Night Sky Flying

Night Sky Flying Navigating life by the stars 🌌🌠✨

This is Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system and one of Jupiter's Galilean moons 🌠🔭🌋This doesn't lo...
11/13/2021

This is Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system and one of Jupiter's Galilean moons 🌠🔭🌋

This doesn't look like much, but considering that Io is just a little bit larger than our Moon, so it's pretty cool to shoot a picture of it from earth! I might have even managed to get a little surface detail out of the moon, but it's pretty tough to tell. Either way, kind of exciting! 😀

Gear:⁠
Telescope: Celestron 11" EdgeHD⁠
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX⁠
Camera: ZWO ASI290MC⁠
Barlow: 2x Powermate⁠
⁠
Software:⁠
Acquisition: Firecapture⁠
Stacking: Autostakkert!⁠
Sharpening: Registax⁠
Photo processing: Lightroom⁠

The Moon and Venus, just hanging out one night!I don't recall when I took this, but it's been sitting on the queue to po...
11/10/2021

The Moon and Venus, just hanging out one night!

I don't recall when I took this, but it's been sitting on the queue to post for a while, so here you go.

The core of our Milky Way galaxy! 🌌This here is the dramatic region in the direction of the center of the galaxy. You ca...
11/07/2021

The core of our Milky Way galaxy! 🌌

This here is the dramatic region in the direction of the center of the galaxy. You can see the bright colors and dark dust lanes from the abundance of astro goodness located in this part of our sky. I wonder how many civilizations there are located in this area looking back at us and asking the same question. 😀

Unfortunately I never took darks or flats during this shot, so it's just a stacked image of lights. At some point I will get back to the files and get flats and darks made to process this thing and maybe I'll do a side by side to compare. Stay tuned!

Have you ever considered how empty space is? 🌠🔭The hardest part about space to wrap my mind around is how much "nothing"...
10/30/2021

Have you ever considered how empty space is? 🌠🔭

The hardest part about space to wrap my mind around is how much "nothing" there is out there. It's just a void with these tiny pockets of substance like planets, stars, and dust/gas clouds. I actually think few shots better demonstrates this for me than seeing how far out Jupiter's moons get.

Look at little Callisto out there on the far right. It's just off on its own, about a million miles away from Jupiter (that is 4x further than our moon is to Earth, btw), while gravity just does its thing keeping the two joined in orbit.

And in the space between? Just nothing.

Keep in mind how rare anything really is in the universe, and be thankful for the world you have 😀

Follow: for more astronomy!⁠
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Gear:⁠
Telescope: Celestron 11" EdgeHD⁠
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX⁠
Camera: ZWO ASI290MC⁠
Barlow: 2x Powermate⁠
⁠
Software:⁠
Acquisition: Firecapture⁠
Stacking: Autostakkert!⁠
Sharpening: Registax⁠
Photo processing: Lightroom⁠
⁠

Just another wild looking night with the Moon lighting up the clouds to look like a sunrise on camera 😀Jupiter and Satur...
10/27/2021

Just another wild looking night with the Moon lighting up the clouds to look like a sunrise on camera 😀

Jupiter and Saturn can be seen up and right from the Moon as well!

Solo under the stars! 🌌 Just me and about a billion of my closest friends, having a sleep over.I really do like taking n...
10/24/2021

Solo under the stars! 🌌 Just me and about a billion of my closest friends, having a sleep over.

I really do like taking nightscape images. Compared to the planetary work and deep sky imaging, they are such a refreshing change of pace. Since you can literally go capture these with just a tripod and camera, the whole event lets me feel a bit more in tune with nature.

The hardest part is actually being willing to admit that I need to go to sleep at some point and to shutting my eyes 😀

Gear:⁠
Camera: EOS Ra⁠
Lens: Art 24mm f/1.4⁠
⁠
EXIF:⁠
15", 24mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400 ⁠

Saturn! There so much to love about this beautiful planet. Rings, moons, colored bands of clouds, and so on...I had the...
10/23/2021

Saturn! There so much to love about this beautiful planet. Rings, moons, colored bands of clouds, and so on...

I had the pleasure of showing a few friends the view of our ringed neighbor through a telescope for the first time the other night. It is always a treat getting to see their reactions the first time they view this beauty. 🌠🔭😀

Gear:⁠
Telescope: Celestron 11" EdgeHD⁠
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX⁠
Camera: Zwo ASI290MC⁠/MM⁠
Barlow: 2x Powermate⁠
⁠
Software:⁠
Acquisition: Firecapture⁠
Stacking: Autostakkert!⁠
Sharpening: Registax⁠
Photo processing: Lightroom⁠
⁠

View from the top, at Lick ObservatoryOne of the most fascinating things I learned during the observatory tour was that ...
10/18/2021

View from the top, at Lick Observatory

One of the most fascinating things I learned during the observatory tour was that astronomers used to live on the mountain top as a little community (which is pretty logical if you think about life before the internet). I suspect I would have enjoyed living in a little tight-knit community like that, especially given the views 😀

They even had a community telescope that was separate from the research ones that was there simply for the use of the mountain's residents. It's pretty cool to think about having such a great setup for you and your neighbors.

I took this picture standing on the railing around the dome of the 120" telescope and looking west. You can see some of the old dwellings along with a number of the other observatory domes scattered around the peak.

Milkyway in the desert! ​🌌🌵I had posted a quick phone edit of this image a while back, but I finally got around to proce...
10/13/2021

Milkyway in the desert! ​🌌🌵

I had posted a quick phone edit of this image a while back, but I finally got around to processing it on my desktop.

Things are so peaceful in the desert at night. Once the rest of the world settles in for the evening, the air gets very still and quiet. Sounds and lights carry on seemingly forever, and the stars are so plentiful that you just can't help but stare 😀

Gear:⁠
Camera: Canon EOS Ra
Lens: Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4

EXIF:
15", 24mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400

The clearest night I've ever had with Jupiter! 🔭😀I've posted a couple close ups of this data, but here is the full scene...
10/09/2021

The clearest night I've ever had with Jupiter! 🔭😀

I've posted a couple close ups of this data, but here is the full scene zoomed out to see the moons and planet that were captured that night.

I'll have to say that I'm quite impressed with how absolutely clear these details came out. It is tough to even believe that this is actually an image that I took in my backyard because it really did end up coming out like something you could see in a science book.

Also, for a relative comparison, Europa, the moon on the far left, is only just a little bit smaller than our moon. Jupiter is gigantic!!

Gear:⁠
Telescope: Celestron 11" EdgeHD⁠
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX⁠
Camera: ZWO ASI290MC⁠
Barlow: 2x Powermate⁠
⁠
Software:⁠
Acquisition: Firecapture⁠
Stacking: Autostakkert!⁠
Sharpening: Registax⁠
Photo processing: Lightroom⁠

Saturn against the stars!I like to take my planet shots and sometimes superimpose them onto a starfield image because I ...
10/07/2021

Saturn against the stars!

I like to take my planet shots and sometimes superimpose them onto a starfield image because I think it looks nice and makes a more 3D look in my mind. Here is some recent Saturn data doing just that 😀

Gear:⁠
Telescope: Celestron 11" EdgeHD⁠
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX⁠
Camera: ZWO ASI290MC⁠
Barlow: 2x Powermate⁠
⁠
Software:⁠
Acquisition: Firecapture⁠
Stacking: Autostakkert!⁠
Sharpening: Registax⁠
Photo processing: Lightroom⁠
Composition: Photoshop
⁠
 

Telescope dreams 😀⁠⁠People build some amazing things! This is the 36" refractor at Lick Observatory from my tour that I ...
10/02/2021

Telescope dreams 😀⁠
⁠
People build some amazing things! This is the 36" refractor at Lick Observatory from my tour that I took. One of the workers is seen here setting it up for our viewing session before the lights were turned off. It was so impressive!⁠
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