Lon Blume can definitely deliver when it comes to jaw dropping shots of the moon. Here we have a shot of the western lunar maria with a stunning view of the termination line.
Pocatello Astronomical Society met Thursday to vote on the new bylaw changes with the Astronomical League (AL) to change some wording on the main website for the AL. The yes vote was unanimous. John Reed club president will pass the yes vote along to the AL.
Club member Kasey Davis turned in his lunar observing program for the AL this meeting as well, he can look forward to receiving a pin and a certificate for his work last summer.
Not much observing got done in December and the first half of January due to persistent clouds, we just can’t seem to catch a break! The next star party was discussed and we plan on going on January 20th or 21st depending on weather.
Club member Mike Beer gave a very informative presentation on taking night sky photos with only a cell phone. Mike did a lot of experimenting on how to achieve the best quality photo using a phone. Mike recommends using nightscape settings on the the cellphones camera app and he stressed to just keep it simple. Mike recommended using a tripod to keep the camera still but he also showed that simply propping the cellphone on the hood of his truck yielded excellent results.
The presentation was excellent and Mike is a very engaging speaker, no doubt many in the club will try their hands at a few of Mikes techniques for cellphone sky photos.
The Pocatello Astronomical Society yearly pot luck was great this year. Everyone brought some great food and no one left with an empty belly. We mainly discussed this years observation highlights and plans for next years activities. The Moon occulting Mars was the main topic of conversation at the pot luck.
Next meeting will take place 2nd Thursday of the month in January 2023 at Marshall Public Library. Looking forward to some observing; if these clouds ever burn off…. The site will be updated if we make any plans to have a star party. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone this year!
This photo of the Leo Triplet is brought to us by club member Jeff Reitzel. The Leo triplet is a small group of Galaxies seen in the Constellation Leo. It consists of three spiral galaxies identified as Messier 65, Messier 66, and NGC 3628 located about 35 million light years from Earth. This group is very unique in that you see each galaxy from a very different angle ranging from face-on to edge-on. This was imaged using a Stellarvue SVX127D scope and QHY410C ca.
This outstanding photo is brought to us by club member Jeff Reitzel. NGC 281 aslo known as the Pac-man Nebula, it is a popular target for amateur astronomers due to its resemblance to the popular arcade character when seen in larger images. It is found in the Constellation Cassiopeia and actually located about 10,000 light years away in the Perseus Arm of our galaxy. Jeff’s goal for this photo was to capture detail of the intricate structure within the core area. It is full of dark dust lanes and Bok Globules all in the process of condensing to eventually ignite into new stars. A lot of this was done at our clubs observing site near Massacre Rocks. Imaged with a Stellarvue SVX127D scope, QHY268M camera, and narrow band filters (Ha, Oiii, Sii).
This photo is brought to us by club member Jeff Reitzel taken of comet Leonard 3 December 2021, during its closest approach to Earth. As it looped around the Sun in early January this comet fractured and developed an amazing tail, far longer and brighter than anyone expected. Unfortunately this display was only visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere as the Comet was traveling back towards deep space. This comet originated from the extreme edge of our solar system and will not return for at least 80,000 years, if it ever does. This was using a Stellarvue SVX102T scope and QHY268M camera with LRGB filters.
Meeting tonight was mainly focused on the new website. Club member Kasey Davis showed off the past few weeks of work on this site as well as some of the challenges faced during web design. Club members wanted to see a roster of club members added in the futures so stand by for that.
After discussing the website, club member Mike Beer shared some photos from last star party. Mikes photos of the southern milky way with his cell phone camera, with a very cool app for his apple phone called Night Cap produced some impressive results. Mike even added constellation and deep sky locations in a GIF.
After Showing off pictures the Club discussed this months star party, if the weather cooperates we are going to try for Massacre Rocks about 30 minutes west of Pocatello. This site is very dark and offers excellent views of deep sky objects and it being so close to town is major plus. More details to follow as the date gets closer we are very much looking forward to getting in some quality observing.
The last 30 minutes of the meeting were spent watching another excellent Smithsonian Institute lecture. This lecture was about how nebula are formed and illustrated the stunning work of the Spitzer Space Telescope infrared instruments. Infrared helped scientists see past non visible light so they could unravel the mystery of star formation in the Swan Nebula
Clear skies and keep looking up!
Mikes cellphone shot of the southern Milky Way with constellation and deep sky objects highlighted
This is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. The colors are done in Hubble Pallet format (SHO). The blue area is strong in Oxygen and this are is most visible with a telescope and UHC filter. John Reed took this photo in Oct 2022. It reminds him of a wizard performing magic with his two hands. He has a long beard that is golden and hat to match protruding in an arch. Taken with Explorer Scientific 104mm f7 Triplet and ASI2600MM camera.
