Hint Of Things To Come...

There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to blog! Yesterday was Melinda's day off, the weather cleared and we joined some other TAAA (Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association) members out at the Empire Ranch observing site north of Sonoita. It was a beautiful night, nearly an all-nighter, though the light domes over nearby towns seemed accentuated, perhaps from some of the fires in the area. We still had fun - Melinda tried some astro-photography with her new camera, and I used the C-14 and Hyperstar for a few summer Milky Way shots. Knowing how I like the dark nebulae, you can bet there are a few of them on the observing list. Here is a quick-and-dirty average of some jpeg images, total exposure of 10 minutes with the 20Da and Hyperstar at ISO 800. This is the west end of a dark nebula called the Pipe nebula, also visible as the back leg of the "Prancing Horse" Nebula we showed a couple weeks ago here. It never fails to amaze what a little more focal length and aperture does for an image! Anyway, more to come, but not likely until we have time, likely next weekend after we locate temporarily in the Midwest!