A 120° Startrail panorama of the western sky at Nuh, Haryana, India. Simultaneously shot with three cameras, star trails prepared and panorama stitched together.
Twinkle Twinkle so many stars ... At Hatu peak there were many a stars but not twinkling, till horizon. Perfect nights, good seeing, dry, moderate wind & bearable temperature. We observed a peculiar phenomena at the heights of Hatu, Before sunset there would be few cumulus clouds around, threatening the night, kept us wondering if we should open the telescopes. We would look up after a while and the clouds would be gone completely and the entire sky would be clear. Then it would start dewing, soaking everything. Quite suddenly the dew would also disappear after an hour or so, never to appear back again for the entire night. The second night at Hatu we clicked a 2.5 hour polar trail photo using a 8mm fish eye lens and a Canon 450D. The camera captured stars right till the horizon and the earthly lights in the valley below. The subs were combined into a trail using Images Plus software, and then we did something special, blended in a single photo from the middle of the trail showing the Milky Way ....
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A TRIPOD & CAMERA - 7 Romancing the Skies @ 14500 ft, Moon Venus and Transparent Hanle Observatory Ajay Talwar with Vikrant Narang, Pankaj Sharma & Raghu Kalra 18th June 2007, Nikon D70 with 22mm lens at f/13, 90 second exposure
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A TRIPOD & CAMERA - 11 Venus kisses Saturn, Damdama, Haryana 5th February 2009, Nikon D70 with 29mm lens at f/4, 10 second exposure Ajay Talwar
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A TRIPOD & CAMERA - 12 Total Solar Eclipse, Venus, 29th March 2006, Arjune Talwar Pentax ME-Super, 100 ASA film, 18mm lens at f/2.8, 4 second exposure
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A TRIPOD & CAMERA - 14 Jupiter & Venus reflecting in Damdama lake, Haryana 1st February 2008, 1° Celcius ! Ajay Talwar Nikon D70 with 44mm lens at f/4.3, 5 minute exposure
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A TRIPOD & CAMERA - 15 Moon, Venus India Gate, New Delhi, 7th October 2007, Nikon D70 with 70mm lens at f/10, 8 second exposure Ajay Talwar
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A TRIPOD & CAMERA - 19 Balti looking over the Himalayas, Ranikhet, Uttarakhand 22nd November 2008, Canon 450D with 18mm lens at f/3.5, multiple exposures spanning about an hour Ajay Talwar
Way to Via Lactea It's been a month since Me & Pankaj Sharma went to latitude 31°.243 & longitude 77°.501. So many photons gathered amidst the dark skies during the hectic 4 nights at Hatu. Most of the photons are processed. Normally in hill stations you get a lot of trees and the sky gets covered with the trees and the hill side. Its lucky that Hatu peak has all round visibility till the horizon, and I think even below horizon! astronomical horizon that is. The four evenings spent at Hatu waiting for the Sun to go down were memorable. As twilight began, the clouds would just dissipate, vanish into thin air. Even before the civil twilight began, Via Lactea would make its appearance. The orange of the sunset in the west would be merging with the Milky Way clouds of Sagittarius in the south. Beautiful. Here is one simple photo taken with camera & tripod. Exposure 2 minutes. Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali. Ajay Talwar Head of Instrumentation & Observation, SPACE
Here in Delhi, Rashtrapati Bhavan and other buildings surrounding Raj Path are illuminated during the Republic Day celebrations every year. It’s quite a nice sight to see and photograph. The lighting stays on for a few days. I went and took a photo of Moon over Raj Path with a DSLR + fish eye lens and an 8 second exposure. In the photograph the road that you see is the Raj Path which is 3 degrees off due east-west, and at the time of the photograph (2010-01-27 20:18) Moon was also aligned in the same direction, but at a height of 67 degrees. Unfortunately Mars is there in the same field but not photographed because of the Delhi’s winter fog. Press next to see a non astronomical photo of the lighting.
Ranikhet, quietly ensconced amidst pine trees with a charming background of the snow clad Himalaya, has a breathtaking scenic beauty. Ranikhet's magnetic charm attracts tourists all the year round. It is a haven for sky lovers, bird watchers and visitors who wish to spend time pursuing their hobby. Ranikhet is a place which has preserved its virginity and pristine charm. The sweep of Himalayan range visible from here is the largest available from any place. It is a pure heaven 6000 feet above the sea level, away from the bustling lifestyle of city life. In Ranikhet, nature’s beauty overwhelms with its sheer abundance. Majestic snow peaks glisten in the sun, and rising stars visible just above the peaks. Wind whistling through the pine and towering deodar trees, rustling leaves in their trail, and a wonderful place to shoot star trails! Modified from the Ranikhet tourist brochure!
Then the traveler in the dark Thanks you for your tiny spark, How could he see where to go, If you did not twinkle so?
No internet mapping sites measures the route for you. The pine filled road is not even visible in Google Earth. Devsthal is approximately 40 kms through the hills on a road with very few vehicles and not many tourists. In about one hour from Kathgodam, (500m), on to Devsthal, (2424m). The last village Jhirapani, seems like an abandoned one. The road to the observatory leads from in-between two houses; you would certainly miss the turn unless you’ve been told. I just wonder when the transport carrying parts of the biggest telescope arrives here, how it will turn towards the last road. Read the rest here: http://ajaytalwar80.blogspot.com/
Milky Way towers above the moonlit hills of Hanle, Ladakh. It is amazing that Milky Way can even be seen when bright Moon is present in the sky. This 25 second shot was taken from atop Mount Saraswati, the location of Himalayan Chandra Telescope. Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle (was the highest observatory in the world till recently) at this remote location is a wonderous place. A high altitude desert with half the atmosphere, low humidity, lot of radiation, low temperatures - all good factors for Astronomy but severe for the human body. A salute to the engineers who live at the obsertvatory and keep it running. Click on this link to see the location of Hanle: http://tinyurl.com/2c3r63l Ajay Talwar, Vikrant Narang, Raghu Kalra
September 26th, 2010, I hope things must be changing at Devsthal, Uttarakhand. For one the monsoon has finally decided to end its fury in these parts so the Sampurnanand Telescope must have opened up. I also guess the Devsthal site must be abuzz with activity concerning the arrival and installation of the 1.3m telescope. The telescope was to be stored right here! This old 22-inch was to be removed to make way for the storage facility. This photograph was shot in May 2010 during my visit to Devsthal to shoot the daytime Venus occultation. The photo has been in the oven too long! Ajay Talwar
Jupiter on Diwali - Nov. 5th 2010 Jupiter quietly continues on its daily path, looking down on India celebrating Diwali. Thankfully the fire power this Diwali was quite reasonable and reduced. My family chose to photograph the crackers, instead of burning them.
Star Trails from Spituk Gompa situated high above on the banks of the Indus river. A tranquil spot to contemplate, and shoot trails of brightly shining stars at Leh. Om Mani Padme Hum, the six syllable buddhist mantra, is beautifully carved in wood at the Spituk Gompa (temple). The bright yellow structure encloses a metal carved buddhist prayer wheel. In the background mountains, vehicles can be seen coming down (just below the star trails) from Khardungla - considered by many to be the highest motorable pass in the world. A two camera, two hour star trail photograph by Ajay Talwar & Nilesh Vayada.
Many have been fooled into thinking that it marks the start of morning twilight. The Persian astronomer Omar Khayyam referred to this ghostly glow in his poem, The Rubaiyat. When false dawn streaks the east with cold, gray line, Pour in your cups the pure blood of the vine; The truth, they say, tastes bitter in the mouth, This is a token that the “Truth” is wine. Unlike the stars of the Milky Way, the source of false dawn lies between the inner planets of our Solar System. Billions of dust grains orbit the sun in a flattened disk spread out along the ecliptic. Many of these particles were ejected by comets. The dust reflects and scatters sunlight creating a visible triangular glow above the horizon. It can be seen for up to an hour before true dawn begins to break. Unlike true dawn, though, there’s no rosy colour to the false dawn. The sub zero cold, early hours would bring this humongous Zodiacal Light right on schedule each night at Hanle, brighter than the Milky Way and rising to great heights.
Looking southwards from our station starting from the closest 1. Atlas German Equatorial Mount 2. Canon 450D with 200mm lens for Imaging 3. Table for working 4. Small tower for automated atmospheric instruments (the instruments keep whizzing and slewing 24 hours automatically and measuring ) 5. Igloo no 2, our shelter for the night (that light blue small structure enmating light from the window. 6. A high platform for Meade 12" telescope, the telescope is replaced with Nilesh at the moment, who is pointing up at ..... hmmm 7. Hanle mountains 8. China just, but not seen 9. Southern constellations of Indus, Grus, Phoenix, Micorscopium, Sculptor
"... These the seven names they bear; Alcyone and Merope, Celaeno, Taygeta, and Sterope, Electra, And queenly Maia, small alike and faint, But by the will of Zeus illustrious all At morn and evening, since he makes them mark Summer and winter, harvesting and seed-time ..." By Aratus, 3rd century "When Atlas-born, the Pleiad stars arise Before the Sun above the dawning skies, 'Tis time to reap; and when they sink below The morn-illumined west, 'tis time to sow.." "Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, Did I look on great Orion, sloping slowly to the west Many a night I saw the Pleiades, rising thro' the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid." By Tennyson Poems from Burnham's Celestial Handbook
It is also known as the Winter Street in Sweden. "Silent with star-dust, yonder it lies - The winter street, so fair and so white; Winding along through the boundless skies, Down heavenly vale, up heavenly height... Faintly it gleams, like a summer road, When the light in the west is sinking low, Silent with star-dust! By whose abode Does the Winter Street in its windings go? And who are they, all unheard and unseen - O, who are they, whose blessed feet pass over that highway smooth and sheen? What pilgrims travel the Winter Street? " --- Miss Edith Thomas
A simple Polar Star Trails shot, keeping HAGAR telescope in front. Notable thing is the curve of the Pole Star distinctly away from the North Celestial Pole, seen in this photo. The sub frames of this photograph went on for almost 8 hours (less 7 minutes).
A photo from the Sangam or the Prayag-Raj at Allahabad. Its a simple photo shot from the left bank of the Ganga, which shows crescent moon over the confluence of Ganga & Yamuna. The bridge over the Yamuna is seen illuminated. On the far side of Yamuna is Naini (the famous jail in the area). The piece of land jutting into the waters with a number of make shift shacks where you can board boats, and row to the precise spot of the Sangam (confluence) on the particular day, and take a complete dip on the 'lifts' between two boats. During the daytime the boatman told me the water is about 40 feet deep! later in the evening I saw children running with gay abandon in the river,
Van Vihar at Bhopal
Nanda Devi & Star Trails
The Two Brightest Planets 8th March 2012 'Holi-Day'
Baoli Ghaus Ali Khan - Farukh Nagar Conjunction of Venus & Jupiter from an Ancient Stepwell
Fujisan Night Sky On Location for the Annular Solar Eclipse of 21 May 2012 YMCA near Fujinomia in Japan
Fujisan Trails 18 May 2012 shot from YMCA, Yokohama
