Star trails from a few years back at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. This was looking North towards Orlando and, let me tell you, the Christmas season air traffic was not a joy to deal with when I stacked these exposures.

Rep. Massie dropped a bomb: Billionaire John Paulson, top GOP donor, bankroller of the Speaker, and Trump’s campaign, is in Epstein’s black book. This is why they’re terrified of a full release. The truth won’t just expose Epstein. It will expose the powerful who enabled him.

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

An important reminder at the start of Pride month. Queer and trans people’s lives are in danger as radical right-wing extremists have been and continue to be emboldened by this administration. The rhetoric that Trump and those like him have used has consequences.

This is really depressing. Will we ever learn to vote against the people using fear to manipulate us for more than a generation?

I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.

As of this morning I could only see posts up to the 28th and now her most recent post on Facebook shows up as March 25th. I’m not sure what’s going on but now isn’t the time to be uninformed. Follow @hcrichardson.bsky.social on Substack instead.

Another day, another Trumpster fire.

Find joy in the simple things

This administration clearly doesn’t care about “law and order” when they’ve gone out of their way to deprive human beings of their lawful due process rights. If these were all gang members, it’s for our courts to decide that based on the facts, not on tattoos and the color of someone’s skin.

It’s spring ephemeral season in the SC Piedmont. Enjoy these Spring Beauties I saw on a hike last week.

Trump’s 2nd term reminds me of the 2013 Black Mirror episode, “The Waldo Moment”? A cartoon bear is used, unwittingly at first, against a politician. Waldo is brash, rude, and relentlessly mocks his opponents and it eventually becomes an anti-candidate and nearly wins. 1/🧵

A photo of the very best girl.

Here’s what my telescope is imaging lately. The Seagull nebula in the constellation Canis Major.

Lo siento, pero it’s apparently a crime to speak Spanish in public now. A grandmom, mom, and a toddler were all taken to a detention center by ICE and they’re Puerto Rican (which means US citizens for those who don’t know). Dios mío.

I missed a couple of clear nights this week due to some health issues and now, when I’m feeling up to getting the telescope going, I’ve got clouds. 😭

Here’s what an image looks like straight out of my astronomy camera. I’m currently gathering light on the Lower’s Nebula and another nearby nebula that I’m still trying to find info for. This is a single 5-minute hydrogen alpha exposure with a 3nm filter. Everything is shot in B&W and color mapped.

Members of my family died fighting Nazis. I’m sure he’ll say this was “just a joke” and that he’s just baiting libs but this kind of garbage should never be something you joke about. His past comments about Nazis and his support for AfD seem to indicate this isn’t a one-off fluke or a joke.

This looks like an amazing series.

The Gamma Cygni Nebula (IC 1318) The second image is a starless version. Feeling nerdy? You can view acquisition details and a higher resolution image on Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/r3xdiu/

What a treat tonight! We got to see the #lunar #occultation of #Mars during the first full moon of 2025, the “Wolf Moon.” An occultation is just a fancy way of saying that, from our perspective, Mars appeared to slip behind the moon. #timelapse #astronomy #astrophotography

I want to finally wade into planetary imaging this year after years of focusing on nebula and galaxies. Those with experience, what our your favorite scope/camera combos for planetary?

This is Sharpless 171 in the constellation Cepheus shot in narrowband and combined using the Hubble Palette. It’s a really striking nebula with prominent elephant trunk formations and I love the depth that this color combination shows. #astrophotography

And, we women astronomy lovers created a tight-knit group for ourselves on Instagram and I'd love to see that here on Bluesky as well. Here's a #womeninastro #starterpack. Many are members of STELA and all are passionate about #astronomy or #astrophotography. Always looking for more to add.

A month in the making, I've got my #astrophotography #starterpack ready for sharing finally with more than 100 making the list. Some of these are folks I was connected with on Instagram and some are new and all are lovers of astrophotography. If you have any additions, please share in the comments.

The circus tent vibe with the flag framing is a stroke of genius. Doug Mills really is a master of photo composition.

The eyes of a dog who’s demanding that you give him the food bowl he refused to bother with at breakfast an hour before dinner. Never mind that I was trying to work at the time.

“…supporters are more than a little seduced by Jarret’s talk of making America great again. He seems to be unhappy with certain other countries. We could wind up in a war. Nothing like a war to rally people around flag, country, and great leader.” Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents, 1998

As we enter another four year slog with Trump at the helm don’t forget: He’s the king of “flooding the zone with shit” as his former adviser used to say. All I know is, the crazier the things coming out of his mouth are, the more people should be paying attention to the news he’s trying to bury.

With #UnitedHealthcare in the news, I’m reminded of my family’s own saga with them. My husband was injured in a cycling accident and they refused coverage when he was hospitalized for a concussion and broken collarbone that required surgery. 🧵

LOL. In case it wasn’t already obvious how much foreign governments have been using X to manipulate Americans, here’s a great example. I really wonder how the 2024 election would have gone if we still had Twitter as it was before it became X.

The Owl and the Surfboard Pictured on in the bottom left, the Owl nebula (M97) is a planetary nebula while the Surfboard Galaxy (M108) is a barred spiral galaxy. #astrophotography #astro

I absolutely love autumn in my wonderful little town. The mural in view is ‘Dreamer’ by Darion Fleming and is a great part of Rock Hill’s Main Street.

This was photographed from FL’s Kissimmee Prairie Preserve back in Dec 2021 looking West about an hour after sunset. A cone zodiacal light is beaming toward the planet Jupiter with Saturn also in the cone a bit below. The comet Leonard is also visible in the lower middle-left. #astrophotography

Enjoy this photo of my derpy, ball obsessed, Australian Cattle Dog named Luna. I’d love to connect with other ACD owners or even just people who love their pets. My family also has a Shiba Inu, Bearded Dragon, Western Hognose snake, Veiled Chameleon, two Crested Geckos, and 18 lovely chickens.

Is it just me or has Goodreads made it next to impossible to download your data? I’m trying to switch to using StoryGraph and none of the guides I’m finding either from StoryGraph or Goodreads are accurate about how to download my data. 1/

Where are all the astrophotography lovers on here? If that’s you, please follow or comment so I can give you a follow! Here’s an image of the Eagle Nebula that I photographed. You can view my equipment and acquisition details on Astrobin. www.astrobin.com/ps76u4/ #astronomy #astrophotography

Enjoy this view from a particularly peaceful morning a couple of years ago. I was camping with my family in Florida’s wonderful Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park and having spent the night photographing the night sky was greeted with a lovely sunrise surrounded by wildlife. #photography

First post here so let me introduce myself. I post under my personal account and saramcallisterphoto on Instagram and Facebook and McallisterS on X. I run a creative studio (mostly photo and video production) and enjoy astrophotography (wide field and deep space) as well as gardening, gaming, etc