First Lunar Image of 2013

I haven't been out in a couple weeks, the moon was in a good phase and it was a good night for observing. After taking some pictures I looked at Jupiter and the Orion Nebula.

1/320 sec., ISO 200.

Visiting the Space Shuttle Endeavour

On Monday I went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles to see the retired space shuttle Endeavour. It was an amazing experience and was much bigger than I expected. Here are some pictures taken with my iPhone camera of the shuttle.

First (Solar) Image of 2013!

Here's my first image of 2013, a solar image. There were a lot of sunspots today, possibly the most I've ever captured. A good beginning to the new year.

1/1250., ISO 100. Single shot.

Final Observing Report of 2012

Tonight was a good end to a great year of astronomy. I haven’t been out in a couple of weeks so I decided to wrap up the year with a short session tonight. Conditions weren’t great, transparency and seeing were average. I got a good view of Jupiter and its moons, as well as the Pleiades. I waited a little bit for Orion to rise and observed the Orion nebula and Auriga and Gemini clusters, M35, M36, M37, and M38. This year was my first full year in astronomy, and I really enjoy this hobby and look forward to more experience and clear skies in 2013.

Here's a short video I threw together documenting some of my experiences in 2012.

Widefield: Orion and Moon

Here's a wide-field shot of the Moon and Orion. This picture was taken around 9:30pm, the full moon washes everything out. Also, here's a close-up shot of the moon.

10 sec., ISO 200.

10 sec., ISO 200.

1/2000 sec., ISO 200.

2012 Space Year in Review

I recently made a video of space highlights in 2012, including Curiosity, SpaceX, etc.

Also, here are pictures of the sun and moon from today.

1/640 sec., ISO 400

1/1250 sec., ISO 200

Halo around the Moon

The world didn't end! Here's an image from tonight; a Lunar Halo. This event is caused by moonlight reflecting off ice crystals in our upper atmosphere.

10 sec., ISO 800