Neil Butcher Photography

Neil Butcher Photography I'm a rural Iowa photographer who shoots all kinds of things, but this page is dedicated to images a

I'm a rural Iowa photographer who shoots all kinds of things, but this page is dedicated to my images and information about Astronomy and Astrophotography, including Deep Sky Objects like Galaxies, the Moon and Planets, and Widefield Nightscapes!

It's amazing how beautiful the open night sky can be! This was shot in the middle of Summer, during the best time to sho...
10/28/2018

It's amazing how beautiful the open night sky can be! This was shot in the middle of Summer, during the best time to shoot this part of the Milky Way from Iowa (toward the galactic core), but the high humidity, pollen, grass fires, and crop dust leave most of the few clear nights shrouded with haze and awash with light pollution. Not this night though; It was a breezy 50°F (10°C) with near pristine viewing conditions, aside from the beautiful airglow and the relatively dim lights in the distance. On nights like these, you can easily get lost in the nebulosity of the Milky Way, staring into the seemingly infinite. (This is reposted due to a Facebook glitch that deleted the original, so feel free to like and share again! )

This is a composite of 2 separate images: a single exposure for the foreground, and a 10-exposure stack for the sky, combined together after shooting. The tripod wasn't moved between shots, but the foreground was shot a couple hours after the sky, resulting in more ambient light to work with. The sky has also been moved slightly downward relative to its actual position as seen from this location.

Feel free to like/share the photo with your friends and make sure you like the page if you want to see more photos like this! Keep looking up!

There aren't many of these old truss bridges left in Iowa, and of the ones that are left, most are denoted as historical...
10/10/2018

There aren't many of these old truss bridges left in Iowa, and of the ones that are left, most are denoted as historical artifacts, left in place just long enough for the occasional traveler to explore before they're dismantled and replaced. Although this very remote bridge has been here for almost a century, it's likely that only a few people have ever seen the area like this... Scenes like this are special and reserved for those who wander... (This is reposted due to a Facebook glitch that deleted the original, so feel free to like and share again! )

It's worth checking out the image in full screen so you can experience the full immersive effect. You're welcome to like/share the photo and make sure you like the page if you want to see more like this! Keep looking up!

Watching a total solar eclipse is an amazing experience. If you haven't witnessed this breathtaking phenomenon for yours...
08/21/2018

Watching a total solar eclipse is an amazing experience. If you haven't witnessed this breathtaking phenomenon for yourself, I encourage you to add it to your "bucket list" :). This is from the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, as seen from Orin, Wyoming. (This is reposted due to a Facebook glitch that deleted the original, so feel free to like and share again! )

This photo shows the first rays of sunlight creeping over the edge of the moon just after totality. You can see large, fiery prominences protruding from the solar surface and the usually-invisible corona traces bright lines along the magnetic fields that encompass the sun. To the naked eye, this stage of the eclipse becomes reminiscent of a beautiful diamond ring - its jewel shining brightly, tangent to the striking, silvery circle of light that surrounds the disk of the moon - What a beautiful sight to behold.

Feel free to like/share this with your friends and make sure you like the page if you want to see more photos like this! Keep looking up! :)

This is an extreme HDR rendering of the moon eclipsing the sun, created from photos taken during maximum totality of the...
09/27/2017

This is an extreme HDR rendering of the moon eclipsing the sun, created from photos taken during maximum totality of the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse. You can see long coronal streamers extending farther than 6 solar radii away from the sun, with the moon lit purely by earthshine. This beautiful scene is far beyond what our eyes or cameras are capable of seeing all at once, due to the extreme differences in brightness between the brightest and darkest parts, but with some work, we can compress much of that down into a single, viewable image. The bright star Regulus is seen to the left of the sun/moon pair and a fainter star in the constellation Leo is visible on the right.

Feel free to like/share this with your friends who may be interested (which is highly encouraged!) and make sure you like the page if you want to see more photos like this! Keep looking up!

Here you can see some key phases of the total solar eclipse from August 21, 2017. In the center and surrounding area is ...
09/09/2017

Here you can see some key phases of the total solar eclipse from August 21, 2017. In the center and surrounding area is an extreme HDR rendering of the moon eclipsing the sun, created from photos taken during maximum totality, with long coronal streamers extending visibly farther than 6 solar radii away from the sun. The bright star Regulus sits below the sun/moon pair and two fainter stars are only just visible. The sunspots that were apparent then are clearly seen here. In some ways, these spots are like a fingerprint; They serve as a distinct marker for all photos of this eclipse, easily showing anyone exactly what date the photos were taken on or which eclipse the images are from.

Feel free to like/share this with your friends who may be interested (which is highly encouraged!) and make sure you like the page if you want to see more photos like this! Keep looking up!

Hello, Moon! This is a single-exposure photo of the new moon in full earthshine, taken near midday on a warm Summer morn...
09/07/2017

Hello, Moon! This is a single-exposure photo of the new moon in full earthshine, taken near midday on a warm Summer morning from high in the hills of the western United States. By definition, a new moon is the lunar phase when the moon isn't visible because its apparent position is so close to the sun, with the sky washing out the moon entirely. The only time you can photograph the new moon with surface details is during a total solar eclipse, in the very short minute or two of totality, as the moon blocks all the direct sunlight to the observer. The light illuminating the moon is sunlight that has reflected off the earth and back onto the moon - this is called earthshine.

The extreme intensity of the sunlight creeping around the moon is still bright enough that even the camera can't cope with such values, resulting in the over-exposed circle of white surrounding the moon. The bright streaks are faint coronal streamers, too dim to see with the naked eye against the bright sunlight. Three stars in the constellation Leo are visible in the background - Regulus is the brightest of the three, visible toward the bottom-center of the frame, with another faint star toward the lower-right of the image, and the faintest visible to the upper-left of the moon. Many other stars, constellations, and at least 4 planets were visible at the time this photo was taken. It's very strange to see such familiar nighttime companions coming for a visit in the middle of the day, but now that I've been part of such an experience, I will be patiently waiting, counting down the time until our next midday encounter.

Feel free to like/share this with your friends (which is highly encouraged!) and make sure you like the page if you want to stay updated! Keep looking up!

During the very short minutes of totality, the sky turns to an eerie dark orange and the bright solar corona demands att...
09/02/2017

During the very short minutes of totality, the sky turns to an eerie dark orange and the bright solar corona demands attention as an intense silver, almost blue circle around the pitch black disk of the moon. The wildlife and even the insects take notice. The magical colors and the contrast between the brief seconds of totality and the few minutes before or after can not accurately be described with words or photographs; it's as if you're in a dream.

This photo was taken immediately after totality, just as the sun began to emerge from behind the silhouette of the moon. Photos taken right at this time during a total solar eclipse exhibit what is known as the diamond ring effect, for obvious reasons. The star below the eclipsed sun is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation of Leo, which appeared bright and vivid with naked eyes during totality.

Feel free to like/share this with your friends (which is highly encouraged!) and make sure you like the page if you want to stay updated! Keep looking up!

There's nothing like the company of wildflowers and a cool breeze on a warm night under the stars, the air filled with t...
08/12/2017

There's nothing like the company of wildflowers and a cool breeze on a warm night under the stars, the air filled with the sounds of Summer: the subtle chirping of crickets and a thousand other insects, the droning of frogs in the distance, the local coyotes and owls calling out to each other across the fields. Summertime in southern Iowa is beautiful; what better way to spend a peaceful night than in the solitude and tranquility of the night itself?

This is a composite image created from two separate photos; one for the sky and one for the foreground. Although the Milky Way does sweep across this area of the sky, it would appear much further down than this in a single exposure from this location. The sky was shot earlier in the night to retain the galactic core region and positioned purely aesthetically for the final image.

Feel free to like/share this with your friends and make sure you like the page if you want to see more photos like this! Keep looking up!

07/29/2017

There aren't many of these old truss bridges left in Iowa, and of the ones that are left, most are denoted as historical artifacts, left in place just long enough for the occasional traveler to explore before they're dismantled and replaced. Although this very remote bridge has been here for almost a century, it's likely that only a few people have ever seen the area like this... Scenes like this are special and reserved for those who wander.

It's worth checking out the image in full screen so you can experience the full immersive effect. Feel free to like/share the photo and make sure you like the page if you want to see more like this! Keep looking up!

06/30/2017

It's amazing how beautiful the open night sky can be! This time of Summer is the best time to shoot this part of the Milky Way from Iowa (toward the galactic core), but the high humidity, pollen, grass fires, and crop dust leave most of the few clear nights shrouded with haze and awash with light pollution. Not this night though; It was a breezy 50°F (10°C) with near pristine viewing conditions, aside from the beautiful airglow and the relatively dim lights in the distance. On nights like these, you can easily get lost in the nebulosity of the Milky Way, staring into the seemingly infinite.

This is a composite of 2 separate images: a single exposure for the foreground, and a 10-exposure stack for the sky, combined together after shooting. The tripod wasn't moved between shots, but the foreground was shot a couple hours after the sky, resulting in much more ambient light to work with. The sky has also been moved slightly downward relative to it's actual position as seen from this location.

Feel free to like/share the photo with your friends and make sure you like the page if you want to see more photos like this! Keep looking up!

Naked Eyes on the Milky Way -This is what the Milky Way really looks like. In this series of images, you can compare the...
06/23/2017

Naked Eyes on the Milky Way -

This is what the Milky Way really looks like. In this series of images, you can compare the differences between what the human eye sees in the sky and what a typical photograph looks like, both edited and straight-out-of-the-camera. This was shot in beautiful southern Iowa.

I often get asked what the Milky Way really looks like or how well you can actually see it in the sky, even from people in my local area. This is a great example and gives a relatively accurate view of what one can expect to see on a (mostly) clear night from a dark site (during Summer months in the northern hemisphere). It may appear a little brighter or fainter depending on the atmosphere and your eyes' sensitivity, but this is a good example for those who've never seen it. Monitor settings and calibration vary wildly across devices, so the naked-eye image may seem darker than it should on your screen.

If you or someone you know wants to know what the Milky Way really looks like, this is a great set of images for showing just that. Feel free to share this post with anyone who wants to know about these things! Clear skies and keep looking up! :)

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34 U.S. 18
Douglas, WY
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