Just Stargazing

Just Stargazing

My activity over the past several weeks has been slim to none with regards to astronomy and astrophotography.  The main culprit has been the weather, with a heinous amount of cloud cover week over week.  The few clear nights were unfortunately around the past Full Moon, making deep sky observations almost impossible.

Still, I have been checking out the stars when I can.  In the weeks leading up to the Fall time change, it was sufficiently dark in the mornings to see stars.  Notable was bright Sirius shining through even somewhat dense cloud cover.  It was wonderful to see Orion again in the West in the hour before dawn.  And now after the recent time change, I can see Orion rising around midnight above my trees blocking my East view.

Another notable in the sky is the Great Square of Pegasus.  It’s now in its prime viewing season in the mid-evenings.  And with Pegasus follows its neighboring constellation to the North, Andromeda.  And with Andromeda comes…the Andromeda Galaxy!  It’s just a faint blur for me through both binoculars and telescopes, but I hope this winter to try imaging it in several ways, to see if I can pick up any detail beyond its bright center.

Scanning further North, I also want to mention about imaging the star Algol in Perseus.  This was brought up in Scott’s Sky Watch all the way back in September. About month ago, I did spend time locating Algol.  Now, weather permitting, I hope to take a few pictures of it on different days, and see if its color changes.

Lastly, a note on the topic of light pollution: I have not blogged about it much in many months.  I only want to mention that I have not forgotten about it, and in fact it is very much on my mind.  It may be months or even years before I revisit it again here, but I am shall talk about it again when the time is right.

Paul

Paul

I write frequently about astrophotography, technology advice, and my other interests like science fiction. I have over 30 years of experience in computer programming, information technology, and project management.

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