Nightsky imaging, part1

During christmas, only one night (!) was clear to take some nightsky photos. These three following images were took at place, which is quite a free from light pollution (ie. Vesanto at central Finland). After my eyes had adapted to darkness, the sight was really beautiful. Milky Way was very clearly visible, and no moonlight at all. Dark areas were easily seen.

Natures sounds was really interesting to listen: owl on the near forest, sounds of ice movement on the nearby lake, dogs barking on the neighborhood, water flowing on the small river and low temperature cracking sounds from trees. Interesting experience indeed...

One sound I was not able to recognize - it sounded like mixture of laughing and barking with a hoarse tone in it. I suspect it could be either Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) or Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes). If someone knows this sound, leave a comment...

Orion, Hyades cluster and Pleiades (M45).
Big Dipper at northern sky.
Cygnus and Milky Way.

New type of halo found

At 5th December 2008, couple of web sites informed about new halo type, that was discovered by Marko Riikonen, at northern Finland. It is located below Moilanen arc. See discussion and images about this topic at:

Tähdet ja avaruus -news
Ice crystal halos - blog
Tähdet ja avaruus 8/2008 -magazine
Atmospheric Optics - Les Cowley

Nikon EH-6 secrets, part2

On my previous post #1 about Nikon EH-6, I described alternative supplies for powering DSLR. Since many Nikon models have been released after that, I summarize current situation:

Compatible with EH-6 supply:
D3
D3x

Not compatible with EH-6:
D700 - uses EH-5a/EH-5 supply
D300 - uses EH-5a supply