Bode’s Galaxies (M81 & M82)

Domey McDomeFace’s days are numbered, I’m afraid! Our property is up for sale, and hopefully its new owner will continue to use it to produce amazing images of their own. Meanwhile, I’m taking advantage of every clear night I can, while we’re still here. Here’s one of my favorite objects: “Thor’s Helmet” or NGC2359. Like…

Jupiter and Saturn both reached “opposition” over the summer, meaning they had their closest approach to Earth for the year. Florida’s summer weather conspired against photographing the planets at that time, but the skies finally cleared last night. They’re not at their closest, but… they’re close enough. I think this is my best Jupiter image…

This edge-on spiral is around 40 million light-years away within the constellation Coma Berenices. Lots of satellite and background galaxies to explore around it! Zoom in, and travel back in time – hundreds of millions of years.

In these short summer nights, I want to take advantage of every moment of darkness. Right now, the galaxy M100 is up in the hours before midnight, and the “Tulip Nebula” – formally SH2-101 – rises just as M100 sets. So for this past week, I’ve been imaging both objects. But no more clear skies…

Now that our new backyard observatory is up and running, and we’re under darker skies than in our previous home, I’m revisiting some galaxies I’ve imaged before to see how things compare. Galaxies are tough… any amount of light pollution or moonlight really limits your ability to capture faint, wispy details. But the less light…

I don’t know why the press has latched onto the name “the green comet” for C/2022 E3 (ZTF) – most comets are green, and it’s too dim to see any color at all if you’re viewing it through binoculars or a telescope. But through 2 hours of total exposure time, the colors do emerge, and…