February 2022

As the title of this page may indicate, not much is going on. Some bird movement, mostly an increase in Sage Thrashers, is noted. The moon is approaching full phase now and of course it has been clear and calm every night. The weather has been warm, above 80 F. for the last few days. There is a group called the Boondockers that shows up here every winter. The campground was getting a bit crowded with them for the last couple of weeks but now most have left. It appears that Covid-19 has peaked in this area, according to the local weekly paper. Reported cases peaked at 74 the week before last, now it is dropping fast. I still remain Covid free.

A Sagebrush Sparrow. There are some around this winter but not in the numbers I’ve seen in past years.

NGC 3344, also known as the Sliced Onion Galaxy. 22.5 million light years away in the constellation Leo Minor. There are a couple of tiny background galaxies below the brightest star that are reported to be over 700 million light years distance. As always, right click on the image and open in a new window for a larger image.

Here is my finished composition of the Fox Fur and Cone Nebulas. I used the C8 on this and had to take two images and then combine them. I think it turned out rather well. About 14 hours combined exposure.

At the Kit Fox Den