This website is mainly dedicated to astronomy, covering the solar and planetary observations to the deep-sky photography. There are also some sections treating some effects linked to the Earth atmosphere, like lightnings and rainbows. All pictures have been taken by the author. In the case of download and further use, please simply mention the source. This page is temporarily devoted to our solar system including eclipses, to astrophotography without telescope, to the comet C/2020 F3 (Neowise), which was the astronomical surprize of the summer 2020, and to the famous solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.
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Minimal configuration used to immortalize the partial solar eclipse. Up to 16% of the solar disc was occulted by the Moon.
Coordinates: 47° 07′ 24″ N, 7° 02′ 47″ E, elevation 1435m, corresponding to the center of the Parc Chasseral. Beginning of the eclipse at 9:16 UTC, maximum (16%) at 10:10 UTC, end at 11:05 UTC.
Setup: Canon EOS M6 + EF 400mm f/5.6 L + Ext 2x III + filter Marumi DHG ND-100000.
Equivalent focal length 800mm. Settings for the solar images: Exp 1/1600s, f/16, ISO 200. Time: 9:45 UTC and 10:26 UTC.
Source of the map: Der Sternenhimmel 2022, Hans Roth. Das Jahrbuch für Amateurastronomen. Kosmos Verlag, 2021, ISBN 978-3-440-17084-7.
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The Andromeda Galaxy, the Milkyway at Moonrise and the Cygnus Region with the North America Nebula (NGC 7000)
All three pictures were taken from
Prêles
at an altitude of 820m in July 2022 with a minimal setup based on an SkyWatcher Adventurer mount, without autoguiding by Antoine & Michel Willemin.
First image (M31): Cooled camera ZWO ASI294MM Pro + Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. Exp 15x 10s, 200mm, f/2.8, Gain 390, -19°C, July 25, 2022, UTC 0:00.
At least two other galaxies are also visible: M110 & UGC394 of magnitude 8.92 & 15.12 respectively. Limit stellar magnitude is 16.0.
Second image (Milkyway at Moonrise): Canon EOS R5 + Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM. Exp 10s, f/4.0, ISO 6400, July. 18, 2022, UTC 22:48. Single shot despite the presence of the Moon, without tracking.
Third image (NGC 7000): Cooled camera ZWO ASI294MM Pro + Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM + Filter Astronomik Hα, 12nm bandwidth. Exp 17x 30s, 70mm, f/2.8, Gain 390, -19°C, July 25, 2022, UTC 0:39.
Field of view: 15.3°x10.6°. Click here for a better-resolution and logo-free image.
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Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune well aligned. Mercury and Uranus are swallowed by the lights of dawn.
Pictures taken from
Prêles (Switzerland)
on June 12, 2022. On a single exposure and without using extreme image processing, it is challenge to immortalized simultaneously bright and faint planets.
Venus has a apparent magnitude of -3.9, Mars +0.6, Jupiter -2.4, Saturn 0.7 and Neptune +7.9. According to the Pogson's law, the brightness ratio between Venus and Neptune is exceeding 50'000x.
At that time, Venus was only 1.3° above the horizon.
Click here for a label-free image.
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The total phase of this exceptional lunar eclipse was unfortunately not visible from Switzerland due to the lights of dawn.
Pictures taken from
Prêles (Switzerland)
on May 16, 2022.
Setup: Canon EOS R + Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM.
First image: Exp 1/1250s, 200mm, f/5.6.
Second: Exp 0.5s, 200mm, f/6.3.
Third: Exp 4s, 145mm, f/8.
Fourth: Exp 2s, 200mm, f/8.
Fifth: Exp 2s, 200mm, f/8, about 10 minutes before totality, which was rendered invisible from Prêles due to the sunrise. All at ISO 2000. This event has been referred
to by some media as a « super flower blood moon », but this is not a scientifically-recognized term.
Press clipping: Journal du Jura  , edition of May 17, 2022.
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The Whirlpool Galaxy, the Rosette and the Horsehead Nebulae immortalized through a telephoto lens
All three pictures were taken from
Prêles
at an altitude of 820m on February 27-28, 2022.
Setup: Cooled camera ZWO ASI294MM Pro + Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM + Filter Astronomik Hα, 12nm bandwidth for nebulae images.
First image (M51): Exp 20x 5s, 200mm, f/2.8, Feb. 28, UTC 22:08.
Second image (NGC2237): Exp 10x 60s, 200mm, f/2.8, Feb. 28, UTC 21:52.
Third image (IC434): Exp 5x 120s, 200mm, f/2.8, Feb. 27, UTC 19:33.
Wide-field image of the Orion region including the emission nebula Barnard's loop.
How to properly fit a conventional cooled camera to a Canon optics or other photo lens: Document written in French 
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Orion dominates the sky towards the Southeast
All three pictures were immortalized on November 20, 2021 from
Chasseral
at an altitude of 1607m. The Moon illuminates the stratus of the Swiss Plateau and the Alps.
Setup: Canon EOS R + Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. First image: Exp 5s, 24mm, f/5.6, ISO 5000, UTC 22:26. Second image: Exp 6s, 24mm, f/6.3, ISO 5000, UTC 22:52. Third image: Exp 5s, 24mm, f/6.3, ISO 5000, UTC 23:32.
Press clipping: Journal du Jura of November 23, 2021. The pictures could perfectly
fit your PC desktop. Fell free to download them.
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Saturn, Jupiter and the Sun through a small and old 80mm achromatic refractor
Our Sun and the two giant planets were immortalized on October 24, 2021 from Prêles (BE), Switzerland.
In comparison, the
small dot representing Earth has been added.
Basic setup: Vixen 80M (910mm, f/11) + ZWO ASI462MC camera. For the solar image with zoom on the sunspot group AR 2887 taken at UTC 13:50: Herschel Wedge
Baader, ND 0.9 ‐ Exp 30x 32µs, Gain 90 ‐ AutoStakkert! 3.1.4 for image stacking.
For Jupiter (UTC 17:50 ‐ Exp 50x 80ms, Gain 106) and Saturn (UTC 20:03 ‐ Exp 500x 100ms, Gain 270): Barlow lens TeleVue 2.5x Powermate ‐ RegiStax 6.0 for image stacking and processing.
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The Milky Way and
several Messier objects immortalized through a wide angle and a telephoto lens
All these photographs were taken on the night of July 11 to 12, 2021 from Prêles (BE), Switzerland. The two main disturbances limiting image quality
are the light pollution and
the growing number of artificial satellites.
The relatively small city of Biel was illuminating the sky in the east till an altitude of about 45° (top right).
Satellites on low Earth orbits (LEO, i.e. below 2000km) are
almost everywhere in the dark sky. On a wide field image (bottom left), it becomes almost impossible to get rid of traces of satellites.
Taken into account those disturbances, getting a clean wide field photograph of the center of our Galaxy remains
a challenge from Switzerland. Click here for a better-resolution and logo-free image.
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The Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) from Chasseral (BE), Switzerland
Setup: Canon EOS R + 135mm f/2.0 L USM, Settings: Exp 1.6 s, f/2.2, ISO 6400, Time: July 11, 2020, UTC 21:21
The largest source of light pollution is emitted by the cities of Montbéliard and Audincourt (France), located at 45km.
On the bottom right corner, the village of Saignelégier (JU), Switzerland, is clearly visible at a distance of 15km.
As foreground, the multiple red dots at the bottom of the image are wind turbine beacons.
Press clipping: Journal du Jura of July 14, 2020.
Le Franc-Montagnard and
Le Matin of July 15, 2020.
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The Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) from Chasseral (BE), Switzerland
Setup: Canon EOS R + 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM on Skywatcher Star Adventurer travel mount.
Settings: Exp 13 s, 200mm f/2.8, ISO 5000. Time: July 18, 2020, UTC 21:04.
The dust tail (the brightest) and the gas tail (faint and opposite to the Sun) are clearly visible.
Please click here for getting the image with the highest resolution.
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The Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) from Prêles (BE), Switzerland
Setup: Canon EOS R + 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM on Skywatcher Star Adventurer travel mount.
Settings: Exp 13 s, 200mm f/2.8, ISO 6400. Time: July 20, 2020, UTC 21:29.
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About two and a half minutes of Black Sun
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The Solar Corona @ UTC 17:45 from Glendo, Wyoming, USA
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/8 s, f/11, ISO 400, Time: August 21, 2017, UTC 17:45
One hidden star on this picture? Yes, but there are much more than only one. Please click here to identify more suns!
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Solar Eclipse's Crescent and Prominences during Totality
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The Eclipse @ UTC 16:51
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/800 s, f/11, ISO 200, Astrosolar Filter (density 5) Sunspots are clearly visible. |
@ UTC 17:39
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/1600 s, f/11, ISO 400, Astrosolar Filter (density 5) |
@ UTC 17:44
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/60 s, f/11, ISO 400, Astrosolar Filter (density 5) In this extreme phase just before the totality, the profile of the mountains of the Moon is visible, called Baily's beads or diamond ring effect. |
@ UTC 17:46
Totality of the Eclipse Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/250 s, f/11, ISO 400, filter removed |
@ UTC 17:46
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/500 s, f/11, ISO 400, filter removed In this extreme phase just after the totality, the light from the photosphere reappairs strongly, but the tiny prominences remains visble mainly in emission Hα. |
@ UTC 18:29
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/800 s, f/11, ISO 200, Astrosolar Filter (density 5) |
Earthshine during the Eclipse
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Earthshine, the Solar Corona (atmosphere of the Sun) and Regulus @ UTC 17:45 from Glendo, Wyoming, USA
Setup: Canon EOS 100D + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/4 s, f/11, ISO 1600, Time: August 21, 2017, UTC 17:46
The lunar maria become visible. (Reference image: Wikipedia)
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A Special Magic Stamp dedicated to the Eclipse
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The U.S. Postal Service is hosting the national release of its first-ever heat-sensitive thermochromic stamps during a summer
solstice event Tuesday at the University of Wyoming Art Museum.
Please click here or on any stamp to see the animated GIF, illustrating the thermochromic ink. |
The site of Glendo, Wyoming, USA, located precisely on the path of the totality
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Path of the eclipse through the USA on August 21, 2017
Please click here for getting the high-resolution map. |
Exit Glendo on Interstate Highway 25 North |
Observation area in Glendo
Background: a 3km-long loaded coal train |
Camping car of Kathy and Jon | The setup used for taking the pictures | The Senior VP Sales observing | Alternative for observing the eclipse | Huge traffic jam on the way back |
Bonus linked to this eclipse: Download a wallpaper designed for your Samsung Galaxy S10
Special section dedicated to the lake Bienne
and the floods of mid July 2021
If you have any comments, please mail to : michel(at)willemin.li
