# 9 | Jupiter Meets the Moon
On the night of Friday, February 22, 2002, anyone who looked up at the Moon would have noticed a bright "star" slightly below it. The "star" was actually the planet Jupiter and came within 1/4 of a degree of the Moon.
Les Welgan of St. Catherines, Ontario noticed a break in the clouds around 9:00pm that night and quickly set up his equipment to take this image which shows both the brighter North Equatorial Belt and the more faint South Equatorial Belt on Jupiter.
# 8 | Eerie Aurora
October 21, 2001 was the first night of three large auroral displays that occured this fall to the delight of nightsky watchers.
Luke Hendry's eerie photo taken from near Bancroft, Ontario shows how framing in the scene an object as simple as a stark tree can dramatically add to the mood of an aurora shot.
Luke used an Olympus OM-10 camera with a 28mm Vivitar lens on Fujicolour Press 800 film with an exposure time of 40 seconds.
# 7 | Leonid Earthgrazer
During the Leonid meteor shower this past November, those who were outside early in the night may have witnessed many meteors crossing huge portions of the sky. Called "Earthgrazers", they quite often blaze across the sky producing a dazzling array of colours as they burn up in our atmosphere.
Michael Vasseur and Pierre Martin took this twelve minute guided photo using a 50mm f1.8 lens with Fuji Superia 800ASA film when they traveled to Spruce Knob, West Virginia to watch the Leonid meteor shower.
# 6 | The Heart of Orion
The Orion nebula, or M42 as it is commonly known to amateur astronomers, is a vast stellar nursery located 1,400 light years away.
Visible as a hazy grey patch using binoculars, when seen through a telescope the nebula appears to come alive with detail.
Photographs show even more detail and the true colours that the human eye cannot perceive.
Sayuri Kubota and Richard Fortier used their 10" equatorial mounted Newtonian reflector telescope to take this guided 38 minute shot with Fuji 100 speed film.
# 5 | Streaks in the Sky
The morning of November 18, 2001 will be one that is remembered by thousands of people. The Leonid meteor shower lit up the sky with meteor after meteor streaking overhead to the amazement of all who watched.
Rick Stankiewicz of Peterborough, Ontario opened his camera shutter for 20 minutes and let the stars of Orion and Taurus drift through. Rick caught one brilliant meteor streaking below Orion. How many more faint meteors can you see?
# 4 | Third Time's a Charm
Fall 2001 will be remembered fondly by aurora buffs. Three sensational auroral storms left many stargazers in awe. The display of November 5th was reportedly seen as far south as Texas and southern California.
This colourful shot was captured by Steve Irvine of Big Bay, Ontario on November 5, 2001. The aurora was so intense that even moonlight didn't hinder being able to see the show. Jupiter is the starlike object seen slightly below the Moon.
Steve used a 28 mm lens at f2.8 for 15 seconds with Fuji Superia 400 print film.
# 3 | Dancing At Dawn
During the last few days of October and the first week of November, early risers may have caught this splendid view along the eastern horizon at dawn. Venus and Mercury appeared to hover together for over a week, being closest to each other on November 5th.
Sherman Williams photographed the pair with an Olympus 3030 digital camera on a tripod from near Avonport, Nova Scotia on October 31, 2001.
Exposure details:
93mm lens, f2.8, 1/3 sec, ISO 200.
# 2 | Fire in the Sky, Part II
Two consecutive Sunday nights in October gave nightsky watchers beautiful auroras to observe and photograph. The second show, occurring on October 28th, was photographed by Dominic Cantin from Quebec City, Quebec.
"It was an incredible show!" raves Dominic.
Photo details: 28 mm, f2.8 for 25 seconds using Kodak Supra 400.
# 1 | Auroral Storm
On the night of Sunday, October 21, 2001, a brilliant aurora was visible over Canada and parts of the northern U.S., the result of a solar flare released from the Sun on October 19th.
Todd Carlson shot this image from 45 minutes north of Toronto, facing south, directly towards the light pollution of the city. "Never before have I seen an aurora go so far overhead before", reports Todd. "I expected the lights of the city to wash away the aurora but to my surprise they did not".
Notice the aurora almost is as far south in the sky as both the cresent Moon just above the trees and Mars, slightly above the house.
Details: Fuji 800, 28mm, f2.8, 25 second exposure,
7:45pm, Goodwood, ON.