I am in the process of transitioning to a new set of photoblog websites. Each site with a different subject focus. Images of the this year’s Montgomery Township Independence Day fireworks celebration can be viewed here: 25-June-2026. For budget and scheduling reasons, the township always has its Independence Day celebration several days before the 4th of July.

Montgomery Township fireworks from previous years: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2011

The post Thursday (25-June-2026) — New Jersey first appeared on David Mathre Photography.

I received NOAA Space Weather alerts that there was a high potential for strong geomagnetic G3/G4 activity for the next few days. Several strong solar flares had ejected charged particles directed toward the earth. It is unusual to see Northern Lights (Aurora) in New Jersey. The last time there was a strong display that I could see from my backyard was on 11-October-2024. I hoped for a chance to view and photograph the northern lights from my backyard again. I checked both the Clear Skys report for the Sourland Mountains, and the National Weather Service local forecast which indicated mixed clouds with some clear skies for the night. I set up cameras with wide angle lenses and a 360° camera to record images over the night. It was cold and windy, so I wasn’t going to stay out all night by myself. Rather let the cameras do their work then download and view the images the next morning. The cameras were set up with external batteries and lens warmers (to prevent condensation on the wide-angle lenses). It seemed like every time I went out to check the cameras there were fast moving clouds and I wasn’t sure if I would get anything other than images of nighttime clouds.

The next morning when I started to download the images, I did see some red and then green colors in some of the images. The following time-lapse videos show the Northern Light display looking straight up and north over my house. During the night there were several displays of both red and green lights starting a little after 20:00. The high winds kept the clouds moving across the sky. The brightest display occurred a bit after midnight. After that the clouds blocked further displays.

The post Tuesday (11-November-2025) — New Jersey first appeared on David Mathre Photography.

I am in the process of transitioning to a new set of photoblog websites. Each with a different subject focus. The Montgomery Township Independence Day fireworks from this year can be viewed here: 26-June-2025.

The post Thursday (26-June-2025) — New Jersey first appeared on David Mathre Photography.

It looked to be a clear night, so I had the Vespera telescopes out to view Venus, the Moon, and several deep sky objects (M31 Andromeda galaxy, M81 Bodes galaxy, IC 434 + NGC 2024 Horsehead nebula + Flame nebula, and NCC 2237 + NGC 2244 Rosette nebula/cluster). I had one camera out with a fisheye lens to capture images for a time-lapse video of the telescopes working the nighttime sky looking south. Also, a Little-planet Starlapse video of the telescopes working the night sky. I will be posting the images observed by the Vespera telescopes in the near future.

Time-lapse video of the nighttime sky looking south. Images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens. Best viewed full screen in a dark room.

Little-planet Starlapse video of the nighttime sky. Images taken with an Insta 360 RS 1-inch camera. Best viewed full screen in a dark room.

Jupiter and its four largest Moons.

I was able to get an image of Jupiter with its four largest moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) with the Vespera Classic telescope. I needed to activate the Expert Mode in the User Parameter settings. Then create a Manual Target — Add manual target by entering coordinates. Create an Object name (Jupiter), Select an Object Type (stars), Select the Pointing type (Direct), Set the Exposure time (1 sec), Select the Gain (1 dB), Enter the Right Ascension (h m s) and Declination (deg, m, s) for Jupiter which I looked up using the Stellarium app, Save and then Observe. I wish there was an Object type for planet, and the ability to select exposure times less than 1 second. The following image is cropped to get a larger view of Jupiter and the four moons.

The post Tuesday (18-February-2025) — New Jersey first appeared on David Mathre Photography.

I missed the sun the last several days due to clouds and snow. Apparently yesterday one of the large sunspots (#3967) erupted and sent a CME (coronal mass ejection) towards Earth with the possibility of a minor geomagnetic storm on Friday. Today, I viewed the sun with a Vespera Pro telescope fitted with a solar filter (250 mm, f/5, 1/714 sec).

The post Wednesday (22-January-2025) — New Jersey first appeared on David Mathre Photography.