Starship Asterisk*

Belt of Venus or Anti-Twilight Arch (Shadow of the Earth) In Arizona the sunsets are so beautiful they can at times actually stretch 360° of red - horizon to horizon. As the sun continues to set in the west the red on the eastern horizon rises and is replaced by an intense blue sky. The line betwee...

Tunnel of Lunar Iridescent Clouds Taken 16 Sep 2013 22:19 Sonora Desert of Marana Arizona https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pEeZYjIOcDU/Ujfr5lziYoI/AAAAAAAAJfs/64nr2FMDp0I/w1478-h985-no/IMG_3737.jpg Three of the Last Four Nights with Lunar Iridescent Clouds Taken 16 Sep 2013 22:20 Sonora Desert of...

Lunar Iridescent Clouds again... Sonora Desert Marana Arizona 15 Sep 2013, 19:14 https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g4AAzrAJyGM/UjZsjVc4N5I/AAAAAAAAJcU/_zwnJpAwSTg/w1478-h985-no/IMG_3662.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CKqyJuOwTq8/UjZsjWYHtNI/AAAAAAAAJcc/ukrr0Hny7jE/w1478-h985-no/IMG_3667.jpg...

Lunar Iridescent Clouds. Taken September 13, 2013 21:29 (9:29 PM) taken from the Sonora Desert of Marana, Arizona. The three stars to the left of the Moon are; Albaldah, Omicron Sagittarii , and Xi2 Sagittarii. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-L7D6TFpFkcQ/UjRcqfhJc_I/AAAAAAAAJYE/EZL0bDXMWOU/w1406-...

False Dawn taken September 14, 2013 04:53 AM from the Sonora Desert of Marana, Arizona, USA overlooking the Santa Catalina Mountains. The f 3.5, 30 sec, 28 mm photo was processed for white balance and noise reduction https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-NnutFv_JuAE/UjRWhink1yI/AAAAAAAAJXE/6QK9OKS6on0...

This photograph is a pano of 13 photos. that shows the radial row clouds that covered the sky of the Marana Sonora Desert in morning of August 27, 2013.\ They reached from horizon to horizon. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NZ23PGsydM4/Uh648EUiJzI/AAAAAAAAJDk/s44mvE_CsvU/w1598-h732-no/IMG_2655_s...

Yes those are sunspots not dust on my lens whereas the other bands are cloud variations. We had just enough clouding to filter the sun down for sunspot observations. The photo was taken with no camera attached filters at all. The big one near the bottom of the picture (AR1777) threw an eruption our ...

Milky Way Saguaro https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7ByAHiCaaN8/UbP_B2cUlvI/AAAAAAAAGds/KtNXvHlop9A/w1478-h985-no/IMG_4041.jpg Test/frame image that actually turned into a keeper... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T-WPVK3LScI/UbP_BvZA-jI/AAAAAAAAGdo/-po93EUWqWw/w1478-h985-no/IMG_4036.jpg https:/...

Saguaro Milky Way

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kSrw ... G_4041.jpg

The slope angle and directions of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Southern Arizona create very dynamic wind/convection patterns around the time of sunrise: Also portrayed is a phenomenon called Crepuscular Rays https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JbEOfjZBpx8/UZJUQ6l8z1I/AAAAAAAAGSQ/K4YMLgbS7Os/w1478-...

Super Weather for Super Conjunction
Photo taken (5/29/2013)
Mercury on top, Venus in the middle and Jupiter below
Mesquite tree branches on the bottom

Iridescence on Altostratus Tailing Iridescence is caused by parallel ice crystals driven in a common direction by high speed winds aloft. The tailings have to be thin enough that ice crystals all align in the same direction. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8nl6ldsWbrc/UYhWDGbcUnI/AAAAAAAAGAI/VWP...

Full Moon Over Saguaro (Cirrus Fibratus & Intortus ) A moon lit saguaro cactus, with a sky filled with cirrus fibratus and intortus clouds. As a photographer you have to appreciate just how much light our full moon reflects back to us from our sun. It gives us a little perspective of just how mu...

PenSTARRS

Randall Kayfes

Aldebaran, Moon, Epsilon Tauri, Jupiter

Copyright Randall Kayfes 2013

New Moon Full Comet
PenSTARRS, Moon, Tucson Mountain Range

Jellyfish or High Altitude Virga Sunrise
Virga is rain/snow that never reaches ground. In this particular case mid-altitude winds are shearing off the higher altitude clouds rain/snow fall.

Extreme Mountain shadowing, Raleigh scattering and solar refraction create this unusual image
Sailboat Sunrise

Copyright: Randall Kayfes