The (almost) First Quarter Moon

This is actually a LARGE image so to explore the Moon:

First click on this photo to open it in another tab...

(it might take a few moments for the whole image to download... be patient!)

THEN "right click" on that photo and 

select "Open image in a new tab" 

Click on that new tab

Hover your mouse pointer over an area you want to explore

THEN click... and BOOM !!! 

You are hovering over the Moon! Use your mouse to move around !

You can click the image again and it will show you the full image again

then you can select another area by clicking your mouse over it.

P.S. My laptop shutdown due to low battery just when I was almost done

hence the missing piece! 

Hugh Solar Prominences !

Solar Prominences February 24, 2023 with a Coronado PST telescope

I was fighting with focus and glare due to high cirrus clouds but it came out OK.

Lunar Occultation of Mars - January 30, 2023

 

I took this video using the 6" (side-saddled) Celestron refractor

at the Patterson Observatory in Sierra Vista, AZ.

Camera: Canon T3i unmodded in the video mode 5X

ISO 6400 27fps at 1/500 sec shots

(As always, click on the images to see a larger view of them)

Here my take on Mars just before the occultation

using the same camera in the movie mode

stacked using AutoStakkert!4,

magnified and post-processed with Luminar 2018 image program:

Comet ZTF !

 

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF

Here's that comet the media is talking about: Comet 2022 E3 ZTF

This is stack of 10 - 60 second shots taken with my Canon T3i camera body using a 6" RC telescope.

Year in Review - 2022

 

Every year I try to gather some of my favorite images from my astrophotography of that year into one image... enjoy ! All were taken from southeastern Arizona with a variety of telescopes in my observatory.

(Click on the image once or twice to see a larger view)

IC 1848 The Soul Nebula

 

IC 1848 "The Soul Nebula"

10 subs @ 180 seconds

ISO 3200

480mm Daystar Refractor f/6

Modded Canon T3i body

Ok, why "Soul"? I guess because the Heart Nebula is so close someone thought "Heart and Soul" would be appropriate! (Matthew 22:37)

Both of these are near the constellation Cassiopeia (The big "W" of stars that are near overhead in the evening sky about 9 pm).

The visual "size" of this nebula is "larger" than the size of the full Moon but because it is dim one needs photography to see it in all of its beauty!

Heart Nebula - IC 1805

 My first attempt at this nebula IC 1805

between the Cassiopeia and Perseus constellations.

No wonder they call it the "Heart Nebula"!

I removed the stars in this photo so you could see the nebulosity better:

My past processing process resulted in the stars overwhelming the nebulosity

which I didn't like at all. Here's what that looked like...

compare this image with the first and you can see the total difference!

Stars are colorless and bloated. That is why I like my new process!