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Starlink Train
As I was setting up for the night I looked up and was surprised to see this in the sky! They lasted for maybe a minute or two before leaving the sunlight.
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Crab Nebula
This is a very poor shot of M1, the Crab nebula. It is a supernova remnant. The supernova was recorded in 1054 by Chinese astronomers. I was having equipment trouble and unable to track well, so this is an incredibly short (and therefore noisy) exposure and the stars are a little wonky.
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M43 and M66
I got another shot of M43, but with a bit of M42 included and a lot less noise. M66 is my first galaxy image. This is about 12 minutes of exposure.
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Nearly Full Moon
This is the first time I’ve been able to point my SCT at the moon. It’s definitely a bit of an improvement over the smaller scopes I’ve been using.
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Mars!
It was only 4℉ out but it was clear so I took some time to try out my 8″ SCT now that I have it better collimated. Mars was high in the sky, so I got a good view of it despite looking straight through the jetstream. This is the first time I’ve resolved surface…
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Jupiter, Saturn and some DSOs
Looking back through my data I realized I missed getting this night posted. This includes my first (and so far only) Saturn image! Looks like I got M36 that might as well although my focus and collimation were bad.
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First light for my C8 SCT!
It’s been overcast for weeks, but I had a few hours of clear skies to finally try out my new scope and camera. A NexStar 8 (8″ SCT from 1999) and a ZWO ASI178MC. The long focal length and tiny sensor are best for planetary, but the seeing was rough. I tested it out on…
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Two surprise ISS sightings!
We were out waiting around a fire for a Christmas tree lighting and parade when I spotted the ISS passing overhead. It passed somewhere near Mars. Later that night it went by again! I didn’t note the time but it probably was about the 90 minutes difference you would expect given the orbit. I think…
