Observing Highlights 2012

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What our members have observed, photographed and sketched recently.

Mercury-Venus-Moon alignment - Dec 5, 2012

Never stop looking up!

Morning after morning recently, when it hasn�t been raining and with Venus and the Bears watching, Miles and I have searched for a glimpse of Mercury between shifting bands of low-lying cloud and fog � the usual around here and a downside of living near the coast.

At 5:30 this morning, it looked as though today would be a repeat, but wonder of wonders! Ten minutes or so along my usual run route, I had a gorgeous sighting of the whole line-up: Mercury, floating midway between a pair of symmetrical firs, Venus suspended just right of the southern tree�s tip, Saturn a brilliant dot higher to the south in crystal-clear dawn sky, followed by the moon, its awkward gibbous shape fully exposed.

After minutes of gazing (guzzling the sight), I noticed rain drops on by back and that the moon had become thinly veiled, so continued on. Rain didn�t materialize, so I tried for another sighting from the next place with an unobstructed view to the southeast: dense cloud-bank again. But, about 10 minutes later, at the next potential view spot, there was earth�s smallest, hottest sibling again! (Needless to say, I did not see the ice-cap we now know it sports, but I could imagine it!).

So, keep looking for unlikely sights!

I would let you know what I sacrificed last night � if I could remember!

Clear skies,

Dorothy Paul
 


Planetary alignment from Starry Night
Total Solar Eclipse - Nov 14, 2012

The Total Solar Eclipse was observed and photographed by Joe Carr while aboard the Paul Gauguin cruise ship, on the totality track south of New Caledonia in the South Pacific at position 26� 40' S 166� 46.9' E.

Totality only lasted 3 minutes and 1 second, so that was a particularly busy time, however I mostly sat back in my chair and concentrated on taking some photographs with the dSLR and visually observing. Totality was visually stunning and beautiful. The colours around the edge of the eclipse Sun sparkled, and the coronal streamers coming off the Sun in all directions was mesmerizing. About 10 minutes before Second Contact, Venus was easily visible in the sky, and then as darkening continued, Jupiter was also visible. There was a nice display of Sunspots to observe during non-Totality as the Moon slid across the Sun. Diamond Rings visible at Second and Third Contact were very dramatic � this is when the crowd went wild aboard ship (video).

Observing report: http://tinyurl.com/clx4r6n

Joe Carr

Messier 15 - Nov 9, 2012

Taken from the VCO on Observatory Hill using the TeleVue NP-127is, f/5.2; Paramount ME, guided using PhD; imaged with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III,

Charles Banville

Messier 15
Charlie's Moon Study - Oct 13, 2012

This study of the Moon covers lunation from 19 to 24 days, which shows the changing appearance of the craters and other features.

Charles Banville

Jupiter's Great Red Spot - Oct 9, 2012

Jupiter showing its "Great Red Spot". The persistent anticyclonic storm that is responsible has been seen from the time that telescopes were capable of spotting it.

John McDonald

Aurora over Victoria - Oct 8 & 9, 2012

I observed the aurora from Peacock Hill Park, and managed to take some photos. It was mainly a green aurora display close to the NE horizon, however a few spectacular spires showed themselves, and there was a large green arc visible for a while. There was a bit of pink colour above the green, however I expect the light pollution washed out the more subtle colours.

Thanks go to Sherry Buttnor for alerting me to the possibility of aurora, and to Malcolm Scrimger for first spotting the aurora and sending out an alert to our members.

Joe Carr

Comet 168P-Hergenrother - Oct 8, 2012

This is a time lapse video of comet 168P/Hergenrother taken from the VCO.
You can use the HD button to see it full screen.

Thanks to Bill Weir for suggesting it and Charles, Malcolm and Denis for moral support at the hill. I used the QSI and 14" scope on the VCO Paramount ME.

John McDonald

Comet 168P Hergenrother - Oct 8, 2012

Comet Hergenrother, discovered in 1998, recently passed through the perihelion and unexpectedly erupted.

Charles Banville

Comet 168P Hergenrother
Jupiter - Oct 8, 2012

Using the VCO's Meade 14� LX200, f/10 and a 41AF02.AS Imaging Source Camera

Charles Banville

Jupiter
IC1805 & IC1848 The Heart & Soul Nebulae - Oct 5, 2012

Captured with a Borg 77EDII, f/4.3, with Baader Narrowband 7nm H-Alpha filter and a Hutech modified Canon EOS 5D Mark II mounted on a Takahashi EM-11, guided using PhD. Location: the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, BC.

Charles Banville

The Heart and Soul Nebulae in Ha
M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula - Sept 6, 2012

Taken at the Victoria Centre Observatory using the QSI583cs camera on 14" LX200 @ F10 and Paramount ME. Conditions- Clear with 10/10 transparency, calm and 18�C with last quarter moon.

Matt Watson

M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula
Iris Nebula - mid-August 2012

This is an example of what I was able to produce after the work done on the VCO by Matt and myself. I am quite pleased with the final result, but my processing leave much to be desired (I am just learning Pixinsight). I thought I would share so everyone could see.

It is 1h50m of ten minute exposures using the QSI through the 127is. The exposures were guided.

Daniel Posey

Iris Nebula
Cygnus in H alpha - Aug 17-18, 2012

A great night at the RASCALS 2012 Star Party in Metchosin BC. I took light frames using a modified DSLR with and without an H alpha filter and combined them to give this result.

John McDonald

Cygnus in H alpha enhanced color
Wide field image of the region surrounding the Wild Duck Cluster, Messier 11 - Aug 15, 2012

Location: Pearson College Observatory

Charles Banville

Wide field image of the region surrounding the Wild Duck Cluster, Messier 11
Aquila wide field including Barnard's E dark nebula - Aug 15, 2012

A wide field image aimed at the galactic equator in Aquila. Notice Barnard�s �E� Nebula east of Gamma Aquilae (bottom left of image) and the large open star cluster IC4756 located in Serpens Cauda (top right corner of image). Location: Pearson College Observatory

Charles Banville

Aquila wide field including Barnard's E dark nebula
Earthshine from Mt. Tolmie - Aug 15, 2012

Thin Crescent Moon with Earthshine, taken from Mt. Tolmie near dawn.

Charles Banville

Thin crescent Moon with Earthshine
IC59 & IC63 faint nebulae - Aug 14, 2012

Two faint nebulae located north-east of Gamma Cassiopeiae, taken from Observatory Hill.

Charles Banville

IC59 & IC63 near Gamma Cassiopeiae
Occultation of Venus by the Moon - Aug 13, 2012

Although I had taken this week off work partially to observe the occultation I hadn't taken into account the through there wouldn't be perfectly clear sky. With that in mind I want to thank you Alan [Whitman] for sparking me to setup my simple alt/az tripod to the exact location the pair would be 1/2 hr before occultation. When I took my little ED 80 refractor out and set in on the mount Venus was almost dead centre in the 40mm eyepiece (13X). I then aligned my little 6" dob on the same area of the sky and it didn't take long to sweep up the pair also. I had forgotten to figure out focus the day before with the dob but during the morning did a little solar observing with it to get a close approximation and it worked.

I switched back and forth between the two scope as Venus and the Moon approached each other but the actual occultation I observed with the 6" at 100X. It was a fun moment in time.

I had hoped to be able to take a shot at the reappearance but with the sky conditions and only having alt/az setups I decided to let it go.

Bill Weir

Found the pair in binoculars from Cowichan Bay about 11am, then tracked by hand (no DSC) with 9" Dob until ingress. Tried the point & shoot camera through the eyepiece but no luck. Too cloudy to find anything at the time of egress. Cool to watch...thanks for the heads up reminder on this one Bill.

Miles Waite

Perseid Meteors - Aug 11-12, 2012

Aug 12 - I observed about a dozen Perseids in the hour or so I was up at the Victoria Centre Observatory last night with a few others. I didn't get any Perseids in the photos I took, but the ISS streaked across the northern sky past Polaris as predicted a little after 11PM.

Here is my star trails photo to capture the evening.

Joe Carr

Aug 12 - Although there were a few more Perseids the night before, we enjoyed the "show", plus TWO ISS sightings. Joe had his camera set up to catch the meteors. A bit of high cloud but a good sky - We saw M27, M57, M13 and M15, plus others through the 12 inch Dob. Mu Cephei (Garnet Star) as well. I enjoyed meeting Joy - and Brian gave an excellent sky orientation !! In all, it was a great night.

Diane Bell


 

Star trails and International Space Station
Summer Triangle from the VCO - Aug 3, 2012

I love the summer triangle region defined by the three bright stars overhead - Deneb, Altair and Vega. This is a combination of two sessions, one with and one without a 12nm H alpha filter. It is my best effort in capturing this amazingly rich region of the sky.

John McDonald

Summer Triangle from the VCO

Prominences and Sunspot AR1534 on the Sun in Ha - July 31, 2012

The large prominence just above centre in this image started as a flare, and is transitioning into a prom. Sunspot AR1534 is clearly visible 1/3 the way from the bottom of this photo, and has an impressive solar storm swirling around it on the Sun's surface.

Joe Carr

Prominences and Sunspot AR1534 on the Sun in Ha

Arching Prominence on the Sun - July 29, 2012

On July 28th I was out observing the Sun with my little PST. There was this fabulous arching prominence with a little ghost shaped blod dropping off it. My son had left his old Canon Rebel at the house so I decided to see what kinds of shots I could get with it. It seems the answer is So-So.

Bill Weir

Arching Prominence on the Sun

Island Star Party 2012 Astrophotos - July 20-21, 2012

Although the weather during the Island Star Party didn't cooperate, both Joe Carr and John McDonald managed to observe and take some quick photos during some brief periods of clear sky or sucker holes.

bulletWide angle star fields at dusk and dawn
bulletSolar prominence just before sunset
bulletMilky Way
bulletUrsa Major constellation

Island Star Party 2012 event photos

Aurora  - July 15 2012

This aurora was the result of a massive geomagnetic storm early this morning. Not only was it a significant event, but it was equal to many of the great storms of the last solar cycle maximum around 2000-2001.

Sherry Buttnor

Aurora over Victoria - July 15, 2012

Sunspot complex AR1520 and prominences - July 13, 2012

There were several dozen small prominences visible scattered around the Sun's perimeter, and some were spewing plasma into space, however the highlight was the huge sunspot complex AR1520 on the Sun's surface (just above centre in this photo). This sunspot has a delta-class magnetic field which generated an X-class CME towards Earth. Another significant sunspot is 1521 to the right of 1520, which also shows lots of detail (see my other photos).

Joe Carr

Sunspot complex AR1520 and prominences in Ha

Milky Way over Kilauea Volcano's lava - July 6, 2012

Charles and I were in the big island of Hawaii for 3 days. The first evening, we visited the 13796 feet summit of Mauna Kea, the world's largest observatory. I was very surprised to observe the Southern Cross from that latitude (about +20 degrees North). The second day, we visited the Kilauea volcano and images its lava at night from the Mauna Loa lookout.

I uploaded seven images in my folio. I�m very happy with the result of the Milky Way over Kilauea Volcano�s lava with blue painted trees image.

Michel Michaud

Milky Way over Kilauea Volcano's lava

Moonbow - July 5, 2012

I finally made it to the Big Island of Hawaii and visited the observatories atop Mauna Kea. I booked the so-called sunset and stargazing tour with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. My group was driven to the Mauna Kea Visitor Center (9300 ft) where we had supper. We then took off for the summit (13796 ft) and witnessed a magnificent sunset. We spent an hour on top and descended to the visitor center where our two guides set up two Celestron SCT�s.

I had a chance to observe a rare optical phenomenon following my visit of Mauna Kea�s observatories. On the drive down our tour guide stopped abruptly and informed us that a moonbow had formed in the distance.

Charles Banville

Moonbow

Mauna Kea Observatories - July 5, 2012

Michel Michaud and Charles Banville  visited the world-class observatories atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii recently.  In addition to photos of the observatories and sunset, they also took some very interesting photos of the night sky, so browse their online galleries.

Deimos - Apr 7, 2012

Mars' small moon Deimos, taken from the VCO using the Meade 14" SCT operating at f/10 on Paramount ME. Camera: Canon EOS 20Da modified.

Michel Michaud

Deimos

Transit of Venus - June 5, 2012 3PM-9PM PDT

 

What an amazing event! The west coast weather co-operated giving a clear view of the long awaited Transit of Venus. Weather aligning, people gathering and that little dot travelling steadily across the face of the Sun. Congratulations to all who shared and imaged!

In Victoria near the Inner Harbour the transit was coming to a close as it neared the horizon. The clouds hung over like they did during my test shots on Sunday. I'm always reminded of the different view near the horizon. Thicker layers of the atmosphere for the light to pass through gave the Sun's limb a wavy appearance along with the not so round shadow of the planet Venus.

What a show! I could see the public was fascinated by the spectacle, some staying almost the whole time of the transit.

David Lee

Transit of Venus
How quickly things change from gloom to glory. An hour before the transit was due the clouds rolled away and the sun shone with all its might. I quickly made a large sign inviting neighbours into the dome to see the transit and propped it up at the end of my driveway. That resulted in a constant stream of neighbours for the next five hours, around 40 I estimated. Many were children and everyone was in a good mood. The new 12-inch LX200 ACF GPS worked flawlessly and during the entire five hours the sun never needed repositioning. At f10 Venus was quite large and easily seen as were many small sunspots. The filter was home made from a sheet of Baader film cemented to a frame which gave a large, bright view of the sun. Just before the sun sank below the neighbour's rooftop I managed to squeeze in half a dozen images with my camera. It was all together a very satisfying afternoon and I got to know many of my neighbours by name. We should have more transits!

Bill Almond

 
My transit experience started at 4:30 yesterday morning. My initial plan was to head to the mainland in order to give me more options. After analyzing the forecast I decided to stay on the island and went back to bed. I set up my scope at the DAO early in the afternoon and Michel joined me. It was mostly cloudy but I was able to observe the first and second contacts through clouds. Conditions were not improving as the afternoon progressed and we could see clear skies above Victoria. I gave Joe a call and he confirmed that there were no clouds over the city. Michel and I packed up our gear and moved to Gonzales Hill where we imaged the transit. After supper I drove to Mount Tolmie and set up shop by the lower parking lot. I used my TeleVue 85mm and 7mm Nagler eyepiece to observe the transit. The view was good but it was quite windy. About 40 to 50 delighted members of the public viewed the transit through my scope.

Charles Banville

Transit of Venus at sunset
Yes! We viewed from Ridgway State Park in Colorado, and shared with fellow campers. It was great!

Elizabeth & Don van Akker

 
At one point, the wind on the cricket field (in Metchosin) blew my laptop off the table! Despite the wind, Greg and I received ~90 visitors to view the transit, including mayor Ranns and much of the Metchosin municipal staff. All were very appreciative. Thanks, Greg!

Sherry Buttnor

 

Transit of Venus
You can add 49 (at least that's the number that signed my guest book) from the Victoria Centre remote location of the Herbert S. Milne Safety Roadside Rest area, located about 15km north of Red Bluff California. Furthest away visitor was from Maddison Wi. and the youngest was 5 yrs old. It was a fun 2700km whirlwind round trip. Two other seekers of clear skies also stumbled upon this site. One from Bellingham and the other from Portland.

I've dug a few shots out of my old point and shoot and uploaded them to my Zenfolio page. All I've done to them is cropping.

Although it seems Victoria might have had even better conditions than I found in California I don't regret the chase. After all, didn't Edmund Halley bestow upon us to the quest to witness the event from various locations? Who am I to question such a quest? Long ago I booked the vacation time from work.

One other thing. Did anyone else notice the glinting ring of atmosphere around the half of the planet not on the surface of the Sun while halfway through first contact? Kreig the guy who showed up from Bellingham and I could clearly see it.

Bill Weir

Transit of Venus in Ha wavelength
A Transit of Venus is a very rare celestial event, and this one was the last opportunity for me to observe this apparition in my lifetime. The weather in Victoria cooperated, and I successfully observed and imaged this amazing alignment of the Sun, Venus and Earth.

Not only did I photograph this event, I also visually observed using my Celestron 9x63 Ultima binoculars fitted with Thousand Oaks black polymer solar filters.

I observed virtually the whole event, except the last few minutes or so when the Sun set just before the event finished. Observing log

I was thrilled!

Joe Carr

Transit of Venus - Joe Carr
The weather forecasts for Transit Day in Victoria were generally discouraging, but in the last hour before the Transit began here shortly after 3 p.m., the clouds parted and then departed for the rest of the day. The weather, at least in downtown Victoria, turned out to be almost ideal. The RASC Victoria Centre held public outreach events for the Transit at the Royal BC Museum downtown, at Cattle Point in Oak Bay, and on Mount Tolmie. As well, Transit events in Victoria took place at the Bob Wright Centre at the University of Victoria and at the Centre of the Universe at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory on Little Saanich Mountain.

I set up my ETX at the Royal BC Museum, along with a number of other Victoria Centre members who brought their telescopes and the specially filtered Transit viewing glasses, and we were kept busy for hours with a steady stream of people eager to see the Transit. I am not an astrophotographer, but I did take an afocal image of the Transit through my telescope. I had the special pleasure of showing the Transit to my friend maritime historian Dr. Barry Gough, who has written about explorers of the Pacific Ocean, including Capt. James Cook, whose first voyage followed the 1769 Transit of Venus.

As took a last look at the sun before it set with Venus still crossing its disc, I was surprised at how close the end of the Transit appeared to be.

Chris Gainor

Chris Gainor at the Transi of Venus event in Victoria
Venus - May 26,2012

This is the thin crescent of the planet Venus as it plunges toward inferior conjunction. This approach will ultimately lead to the planet transiting the Sun on June 5th-6th.

Charles Banville

Thin Crescent of Venus

Moon Detail - May 25, 2012

My most detailed moon image shows some neat details including the Rupes Altal ridge highlighted by the angle of sunlight at the terminator. Photo taken at the Victoria Centre Observatory using the Meade 14" SCT operating at f/10 with Canon T3i camera operating in cropped video mode.

John McDonald

Moon Detail

Annular Solar Eclipse - May 20, 2012 5:00PM-7:30PM PDT
Jack Newton, Osoyoos, BC - My image of the partial eclipse taken May 20th with the new Canon 60Da. We had cloudy skies and threatening showers all day. It cleared for about 5 minutes -- long enough to take this shot [in Ha] & enjoy a few minutes with eclipse glasses.

Alice Newton: "We got to see it in Osoyoos! After heavy cloud all day, we got a "sucker" hole for about 5 minutes and Jack captured this shot with the new Canon 60Da. He's pumped!"

Annular Solar Eclipse - partial eclipse taken in Ha
Chris Gainor: "Jim Hesser got this shot of a crescent Sun from Gordon Head."

Constantine Thomas: "That was the very brief view I got too from View Royal too... though I saw something really strange - I could have sworn that at one point, for about 10 seconds, I saw a 'projection' of the partially eclipsed sun on the clouds - it was about 5-6 times larger than the actual sun (which was in the middle of the 'image'), but there was definitely a faint crescent image of the partial eclipse. I'm guessing it may be something weird to do with refraction through ice crystals? Did anyone else see it? (it was between 6:30 and 7 I think)"

Annular Solar Eclipse - partial eclipse taken through clouds
Jennifer Tigner took this image from Mt. Tolmie when the clouds parted using a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS.
 
Annular Solar Eclipse - partial eclipse taken through clouds
David Lee traveled to Cedar City, Utah to observe and photograph the Annular Solar Eclipse

Here's quick shot of my IPad screen 40 minutes after the sun set on Sunday. It shows part of the annular eclipse sequence from Cedar City Utah. I arrived at Cedar Middle School not far from where I was staying packing my Pronto refractor which has been with me most of my time in astronomy. At 6pm many eclipse gazers had already started gathering with their eclipse glasses in hand. I positioned myself on the sidewalk where I had a clear view of the horizon line and waited for the moment! I could hear the chanting of kids, "Ring of fire ... Ring of fire". The view through the Pronto was beautiful. Online Gallery of photos
2012 Annular Solar Eclipse
Dorothy & Miles Paul traveled to their favorite observing spot in the White Mountains of California to observe the Annular Solar Eclipse. Online gallery of sketches & photos
The Newtons� Nomad & star trails - May 19, 2012

Pearson College�s 25-inch points to the north celestial pole in this hour-long astro image.

Charles Banville

Newton's Nomad & star trails

M64 - the Blackeye Galaxy - May 16, 2011

This image of M64, the Blackeye galaxy gives a good indication of why it has that name. A very dark dusty region near the core of the galaxy is responsible for the "blackeye". Photo taken with a modified Canon t2i dSLR using the Meade 14" SCT operating at f/10 at the VCO.

John McDonald

M64 - Blackeye Galaxy

Sunspot 1476 in Ha - May 11, 2012

Although there were some huge prominences visible today, the Sun's surface was dominated by Sunspot 1476. Swirling flares around the sunspot were clearly visible. Equipment: Hutech-modified Canon T2i dSLR a-focal through a 2.5x Powermate, IDAS VLC filter, & Lunt LS60THa + LS50FHa solar telescope mounted on an HEQ5 tracking mount.

Joe Carr

Sunspot 1476 in Ha

Saturn - May 10, 2012

Saturn is everyone's favourite planet with its beautiful rings. This image taken with a DSLR in video mode shows the planets colors and rings nicely. Slightly overcast evening with no wind, good seeing and temperature of 8 deg C. 14" SCT with Canon T3i camera operating in video crop mode.

John McDonald

Saturn

Sunspots - May 10, 2012

Enlargement of a large sunspot group taken from my backyard in Victoria using a Williams 105mm APO refractor with Canon T3i camera at prime focus (fl = 735mm) and Baader solar film white light filter.

John McDonald

Sunspots

M81 & 82 reprocessed - Apr 13, 2012

Date and Location- 2012-04-13 at the Victoria Centre Observatory. Conditions- Clear, calm and 9�C with no moon. Equipment- QSI583cs camera on NP127is and Paramount ME. Exposure- 20x3min lights with dark, flat and bias frames for calibration.

Processing in Pixinsight done by reddit user PixinsightFTW.

Matt Watson

M81 and M82 galaxies

Solar prominences in Ha - Apr 7, 2012

The Sun is finally high enough in the sky to clear the trees in my yard, giving me the opportunity to observe the Sun in Hydrogen Alpha wavelength using my Lunt solar telescope. The Sun was very active today, showing some spectacular large prominences, and some significant surface detail, including one small sunspot. In this photo, three prominences with plasma trailing off parallel to the Sun's surface joined creating holes between the proms.

Joe Carr

Solar prominences in Ha

Monkey Head Nebula - Apr 6, 2012

A bright full Moon forced me to use a hydrogen alpha filter in order to capture this image of NGC 2174.

Charles Banville

Monkey Head Nebula NGC 2174

High Sierra - star trails above the Upper Yosemite Falls - Mar 24, 2012

Location: Yosemite National Park, California, USA
Optics: Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM
Camera: Canon EOS 7D

Charles Banville

High Sierra - star trails above Uppoer Yosemite Falls

Venus Saturn and Mars - Feb 2011

Venus Saturn and Mars are combined in this composite. They were imaged in February, 2012. Seeing was poor for the Venus image, fairly good for Saturn, and very good for Mars. All three planets are show at the same scale. Photos taken at the VCO using the 14" SCT with a DSLR operating in a cropped video mode.

John McDonald

Venus, Saturn & Mars

Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter with Venus nearby and Mercury - Feb 26, 2012

Due to cloudy conditions, at 6:56PM PST there was only a few minutes to observe Mercury low to the western horizon. I managed to take two photos which captured Mercury as well as Venus and the Jupiter-Moon conjunction. 4 day old Crescent Moon over Victoria. This photo is the best of the two I took, with minimal post-processing.

Joe Carr

Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter with Venus nearby and Mercury

H alpha enhanced Orion Region - Feb 21, 2012

Orion region with a 28 mm lens at the 2012 Alberta All Star Party. This is an H alpha enhanced color image formed by combining a normal color one with an H alpha filtered one. Location - Painted Pony Resort near Rodeo, New Mexico. I think I can leave this region alone now for a while as the current result is about the best I can do with my equipment.

John McDonald

Alberta All Star Party - February 21-26, 2012 at the Painted Pony Resort near Rodeo, New Mexico

Wendy and I attended this years star party and had a great time. Of all the places I have gone for astronomy parties this one really stands out. Comfortable lodging, great food and neat people in addition to fabulous observing and imaging.

Morning Milky Way at the Painted Pony - a time lapse video taken Feb 23, 2012. Morning Milky Way at the Painted Pony - a time lapse video taken Feb 23, 2012.

2012 All-Star Alberta Party - information

John McDonald

Comet Garradd - Feb 5, 2012

In the summer of 2011 I imaged Comet Garradd and the globular cluster Messier 15. This week the comet flew by the globular cluster Messier 92 in Hercules. Unfortunately I missed the chance to frame both objects by a day or two.

Charles Banville

Comet Garradd
Horsehead & Flame Nebula - Jan 12, 2012

An image, taken with a hydrogen-alpha filter and a Hutech modified Canon EOS 5D Mark II, of the region surrounding the Horsehead and Flame using the.Tele Vue NP-127is operating at f/5.2 with Baader Planetarium Narrowband 7nm H-Alpha filter on a Paramount ME, guided using PhD.

Charles Banville

Horsehead & Flame Nebulae
M42 - The Orion Nebula - Jan 10, 2012

M42 the Great Orion Nebula is a nebula near Orion's sword.

Location - Victoria Centre Observatory.
Conditions - clear, calm and 0�C with some haze and a near-full moon.
Equipment - QSI 583c camera on Tele Vue NP-127is and Paramount ME.

Matt Watson

M42 The Orion Nebula
   
Observing at the Victoria Centre Observatory - Jan 4, 2012

10 second long candid photos of people in the moonlight and a few of the sky.

John McDonald

 

Observers Corner Archives - 1999 - last year

 

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