Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS)

The goal of my hike today, a nicely tailed space visitor straight from the Oort cloud. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) highlights the sky at dusk, with the Milky Way as its background. Below, and (luckily for astrophotography) well hidden by clouds, the human-made lights of the local villages surrounding Lac de Joux and Lac Brenet compose and pair well with the remaining sunlight.

Dent de Vaulion, Vallorbe, Vaud, Suisse

October, 2024

A short window of a night sky

Haunted by unfavorable weather, heavy clouds coming in from the West, yet still clinging to a chance fed from a forecast of a short window of clear skies in the opposite direction, I raced the clouds towards the closest mountains Northeast of Cork. In the dark, a short hike, all the way up to Knockmealdown Mountain’s Sugar Loaf, and smack right into a dense cloud. No visibility upwards or anywhere really, except the blurry whitish of my lamp reflecting upon the dense mist surrounding me. I dropped the gear, put up a stove and got my hot cacao going… At least, tonight, I could have that.

And once again, in this unforeseeable symphony of Irish landscapes, the winds came to play, along with a sudden drop in temperature, pushing all the moisture to the ground, dragging the mist to lower altitudes. On the horizon below me, the surrounding towns were now blurry strokes of reflected light. Above me? Above me was something else… an entire galaxy unfolded, with Jupiter and Saturn dancing in the foreground, and sporadic meteors fading into bright light. The sights were only scarred with already too many man-made communicating clunks of shiny metal and solar cells.

Knockmealdown Mountains, Co. Waterford

2020, July

Comet Neowise plus some celestial firework…

A glimpse of a clear night sky in Ireland, with her winds toned down to a soft breeze. Above, a gibbous moon shining South, closest planets circling the hemisphere, some human amalgamations of metal shining in unnaturally slow trajectories, and an unexpected comet surging North… Wait, what? Comet?!

Had to get myself on top of a mountain, far, far West, away from man made lights and bound to seek only those that have been filling the darkness and myths, for ages beyond senses.

On a starry sky, emerging over the landscape, there it was, an unusual shape, a blemish of light in the dark sky, bright in its core, dragging a flamboyant tail. A rewarding sight and reason enough for the drive and experience, memory already in the making.

I set the camera, attached optics, pushed buttons in an exploratory sequence, capturing the scarce photons into bytes, a hope of digitizing the sight.

In the hour that followed, what happened goes beyond imagination. Emerging below the comet, behind the far mountains, a surge of noctilucent clouds rampaged across the entire landscape, exalting light, colors and tones worthy of a William Turner painting. The clouds cradled the comet, as if blessing its astronomical voyage. The beauty of this night landscape now deeply impressed my mind. I wasn’t expecting this. I would be happy just for the comet. There’s always light. Sometimes, we just need the darkness to see it.

Mount Gabriel, Mizen Head, West Cork, Ireland

July, 2020

Torc Waterfall

Yes, the most photographed waterfall around here. I arrived at this location mid-afternoon. The place was as crowded as it could be. I ended up not even trying to photograph anything and took the forest trail around the Northern face of Torc Mountain. On the return path, with the Sun already set, I ended up returning to the waterfall. 
Depleted of leaves, tree branches framed the impressive waterfall perfectly, involving it dark shadows. In contrast, the water reflected the dim light, just barely enough for the exposure. I enjoyed the rare solitude of this place at dusk.

Killarney (Cill Airne), Co. Kerry, Ireland
2019, January

Summer nights

A panoramic nightscape, taken from the trail that leads to the submerged village of Vilarinho das Furnas, in the heart of Peneda-Gerês National Park. Even in a clear summer night, the dam’s reservoir and the surrounding autochthonous forests fill the valley with moist air, creating clouds that quickly dissipate with the wind. While this region is fairly deep in Homem River’s valley, when facing West, light pollution from the nearby villages and the large city of Braga dominates the horizon.

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, July

Lullaby

So… first, for the appropriate soundtrack for this moment, click here. Secondly, I have seemed to have disturbed a friendly wolf-spider in its most natural environment: my bed!

Para uma banda sonora apropriada a este momento, clicar aqui. E, aparentemente, importunei uma amigável aranha-lobo no seu ambiente mais natural: a minha cama!

Wolf-spider, Aranha-lobo-radiada (PT) – Hogna Radiata

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2016, Outubro

Standing bright over the darkness

This is an exposure of the Milky Way, rising over the hills of Sintra. The moment includes a very clear sign of the technological achievements by mankind, in a brief passage of the International Space Station. It stood very bright over the darkness.

Esta é uma exposição da Via Láctea, enquanto surgia sobre as colinas de Sintra. O momento incluiu, também, uma demonstração clara dos avanços tecnológicos da humanidade, numa passagem breve da Estação Espacial Internacional.

Sintra, Portugal

2013, Outubro

Twilight at Anta de Adrenunes

From where Anta de Adrenunes stands, and after sunset, city-lights overcome the dim light of nightfall. The 90º view panorama uses 5 pictures taken with a wide zoom lens.

Do local onde a Anta de Adrenunes se erege, e já após o pôr-do-Sol, as luzes citadinas enchem o horizonte sobrepondo-se à luz ténue do anoitecer. Neste panorama de 90º, recorri a 5 fotografias com uma objectiva grande-angular.

Sintra, Portugal

2013, Março

Adraga's nightsky

Even in a very favorable night with clear weather and no moonlight, it’s hard to find spots for night sky photography around Lisbon. This was for the practice, for the trip and for the company (and some greasy picanha’s pitas at late hours).

In this photo, most of what I did was in the opposite direction of what should be good practices for this kind of photography: sea level, near a large city, camera pointing at public illuminated road and (though not seen), Cabo da Roca’s lighthouse on the other side of the ridge blazing through the sky. It actually worked well, even if I’m unhappy with my post-processing skills.

 

Praia da Adraga, Colares, Portugal

2012, July

Sintra’s nightsky

First attempt at nocturnal photography. I’ve found and framed a very nice composition with Ursa Major dominating the skyline and trees reflecting over a lake. The sky had some low height travelling clouds, reflecting the city lights behind me and providing good fill illumination bellow. They gave an interesting dynamic to the sky but also hidden most of the stars.

Anyway, I reckon that this photographic technique is very demanding, getting good exposures needs a lot of practice and post-editing goes beyond witchcraft stuff. Challenge accepted!

 

Lagoa Azul, Sintra, Portugal

2012, July