Tag Archives: Williamson Valley

Solar 03/25/2016

This was taken with the Lunt 80mm solar telescope in its “double stack” mode.  In this mode you are able to obtain images with a bit more definition.  A thousand images were stacked to form the final image. The line in the photo is most likely a solar filament of cooler material on the surface.Continue reading “Solar 03/25/2016”

Seagull Nebula – Three Panel Mosaic -Version 2

This nebula is now setting much earlier. I still need a little more imaging in the upper portion. Hopefully the next few days will offer an opportunity to complete the H-Alpha portion of this project. So far the total imaging time is about 15.5 hours.  It looks like a color version will have to waitContinue reading “Seagull Nebula – Three Panel Mosaic -Version 2”

David Earl and his loader

Almost three years ago 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots died in a horrific fire in our area. Since then, the county has been making sure that local housing areas are protected from wildfires. Today David Earl was clearing the State Land behind our home and observatory. Thanks David!

Messier 81 & 82

From Wikipedia: “Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode’s Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to Earth, large size and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy’sContinue reading “Messier 81 & 82”

Messier 78

From Wikipedia… “The nebula Messier 78 (also known as M 78 or NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year. M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group ofContinue reading “Messier 78”

Horsehead and Flame Nebulae

From Wikipedia: The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is farthest east on Orion’s Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The nebula was first recorded in 1888Continue reading “Horsehead and Flame Nebulae”