Almost Heaven Star Party 2022

It was glorious to see astronomers and their gear on the fields of Experience Learning Center in August 2022 for the Almost Heave Star Party. The sold out event was last held in 2019. Experience Learning Center debuted their new outdoor Yurt which served the group wonderfully for meals and camaraderie. The demands of my new job limited the amount of video and fellowship I had at the event. I still had a wonderful time catching up with old friends and getting acquainted with new ones. The event brings together the best folks who are all passionate about astronomy and nature. For a view of the star party and Experience Learning Center, please see the YouTube video.

Each night at the party had windows for observing/imaging, but we never had a totally clear night. The weather was very nice, if not a bit on the hot side for Spruce Knob. I captured 2 solid hours of data for the Andromeda Galaxy and combined that data with Hydrogen Alpha data for the image below. I only managed 45 minutes on the Pleiades, but combined that with 2 year old data from Spruce Knob and updated my image with a deeper presentation. I, also, gathered 4 hours of narrow band data for an upcoming project that will take a while to complete.

Work obligations and spending time simply visiting new and old friends limited my video and photo capture of the event. It was a joy simply sitting around catching up with other astronomers and talking/looking at gear and sharing experience.

My neighbor Skip had a 7” Astro-Physics refractor sharing wonderful views of the Sun and deep sky objects.

Another happy crowd at Skip’s telescope.

We never had a “clear” night, but had plenty of windows to view and image.

Spectacular sunset on the evening of Thursday August 25 for the AHSP staff.

Spectacular sunset on the evening of Thursday August 25 for the AHSP staff.

Clouds on August 25.

Sunspot group 3088 and prominence on August 28, 2022

The Milky Way over the southern field at the Almost Heaven Star Party 2022

45 minutes of data from the AHSP 2022 was added to legacy data for the Pleiades

The great Andromeda Galaxy. Two hours of data from AHSP.

North America and Pelican Nebulae in narrow band blend

My latest image was captured from the backyard over the past few months. The region is an amazing section of our Milky Way with many tendrils of gas and dust expanding and contracting in the constellation Cygnus. The North America and Pelican nebulae are the two of the most obviously named deep sky objects in the Milky Way. For technical details, please see my Astrobin page linked on the contact page. This image is now part of the “Narrow Band Gallery”.

Solar Observing and Imaging with the Daystar Quark Chromosphere Filter

Please take a moment to check out my latest YouTube video where I share my first 8 months with the Daystar Quark Chromosphere filter for observing our very active Sun.

Summer Skies gifted with Solar Prominence

Our family vacationed in Surfside Beach, SC this past week. I had envisioned a video production celebrating the “Summer Sky”. I planned on capturing the beauty of the sky with clouds, stars, Milky Way, Sun, and Moon. I brought my Astro-Physics Stowaway and Daystar Quark Chromosphere Eyepiece along for hydrogen alpha views and images of the Sun. Boy was I in for a treat. I viewed/imaged the Sun every morning and was taken aback with the views on August 3. The prominence was fantastic and lingered well into the next day. Below are the images and links to the video production. I will soon have a video reviewing and discussing viewing imaging with the Daystar Quark Chromosphere eyepiece. So far, it has been a blast since I picked it up in December. Clear skies and thanks for stopping by.

The solar prominence arc on August 3, 2022.

The arc is still visible on August 4, 2022.

Celebrating “Summer Skies” with clouds, Sun, Moon, stars, and lightning.

The solar prominence animated on Aug. 3, 2022. This animation represents 40 minutes of motion. This is a 4 segment loop of a forward/reverse presentation.

Green Bank Star Quest 2022

The Green Bank Star Quest is a premier astronomy event in the U.S. The host facility, the Green Bank Observatory is a first-class facility. The are over 24 hours of lectures in the modern lecture halls and rooms. You can sign up for hands-on training and operation of a radio telescope as well as tour the Green Bank Telescope, an engineering and scientific marvel. Oh yeh, the skies are pretty dark there, too. I had 2 excellent nights of imaging, one night being a solid 9.5 out of 10. Please check out the YouTube video for sights and sounds from the party and I hope you enjoy the images below. See you next year at GBSQ 2023.

Star Trails over Green Bank

Milky Way at Green Bank with 35mm

Green Bank Observatory Milky Way

Rainbow Lagoon Nebula in SHO palette

“Pillars of Creation" in Eagle Nebula M16