Author: Dave Hearn

This exciting development was discovered when I was reading the article in Sky & Telescope about the impact of a piece of space debris on the Moon during the Lunar Eclipse. When I examined my raw image data I saw the unmistakable flash point of the meteoroid impact on the surface of the moon. It Read More …

We had a very successful imaging run for the Total Lunar Eclipse on the night of 2/20-21. The weather was iffy with a cold front passing through Central Florida the afternoon of the 20th. We had rain and some pretty heavy wind in the wee hours the night before. There were even some clouds floating Read More …

This is a wide field image of Messier 108:  The Surfboard Galaxy, and Messier 97: The Owl Nebula, both to the lower right of the bright star Merak in the constellation of Ursa Major. Messier 108 (also known as NGC 3556) is a barred spiral galaxy, and Messier 97 (also known as NGC 3587) is an 8,000 year old Read More …

This is Messier 97, better known as the Owl Nebula in Ursa Major. This objects is a planetary nebula located approximately 2,030 light years from Earth. When William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, observed the nebula through his Leviathan telescope in 1848, his hand-drawn illustration resembled an owl’s head. It has been known as the Owl Nebula ever since. The nebula is Read More …

Here is a target that I have wanted to capture for a long time: IC 2118, better known as the Witch Head Nebula in the constellation of Eridanus, found just to the lower right of Orion. In the image above, the bright star is actually RIgil, or Alpha Orionis, so the constellation border is just Read More …