A Private Astronomical Observatory in Central Florida
The great astronomical event to close out the less-than-stellar year of 2020, was the exceptionally close pass of the two largest planets in the solar system; Jupiter & Saturn. The closest alignment appeared just a tenth of a degree apart and lasted for a few days in the southwestern sky. On the evening of December Read More …
Here is the Milky Way from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. The North American Nebula is visible in the center of the image. Capitol Reef had unbelievably dark skies, and the basic constellations were lost in the swath of star clouds. Image Info Canon 6D on a tripod, ISO 16,000, 30 seconds, Canon 16-35mm Read More …
Here is Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) over the Grand Canyon in Arizona. In this image the canyon illumination was created by a waxing gibbous moon, probably about 80% full. Click on the image for a larger version. Image Info This is a single frame image, taken with my Canon 6D on a tripod, with Read More …
This is the Milky Way from Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. There’s tremendous detail in this image! Here is an Annotated Version. That’s Jupiter there on the left, with the constellation of Sagittarius just to the lower right – it looks like a teapot. The upper left area is the Scutum star cloud. On the Read More …
Here is the North American Nebula (NGC 7000), and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), taken from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. I used my iOptron SmartEQ tracking mount for this image. See this post about the portable astrophotography system. Click on the image for a larger version. Image Info Again, this image was taken Read More …