This spectacular galaxy, designated Messier 51 and popularly called the Whirlpool Galaxy, is probably one of the most photographed celestial objects. I remotely snapped it about a year ago using a telescope located in a mountain valley near Rodeo, NM. The image below is my second attempt at processing that data, partly to determine if [...]

Galaxy Messier M66. Go here for details. Well, maybe not the last. The outfit that rents remote-controlled time on several telescopes is closing down. Details at the Lightbuckets site, at least while the web site is still online. I first used their equipment on June 5, 2010, and since then I have accumulated lots of [...]

Here is a colorful, even garish, image of the Flame Nebula with the Horsehead Nebula lurking behind. I’ve had fun with this one, because it has led me up a few more steps on the Photoshop learning curve. These nebulae are part of the wintertime Orion constellation scene. If you want to know more about [...]

At least according to my simple-minded two-season year it is. As usual my summer turns to bummer after the World Series, changing back to summer when major league spring training begins in February. The timing seems especially auspicious this year as we have jumped from blizzard conditions with a couple feet of snow early this [...]

I’m pretty proud of this one. In a previous post I showed off the grayscale luminance image taken remotely by a LightBuckets observatory in Rodeo, New Mexico on January 3, 2011. To get color, I needed images of the same nebula taken through red, blue, and green filters, and it took me until January 27 [...]

(Click on image to enlarge) According to Wikipedia, The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and [...]

Using a mouse to navigate my computer screen has become second nature in spite of the fact that using the keyboard is often a better option. Several months ago I acquired a pen tablet to replace the mouse in my life in the hope that using the pen-shaped stylus would be an easier way to [...]

I say “again” because I have been worrying this poor nebula to death for the past month or so. I promised myself that after I had wrung all I could out of the hours of data I have collected, I would write a little essay about the Crescent Nebula. Maybe this is it and maybe [...]

Gaze at the dark sky and what do you see? Mostly white stars against a black background. A few of the brighter ones show some color, but the human eye is pretty picky when it comes to transmitting color information to our brain. Really dim stuff always comes out bland and gray. The eye needs [...]

The age of ebooks and ebook readers has arrived. Amazon.com revealed the other day that they now are selling more ebooks than bound books. When I bought my Kindle a few months ago, I was amazed how many Amazon books are available in instant gratification Kindle editions. And it is so easy. Turn on your [...]