An old favorite: NGC 6871
Cloudy winter nights have inspired a second look back at some fun summer targets. Here’s NGC 6871 in Cygnus.
nmbrandt
BFSP 2016 – Cherry Springs State Park Sept 1 – Sept 5
Just getting around to publishing some pictures from the 2016 Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. What a great stretch of weather for PA! The nights weren’t the darkest or most transparent (SQM 21.4-21.5) nights…
Observatory Walls Up!
The dome isn’t far off now!
Observatory Pier Installation
Moved the 68″ tall pier to the observatory deck this afternoon. Progress! I didn’t get the pier into place until after dark so no pictures. It was a chore moving the thing since it’s quite heavy and I didn’t have…
Observatory Progress Update Nov 2016
The site has been cleared, I think I dug out 70+ stumps with the backhoe, 700 feet of electric cable buried, and almost 4,000 lbs of concrete dry mix poured for footers and the telescope pier. The deck is starting…
Green Lasers and Astrophotography
A couple months ago I was playing around with a green laser, typically used by amateur astronomers to point out celestial objects to others, and decided to photograph it in use to see how it would show in a photograph. …
Observatory Site Clearing Update 6/19/2016
Site clearing is now well underway with a backhoe rental. Most of the site is now cleared and a new, more drive-able, road is in place to get to the site. Lots of clean up and grading to do but…
Tennessee Spring Star Party 2016 – Fall Creek Falls
Messier 63 (also known as M63, NGC 5055, or the Sunflower Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici consisting of a central disc surrounded by many short spiral arm segments. M63 is part of the…
Sun Spot AR2529
While playing with the telescope setup this afternoon I thought I’d take a quick shot at the massive sunspot (AR2529) that everybody has been talking about lately. I also grabbed a quick shot of sunspot AR2532 as well.