Ray's Notebook

North America Nebula

2011-12-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

The North America Nebula is a large cloud of glowing gas roughly in the shape of North America found in the northern Milky Way in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. 80mm F/5 telescope, 0.5 focal reducer, 20 forty second exposure with Star Shoot camera, June 14, 2009

Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge Osprey Photo

2011-12-24T04:28:00.000-08:00

Photo taken April 19, 2011 during a trip with my brother Dave to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, New Jersey. I used Nikon Coolpix 4500 camera & 90mm Maksutov telescope Lois found at goodwill.com website.

Black Brant Rocket Chemical Release

2009-09-19T01:36:00.000-07:00

Rocket launch & chemical release from Black Brant rocket launch, Wallops Island, Virginia. As seen from East Point, New Jersey September 19, 2009. Click on the images for a larger view.

Minotaur Rocket Launch

2009-06-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

On May 19, 2009 at 7:55 PM a 4 stage Air Force Minotaur I rocket carrying the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite was launched from Wallops Island, Virginia. I and 3 friends watched from East Point, NJ as the rocket could be seen over the Delaware Bay. The view in binoculars was outstanding!

This is a photo I took with Nikon Coolpix 4500 camera as the rocket blasted off into space. Click on the image for a larger view.

Comet Lulin at Opposition

2009-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

In this view taken February 25th comet Lulin is directly opposite the Sun in the sky and out all night long.

The gas tail points away from Earth & Sun and is unseen.

The dust tail is well presented & seen at it's longest & brightest.

This photo shows over 1.5 degrees of dust tail. It was taken at low power with my 80mm F/5 refractor with -0.5 focal reducer.

Comet Lulin Approaches Earth

2009-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

I took this photo of comet Lulin on February 20, 2009 as the comet neared it's closest pass with Earth February 23rd. The reddish dust tail, the anti-tail, seen on the left, grows larger as the faint gas tail, at upper right, shrinks in size.
When comet Lulin reaches opposition on February 25th, it will be directly opposite the Sun in the sky, the gas tail should completely disappear. After opposition the gas tail, if still visible, will still point away from the Sun, but it will be pointing in the same direction as the anti-tail.

At this point the comet will have crossed the meridian and the anti-tail will really no longer be an anti-tail. Both tails will be pointing away from the Sun in the evening sky!

The Two Tails of Comet Lulin

2009-02-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

Comet Lulin passes near the Earth on February 23, 2009 at the same time that it appears to pass 2 degrees south of Saturn.

I first observed comet Lulin August 3, 2008 as it passed 2 degrees north of Jupiter. This comet appears to pass so close to the planets because comet Lulin is closely aligned with the ecliptic, the Sun & planets path through the sky.

Although the rule of thumb is that comet tails point away from the Sun, a comet aligned with the ecliptic with an angular distance from the Sun that is increasing, can display an anti-tail that appears to point toward the Sun.

This is because the dust tail, although it initially points away from the Sun, curves as it is spread out along the orbit of the comet as it recedes from the Sun. At the same time the gas tail can be seen pointing directly away from the Sun.

I took this photo on the morning of February 1, 2009 with my 4.5" scope. The dusty anti-tail points to the upper left, the gas tail can be seen to the lower right.

Pluto 08-08-08

2008-10-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

Soon after I got my Orion Star Shoot camera one of the goals I set was to image 13.8 magnitude Pluto with my little 4.5" telescope.

On August 8 & 9, 2008 I got an chance to demonstrate the capability of this camera & telescope.

The above images show the movement of Pluto on these two consecutive nights.

Comet Holmes November 16 & December 1, 2007

2007-12-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

Compare the size of comet Holmes in the above photo I took Saturday night, December 1, to the photo on top taken November 16. The magnification is the same in both photos, about 18 power.

4.5" F/5 reflector, Pentax K1000, Fuji 800 film, 2 minutes.

The view last night, December 4, was amazing. The electric company decided to cut the power for a while to do some transformer maintenance. I guess they figured everyone was sleeping.

Everything went dark just moments after I stepped out of the shower. All the electric power was out for miles around for almost 2 hours. I dressed for my observing session with only a red filter flashlight. My eyes were well adapted to darkness as I stepped out near midnight into a totally dark neighborhood with a sky filled with stars. Comet Holmes was an easy naked eye object almost directly overhead and as big as the Moon!

Halloween Comet Holmes

2007-11-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

I took this photo of Comet Holmes and Melotte 20 (the Alpha Persei Star Group) on October 31.

Comet Holmes is bigger than the Moon in this photo when you include the bluish outer coma.

Pentax K1000 camera, 100mm@F/2, Fuji Superia Xtra 800 film, 1 1/2 minutes.

Click on the photo to enlarge for the best view.

Comet Holmes Continues to Amaze

2007-11-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Comet 17P/Holmes is still naked eye, just 1/2 degree northeast of Alpha Persei as I write this on November 18th.

It is larger than the Moon now with lower surface brightness. It is out almost all night long.

This photo was taken on October 29 with my 4.5" reflector, Nikon digital camera, and an 8 second exposure.

Be sure to click on the photo for a full size view.

Comet Holmes November 7th

2007-11-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

I took this photo on November 7th with 4.5" F/4 reflector, Pentax K1000 camera, Fuji Superia Xtra 400 film, 30 second exposure.

Comet Holmes in a Super Outburst!

2007-10-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

The last time this happened comet 17P/Holmes was hundreds of thousands of times brighter than usual when discovered on November 7, 1892 in London England by E. Holmes. This outburst is bigger. This comet is one million times as bright as just a few days ago before the outburst. No comet in history has ever had an outburst like this. Comet Holmes is a 2.5 magnitude naked eye object in Perseus. It could stay pretty bright for weeks.
Photo of comet 17P/Holmes with 12.5" telescope. For this photo I used 18mm eyepiece, Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera, 2 second exposure.
This photo looks very much as it appeared in the telescope. Note the starlike center and the fan of dust within the coma.

March 3, 2007 Lunar Eclipse

2007-03-04T10:12:00.000-08:00

Last night I took this photo of the total eclipse of the Moon.

At sunset it was mostly cloudy but a break in the clouds less than an hour later allowed me to shoot this photo before the end of the total phase of this eclipse. I used an 80mm F/5 refractor & Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera, 2 second exposure with 18mm eyepiece.

Winter Bald Eagles

2007-02-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

Bald Eagles can be seen from here at times. Usually soaring over the Maurice River at some distance but now and then they soar right overhead as they turn east to glide up the Maumuskin Creek. These are recent digital photos of a 2 year old immature eagle and an adult eagle flying right overhead.

2003 Halloween Aurora

2007-02-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

On Halloween night 2003 a bright aurora filled the sky with color. From South Jersey red and green rays and bands danced in the sky even low in the south. This photo was taken as I pointed the camera to the south in the constellation Aquarius. Mars can be seen at left center. The red color in the camera lens and the brightness of Mars near opposition seem reduced the reddish color usually seen. The Water Jar of Aquarius & Alpha Aquarii are seen at upper right. Notice that the red rays appear to converge at a point near zenith. When viewing aurora in the north the rays most always appear to converge at a point below the northern horizon.

2001 Leonid Meteor Storm

2007-02-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

This is one of my photos from the fantastic Leonid Meteor Shower on November 18, 2001. This photo was taken at Belleplain State Forest in southern New Jersey A meteor is seen streaking thru Canis Major. At times rates were higher than 1000 per hour. This qualifies as a meteor storm, the best since 1966!

2002 Leonid Meteor Shower

2007-02-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

On November 19, 2002 despite a full Moon in the sky the Leonid Meteor Shower was great. At times hundreds of meteors per hour fell. Although most of these meteors were faint there were some bright ones. I took this photo of a bright red Leonid meteor just before dawn at Belleplain State Forest in southern New Jersey. It was published in the March 2003 issue of the "Reflector", newsletter of the Astronomical League. Also seen is Venus (through clouds), Mars, & Spica.

The Tail of a Comet

2007-02-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

Comet McNaught is putting on a grand show in the southern hemisphere. I saw comet McNaught C/2006 P1 only once on January 10, 2007 before it headed south. I easily saw Mcnaught with the naked eye. It had a short bright tail.

The comet was so bright, and so close to the horizon, that the Earth's atmosphere made the comet's head red, white, & blue!

After passing close to the Sun on January 15th this comet became the brightest comet in over 40 years and began to display a huge dust tail. By many accounts this comet had the grandest tail since Donati's Comet in 1858. The tail swept to the north and could even be seen from South Jersey when the head of the comet was only visable south of the equator. I took this photo on January 20th along the Maurice River showing the Moon & Venus below three rays or streamers from the tail of comet McNaught. Click on the photo for more detail.