orion25

Clouds took over but I managed to get a cool shot of a refraction ring around the first full moon of the 2020s. Couldn't see the penumbral eclipse from my side of the pond, and I was lucky to get a peek at Luna at all, so here it is: Clear skies! Reggie

Here is shot of the waxing gibbous moon as it crosses the Winter Circle/Hexagon/Sacred Hoop this month. The moon will cross this region again on February 3-5, March 1-6 and March 29 - April 1. Each photo is a composite of two wide-field shots since the winter circle covers such a large swath of celestial real estate! Clear skies! Reggie

Thanks, Michael. This is one of my favorite nebulae to image

I agree. I think the 2020 shot got slightly out of focus. I may try again on the next clear night, but so far I consider the 2019 image the best!

Thanks, Adam. Actually, I was using GCENTRAL exclusively for my astro photos before but decided for the new decade to use my observatory name as a tag instead. Do you have a particular favorite of the images?

Since 2018 I have been taking prime focus astro photos of M42 (Orion Nebula) with my Nikon D3200 and Orion 127 Mak-Cass. Here is the series so far: Orion Nebula 2020 Orion Nebula 2019 Orion Nebula 2018 Cheers! Reggie

Thanks, Pete, and same to you

Thanks, buddy! All the best

I couldn't resist photographing the beautiful elevating Goddess of Love as she looked down over Lake Tobesofkee this Christmas Eve! Seasons Greetings! Reggie

Yes, don't give up, NV. I look forward to seeing more images. I'll probably get out there again with Venus in the coming months, too. Regards, Reggie

Excellent! Great nebulosity and brilliant stars. Regards, Reggie

Great report! Glad you had such an enjoyable night of observing. Sirius B will need very good seeing conditions and a good elevation. I hope you get it, my friend. Keep trying! Reggie

Galaxy Central Night Sky Web Series focuses on the constellations Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and Perseus: Clear skies! Reggie

You may have heard about the relationship between the Dogon people of Mali and SIrius B. There have been accounts about the Dogon being given knowledge of this elusive star by either supernatural beings or ancient aliens, and that they have been in communication with these beings ever since. In Robert K.G. Temple's book,"The Sirius Mystery", the author discusses the controversial work of ethnographers Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen who claimed that the Dogon have had ongoing contact with aliens, the same beings who supposedly originated the Pharaoh system of Egypt, Greek mythology, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and more ancient knowledge. Israeli astrophysicist Noah Brosch contested that the Dogon could have obtained knowledge of Sirius B from ethnographers or from other European contact. Astronomers Carl Sagan and Ian Ridpath stated that "cultural contamination" was likely. Journalist James Oberg suggested that the Dogon could have traveled abroad and gained the knowledge elsewhere. Walter Van Beek claimed that the Dogon did not consider Sirius to be a double star and that astronomy had no particular cultural importance to them. All of this notwithstanding, the Dogon have a complex cultural tradition from a Western perspective, and it seems that the mysterious relationship between the Malian tribe and Sirius B continues...

Thanks for the heads-up! This is one of my favorite showers. I remember them being quite prolific in 2014. Reggie

Great sketch, John. Thanks for posting 👍🏾

Thanks, Ruud. You're right about Sirius being elusive for your latitude. I imagine it's very low on your horizon.

I had found a blog with tips for observing the pup, https://florin.myip.org/blog/how-see-sirius-b, and the author suggested the trailing method to make sure you were actually seeing it follow Sirius A. I had used a polarizing filter on Venus to see the phase more easily and also the image some features. A light bulb went off to try it on Sirius A since it's sooo much brighter than its companion and I found it to work pretty well .

Thanks, Martin! An IR pass filter is a great idea. I'll try that with my planetary camera

I recently read an article in Astronomy Magazine about the orbit of Sirius B, "the pup", placing the white dwarf at a good distance from its much brighter companion star for viewing. But, of course, you would need good seeing conditions, reasonable altitude above the horizon (for Sirius, lol), and high magnification with a well-calibrated mid to large aperture scope. I've read about the mystery and myths around Sirius B, notably involving the Dogon people of Mali and ethnographers Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen as described in Robert K. G. Temple's book The Sirius Mystery. I won't go into the book here, but it had piqued my interest in seeing Sirius B, and finding out that "the pup" was well-placed for viewing (and imaging) for the next few years I decided to give it a go. I used my 127mm Orion Mak with an Orion Expanse 6mm EP and a Meade Variable Polarizing filter (to cut glare). At 1540mm focal length my 6mm EP gave me about 256x magnification, a must for trying to see "the pup". Sirius was about 30 degrees above the horizon with good seeing. It was around midnight and a chilly 40 degrees F/4.4 degrees C. I first aimed my scope at Rigel (the distance between Rigel A/B is approximately the same as between Sirius A/B at this time). If I could split Rigel, then Sirius would be a good bet. My scope easily split Rigel so I moved on to Sirius. I didn't use any tracking to allow the image to trail across the field, to make it easier to see "the pup" following Sirius. The variable polarizer allowed me to tone down Sirius' glare and I was able to see a little object trailing the bright star! Ok. I was able to see Sirius B visually, so imaging should be a breeze, right? Not quite. The extreme brightness of Sirius A made imaging the tiny and much dimmer Sirius B a bit of a challenge. So, after setting up tracking and attaching my Nikon DSLR to the scope, I tried several different exposures from 1/8 sec to 30 seconds at ISO1600. I snapped only about 40 exposures because I didn't plan on stacking them; this was just an experiment. At some point, I'll try the planetary imaging approach with one of my space cams but on this particular night I just wanted to see if I what I could get with a DSLR. After uploading the images to computer and tweaking them in Photoshop I was pleasantly surprised to find a few of my 1 second exposures captured "the pup". I scrutinized them carefully to make sure I wasn't seeing artifacts or glare, and compared them to images taken by others. So, after all of this narrative, here are images of Sirius A/B (cropped) and a prime focus shot of Sirius: Cheers! Reggie

The elusive companion to the much brighter Sirius A is ideally positioned for viewing over the next few years as it approaches its maximum distance from our vantage point. I was able to easily split the pair with my Orion Mak 127mm, using the 6mm Expanse EP attached to the Meade Variable Polarizer to control the glare. Here is a blog with great tips for beginners and more advanced observers on viewing the mysterious Sirius B: https://florin.myip.org/blog/how-see-sirius-b Clear skies! Reggie

Here are some images I took tonight of the spectacular Moon, Saturn , Venus & Jupiter apparition on the lake: Cheers! Reggie

Beautiful sketch, Ruud. Intricate shadows at play there . The moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been putting on a spectacular show in the southwest sky over the past several days.

Here are some images I took of the spectacular Moon, Venus & Jupiter apparition on Thanksgiving evening: And of the waxing crescent and Saturn on the next evening: And here is a short video of the waxing crescent, Venus & Jupiter on the lake: Cheers! Reggie

Together again in 2019, Venus (the brighter object to the lower left) and Jupiter, low in the southwest sky. Their dance will continue over the next few nights, but they are steadily moving apart: Clear skies! Reggie