Earth & Sky Starwatching Tour Photo Archive



Thank you for joining the Earth & Sky Mt John Star Watching tour, here you will be able to find the astro / star photos taken by Fraser Gunn on the night of your tour and a collection of the best star watching photos taken so far, all the staff at Earth & Sky, hope that you enjoyed the experience. Please select from the following dates and enjoy



This is the small aurora that we had on the 25th April 2012 this timelapse animation was taken from Mt John looking South with Tekapo village on the left. The animation was made with exposures of 20 seconds f/1.8 ISO 3200 from a Canon 5d mkii with a 24mm f/1.4 lens. There is a nice start to the aurora then it dies down sadly making the light pollution from the Ice rink very noticeable (they then turn there lights out - Thank you) and then the aurora flairs up again. With your eye you could see some strange glow of light and the occasional pillar - sadly not quite bright enough for us the see the colour with your eye - the reason you see lots of colour in this animation is because of the timed exposure of each image used (20 seconds) In total the Aurora lasted about 4 hours

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These older star photos were brought to you by Earth and Sky, please select from the dates below
All Latest work has been in the way of Timelapse animations which can be seen on my personal Youtube Page
        FraserTK Channel        

April 2011


  1 - 12   |   13 - 30  

March 2011


  29   |   25   |   15   |   9   |   8   |   7   |   6   |   4   |   3   |   2  

February 2011


  27   |   26   |   6   |   4   |   2  

January 2011


  31   |   29   |   27   |   26   |   24   |   23   |   22   |   16   |   9   |   8   |   7   |   6  

December 2010


  30   |   29   |   28   |   26   |   24   |   19   |   15   |   14   |   11   |   9   |   8   |   7   |   4   |   3   |   1  

November 2010


  28   |   24   |   23   |   14   |   12   |   11   |   10   |   9   |   8   |   7   |   6   |   4   |   3   |   2   |   1  

October 2010


  26   |   25   |   24   |   23   |   22   |   21   |   14   |   13   |   12   |   11   |   7   |   6   |   5  

September 2010


  29   |   24   |   15   |   14   |   13   |   10   |   9   |   8   |   4   |   3   |   2  

August 2010


  31   |   21   |   20   |   19   |   15   |   14   |   11   |   10   |   9   |   5   |   4   |   3   |   2  

July 2010


  30   |   19   |   18   |   17   |   14   |   13   |   12   |   11   |   10   |   9   |   7   |   6   |   5   |   4   |   3   |   2   |   1  

June 2010


  26   |   21   |   17   |   16   |   13   |   12   |   11   |   10   |   9   |   8   |   4   |   3   |   2   |   1  

May 2010


  31   |   30   |   22   |   21   |   20   |   19   |   18   |   15   |   11   |   10   |   9  

I have also started taking astrophotography with a small (but very sharp) Tele Vue 60is Telescope, here in Tekapo village, here you can see and download full sized (6000x4000 pixels) images

        Tele Vue 60is astrophotography images - www.astrophotography.co.nz        



Timelapse animation panning over the 16" dome on Mt John as Earth & Sky run there star watching tours
More examples of night sky timelapse animation can be seen on my personal Youtube page
        FraserTK Channel        

Here is a link to Robert Schwarz webpage, he is working at the South Pole so is in a very good position to see lots of Aurora activity - I am hoping we can make different views of the same aurora
http://www.antarctic-adventures.de/

If you would like to learn about light pollution and what you can do around your own home, then please check out
  IDA - International Dark Sky Association, see what you can do to help  



Panning timelapse animation looking over Lake Tekapo as the milkyway rises, the panning motion is controlled by a Mumford time machine - https://bmumford.securewebsites.com/photo/rotary/standard.html that slowly rotates between each of the 20 second, ISO 3200, f/2 exposures. In total 1800 images were taken over the entire night they are played back at 30 frames per second