A mere 21 hours after taking photos of the lunar eclipse, I captured the Station on its half second transits across the nearly full Moon in this 4 image composite as seen from Hanover Courthouse Park, VA.

This close-up, 2.5 second exposure shows the partial lunar eclipse as seen from the Manassas Battlefield in the nearby starfield.

The partial lunar eclipse as seen from the Manassas Battlefield, with the 14th Brooklyn Monument in the foreground.

On a 4 minute trek rising from the south-west horizon, the International Space Station as seen from Parkgate Drive in Nokesville, Va. This 14 image composite captures it passing by Venus (lighting up the cloud in the bottom right), Saturn (in the cloud, Center), and Jupiter (brightest object) before disappearing in the Earth's shadow. The clouds and ground were being illuminated by the nearly full Moon that was out of the image to the left.

A little late afternoon, Veterans Day relaxation just after sunset and captured The following morning, I captured the airliner as it passed just below the Moon as seen from my driveway in Bristow, VA.

The following morning, I captured the full Hunter Moon setting over Lake Ashby at sunrise.

I captured the full Hunter Moon in this 4 second exposure rising near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., on the evening of October 20, 2021.

It's not terribly often that you get back to back really good viewing days! In this 2 1/2 minute composite, the International Space Station transits from below the North Star, Polaris (brightest star on the left in the upper part of the image) before disappearing in the Earth's shadow soon after passing just below the star, Mirfak, as seen from Lake Ashby.

In this 2 1/2 minute composite, the International Space Station transits from left to right, through the Big Dipper and then disapears in the Earth's shadow as seen from the dam at Lake Ashby near Warrenton, VA.

While in Rehoboth Beach, DE, in support of a high school friend and attending the Walk to Defeat ALS, I headed to the beach early enough to catch the cloudless sunrise.

While in Rehoboth Beach, DE, in support of a high school friend and attending the Walk to Defeat ALS, I stopped in at the Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association and after capturing the shot to the right, waited around for the Moon and Venus to make an appearance.

While in Rehoboth Beach, DE, in support of a high school friend and attending the Walk to Defeat ALS, I stopped in at the Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association in time to capture this shot as the Sun was dropping below the horizon.

Sometimes nature provides you the perfect shot and you just need to be lucky enough to be there with the camera running and looking in the right spot. Taken a couple hours earlier than the next one, this thunderstorm was captured looking to the southeast from the dam at Lake Ashby near Warrenton, VA.

This is a composite of four images capturing two thunderstorms looking east from H. M. Pearson Elementary School near Calverton, VA, taken just before midnight.

Found this critter hanging out in a pine tree sapling I have growing in my garden. Had the 150-600mm zoom lens on the camera and decided to give it a try. He was nice enough to remain still for the portrait shot.

Update: Click here to see him feeding on a Mud Dauber wasp on August 23, 2021.

I captured this image of the fog rolling in over the trees late on a Saturday night at the Wakefield School in The Plains, VA, while experimenting with the equatorial tracker in anticipation of the Perseid meteors the following week (though, the weather here did not work out for those). Click here for a version with some of the stars labeled.

Managed to get the equatorial tracker working correctly for this 2-minute exposure of the Station as seen moving right to left (from the west to the south) before fading into the Earth's shadow at the bright star, Antares, at the head of Scorpius. Shot was taken from a ball field at the Wakefield School in The Plains, VA. Click here for a labeled version of the image.

So, this was a "happy accident." I was supposed to be using my new equatorial tracker to get a 5-minute track of the Station with the stars fixed. Well, forgot to turn it on and started shooting too late. Hence, the faint line starting above the storm moving left to right. This is just about 3 minutes of the trek. But, the storm put on a great show for a couple bolts protruding from the clouds and certainly would not have gotten them as clear and sharp if the tracker was moving with the stars. Polaris, the North Star, is in the upper right corner of this frame hence, everything farther from it moving faster/greater distance over the length of the exposure.

Rising out of the southwestern horizon, passing through the eastern most stars of Libra and just to the west of the claws of Scorpious, and exiting overhead to the east, this is a composite of 6 shots covering a span of about 3 minutes as viewed from Hazelwood Drive in Nokesville, Va.

The one photo that I think sums up our 17-day road trip across the country and back. By this time he were driving a new car yeah..... Click the Cross Country Road Trip for a short summary and gallery of some of the shots I took during the trip.

Not long after sunset as viewed from the dam at Lake Ashby near Warrenton, VA, the pair put on a very nice showing in the painted sky after a rather dreary day in the area.

Rising from beyond the horizon to the west-northwest, passing over Mars (the first bright object to the lower left of its trek) and Regulus (the brightest object very close to the trek about 2/3 up), reflecting more sunlight and heading to the south as viewed from the dam at Lake Ashby near Warrenton, VA. This is a composite image covering about 4 minutes before the Station moves out of view and disappears into the Earth's shadow.

Shot just after sunset while looking to the east from behind The Nokesville School in Nokesville, VA. This is a composite of 5, 30-second shots as the Station makes its trek from the northwest, passing over the bright star, Vega, in the center of the image and fading over the horizon approaching the binary star system 72 Ophiuchi. I think the moving clouds added a nice dimension to the scene.

Like I said, and those of you that have been here a while know, it is that time of year and I do like shooting these little set-ups. Shot on my family room mantle.

Patience and good timing paid off as the Sun was beginning to set to the west and this image presented itself out my driveway to the east.

Spring is certainly taking its sweet time getting here, if you were to judge by temperature. But with the longer days comes the blooming of the flowers and wonderful combination of colors and misty mornings. This is from my front yard garden.

If you've never been in Washington, D.C. late at night, when the streets are quiet and the crowds are non-existent, I highly recommend it. It's eerily quiet especially, if you're familiar with what it is like on a typical work day. Yes, COVID is helping out right now to keep the crowds away, but.... In any case, with the nearly full Moon and a clear evening, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. So, here you go!

So, it was a little bit of a trek in the middle of the night and into the early morning to a very comfortable parking spot at Horst Farm Market in East Earl, PA, but there is not another Station transit of the Moon "nearby" for at least the next month. And with the Station at a relatively close distance of 480 km above the ground, I thought it was worth it. See what you think. Total transit time was less than .7 seconds, so very happy that I got five shots from which to compose this image.

This shows the five frames that make up the composite of the Station's transit in front of the Moon as seen from Horst Farm Market in East Earl, PA, just after midnight on March 27, 2021. The time sequence is left to right as the Station moves from top right to bottom left across the face of the Moon.

This 2 1/2 minute composite tracks the Station as it enters the frame from the left in the constellation Cassiopeia thru the body of Draco before disappearing over the horizon with the Big Dipper looking on in the upper right and the 14th Brooklyn Monument of the Manassas Battlefield in the foreground.