May Auroras

Just a quick entry to show one aurora photo from the wee hours of May 11, 2024.

GPS Redux – The Light Pipe Update

Time for another equipment update. The GPS receiver flipped out again and I had to reset it. Seems like a good time to add a light pipe!

An asteroid and meeting new friends

A screen shot form George’s computer, showing the path of the asteroid occultation.

Closing in

Saturn orbits the Sun in about 29 1/2 years and as it does, we see the rings from different orientations. Sadly, the rings are closing up from our vantage point and in fact, they will be almost edge-on in 2025 and will appear to almost disappear. So catch ’em while you can!

Space Dandelion

Appearing as if ready to spread seeds to the wind, this globular cluster is M92 some 27 thousand light-years distant. I took this shot at Norton Cemetery on the night of August 23.

A long Time Ago – In a Galaxy Not So far Away…

Only 21 million light years away, that is…21 million years ago – all was well until it wasn’t. One day brought on SN 2023ixf – a supernova explosion in the Pinwheel Galaxy – M101. We humans are just seeing it now.

Friday night at the Whirlpool

I can never seem to get enough of M51, the beautiful Whirlpool Galaxy, and it was irresistible on another Friday night impromptu stargazing session.

Hunting the Hunter

I couldn’t believe it – finally a chance to catch the great Orion Nebula whilst still in the early springtime sky. The Orion Nebula has been an elusive object. It’s one of the first deep sky objects I tried photographing through my new CPC-800 telescope in 2015. And I did manage to grab a marginally […]

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Martian fly-by

One reason I don’t observe from home often is the narrow swath of clear sky I have through my wooded lot, even in the best conditions. But here, I caught Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) just in time!

The Green Comet

…As referred to by the current news articles. But casting ones gaze through binoculars and even my 8″ telescope yielded C/2022 E3 (ZTF) as – a fuzzy gray star. Good thing camera’s see in the dark!