Enjoy some examples of my passion for astronomy.
Here I am unboxing my brand new 12 inch Meade LX200 1n 1996.
My goal was to buy the biggest telescope that I could lift by myself.
It was lighter 27 years ago!
I had a massive computer failure on my scope in 2009. Meade had been sold and parts were no longer available .
In 2023 I was able to replace a couple of boards and successfully restarted and recalibrated the onboard computer.
It’s tracking and slewing to objects better than when it was new.
Rocky Mountain National Park 2023
Globular Cluster M5
The first image ever taken through my telescope.
When I bought my telescope I swore I wasn’t going to go down the astrophotography rabbit hole. The technology was a nightmare at the time so I was more than content to be a visual astronomer. I spent over a decade driving to dark skies all across the continent in my pursuit of faint fuzzies.
In 2023 my good friend C.E Raum talked me into connecting his SLR to my scope.
There is no going back now!
Blue Moon, August 30th 2023.
Taken from Rocky Mountain National Park.
Comet Nishimura, Sept 2023. Naked eye view.
Comet Nishimura through my telescope.
M27 the Dumbell Nebula. This was imaged after my photography partner C.E. Raum astro modified his camera.
This allows the camera to pick up the reds which are created by hydrogen.
We also made a Bahtinov Mask to help us get a precise focus.
The Veil Nebula.
The Andromeda Galaxy taken on the same night by C.E. Raum using his wide angle refractor.
Edge on galaxy NGC891.
Close up of the Flame Nebula in Orion.
The Witch Head Nebula taken through CE Raum wide angle refractor.
The Horsehead Nebula in Orion.
This object was one of the objects I most wanted to observe through my telescope. I have only seen it a couple of times under perfect conditions.
This shot is a dream come true!
This is Galaxy IC342, also known as the Hidden Galaxy.
It is very dim because it is on the opposite side of our galaxy and it obscured by dust.
This object is way to dim to be seen through my telescope, but I was able to enter the coordinates manually and take over 200 images which were stacked together by my friend CE Raum for this incredible image.
Here’s a shot of Galaxy M74. One of the dimmest Messier objects.
This was taken in Rocky Mountain National Park on November 13, 2023.
This shot of Bernard’s Loop was taken by my friend CE Raum on 11/13/2023 from Rocky Mountain National Park.
50 mm lens on his astro modified DSLR.