Saturday, July 29, 2017

Moon Occultation and Messier Objects Again

We went to the Observatory Friday night.  I cleaned my camera sensor for the first time since I bought it....  It REALLY needed it!

I used a heater around my refractor for the first time ~ it worked very slick =)  I stayed out photographying until about 1 AM.  There was a heavy dew on my gear cases but my lens was dry.

While photographing the Moon for some Earthshine, I accidently filmed an occultation?



Can't get too much of M31














The "Teapot" was in a GREAT spot for photographing...

The Lagoon Nebula, M8, at various exposures








The Trifid, M20





Love those globulars!  M22




Whirlpool Galaxy, M101







Thursday, July 27, 2017

Another ISS Lunar Transit =)

Tonight out at the Witte Observatory with Carl I "caught" the ISS on video tape passing in front of the Moon <3

The website I use is transit-finder.com

Still Images....


Real Time.....




Friday, June 2, 2017

Taking Clear Skies When I Can Get Them

Tonight the Moon is a bit past first quarter, so I thought I might as well image it =)




So VERY photogenic!


Saturn and its pretty tipped rings <3



Using M92 to play around a bit with my autogider....


I was about ready to pack it up and the scope bumped up against the mount while I was photographing.  I think it's a very striking photo ;-)



Lunar Occultations versus the Clouds!

I seemed to "fight" the clouds for two recent occultations.  Not really sure if I "won" or not =)

Sunday, May 28; Lunar Occultation of 74 Gem.  These were taken through my 6" refractor.



Amidst the clouds I thought the Moon's looked pretty cool too.  Here's a closer look.



Then on Wednesday, May 31 I tried again to capture the Moon passing in front of 47 Leo.  It was so cloudy I decided not to take the time / energy to set up my scope, so here's what I captured using my camera on my Polarie.




Miscellaneous Pics and Videos....

School's finally out for summer and I'm enjoying a bit more "scope time" ~ in particular getting used to my new FeatherTouch focuser <3

I had never ever thought about imaging Polaris, but it's a double.... how fun!


Jupiter and it's moons


M51 (Again =)




Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

March 4 Moon Occults Aldeberan

I wasn't real prepared.... but I was out at the Observatory and had my camera to capture this awesome occultation of Aldeberan by the Moon <3

Witte Observatory Complex =)

I haven't posted in a while..... but rest assured I'm getting closer to using the new Feather Touch Focuser I bought.  I'm working on getting a shoe so I can mount my Star Sense (I'm lost without it...) then I'll need some clear dark skies ;)

In the mean time, here's a link to our Witte Observatory new Facebook page =)

https://www.facebook.com/WitteObservatory/