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Summer Delights on Late May Nights
After two weeks dominated either by the moon or wet weather, it cleared up during the week of May 26. I was able to get outside on the evenings of May 29-30 to do some photography with the SeeStar S50, the little two-inch trumpet of discovery that I’ve had a crush on for the last…
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The Aurora Arrives
I drove 10 miles west to escape the Oshkosh, Wisconsin light dome. Rain moved through the area earlier in the evening, and fog began sitting on its silent haunches. I found a country road and parked at the top of a small hill above the moist air. I used a Pentax K-70 camera mated with…
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Massive Solar Storm Heads to Earth
The plasma is coming. A massive solar storm is ejecting massive streams of radiation, which may intersect Earth this weekend. If that happens, people as far south as Alabama may experience a generational display of aurora borealis, also known as northern lights. Staffers at Rogerdier.com photographed the sun this afternoon. “I’ve never seen sunspots this…
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The May Galaxy Hunt Continues
Leo’s Trio I decided to escape the Oshkosh Light Dome Sunday and drove about five miles west to a country road. Multiple astronomy Apps promised fine conditions but it wasn’t as clear or transparent as forecast. What else is new? It was quiet as dark settled over that country road in Winnebago County; the only…
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May Means M51
Friday night on May 3rd revealed mostly brighter stars in the sky over our home on the south side of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. At this time of year, viewed from 44 degrees north latitude, Ursa Major, aka the Big Dipper, is virtually overhead. I took advantage of the clear night and set up the SeeStar S50…
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The Ten Tenets of Amateur Astronomy
Six decades ago, I fell into the splendid misery of amateur astronomy. Along the way, certain natural and human patterns seem repetitious. I’ve identified 10 of them. If you have more, add them in the comments. Of Note The house fire mentioned in the 10 Tenets of Amateur Astronomy thankfully caused no injury to anyone.…
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Dark Day in Doniphan
We rolled into Doniphan, Missouri about two hours before the April 8 eclipse shadow darkened the highway town of about 2,000 people. We found an empty parking lot behind the Doniphan Baptist Church and waited for the shadow. The sky was spring blue, with sprigs of altocumulus clouds the only visible threats to photographic clarity.…
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Three Photos From March 28
If you’re reading this on Monday, April 1, we’re one week away from a potentially spectacular celestial event. Whether you are able to see the solar eclipse on April 8 depends on where you are and what portions of earth are covered by clouds on the afternoon of the day. The path of totality sweeps…
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A Comet Returns
I heard that a periodic comet known as 12P/Pons-Brooks was visible in the evening sky, hanging out in the constellation of Andromeda. So I packed my SeeStar S50, kissed my wife and drove west on Highway 44 to get a little darker sky and a better view of the western horizon.
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Flaming Starfish
In 2024, while photographing the Horsehead Nebula, I discovered NGC 2024, also known as the Flame Nebula. It looks like an earthen flame, but a case could be made to call it the Tree of Life nebula. Either way, it’s a spectacular object with dark clouds of gas and dust that create shadowy lanes that…
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Late Winter Sun Spotting
A particularly interesting sunspot group is currently making its thirteen-day trip across the face of the sun. When I first spotted it a few days ago, both the umbra and penumbra were rectangular shaped, especially the penumbra, which had a state of Iowa feel to it. The two photos at the top were taken on Feb.…
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Williamina’s Horsehead
Before we discuss her horse head, let’s meet Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming. Born in Dundee, Scotland in 1857, Williamina’s intellect shimmered like the Venus over the horizon. Her father died when she was seven. At age 14, to help support her mother and eight siblings, she worked as a teacher. When she was 20, Williamina…
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The Night Sky Clears
It has been a calendar month since the sky over Oshkosh, Wisconsin has been clear of clouds and free of turbulence. I have been as patient as a statue waiting to explore the wondrous winter constellations, but as the nights and weeks ticked by, I began to wonder whether the weather would ever cooperate again.…
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Origins of the Crater Tycho
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO know what phase the moon was in 109 million years ago when a six-mile-wide asteroid slammed into the moon’s southern highlands. From Earth, dinosaurs thriving in the Cretaceous Era would have noticed the conflagration a quarter of a million miles away. For days and nights that followed, major impact debris flying high…
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An(other) Eclipse is Coming!
ON APRIL 8, 2024, we in the Lower 48 will be treated to another total solar eclipse. The band of totality begins in Texas, travels north through Missouri and ends in New England, a truly long snake of suspense. This is the second time in seven years that the continental United States will be treated…
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Cosmic 