The Black Hole Nebula - LDN 323

Nestled within the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, the Black Hole Nebula—formally known as Barnard 92 or LDN 323—appears as a haunting void in an otherwise star-rich field. This dark nebula, discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1913, earned its nickname from its striking resemblance to a cosmic abyss, though it is not a black hole in the astrophysical sense. With an opacity rating of 6—the darkest on Barnard’s scale—it obscures background starlight with remarkable density, creating the illusion of a celestial shadow cast across the Milky Way.

LDN 323 (Black Hole Nebula)
August 11, 2025 - GT102/ASI533
26x120sec - 52min total integration time

Since I only collected 26 subs and limited the exposure to 120 sec (moon near full) I did not get as much of the rich star field behind B92 that I would have liked.

Telescope Maintenance Completed

It took about 8 hours total to do the mount and OTA maintenance. This included a complete cleaning and regreasing of both motor boxes and both RA and DEC axis worms and main gears. In addition, I added a new USB cable and cleaned up the wiring on the outside of the OTA.

A new PEC file was created using about an hour of acquisition time and 9 cycles of the worm gear using PemPro V3 (v3.10.09). Peak to peak after quadratic fitting was 6.5 arc seconds.

Analysis

Quadratic Fit (6.5 arc sec)

After loading the new PEC file to the mount and running the new analysis (3 worm cycles), the resultant peak to peak is now 0.65 arc seconds.

Corrected

This evening, I spent time (about an hour) collimating the OTA.

Here is a single 30 sec image of NGC 6811, and open cluster in Cygnus. Stars look perfect.

Later tonight I will be doing the final tests to see that the mount runs as smooth as possible. 

Mount Maintenance - have to do it!

Maintenance is crucial for all mechanical devices and needs to be done regularly. Telescope mounts are no exception. To keep that smooth, precise tracking functioning properly, you need to dedicate time to perform maintenance. 

But when? It seems like we always push it off until next week, next month, or even next year. Those clear nights are so rare, and you definitely don’t want your scope out of commission for any significant amount of time. But eventually it has to be done. And since I haven't done a re-grease since I've owned the mount (over 4 years) it's way overdue. So today was the day.

I ordered my re-grease kit from Astro-Physics on Friday and it arrived today (Sunday) by FedEx. Thanks AP!

After church, once the weather cleared up from the morning rain, I began the job. I removed the OTAs and stored them in my workshop. I then took out both motor boxes and managed to clean and regrease the Dec axis. As it was nearing 7:30 pm, I decided to finish the job tomorrow.

I'm also using this opportunity to add a new USB-C to USB-C cable for the replacement autofocuser on my GT-102. The new model, the ZWO EAF for 2025, features a USB-C connector, so the new cable was necessary to route through the mount.

Once I complete the re-grease and the new cable installation, I'll need a few hours with a reasonably clear sky to calibrate the mount and make sure everything is working OK.

New Comet on the Way

While sitting in my hotel room in Vancouver after a wonderful cruise to Alaska, reviewing my notes and information on my plans to photograph comet ATLAS (C/2025 K1) later this week I came across an announcement in SkyAndTelescope magazine that a new comet, potentially naked eye, is making its approach and will be well placed in October.

Colorful and diffuse, Comet Lemmon shines at around magnitude 10.8
and exhibits a short, spiky tail pointing northwest on August 25th.
Photo by Dan Bartlett

Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) has been brightening rapidly since early August and now glows at around magnitude 10.5. As reported in SkyAndTelescope, Lemmon was discovered during the Mount Lemmon Survey (part of the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona) this past January. It was initially thought to be a faint asteroid. Later, recovery images revealed a tiny coma, tagging it as a comet. In early August, after Lemmon emerged from the solar glow at dawn, it was a dim, 14th-magnitude mote. But it quickly brightened to 11 by month's end. Will it live up to expectations? Who knows. Like I always say: "comets do what they want, whenever they want".

Once I'm back home I will post details on this new comet, with star charts and detailed info on when and how to see it. Stay tuned!

Aurora at Alaska

During my cruise to Alaska, at the Princess Denali Lodge the skies were exceptionally clear (we had overcast skies and rain leading up to the stay at the lodge). but because I had a bad headache, I didn't go out during the clearest night they have had in weeks (I also forgot to have the lodge phone me if the aurora made an appearance). SO, the astronomer of our tour group missed out on a fairly nice aurora. I was a little upset that I had passed up this opportunity.

The next day I checked the weather forecast as it was overcast outside. There seemed to be a clear spot just south of us, small but rather persistent and moving north towards the lodge. I put in a request to be waken if the northern lights made an appearance - not likely, but I wasn't going to miss out this time.

At 2:10am I got the call. Joan and I went out and sure enough, there was a clear section of the northern sky. Some clouds were in the area, but the Aurora appeared and actually got stronger and stronger as the morning progressed. It was brighter than the night before and you could actually see the brighter green sections of the curtains with the naked eye. I got my photo!

A tiny nebula and the Milky Way's twin

On July 25 I took the opportunity to take advantage of some relatively clear skies (for a change) and point my scope to NGC 7331. The reason I picked this galaxy at this time is because a supernova was recently discovered very close to the nucleus of the galaxy (and because I wanted to compare my recent image of NGC 7331 with one I took back in 2017).

NGC 7331

Here is my latest image of NGC 7331.

NGC 7331 - July 25, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm - LRGB - 3h 36m integration time

NGC 7331, often dubbed the “Milky Way’s twin,” is a striking unbarred spiral galaxy located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. With its elegant, moderately wound spiral arms and bright central bulge, this galaxy spans roughly 120,000 light-years, making it slightly larger than our own Milky Way. Viewed at a steep angle of 77 degrees, NGC 7331 presents a dramatic, elongated profile that reveals intricate dust lanes and a subtle asymmetry in its disk. Its core rotates in the opposite direction to the surrounding disk—a rare and intriguing feature. It is the brightest member of the Deer Lick Group.

The Deer Lick Group is an apparent galaxy grouping centered on NGC 7331. Surrounding it are several smaller galaxies—NGC 7335, NGC 7336, NGC 7337, and NGC 7340—that appear nearby in the sky but are actually much farther away, lying between 294 and 365 million light-years distant. This visual proximity is a result of line-of-sight alignment rather than gravitational association, rendering the “Deer Lick Group” a false group. Despite lacking physical interaction, the composition offers valuable insight into galactic structure, morphology, and scale.

Although a bit difficult to see the supernova, SN 2025rbs, is just to the right of the galaxy's central core. The image below, enhanced with high dynamic range (HDR) processing and cropped to show just the central core, shows the bright blue supernova glowing about as bright as the whole nucleus of the galaxy. 

SN 2025rbs was discovered on 14 July 2025 and it is a type Ia supernova. A supernova is a massive explosion that occurs when a star reaches the end of its life and can no longer hold itself together. In just a few moments, it releases an enormous amount of energy, briefly shining brighter than entire galaxies.

NGC 6210 - Turtle Nebula

NGC 6210, also known as the Turtle Nebula, is a striking planetary nebula located about 6,600 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. This cosmic sculpture marks the final breath of a sun-like star, which shed its outer layers to form a glowing shell of gas and dust. The nebula’s inner region resembles a delicate bluish “nautilus shell,” pierced by symmetrical jets of material streaming outward, while its fainter outer structure evokes the shape of a tortoise shell.

I'm not sure I see all the resemblance to a turtle but so be it.

NGC 6210 - The Turtle Nebula - July 4, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm
LRGB - 1h 50m integration time

Although there is probably some significant Ha and Oiii signal in the object I chose not to capture that NB data since the broadband signal was so strong and I didn't want to spend the imaging time on this object.

A couple of more images from Mikey's Place

NGC 5906 - the Splinter Galaxy

NGC 5906, commonly known as the Splinter Galaxy, is a striking edge-on spiral galaxy residing approximately 50 million light-years from Earth in the Draco constellation. Its slender profile results from our vantage point, which aligns almost perfectly with the galaxy's disk plane—offering minimal view of its spiral arms but a spectacular showcase of its dust lanes and stellar population gradients. The central bulge appears subdued due to the edge-on perspective, while extended regions of neutral hydrogen and active star formation highlight dynamic processes within its disk.

I was able to capture this in a single evening due to its circumpolar location in the sky; away from my southern light pollution and providing basically the whole night of time available for imaging. As been the case here in Maryland there are very few clear nights and so I wanted to take advantage of this one. The only issues were the quality of the blue subs, which suffered a bit from low altitude and some thin clouds, and some image artifact in the bottom left corner. I specifically de-centered the galaxy as I was imaging it and cropped the final image to eliminate the artifact from showing in the final cut. I'm starting to think that these artifacts (I've had this happen before) may be due to reflections off the OAG pick-off prism due to a close bright star. Need to investigate this further. Revision B is the full frame view showing the artifact.

NGC 5906 - The Splinter Galaxy
June 25, 2025 - EdgeHD11 w/ASI2600mm Camera
5 hours integration time - LRGB

Abell 39

Abell 39 is a nearly spherical planetary nebula located roughly 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules. Spanning about five light-years in diameter, it showcases remarkable geometric symmetry—suggesting minimal interaction with the interstellar medium. The nebula’s faint, predominantly bluish glow arises from doubly ionized oxygen ([O III] emission), while its central progenitor star, once similar to our Sun, has shed its outer layers during the asymptotic giant branch phase.

Taken over a number of days in both 2024 and 2025 I ran into issues with smoke in the Maryland skies and a bit of an unplanned change of exposure durations in the RGB subs (2024 they were 120sec; 2025 60sec - my planning spreadsheet had marked the wrong sub-exposure times!).

Would love to add more data to this object but considering the number of nights I get to image I am on to other opportunities and I'm not even sure the added time would make a difference.

Abell 39
Sept 8, 2024 and July 4, 2025
EdgeHD11 w/ASI2600mm Camera
RGB (4hr 27min) & Oiii (5 hrs)

Some new images from Michael

Here are a few new images taken from my home in Reisterstown, MD.

PGC 16052

This object, designated as NGC 1573 in Stellarium, is more correctly identified as PGC 16052. Stellarium has another galaxy, an elliptical galaxy discovered by Wilhelm Tempel (PGC 15570) also identified as NGC 1573.  The confusion arises because Stellarium includes both NGC 1573 and PGC 16052, which is sometimes referred to as NGC 1573A. 

PGC 16052 is an intermediate spiral galaxy located in the constellation Camelopardalis. It has an apparent magnitude of about 14.0. This galaxy is sometimes informally referred to as NGC 1573A, though it is not officially part of the NGC catalog and is not physically associated with NGC 1573. NGC 1573 is just about 0.25 degree south of PGC 16052.

An interesting feature in the image is the cascade of stars pointing right to the galaxy. 

PGC 16052 - Nov 3 and 30, 2024
EdgeHD 11" / ASI2600mm Camera
Total integration time 4h38m

Jones-Emberson 1 (Headphone Nebula)

Jones-Emberson 1 (PK 164+31.1) is a planetary nebula located 1,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lynx. The nebula consists of ionized gas ejected from a central white dwarf star during its final evolutionary stage. Its distinctive blue-green coloration is primarily due to doubly ionized oxygen (OIII) emission at 500.7nm wavelength. The nebula maintains a nearly spherical morphology with an apparent diameter of 5.5 arcminutes, though its surface brightness is relatively low at magnitude 17.0. Discovered in 1939 at McDonald Observatory, it represents a typical example of a late-stage planetary nebula.

I imaged this object over the period April 16,17,28 and 29 2025, while thin clouds and equipment problems prevented me from getting the number of subs I had planned. All the data on the 29th couldn't be used because of registration issues (not enough stars). But the existing ones proved good enough for me to give it a go and process this PN.

Jones-Emberson 1
EdgeHD 11"/ ASI2600mm Camera
RGB Ha and O3 - Integration time: 5h55m

M53

Messier 53 (NGC 5024) stands as one of the more remote globular clusters in the Milky Way's halo, situated approximately 60,000 light-years from Earth and 58,000 light-years from the galactic center. This class V cluster spans roughly 220 light-years in diameter and exhibits notably low metallicity, with a metal abundance only about 1% that of our Sun. Its estimated age of 12.67 billion years places it among the oldest known stellar populations in our galaxy. M53's integrated spectral type is F6, and it has an absolute magnitude of -8.77. The cluster's core radius measures 2.18 light-years, while its half-light radius extends to about 12.6 light-years. Notably, M53 contains a significant population of RR Lyrae variable stars and blue stragglers, making it a valuable target for studying stellar evolution in metal-poor environments.

Lost in my collection of 'to-be-processed' objects, I recently found this already post-processed globular cluster while I was searching for new objects to image. I figure it is about time I posted it.

M53 - May 6, 2023
EdgeHD 11" / ASI533mc Camera / Astronomik L-2 Luminance UV/IR Block filter
53x180sec exposures - Total integration time: 2h39m

Arp 269 (Cocoon Galaxy)

Arp 269, also known as the Cocoon Galaxy, is an interacting galaxy pair comprising NGC 4490 and NGC 4485, located approximately 45 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. The gravitational interaction between these galaxies has triggered intense star formation, particularly in NGC 4490, where tidal forces have distorted its structure and fueled regions of high-density gas compression. The exchange of material between the two galaxies has led to the formation of extensive starburst regions and a prominent bridge of stellar debris connecting them.

Arp 269 - May 20, 2025
EdgeHD 11" / ASI2600mm
LRGB Total Integration: 4h48m

Soldier's Delight Star Party - This Saturday, June 21, 2025

 

Soldiers Delight Star Party - June 21, 2025

Looking for something to do this Saturday night? Want to expand your knowledge of Astronomy? Interested in buying a telescope for a child or friend, or yourself, but are not sure what to get? Then why not join us for a discussion on Telescopes - history, types and future, with Q&A on what to look for when purchasing a telescope.

"The Role of Telescopes in Astronomy"

"Welcome to our lecture on The Role of Telescopes in Astronomy! Telescopes have been instrumental in transforming our understanding of the universe, from Galileo's first observations to the cutting-edge technology of today. In this session, we'll explore the fascinating history and evolution of telescopes, delve into the different types and their unique contributions, and highlight the incredible discoveries they've enabled. Whether you're a seasoned astronomer or just curious about the cosmos, this lecture will offer insights into how telescopes have revolutionized our view of the stars and beyond. Let's embark on this journey through the lens of these remarkable instruments!

All ages welcome.

All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

Activity: TBD

You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/

Date: Saturday, June 21, 2025

Time: 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Eastern

Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area

5100 Deer Park Rd.

Owings Mills, MD 21117

Soldier's Delight Star Party - Einstein's Theories of Relativity - May 17, 2025

Soldiers Delight Star Party - May 17, 2025

Looking for something different to do on a Saturday night? Want to expand your knowledge of Astronomy? Then why not join us this Saturday, May 17, for a discussion of a fascinating field in physics - Einstein's theories of Special and General Relativity:

"From Space-Time to Black Holes: Exploring Einstein's Relativity"

In a riveting lecture on spacetime physics, the speaker will delve into the intricacies of special and general relativity, captivating the audience with both theory and practical examples. The lecture begins with an introduction to special relativity, explaining how it revolutionized our understanding of space and time by showing that they are interwoven into a single continuum. This will be illustrated with the famous example of time dilation, where time slows down for an object moving at high speeds, such as an astronaut traveling near the speed of light. Transitioning to general relativity, the lecture will highlight how Einstein's theory describes gravity not as a force, but as a curvature of spacetime caused by mass. This is vividly demonstrated with the analogy of a heavy ball placed on a stretched rubber sheet, bending the surface around it. The speaker will also discuss real-world applications, such as the precise calculations needed for GPS satellites, which must account for both special and general relativistic effects to provide accurate positioning. Throughout the lecture, the audience will be encouraged to appreciate the profound implications of these theories on our understanding of the universe.

All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

All ages welcome

Activity: Gravity Bucket

You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/

Date: Saturday, May 17, 2025

Time: 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Eastern

Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area

5100 Deer Park Rd.

Owings Mills, MD 21117

New AstroPhotos from Mikey's Place

Been awhile since I posted my latest captures here on the blog. Here are a few of them. Hope you enjoy them.

The Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula is a stunning emission nebula located in the constellation Monoceros, about 5,200 light-years away from Earth. It spans approximately 130 light-years across and is closely associated with the open star cluster NGC 2244, which lies at its center. This cluster's young, hot stars ionize the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing the nebula to glow in beautiful shades of red.

Rosette Nebula - January 17-20, 2024
WO ZS61/ASI1600mm/HaO3RGB 8hrs integration

The Rosette Nebula is a stellar nursery, home to thousands of young stars and fascinating features like dark dust filaments, often called "elephant trunks," shaped by stellar winds and radiation.

Been over 4 years since I imaged the Rosette. Last time was with my WO GT102 and the sky conditions weren't all that great. I wanted to try a wider field capture and so here is the Rosette with the ZS61. Subs were captured this past January and since I didn't have O3 flats (don't ask why) I had to do some creative processing. Only got around to doing that recently. Although the data was captured in Jan 2024, this was only just processed in November of that year.

Thor's Helmet

Thor's Helmet, also known as NGC 2359, is an emission nebula located in the constellation Canis Major. This nebula is approximately 11,960 light-years away from Earth and spans about 30 light-years in size.

The nebula gets its name from its resemblance to the helmet worn by the Norse god Thor. At its center lies a Wolf-Rayet star known as WR 7, which is an extremely hot and massive star in a pre-supernova stage. The intense stellar winds from WR 7 have shaped the surrounding gas into the helmet-like structure we see.

Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359) - Feb 2-3, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm/HaO3RGB 4.5 hours integration

I didn't get a lot of data on this object as the weather went sour but decided to process it anyway.  My previous attempt was a while ago back in 2018 and a lot has changed since then - equipment and the largest change, new software. Now I realize there is a lot more nebulosity around this object beyond the FOV of the native f/10 on the Edge but I was curious as to what I would get if I went really deep inside.

The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443)

IC 443, also known as the Jellyfish Nebula, is a supernova remnant located in the constellation Gemini. Approximately 5,000 light years away from Earth it is the result of a supernova that occurred between 3,000 and 30,000 years ago.

The nebula is notable for its complex interaction with surrounding molecular clouds, which has significantly influenced its morphology. It spans about 70 light years in diameter and consists of two connected sub-shells with different centers and radii. The supernova event also created a neutron star, CXOU J061705.3+222127, which is moving away from the explosion site at high speed.

Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443) - March 17-18, 2025
GT102/ASI2600mm/SHORGB 6.5 hours integration

My attempt at the Jellyfish was a tough journey. Once again, my flats would not correct the subs and I need to find out why. Not sure if the image train is moving between the sub exposures capture and the time, I create the flats, or something else. Now that clouds are once again back, I may disassemble the filter wheel and camera and do an aggressive clean up job to remove as much dust as I can. Probably a good thing to do periodically anyway. So, this image was actually processed without any flats or darks at all! After a bit of a long time in postprocessing, this is the result.

The Hamburger Galaxy (NGC 3628)

NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy, is a captivating unbarred spiral galaxy located approximately 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Discovered by William Herschel in 1784, this galaxy is a prominent member of the Leo Triplet, a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and M66. NGC 3628's most striking feature is its broad, dark dust lane that bisects the galaxy, giving it the appearance of a cosmic hamburger. This dust lane, along with the galaxy's 300,000 light-year long tidal tail, is a result of gravitational interactions with its neighboring galaxies.

Hamburger Galaxy (NGC 3628) - March 27-28, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm/LRGB 5.5 hours integration

This is not one of my normal captures and processing as I ran into one problem after another. First and foremost were the sky conditions - as usual for Maryland, what appeared to be a clear night actually had a thin upper layer I had to deal with. Astrospheric warned me of that as I could use the NBM cloud cover model which shows layers of clouds that the standard models do not.  Result - I did not get all the Lum subs I wanted. Second, my flats, yet again, did not completely correct for the dust donuts and gradients. Most of the problem was in the Lum and Green subs. Not sure what caused the gradient in the green subs but the misplaced dust donut correction has the hallmark of a filter wheel that did not place the filter in the same spot between the lights and flats. I checked the FW configuration in NINA and, sure enough, unidirectional was off! Not sure why as I always have it set to on, but my guess is that was the problem.

Tiger's Eye Galaxy (NGC 2841)

NGC 2841 is a stunning unbarred spiral galaxy located approximately 46 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Discovered by William Herschel in 1788, this galaxy is notable for its flocculent spiral arms, which appear patchy and discontinuous. The galaxy's bright nucleus is surrounded by a majestic disk of stars and intricate dust lanes. Unlike many other spiral galaxies, NGC 2841 has a relatively low star formation rate, with fewer pinkish emission nebulae. Its yellowish core and the presence of young blue stars tracing the spiral arms create a striking visual contrast.

Numerous background galaxies can be seen throughout the image.

Tiger's Eye Galaxy - April 2, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm/LRGB 3.5 hours integration

Owl Nebula (M97)

Messier 97 (M97), commonly referred to as the Owl Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Ursa Major, approximately 2,000 light-years away from Earth. It was formed by the outer layers of a dying star, which were expelled during the later stages of its evolution. The nebula displays a roughly spherical shape and is characterized by faint, darker regions resembling "eyes," which give rise to its nickname. These features are caused by variations in the nebula's density and composition. M97 spans approximately 3 light-years in diameter and emits light primarily due to ionized gases, including hydrogen and oxygen, energized by the ultraviolet radiation from the central star—a white dwarf.

Owl Nebula (M97) - April 8-9, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm/HaO3RGB 7.5 hours integration

All my images (well, at least most of them) are hosted on Astrobin. You can see them at: 
Michael J. Mangieri - AstroBin

Many are available for sale as metal prints at: MdAstro.com

Astronauts are back from the ISS - but the untold story is scary

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are safely back on earth. But their experience in docking with the International Space Station was far more scary than the original reports from the media.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is pictured docked to the International Space Station.
One of the four doghouses is visible on the service module. Credit: NASA

Head on over to ARS Technica for the full story of that 'overly exciting' docking maneuver.

Soldiers Delight Star Party - April 19, 2025

Soldiers Delight Star Party - April 19, 2025

Looking for something different to do on a Saturday night? Want to expand your knowledge of Astronomy? Then why not join us on Saturday, April 19, for a discussion about a fascinating problem in modern astrophysics:

"Crisis in Cosmology - aka, The Hubble Tension"

Tonight's lecture is on one of the most intriguing puzzles in modern cosmology: The Hubble Tension. This phenomenon refers to the discrepancy between the rate of expansion of the universe as measured by different methods. On one hand, we have measurements from the early universe, such as those from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and on the other, we have measurements from the local universe, such as those using Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae. Despite the precision of these methods, they yield different values for the Hubble constant, leading to a tension that challenges our understanding of the cosmos. Today, we will delve into the methods used to measure the Hubble constant, explore the possible reasons for this discrepancy, and discuss the implications for our understanding of the universe.

All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

All ages welcome

Note:  Starting this month, and through September, events will be held 8:30 - 10:30 EDT

Activity: TBD

You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/

Date: Saturday, April 19, 2025

Time: 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Eastern

Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area

5100 Deer Park Rd.

Owings Mills, MD 21117

Is that Saturn?

On Sunday, March 23, a rare celestial event will temporarily cause Saturn’s rings to seemingly vanish from view. Known as a ring plane crossing, it is the result of the planet’s tilt and orbital mechanics. Because they are incredibly thin compared to their vast width, they become nearly invisible when viewed from the side. So, for a few days before and after the 23rd, Saturn would appear to look like Jupiter.

Simulation from Stellarium

However, you would need a telescope and really excellent sky conditions to see this event, since Saturn is so close to the sun. The rings should reappear soon and will be getting wider as the years march on, fully opening again in 2032.

Total Lunar Eclipse of March 14, 2025

The eclipse was wonderful, even though the weather didn't fully cooperate. The events from the start of the eclipse occurred in clear skies but clouds quickly obscured the sky soon after the start of totality until a few minutes after mid-eclipse (and then continued thereafter). I was able to capture the first half of the eclipse and a single image at the midpoint. You can view a video of the event on my YouTube page.

And here are two images of the moon near mid-eclipse. The first one is the full frame view where you can see some of the stars of the constellations Leo and Virgo that were captured in the dark sky.

Total Eclipse of the Moon - March 14, 2025 2:41 AM EDT
William Optics GT102 with Canon 50D sensor
ISO 400 - 8sec exposure

The second is a close-up of just the fully eclipsed moon.

Lunar Eclipse tonight - SD Star Party this Saturday

Total Lunar Eclipse

Tonight, will be the first total lunar eclipse in over 2 years. Well, 'tonight' is figuratively correct, the actual start of the total phase won't occur until 2:26 AM Friday morning EDT. In the diagram below times are UT; convert to EDT by subtracting 4 hours.

Timeline of the Total Eclipse
Sky and Telescope

The partial phase (when the moon enters the earth's shadow called the Umbra) begins at 1:09AM where the moon will be due south, about 50 degrees high in the sky. Mid-totality occurs at 2:59 AM. At the end of the partial phase, at 4:48 AM, the moon will have moved across the sky and will be about 30 degrees high in the WSW. This is a most favorable condition for a total lunar eclipse.

Get those cameras out - I will.

You can read more about the eclipse at Sky and Telescope.

Soldiers Delight Star Party

Soldiers Delight Star Party - March 15, 2025

"Astronomical Phenomena: Eclipses, meteor showers, and other spectacular events in the night sky"

Astronomical phenomena such as eclipses, meteor showers, and other spectacular events in the night sky captivate our imagination and offer a glimpse into the vastness of the universe. Eclipses, whether solar or lunar, occur when the Earth, moon, and sun align, casting shadows and creating breathtaking visual displays. Meteor showers, like the Perseids or Geminids, result from Earth passing through the debris left by comets, producing streaks of light as meteoroids burn up in the atmosphere. Other phenomena, such as auroras, are caused by solar particles interacting with Earth's magnetic field, painting the sky with vibrant colors. These events not only provide stunning visuals but also deepen our understanding of celestial mechanics and the dynamic nature of our cosmos.

All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

Activity: Dark Sky Wheel

You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/

Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025

Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time

Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area

5100 Deer Park Rd.

Owings Mills, MD 21117

Commercial Landers on the Moon

Firefly's Success

In a first for a commercial company, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander made a fully successful landing on the surface of the Moon. The landing occurred in the Mare Crisium on the lunar nearside early on the morning of Sunday, March 2nd at 3:34 a.m. EST / 8:34 UT.

Blue Ghost sees its shadow, on the surface of the Moon
Firefly Aerospace

Firefly's Blue Ghost lander witnessed lunar sunrise —
the start of a new day on the Moon and two weeks of activities
NASA

Read the complete story at Sky and Telescope

Intuitive Machines not so successful 

Athena landed in the lunar south pole region but fell on its side. After its batteries quickly depleted, the mission ended. 

This photo of the lunar surface was taken from the Athena lander on approach.
Intuitive Machines

Athena entered lunar orbit on March 3rd and initiated an initial descent orbit insertion (DOI) burn on March 6th at 5:33 a.m. EST / 10:33 UT, snapping images as it went. It touched down in the Mon Mouton region at 12:30 p.m. EST / 17:30 UT. However, early indications showed that the Nova-C lander was "not in the correct attitude," said Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, in a press conference Thursday afternoon. Indeed, a later image from the spacecraft confirmed it had landed on its side, similar to the fate of the company's first attempt, a year ago.

Athena managed to send back pictures confirming its position and activate a few experiments before going silent.

Athena took a picture from the surface of the Moon that showed the lander on its side.
Intuitive Machines

Full story at Sky and Telescope

Jupiter with moon shadows

It's been a long time since I have attempted any planetary photography since I'm generally a DSO (Deep Space Object) imager.  So, while setting up for another run at the IC 417 nebula I slewed the telescope to Jupiter just for the fun of it while I was waiting for the sky to get darker.

Even though I didn't have the planetary camera attached, the mono ASI2600 at the f/10 full FL of the EdgeHD11 did bring out some detail. I noticed the location of two of Jupiter's moons and the shadows they were casting on the planet so I ran a full 5000 frame video capture using SharpCap.

Jupiter - March 4, 2025
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm f/10
2500 frames stacked in Autostakkert and Processed in Registax

The resultant stacked and processed image (at 50% best frame setting) was quite remarkable. It showed the red spot, numerous cloud belts and the shadows of both Europa and Ganymede. Not in color, I might add, as this was through the mono camera using just the luminance filter.

Maybe I'll get back to some planetary imaging later this Spring before the planets move out of my view. For now, it's back to DSOs.

Recording breaking Ghost-like Particle Discovered

Astronomers have used a giant, underwater telescope to detect the most energetic neutrino ever observed. So, what is a neutrino?

A neutrino is a tiny, neutral subatomic particle with a very small mass, much less than that of an electron. It comes in three types: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos. Neutrinos interact very weakly with other matter, allowing them to pass through most objects almost undetected. They are produced in various nuclear reactions, such as those in the sun, during supernovae, and in nuclear reactors. Despite their elusive nature, neutrinos are essential for understanding fundamental processes in the universe.

This artist's impression shows part of the KM3NET neutrino detector,
being built deep in the Mediterranean Sea.
It's not to scale — the detector units are just 30 cm across,
and they'll be spread across cubic kilometers under the sea.

On February 13, 2023, the Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss (ARCA) picked up a single muon that triggered more than a third of the site’s intricate sensors. The inbound trajectory of the muon, coupled with its extremely high energy, led KM3NeT researchers to conclude that the muon was the result of a 220 peta electrovolt (PeV) neutrino striking the Earth's atmosphere from space.

See the complete article at SkyandTelescope

Venus Shines Bright

The planet Venus will be the brightest object in evening sky on Valentine's Day. Kinda neat since in Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty and fertility. How fitting.

Venus’s greatest evening elongation in 2025 from the Northern Hemisphere
as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planets are exaggerated 600 times in size.
Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar.

Venus reaches its greatest brilliancy for 2025 on February 14, where it is the evening star. You can't miss Venus! It outshines all other objects in our sky, except for the sun and moon. Look for it in the western sky just after sunset. In fact, it is so bright that you could probably see it before the sun sets if you know just where to look. And with small telescopes, it is visible in the daytime.

Check out EarthSky for more details about Venus, why it is so bright and why it appears sometime in the east and sometimes in the west but never all night long.

Soldier's Delight Star Party - this Saturday - Feb 15, 2025 - 6:30pm

Soldiers Delight Star Party - February 15, 2025

I am back from the frozen north of Norway, in search of the Northern Lights. Turns out it wasn't actually frozen at all! I'll explain during the session this coming Saturday. 

So come on out and join us for an exciting discussion of Gravity, Black Holes and what's up in the winter sky.

"Gravity and Black Holes"

Tonight, we delve into one of the most intriguing and enigmatic phenomena in the universe: black holes and the force of gravity that governs them. Black holes, with their immense gravitational pull, challenge our understanding of physics and the very fabric of space-time. These cosmic giants, formed from the remnants of massive stars, possess gravitational fields so strong that not even light can escape their grasp. Our discussion will explore the formation of black holes, the role of gravity in their behavior, and the profound implications they have for our understanding of the universe. Join me as we journey into the depths of these mysterious entities and uncover the secrets they hold about the nature of gravity and the cosmos.

All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

Activity: Gravity Simulator: Explore Black Holes and Gravity

You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/

Date: Saturday, February 15, 2025

Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Eastern

Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area

5100 Deer Park Rd.

Owings Mills, MD 21117

Comet G3 may be disintegrating

As reported on EarthSky, new reports suggest that bright comet ATLAS G3 – which has been wowing observers this past week (at least in the southern hemisphere and the lower US) – may be disintegrating.

Comets are known to undergo an “outburst,” or rapid increase in brightness, before starting to disintegrate. And observers reported on the evening of January 19 that Comet ATLAS had suddenly become much brighter. 

The images below show the nucleus dimming and loosing definition.

Astrophotographer Lionel Majzik captured these images of comet ATLAS G3 from Rio Hurtado, Chile, between January 18 and 20. 

For the complete story see EarthSky.

Day 12 - Bergen

The day was dark and cloudy and actually quite cold. Light rain and drizzle continued all day. We had booked a bus tour of the city of Bergen, but based on it's departure time of 5:00pm we decided to just stay in our stateroom. It was just too much to get out in the dark with that weather and there was some outside walking. So we enjoyed a good dinner and rested - after all, we needed to be up and ready to leave for the airport at 3:00am!

I snapped a few pics of the city from our ship docked in Skoltegrunnskaien (Bryggen, the Wharf), a port located in the heart of Fjord Norway. 

Oh, I forgot to mention this on yesterday's blog:
I had a nice conversation with Captain Rune Loekling, who has been sailing with Viking for 10 years. We discussed the new ship (Vela) and his time with Viking and the topic of the storm came up during the conversation. When I mentioned it was kind of neat to be able to tell my friends that I was in a class 2 hurricane, he politely corrected me. Turns out it was a class 3 storm, with winds that actually reached 170 mph and sea swells of 80 ft. Yikes. No wonder we were tossed about. I asked him if he had been in similar storms and he said yes, a few, as the North and Norwegian Seas are notorious for these kinds of storms.

And the evidence of the storm's effect on the Vela were obvious today, as we saw a number of contractor crews out and about repairing stateroom closets, many areas around the pool, hallways, restaurants and just about everywhere you looked. Most damage was minor with some moderate damage requiring replacement of whole pieces of furniture and shelving areas. Lots of kitchen dishes needed to be replaced. One of the crew mentioned to me that there were even some dents in the ship's hull that will need repairing when the ship is between cruises.

So there - I can claim to have been at sea in a class 3 storm 😎. It was exciting, but I don't think I would like to do it again. Did we enjoy our cruise even considering the storm and the fact that we didn't get to our big excursions out in Tromsø and Alta? Yes. And, almost forgot, finally got to see the Northern Lights; at least a small display. But it was better than nothing, and I won't have to tell my friends that I went all the way to Norway and didn't see the Northern Lights😄. 

And just before we retired for the evening, we got a letter from Viking informing us that we would be getting a voucher for a future cruise valued at 100% of our current expenditure - essentially, a free cruise!

Northern Lights as seen from the observation deck of the ship
Sunday, Jan 19.

Day 11 - Viking Cruise - Stavanger, Norway

Today we visited Stavanger, a city set on Norway's southwest coast. Stavanger boasts a rich history dating back to the last ice age. Known as one of Europe's most interesting old towns, Gamle Stavanger's cobblestone streets are adorned with a collection of wooden buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries. 

We hadn't booked any excursions for this day, but decided, the last minute to do the Fjord Foray by RIB at midday. According to Wikipedia a rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are inflated with air to a high pressure so as to give the sides resilient rigidity along the boat's topsides. The design is stable, light, fast and seaworthy. The inflated collar acts as a life jacket, ensuring that the vessel retains its buoyancy, even if the boat is taking on water.

We had taken a similar ride on an RIB when we cruised to Iceland this past summer. However, this foray was quite a different story. With temperatures in the low 30s and the boat speed pretty high the wind chill was quite intense. And where did we have our heated gloves and socks? On the ship of course - poor planning!

Here are a few pics of the town, followed by the awesome, close-up beauty of the fjords as seen by RIB. I didn't get any pics of the actual town by foot as we were so cold from our return from the RIB ride.

Note the Burger King and 7-Eleven

Joan and I got to sit in the front of the boat (more exciting), while the other passengers enjoyed the wind break we provided 😏.

"Pulpit Rock"

And we really did get close to the edges of these mountains.