For those looking west just after sunset until roughly the next couple of weeks, you’re in for a treat. There is a comet visiting the solar system. It is currently as close as it will get to Earth and will not return for another 6800 years. In the coming weeks, it will likely be getting fainter. If you are within the city or even suburbs, you will need a pair of binoculars to see it, but the good news is that it will rise higher and higher.

To find it, identify the big dipper and look just below it. This article has some helpful hints. Another useful resource is Stellarium (https://stellarium-web.org/)

This was my first time back to shooting astrophotography since 2013 when we were hunting Comet PanSTARRS. In the last week, I have been shooting from the city, but haven’t had the best results (progression is below). Shooting in the city with the sky glow shortly before or after sunrise/sunset was the biggest challenge. Getting away beyond the city lights makes an enormous difference.

It’s always fun to blend my favorite hobbies and astronomy, photography and travelling to a remote site makes this a social-distancing friendly activity.

Location: Astronomy club dark site near Atoka, Oklahoma
Time/Date: July 19, 2020 22:40 CST
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS with Arca Swiss lens plate
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Mount: Gitzo G1177M Magnesium Center Ball Head with Really Right Stuff B2-PRO Screw Clamp
Exposure information: 77 x 5 sec lights, 93 x 5 sec darks, 69 dark bias. Photo taken at 200mm @ F/2.8, 12,800 ISO
Stacking: Sequator (align stars, select best pixels to remove satellites and one airplane), Auto brightness, and HDR on. Everything else off.

Processing: Imported into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic. Boosted contrast, shadows, clartiy, dehaze, vibrance, and saturation. Decreasd highlights, whites, blkacks. White balance adjustment towards cooler temperatures, slight tone curve adjustment, HSL sliders to decrease some color noise. Several gradient and radial filters within and around the comet to add contrast and darken skies. Slightly cropped and exported to JPEG.

A longer shutter speed, higher ISO, and wide open lens were used to capture as much light as possible. Because I had no tracking mount, 5 seconds was chosen to push the shutter speed to just beyond the limit of the 500 rule, with a minimal but acceptable amount of star trailing.

Big Bend National Park is a gorgeous and very scenic national park. Secluded from nearby towns, it’s worth the drive from Texas’s major cities. Having visited dozens of other National Parks, it’s quite like any other. The terrain, geography, and different ecosystems are very unique making it a must see. From end to end, you can traverse mountains, forests, deserts, canyons, plains, and rivers.

Hong Kong is crowded, and it’s only been getting busier in the last 5 years in part due to China allowing more tourists and Asia’s overgrowing economy. I think this photo really exemplifies just how many people are in Hong Kong. This was taken after the Chinese New Year fireworks as we were leaving. It was just a sea of people. Visiting Hong Kong over New Year’s was a real treat. It’s the biggest holiday of the year and it’s celebrated for as much as 3 weeks!

This panoramic photo does not do these structures justice. Some of these monoliths are over 600 feet tall. The scale is just staggering and most humbling. I wish we had more time in Moab to hike more of Arches and Canyonlands, but we were able to hit the high points. It was also a very hot summer day. Believe it or not, later this day, it thundered and poured. Weather in these parks is not to be taken lightly as flash floods can come out of nowhere and you don’t want to be stranded.

The Cimu Bridge (also known as the Motherly Devotion Bridge) is a famous landmark over the twisty Laoxi River that carves the marble below. The pavilion atop the frog-shaped cliff was built by a late Taiwanese president in honor of his mother during the construction of the road through Taroko. I really love how this photo came together with the lighting on the bright red bridge on the green and rocky backdrop.

The color in the water is really what Bermuda looks like. The small island is surrounded by a treacherous and shallow inner and outer reef which give it the distinct colors as you look out to the Atlantic. Cruise ships have to be specially piloted in and out of the ports as to not end up running aground (hence the tales of the Bermuda Triangle). The entire island is filled with secluded and unreal beaches. If you think white sandy beaches are unique, Bermuda is known for its pink coral sand which give them an even more spectacular look.

This panorama consists of 7 photos taken by hand and stitched. It’s probably my number one favorite of the year. Ever since I put it together, it’s been my wallpaper on my desktop. At about 40 megapixels, I can’t wait to get it printed and framed. If you’re visiting New York City, you must visit the top of the rock. There’s a long line to get to the top and it’s quite pricey, but well worth it at sunset. It’s very busy and they don’t allow tripods and the glass makes it difficult to work around, but the view is breathtaking. This was shot at ISO 4000, 1/25 of a second, light was fading quickly.

The scale of Utah’s National Parks is incredible. During our three week road trip, we followed the path of the Colorado river as it carved its way through the west. Even just standing atop these ledges can you not even quite comprehend just how far the land stretches in front and below. It’s not something I want to find out, but wow is it breathtaking and makes the hike worthwhile.

This was my second time to visit Grand Teton National Park, but this was a new view that I hadn’t seen before and I was able to stitch together a large landscape to encompass a majority of the mountain range. On the left is Teton in the Cathedral Group, the largest mountain and Mount Moran in the middle, and Bivouac Peak and Eagles Rest Peak to the right. In the foreground is Jackson Lake.

Taken about 1 year ago, this is still a place I want to go back. Belize in general and Caye Caulker even more so is a laid back place. Time moves slower and people enjoy life – each other and the beauty of nature. Caye Caulker has many reefs around the island to snorkel and dive. We were surprised to find so many tourists from Europe and Australia on holiday staying at the many hostels and enjoying the Belizian way of life.

Unlike the signs in Hong Kong, Taiwan conforms more to those of Japan and Korea with vertical signage that is organized and colorful. Hong Kong’s famous signs that stretch across the street are as loud and obnoxious as the streets themselves. I really liked the color and order to the bustling city in this photo.

One of my noted goals from last year was to travel more, and travel more this year I did. Can one ever travel too much? I don’t think so. But there were times I was glad to be home, only to look forward to my next trip. Last year, I flew about 20k miles. This year, it totaled nearly 50% more in flights alone, just shy of 30,000 miles flown on American, US Airways, Southwest, Cathay Pacific, and JAL visiting about 11 different countries – USA, Canada, Mexico, , Bermuda, Japan (layover), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, St. Maarten, Honduras, and Belize. On the high seas, I amassed about 6,700 miles sailed on three cruises (two in the western Caribbean and one to Bermuda). And by car, about 6,000 + miles driven on road trips. Where did I get to visit? Some amazing countries, beautiful cities, and many gorgeous national parks in the US and abroad.

Total Distance Traveled

• 30,000 by plane
• 6,700 by boat
• 6,000 by car

A years worth of incredible journey, memories, and photos … priceless.

Wrapping it up, 2015 was an amazing year with travel, new opportunities, a new job (career really), and countless memories. Last year I wanted to go on more cruises (check), visit more continents (check), and more road trips (check!). I hope everyone has had a great 2015 as well and hope 2016 is even better. I don’t know that I will ever have quite the time to travel as much as I have this year (at least not anytime soon), but In 2016, I hope to visit even more places and spend even more time with family and friends, all the while, learning and experiencing new things!

Goodbye 2015, hello 2016!

  Congratulations Courtney and George!

To go into the park, we booked with Tiffany, a taxi guide, to pick us up from the train station and take us around for the day. If you don’t book with a guide in advance, it’s ok too because there are lots of cab drivers at the station who are very friendly (in a non-pushy way) who will be glad to take you around. We paid a little over $100 USD for the day 7-8 hours of sightseeing and it was well worth it!

On to the park. It’s incredible. The cliffs, gorges, mountains, and roads are like nothing I’ve ever seen. They’re very steep and there’s many different topographic changes throughout the park. Some of the mountain roads are extremely narrow and are only passable by a single lane. Tiffany expertly navigated the park and we were able to hit all the big attractions with many stops along the way for pictures. She was able to take us to all of the places the big tour buses can’t go which was nice because some of the attractions get busy later in the day with tourists. The sheer size and scale of the area is difficult to visualize because it is so grand.

One restaurant I can and definitely recommend is the original Ding Tai Fung on Xinyi Road in Taipei. It’s a small three story restaurant that’s always busy. Go at an off-peak hour (for a late lunch as we did) and the wait will be less. There’s always a crowd gathered outside, but the wait is worth it! There are lots of locations around town and globally, but from what we heard, this was the best.

The skyline is dominated by Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. It’s a very unique structure and the design looks like a stack of Chinese takeout boxes stacked on top of each other.

A must-see and do when visiting  in Taipei is to hike up Elephant Mountain (象山). The trail of stairs begins about 15 minutes just to the southeast of Xiangshan Station, the end of the #2 red line (Tamsui-Xinyi). The best time to go is around sunset for a spectacular view of the city. It’s a twenty minute strenuous hike to the top, but well worth it for the view! It’s a safe trail, well paved, and well lit. Even at night, there were plenty of people walking up and down. The views from the top are better than those from Taipei 101’s observation deck because you get to see Taipei 101 and the rest of the city. It’s also free! After you finish taking in the view, head down to Taipei 101 for dinner which is only a short walk or two MRT stations away.

Xinyi  (信義) / Taipei 101

The Xinyi district is home to Taipei 101. It’s a new neighborhood that I’m guessing got redeveloped after Taipei 101 was built. There’s many new office buildings and several western hotels including a Grand Hyatt and W. Inside and around Taipei 101 is a large shopping mall and large food court. As it was the week before Chinese New Year, it was very festive with year of the sheep decorations.

Shilin (士林)

Jiantan is one of the main stations to visit. Outside the station are many shops and busy streets. This is where we spent the first half of our first day when visiting the National Palace Museum. It has a really neat design that looks like a suspension bridge. At night, the Shilin Night Market opens, and there’s many streets of different food and shops. This is a real fun place to walk around and people watch!

Xi Men Ding (西門站)

Ximending is the Times Square of Taipei. There’s many bright lights, TVs, and people walking about, especially at night. A bit of history behind the area, it was set up as an entertainment, theater,  and business district under Japanese rule. In the main area, you won’t find many street vendors as it’s mostly clothing stores and restaurants.