Notices by iangriffin (iangriffin@mastodon.nz)

As we entered astronomical twilight this morning at Mount John, I started a 15 minute exposure with my trusty Fujifilm GFX 50SII camera. Quite pleased with the result. Star trails and an aurora, with dawn breaking. #Beauty #astronomy #NewZealand

Just to think. Back in 2004 I left my (then) dream job working at Space Telescope because I didn't want my kids to grow up in George Bush's America. I wanted them educated in a sensible society. If I were a parent in America tonight, I'd be enormously worried at the world that they and their children might wake up to on Wednesday.

Crikey! I won the "smartphone" section of this year's NZ Astrophotography competition with this image of the Mother's day aurora...... Congrats to all the other winners! https://nzastrocompetition.com/winners-2024/ #NewZealand #astronomy #photography

Wow. Tonight had it all here on Mount John. We started in a blizzard of snow and ended the night with a blizzard of solar particles visible in the sky! #aurora #auroraaustralis #NewZealand

Last night's aurora australis here in Dunedin was insane. I shot 4200 images with 5 cameras! Here's one image taken at 23:16 local time #aurora #auroraaustralis #NewZealand

WOW. Just wow. Going through my shots from last night's aurora and found this corker from Hoopers Inlet taken at 21:20. What an absolutely amazing night! #aurora #NewZealand #astronomy

Just for fun, here's a stack of 191 images taken between 18:47 and 19:27 on the night of May 11th 2024. The star trails are somewhat hidden by a blazing aurora! #aurora #NewZealand

Tonight, it was cloudy in Dunedin. Instead of my usual star trail images, I decided to take some pictures in the harbour because the bioluminescent krill were back. Here's a 4-minute exposure showing the dancing krill. You can thank me later! #krill #bioluminescence

Went for a walk with my dog Connie Springer tonight. Spotted some gorgeous bioluminescence in the harbour. Rushed out to get my camera to get a picture I have always wanted to get. From Earth to the stars.... Bioluminescence and star trails! Shame about the streetlights. Imagine what this picture would look like without the awful yellow glow! #DunedinNZ #Astronomy #NewZealand #bioluminescence

So here's another year long exposure showing the sun's motion if you take a picture at the same time every day. it was taken looking West from my garden in NZ. This was taken using an ISO 2 glass 8 inch x 10 inch plate in a pinhole camera working at F/350. one minute exposures were taken every sunny day from July 2023 to july 2024 #analemmaa #analogue #astronomy

Ok peeps advice needed. semi formal dress code. tie or no tie?

Just for fun. I added together all of the images I took of Comet Pons Brooks a few weeks ago. The session was just after astronomical twilight and every single frame I took (68) had at least one satellite trail. To really piss me off, a whole train of freshly launched Starlink satellites joined the "party". This, friends, is the price we pay for "progress". #notostarlink #savethesky

So.. i managed to median exclude the satellites and here's a picture of comet Pons Brooks taken tonight from New Zealand! #comet #ponsbrooks #Astronomy

Oooh ooh... Thank heavens it is Otago Anniversary day so I can process images of the aurora like this one! This was the view from my perch in Hoopers Inlet at 05:37 today #aurora #NewZealand

3 years ago today I flew into an auroral storm in the southern auroral oval on board an Air Nz air liner. Here’s a timelapse taken from the flight deck #aurora #auroraaustralis

Someone asked me today why, despite the lack of national funding, I work in a Museum. For me, it is the excitement of leading a team that does really cool shit that, for example, using local ratepayer funding, recovers multi million year old Moa footprints from beneath a river. Then we science the shit out of them. Yes I'm a bit sweary, but the lack of national funding for this work is bloody annoying. #museums #NewZealand

OK... drumroll... In the run up to midnight on New Year's Eve here in Aotearoa, here's #1 in #ianstop102023 Literally the most beautiful moment of the year. A night I will never forget when I told Mrs. G at sunset "see you in a couple of hours" and ended up coming home after sunrise after a gobsmackingly beautiful aurora show. For 10 seconds at 01:41 on 28th February 2023 my heart sang. Let's hope everyone's heart sings in 2024! Happy New Year Everyone! #beauty #aurora #NewZealand

There is only one game to play on Christmas Eve. that game is QUADRA SCRABBLE. 4 boards taped together. 20 letters. This is war!!! #quadrascrabble

Another image from last night. Reflections of Alpha and Beta Centauri & the Southern Cross on Hoopers Inlet on a night with a beautiful pastel aurora. #aurora #auroraaustralis #NewZealand

wow what an aurora tonight these pics shot on my Iphone!!! from Portobello in New Zealand. WHAT A NIGHT