In 1995, I spent the equivalent of about $3000 in today's dollars to get a Schmidt Cassegrain telescope & film camera with dreams of astrophotography. Spent MANY hours to net a few barely useful prints of the Moon. Last year I spent $500 on a Seestar and captured this last night after an hour.

Just brought the new refractor outside because it was uncharacteristically clear (especially given how recently this telescope arrived at my house!). The Moon: Clean, crisp and zero false color. Jupiter & moons: Bright, sharp, also no false color The Orion Nebula: Color! In a 100mm scope! Wheee!

Me: Hey, it's clear out today. I'll take my new telescope out and look at sunspots on the Sun! The Sun: No, you won't....

Here is a quick #doublecluster taken with the #seestar S30, last time it was clear. I am currently trying to get this with the #Redcat71 but the weather isn’t playing nice #Astrophotography

Tonight's view of the waxing crescent Moon and Jupiter (with Io and the Great Red Spot). 🔭

With all the downtime I had this winter, I was starting to think I’d fully miss out on the Orion targets. Either way, after 2 months of hardware problems here’s the Horsehead! I’ve always wanted to shoot this one but just never had a good opportunity in the pnw. #astrophotography #photography

I went and did a thing.

Since I've got a bunch of new followers thanks to a quickly snapped photo of the Moon and Mercury last night that somehow blew up, here's an image of the Orion Nebula taken with a Seestar S50. I was glad to be able to edit this to bring out a bit of the blue/green that is easily seen visually.

I managed to capture the Moon and nearby Mercury this evening with my cell phone.

Learned to play Plush by Stone Temple Pilots on acoustic tonight. So that was a win.

First time using equatorial mode with my Seestar S50. Took me nearly an hour of muttering under my breath and wanting to throw the thing into the fence before I read I needed to recalibrate. Okay then. But even after a "good" eq alignment I'm only at 7.5 minutes of frames after 20+ minutes.

My submission for #SuperbOwl Saw this owl back in 2016. Scared the heck out of me too, because when I first noticed it I was, at most, 10-15 feet away. My initial reaction was that it was some kind of wild cat, until I looked more closely (after backing away).

The Sun has fun things happening today. Sunspots woohoo!

My friend who does astrophotography (and has gotten quite good at it) had a 24x36 glass print made of M33, but it didn't meet his expectations so he's having it redone. He gave it to me today. If you look closely in person, the minor flaws are visible. But for my office? It's going to look great.

That's ummm.....that's a really steep temperature drop, isn't it?

It's not easy to get this cat to look at a camera while I'm taking a photo.

I'm calling this a White Christmas. Also grateful I shoveled a lot of the snow from my driveway into that exact spot weeks ago to have this tiny remnant of the white stuff.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate

My wife yesterday: "We will stay focused and get the blinds at Lowes." My wife while at Lowes "Hey, look at that aurora generator! It's only $20." Me: "Well, I hope it looks good...." The aurora generator on our ceiling:

Today is the solstice, shortest day of the year. It is also 3 months before it really starts warming up again, so... Enjoy the bit of extra light each day because that's all you're getting for a while. Happy to be a beacon of joy for you this morning. You're welcome. 😁🤪

I normally am pretty optimistic but I really think 2026 is going to be worse than 2025. I hope I'm wrong. And that's from someone who very much enjoys being right.

It was slightly cool overnight. And by slightly, I mean brutally. And by cool, I mean fricking freezing. It was brutally freezing last night. To be clear, I intensely dislike any weather below 20F.

You can still shine even if you go supernova. Every elemental & energetic particle creating you here is being scattered across the cosmos out there. ——— Witches Broom/Western Veil Nebula & 52 Cygni. Part of the Cygnus Loop, a large supernova remnant ≈20,000 years old & ≈2400 light years away.

I am going to make a thankful statement for next year's Thanksgiving: I will be thankful when I stop receiving 25+ spam voicemails/day from the "Loan Approval Dept" with a $XX,000 loan approval (all from toll free numbers) because holy moly am I tired of deleting them (now 100% unlistened).

This is a 1958-ish Tasco 10TE-5 telescope. This was back in the day when everything about the telescope was made of metal or wood (zero plastic!), and the f/15 76.2mm lens produces wonderfully pinpoint stars. It fits nicely on the "roof" of our stairs next to the hallway, overlooking the kitchen.

Full Moon a few nights ago. A favourable libration and good seeing allowed some great views of the region around the South Pole (roughly indicated by the arrow) Imaged with an 11" SCT at prime focus 🔭

Dueling sundogs this morning.

Well, this is more than I'd wanted to have fall, because shoveling heavy snow isn't fun. At least I kept up with it throughout the day, because shoveling 2-3" four times is better than shoveling 8.5" all at once.

Such is the life when you're gonna get 9 inches of snow.....

It is fun to see exactly when the weather changed last night. (Okay, maybe that's just me.)

My older daughter called me yesterday. "Dad, I only want one thing for Christmas." Me, "Ok, what's that?" Her: "Well, I have everything I need. So I want to go with you and help needy kids get the things they need like clothing and toys so they can have a nice Christmas." So. Proud. Of. Her. 🥹

My view of the aurora last night. (Those are clouds. I saw no aurora last night.)

As soon as the snow stopped, it began melting on the trails and trees, bringing out the bright orange autumn colors... 🧡 #November #firstsnow #nature #photography

4K timelapse of the aurora from my Bortle 8 neighborhood. Sadly, I didn't get the second burst but the first burst was magnificent. Video is too large to upload directly to Bsky. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmUf... #aurora #astronomy #timelapse

if you're wondering if you totally missed out last night, know that there's a possibility of another night of decent aurora chances *tonight* (night of Nov 12) if you can find clear skies

Last aurora photo for this evening.

Perhaps one of the best things about aurora photos is everyone has a different view of it, and so all the images are unique and, to me, that makes them all amazing. It also feels like aurora sort of flattens the otherwise steep astrophotography curve.

I did not expect this now that I'm in the suburbs, but...here's the aurora from my house! #aurora #northernlights #astrophotography

Got a new TV and 5.1 surround system. Here's the first movie we watched (and keep in mind it had to be appropriate for a 7 year old granddaughter). You know what to do now BlueSky...Quote away!!

Thankful for circuit breakers. I'm usually a pretty good amateur electrician, but today I made a boo boo and things went sparky for a moment. I'm good. Everything else is good. House is fine....thanks to circuit breakers.

The Midwest idea of "We normally eat lunch around noon and dinner at 5 or 6 or even 7 but Thanksgiving IS AT 2 PM" will never make sense to me. I grew up on the east coast and my mom was from the Midwest and we ate Thanksgiving dinner at 6 pm like normal people. Yes, I'm complaining.

The USA is the wealthiest country in world history. If we have hungry people, it is because VERY SPECIFIC PEOPLE WANT THEM TO BE HUNGRY. And it's not the sane, empathetic, humane ones. Which reminds me: Billionaires could feed hungry people RIGHT NOW. Instead, they are funding the "new East Wing."

I really hate moving. But....we have moved a lot of things ourselves & some of our bigger/heavier items are being picked up and moved today (not by me, fortunately). So I can see there is a dim, but distinct, light somewhere in the distance where the end of the tunnel just may be, hopefully.

Standard Time forever, please.

These two pictures are the same thing, just arranged differently~ Yellow Local Star (≈8 minutes past) Blue Distant Star Cluster (≈20 light years past) A nebulosity of leaves transfigure photons to nutrients. A nebulosity of cosmic dust swirls in the interstellar medium. my eyes to your heart

This is going to be an absolutely catastrophic humanitarian disaster. I was just in Jamaica this spring. Even US building codes aren't meant to withstand these kinds of winds - 185 mph SUSTAINED! That's EF4 tornado level. And the interior regions may get up to 30 INCHES of rain.

Back on the Spooky Season path… The Witches Broom Nebula last night for you this morning. Absolutely magical. 🔭 #Astrophotography

I've been working hard to get things painted in the new-to-us living room the past couple of days. Why, you ask? Good question! It's all so this used-but-new-to-us Kawai upright piano could set right where it is when delivered about 30 minutes ago.

Happy Friday my loves!🥳 Today is the day! Ahh.🤭 Store will open to email subs at 3pm UK time, public access 24hrs later. Products aren't limited, but I won't be doing this cushion design again for a while, if ever. Baubles will only sell out if I'm unable to get more stock.💜 VHSpaceArt.com 🧪🔭🐡🖌🎨📷

It is a grey, windy, chilly day. Autumn has arrived - late - but well and truly here to stay.