Alta Via Merano covered in clouds
The Alta Via Merano, located in South Tyrol, is one of the most beautiful hiking trails in Europe. We were particularly lucky since the clouds were about to lift just when we started. This photo shows the last seconds right before that, while to our eyes it was still intransparent. People often ask me how […]
An astronomer in Texas – 10
–part 10 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– Finally, success! Clear, dark skies for science and also for photography. The milky way is fascinating both in the visible and the infrared, but I prefer the mix that is created by this filter and wavelength-sorted with blue corresponding to green, green to red and red […]
The lake of lago di garda
Lago di garda, or lake Garda, is very popular with tourists, particularly from Germany. It is a beautiful lake in the Italian alps. This, however, is just a puddle of water with the actual lake hidden. I like the difference in perspective between how it actually looked to how the camera captured it only a […]
Lightning and full moon
This is the only time I saw a full thunderstorm with partially clear skies and full moon. Taken from my balcony at home, I simply enjoyed the show and let the camera do the work in time lapse mode.
Rain in the alps
With autumn approaching, the stormy season has begun on Mt. Wendelstein where I work as an astrophysicist. Infrared is able to show the structure of the incoming rainclouds with almost no haze, making it look all the more threatening.
Lunar eclipse
While solar eclipses are a class of their own, lunar eclipses are exciting events as well. During last summer, Europe witnessed the longest lunar eclipse of the century and we observed it on Mt. Wendelstein. Right after the main event ended, I used infrared to decrease the contrast between the bright and dark regions and […]
A sea of clouds in the night
Full moon is a good time to attempt night-time infrared photography. This night, while working on Mt. Wendelstein, I was still covered in clouds with only very short moments of clear sight. While I couldn’t observe due to the high humidity, taking photos that night was rewarding enough.
Sunrise in the alps
After a long and productive night observing on Mt. Wendelstein, one of my highlights is watching the sunrise in the morning which announces the end of my shift. Since there is nobody here besides the observer, I put on classical music from Bruckner and sit outside for half an hour while liquid nitrogen is refilled […]
An astronomer in Texas – 1
Astronomy has a few perks, one of them being able to travel to far-away continents (depending on the perspective) and explore locations you can otherwise never access. My main scientific work is the hunt for extrasolar planets and in the context of this, I regularly travel into the mountains of Texas, to the McDonald observatory. […]
An astronomer in Texas – 2
–part 2 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– Having arrived in Texas, our final trip was a drive through the mountainside. While taking photos out of the car is a challenge, the light through the clouds and the pale traces of plant life on the rocky hills made it worth a try.
An astronomer in Texas – 3
–part 3 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– The first time we could see the observatory. The road divides the image and provides a nice visual cue as to the difference of the telescopes: the left one, called HET, is an experimental, modern 10 meter class telescope that however can only rotate and not […]
An astronomer in Texas – 4
–part 4 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– Having reached the top, weather got worse quickly. Here, one can see the HET, which is located on the opposite hill, in more detail. Infrared was able to pierce the fog while visibility was much worse in the visible.
