and Tom’s on the left. The big fuzzy grey thing is just a windscreen for the video microphone.

Imaging Setup for Shuttle Launch

On Sunday the 12th, we tried again and this time we made it all the way to the launch viewing area before the launch was scrubbed for weather once again. The decision was made during the 45-minute hold at the T minus 9 minute point, but it was pretty clear to everyone well before that – we could see dark clouds and lightning throughout the area.

Launch Viewing Area

Monday the 13th was try number three. Once again, we got out to the launch viewing area and all looked pretty good until the end of the 45-minute hold. A thunderstorm cell just to the north was growing and we saw lightning once again just after they called the scrub.

Me (right) and Tom

Based on the forecast, NASA decided not to even try on the following day, and the day after, the 15th, was when we were scheduled to fly home. Of course, the launch went off without a hitch on the 15th! We watched it on NASA TV on our iPhones while at the airport. Our current plan is to try again for the STS-131 in March. Not only will there be less thunderstorms, but the temperature and humidity will be closer to what humans can actually survive.

Camcorder & Telescope Setup

In any case, I got a good test of my camcorder and telescope system for photographing the launch. Remember, the viewing area is seven miles from the launch pad. Here is the test footage, plus a few pelicans that were near the launch viewing area.