Astrophotography
Recently I’ve found a couple of services that allow you to rent time on telescopes located in dark sky areas which are set-up for automated remote observation. For my first target, I picked an open...
View ArticleA Beautiful Sight: Saturn at Equinox
NASA has a stunningly beautiful picture out of Saturn at it’s equinox taken by the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. At equinox, the sun shines over the rings at a very low angle, leaving just...
View ArticleMessier 33, The Triangulum Galaxy
I’ve trained a telescope in on a nearby galaxy in the small constellation of Triangulum near the constellations of Andromeda and Pisces. The galaxy is M33 and is a member of the Local Group. I have to...
View ArticleMessier 33 revisited
I have a new version of my photograph of M33, this time with longer exposure for the master luminance (non-color) data. It shows more detail and the galaxy’s disk more extensively. Gallery:...
View ArticleThe Star Formation Regions of M33
In my first post about the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), I mentioned that there were many star formation regions visible in the galaxy. I also pointed out the largest known such region, NGC 604, which is in...
View ArticleA First Look at M101
I’ve started the process of imaging a galaxy designated Messier 101 (M101), often called the Pinwheel Galaxy. M101 is in the constellation Ursa Major, perhaps better known as the Big Dipper. Below is...
View ArticleLunar Eclipse
The evening of April 14/15, 2014 treated us to the first total lunar eclipse visible in Minnesota since December 2010. It was beautiful, even in the midst of the bright city lights in Minneapolis....
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