May 10th, 2024 was a night I will never forget. A X-class solar flare made a direct hit on our planet and sparked aurora as far south as Cuba. Fortunately skies were mostly clear and there were early warnings from observers in southern Europe that a major event was in process. Millions of photos were […]
Two years ago the sky went wild Read More »
Just a quick snap with iPhone 16 from the helipad on Christmas night. Phone cameras keep getting better and better. An overexposed crescent moon shows the limitations of the standard phone camera and software.
Starry night at Balsam Read More »
If you are looking for the ultimate astronomy gift for a young (or older!) adult, consider one of the new crop of “smart telescopes”. Although I would prefer that a young person start with a good pair of binoculars or a small non-computerized telescope (like a Dobsonian), a generation that grew up with smart phones
Smart telescopes for Christmas Read More »
To crescent moon will be passing in front of the Pleiades (also known as M45, Subaru and the 7 Sisters) in the early morning hours this Sunday. Binoculars or a small telescope will show you a pretty sight beginning around 3:00 AM. Both will be low in the western sky so find a high place
Moon and the 7 sisters Read More »
It’s that time again for my annual reminder about the importance of reducing outdoor lighting. The night sky has been slowly getting brighter over the 14 years we have been at Balsam. It’s mostly due to the growth in our neighbor towns and communities but Balsam residents can do their part to preserve the night
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) lit up our skies this past October and was visible to the naked eye and easily photographed with phones. I took a series of images with the big scope and finally got around to processing them. About two hours to capture and ~10 hours of processing and learning Pixinsight produced a
I installed a new color camera recently and finally had good weather conditions to give it a try. Also known and M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy is in the constellation Triangulum and is the third largest member of our Local Group of galaxies after the Milky Way and Andromeda. It’s 2.7 million lightyears away and consists
The Pinwheel Galaxy Read More »
Could this be a cloud blown all the way from the Cape from the SpaceX launch this morning? It was seen at the same spot in the sky all the way from Atlanta to BMP indicating its at a very high altitude. Go out and take a look to the east at about 45 degrees
SpaceX launch cloud? Read More »
You have to see the amazing site of Comet C/2023 A3 (ATLAS). While there are almost always comets visible in a telescope, one gets to naked eye visibility only about once a decade. ATLAS will be back in about 10,000 years if you miss it! It’s getting higher and more visible over the next few
Comet ATLAS is visible to the naked eye! Read More »
Ok, I missed this one. I got a text from Barry Halevy at 1:30 this morning which did not wake me. I should have known that a big solar storm brought the “k index” up to 7 which is major but not quite as the k 9 level we saw back on May 10th. Here
Another aurora in NC! Read More »
