Lost 40 Astro

07/20/2026

A look at another area of the moon. Center frame here is Copernicus crater with its impressive lunar ray system. To the left is the smaller Kepler crater. The dark mare to the left of Kepler is the Ocean of Storms or Oceanus Procelarrum. The dark round crater to the left of the Ocean of Storms is Grimaldi. If you're into conspiracy theories the bright crater above Kepler along the top edge here is Aristarchus...an area with the highest reports of transient lunar phenomena including changing colors and brightness among other more fantastical claims. To the right of Copernicus the lunar Apennine mountain range arcs up towards the upper right corner. Apollo missions 12 and 14 landed south of Copernicus crater with 14 landing in the lighter colored Fra Mauro highlands region more to the right...Apollo 13's intended landing area. Apollo 15 landed near the western edge of the Apennine range towards the upper right corner of this image.

07/14/2026

A look at the Sea of Tranquility which is the dark lunar mare center frame here. July 16th marks the 57th anniversary of the launch of Apollo XI and the eventual landing spot for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was in the southwest corner of the Sea of Tranquility. The Sea of Tranquility is flanked on top by the Sea of Serenity and the Sea of Fertility on the bottom. The "crater" intersected by the terminator here is actually the lunar mare Sea of Crises. The Sea of Crises or Mare Crisium is a round mare encircled by mountains and ridges.

Shot using Apertura Carbonstar RC8 with ASI2600MC Pro in video mode. Approximate 1 minute video stacked in ASIAIR app with further processing of stacked image in Pixinsight and Lightroom.

07/09/2026

There's been no joy as an astrophotographer in deep southern Illinois in recent weeks with persistent unsettled weather. Last week we had high temps and humidity but some clear nights albeit with roving clouds and a full moon. It seemed like a good time to focus on some star clusters. I did some moon imaging as well but more on that later...

These images shot with the Apertura RC8/ASI2600MC Pro rig. More details in image captions.

06/25/2026

The Elephant Trunk Nebula.

Size: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (six full moons if you don't speak emoji)

A large emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus with a unique dark dense cloud feature resembling an elephant's trunk. The Elephant Trunk Nebula is entry IC 1396 in the NGC/IC and the nebula's official catalog entry refers to it as a vast open star cluster rather than a nebula. Likely because when the catalog was compiled around the turn of the 20th century nobody could pull out the faint nebulosity surrounding the stars (just a guess). In more modern times the entry IC 1396 generally refers to the overall nebula with the elephant's trunk feature labeled IC 1396A.

At the center of the Elephant Trunk Nebula lies the triple star system HD 206267. Stellar winds and intense radiation from this star system are what's causing this nebula to glow.

Near the bottom left is the large super or hyper giant red star mu Cephei or Herschel's Garnet Star. Captivated by its beauty and wonder (it happens in this business), astronomer William Herschel returned to this star several times recording it as "a most beautiful object of a fine, deep garnet color" and stating "this must be looked at often." Several times larger than our sun if placed in the same location in our solar system it would stretch out past the orbit of Jupiter.

Up and to the left of mu Cephei is a bluish and small, cataloged but not commonly named planetary nebula. I've shot the Elephant Trunk Nebula several times since I started imaging about 5 years ago and this is the first time I've pulled that out.

Images include the overall nebula as well as some cropped and enlarged regions of interest. More details in captions (click on individual images).

Acquisition Details:
Askar V 80 with reducer (modular refractor)
384mm focal length at f4.8
ZWO ASI2600MC Air OSC camera
Optolong L-Extreme F2 filter
173x60 second subs
Stacked and processed in Pixinsight
Minor tweaking of starless image in Lightroom

06/22/2026

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived at KSC yesterday, Sunday June 21, 2026, for final processing and launch integration. Assembled at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland it was shipped over 800 miles down the east coast via the NASA barge Pegasus.

Approximately 8 months ahead of schedule, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is slated to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as early as August 30th.

Its mission is exploring dark matter, dark energy, and exo planets. The telescope is named in honor of NASA's first chief of astronomy and champion of space telescopes Nancy Grace Roman. After launch it will travel to and be positioned at Lagrange Point 2 around 1 million miles from Earth.

Images courtesy of NASA. More details in image captions.

06/15/2026

My first outing last night with the Askar V modular refractor. In this instance using the V60 objective with reducer (270mm at f4.5) in conjunction with the ASI2600MC Pro. This combination fits the entire Cygnus Loop easily in the FOV.

The Cygnus Loop is a fascinating and large target, 6 to 12 times larger than the full moon depending on how you measure it, but invisible to the naked eye. It is the wispy remains of a supernova that occurred many thousands of years ago and it's still currently expanding.

120x60 second subs of a planned 250 cut short by clouds. Shot using the Optolong L-Extreme F2 filter. Image stacked and processed in Pixinsight with minor tweaks in Lightroom.

06/04/2026

Bode's Galaxy is the 81st object in the Messier Catalog and is a popular target due to it's size and near perfect spiral shape. It was discovered by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode on New Year's Eve in 1774. It along with the very nearby M82 were for some time and still are rarely referred to as Bode's Nebula due to the fact that the true nature of galaxies wasn't fully understood for around another 150 years. M81 is located off the bowl of the Big Dipper in Ursa Major. Charles Messier and Pierre Mechain identified and added it to the Messier Catalog in 1779.

A large grand design spiral with a yellow core and bluish arms this is one I fought the urge to bump the saturation up on. I prefer a more "natural" appearance and that seems to be a popular trend I can't quite get on board with yet. I may go back and try some alternative edits here though.

Gear:
Apertura Carbonstar RC8 with 0.67 reducer
ZWO ASI2600MC Air OSC Camera
ZWO ASI220MM guide camera and scope
AM5N Mount on Apertura Anchor Pier
Control via ASIair app with IPad
140x60 second subs over two nights
Stacked and processed using Pixinsight with tweaks in Adobe Lightroom

06/03/2026

06/03/2026

Auroras may be possible in the coming days. Latest guesstimations are saying June 4th/5th and NOAA has issued a strong geomagnetic storm watch. There have been a couple of high range M flares and one X1.0 flare over the last few days and a CME stacking event is possible. Stacking or combination events have a history over the last couple years of giving us the best show in my location in the Wabash and Ohio river valley of deep southeastern IL. Again, everything has to come together just right but my aurora watcher friends should stay tuned.