I lucked out in catching Omega Centauri (C80 cluster) low in the North Carolina sky over the ocean in June. From Space Engine: A similar view of M2 from Earth. Here, There & In My Chair: C80 Part of the fun in my journey as "Telescoping Man" the past few years has been spending enough... Continue Reading →
Pleiades -- or at least part of it -- captured in mid-February in one of my first driveway sessions with the Seestar S50. Neighborhood haze and winter light giving things a greenish glow. Another try at the Pleiades, from darker skies in the Big Sioux Recreation Area on a windy March 1. Captured most of... Continue Reading →
Courtesy of National Geographic: Galileo Galilei explains the topography of the Moon, as well as the moons of Jupiter, to two church cardinals. Artwork by Jean-Leon Huens. Here, There & In My Chair: Jupiter Next to Saturn, Jupiter is probably the surest way to get a newbie to gasp when looking at the view through... Continue Reading →
M2 star cluster, photographed from my backyard in September 2024. Here, There & In My Chair with Messier 2 There are, by my count, 42 star clusters in Charles Messier's famous list of 110 deep space objects that are "not comets." And I'll confess: unless you've got a Hubble or James Webb telescope lying around... Continue Reading →
HERE: M1, the Crab Nebula, shot March 2024 from Brandon, SD with my Seestar S50 camera scope. Crab Nebula: Deep Space Objects from Every Angle It's early autumn here in the States. Nights are getting cooler, and darker for longer. And I'm taking advantage of clear, still evenings to plot a few hours course around... Continue Reading →
Give me a clear patch of sky and a moderately-clear spot in the snow and I'll be bundled up and out with my scope. Here are the tools I consult to plan even the most spontaneous nights of observing. Tools of the Trade: Weather, Dark Sites & More By the time my family unwrapped our... Continue Reading →
Though not a view you're likely to get from a home telescope (let me know if you do!) this screen capture from Space Engine of Saturn as viewed on a clear night by a methane lake on its moon Titan sure does fire me up for astronomy! Cultivating Appreciation for the Cosmos OK, so my... Continue Reading →
Awful iPhone photo aside, the way skies lit up on campouts away from the city inspired me to finally invest in a telescope to check them out myself. But I had to suffer through a couple early shortcuts first. Learning from my Early Astronomical Missteps Folks in my family tend to be obsessive. At least,... Continue Reading →
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