Mid-November Images
Astronomy, Dwarf3It’s been mostly cloudy lately, but there were a few passable evenings. I’ve recently imaged the North America Nebula, the Crab Nebula, the Pelican Nebula, the Dragonfly Cluster, and the Rosette Nebula.
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Strong Aurora Last Night
AstronomyWe had some really good aurora borealis last night, even in light polluted suburbs. We were lucky that it was a clear evening, too. There might be good aurora tonight (2025-11-12), but it’s supposed to be much more cloudy.
Question Mark and Wizard Nebulae
Dwarf3, AstronomyI took some images of the Question Mark Nebula, NGC 7822, on October 21/22. Here are my initial results, processed on StellarStudio “auto” and Apple Photos “auto”:
Flaming Star Nebula
Astronomy, Dwarf3We had some good weather November 1st through 4th. I spent some time on the Flaming Star Nebula, C 31. There is one night’s worth of data that I couldn’t stack in with the rest, due to me using the wrong filter. For some reason, the Dwarf 3 doesn’t have C 31 in its atlas (or at least it didn’t then). So I focused on something else (sorry, I didn’t take good notes), and set the filter manually.
Wizard and California Nebulae
Astronomy, Dwarf3We have had clear skies for a few days now, and I wasn’t sure what projects to take on. I’m mostly limited to northern targets due to the trees and houses around where I live. So, I decided to revisit the Wizard Nebula, and added the California Nebula for after the Wizard went behind the neighbors’ tree.
Space Koala Video on My Possible Upgrade Path
AstronomyThe Space Koala YouTube channel recently had a video on “making your own smart telescope”, and I found it extremely helpful.
Camping in Eastern Colorado: Helix and Northern Trifid
Astronomy, Dwarf3, VanlifeWe needed a quick getaway, and decided it would be a good time to do some astrophotography from the road. Our original plan was to try North Sterling State Park, but Good To Stargaze predicted bad skies for most of the night. The Denver Astronomical Society’s dark sky site was showing a good forecast, so we went there instead.
The Crescent Nebula and M 31
Astronomy, Dwarf3Before our recent van trip to Austin, I took some shots of the Crescent Nebula and M 31. In Austin, I was happy to have good stargazing weather, so I took another night’s worth of data. And, on our trip home through Kansas, we had awesome observing conditions:
October 2025 Trip to Texas
Nostalgia, VanlifeWe visited with my brother in Austin this past week (October 12 through 18). I wanted to stop at Black Mesa State Park in Oklahoma on the way there, but the skies were cloudy, so there wasn’t much to do astrophotography-wise. So instead we went on to Lubbock and slept at a Love’s RV stop.
Seeing my brother was good. All was well with him. His self-driving Tesla is impressive, but not foolproof. It took us at full speed into a right-turn-only lane at one point, and he had to brake hard to keep from going off the road or worse.
Retrying the Lobster Claw Nebula
Astronomy, Dwarf3Last night was clear, so I decided to retry the Lobster Claw Nebula. I know it’s a difficult target for my hardware, so I tempered my expectations. Here is the result: