I left Granite Gap this morning. I have been spending the nights photographing some galaxies and hiking and birding during the day. The weather has been far too windy most of the time and it makes astrophotography hard. I put all that gear away and now I am focusing on birds. I’m at Bosque del Apache NWR near Socorro, New Mexico. After spending the last 7 months in the Sonoran Desert, it is sure nice to see lots of water again! The refuge is full of birds, lots of shorebirds, ibis, herons, ducks, warblers and others. I didn’t do much birding today but tomorrow will be a full day.
One of the galaxies I’ve been working on is M63, the Sunflower Galaxy. I haven’t tried this one for several years. Despite losing a lot of my subs to wind, I managed to get 102 good 90 second subs for stacking. This galaxy is found near the Big Dipper. M100, a galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The smaller galaxy in the upper right is NGC 4312. I used the MP-65 super macro lens and a MR14-EX II ring flash for these ants. The lens does not autofocus, one has to achieve focus by moving the lens back and forth. The lens must be just a couple of inches from the subject being photographed. A ring flash is pretty much necessary. So, I was on the ground following the movements of the ants trying to do just that. Out of 65 shots I got 4 pretty good ones. I don’t use this lens very much, but it does get good results on very small things. A Lesser Earless Lizard at Granite Gap.
I left Ajo last week and drove to Granite Gap, just across the border in New Mexico. I planned to stay here awhile and do some astro and that has been working out OK. Otherwise, I think it is drier here than the Ajo area. There is not much vegetation that is green. There is a herd of cattle on this BLM land and I’ve been watching them eat prickly pear cactus. There is no grass for them to eat.
I’ve been adding more time to NGC 4725. I’ve lost track of the hours of exposure, but it must be around 6 or 7 by now. I think it is worth it. As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image. The larger, eliptical galaxy is M60. Eliptics by themselves are not very interesting but something else happened here. The small galaxy is NGC 4647 and what appears to be a star from our galaxy in the lower right portion is not. It is a Type 1a supernova in NGC 4647. I don’t have a before/after photo but a look at Stellarium confirms this. I read about this on Spaceweather.com and decided to try for it. Both galaxies are about 60 million light years distant in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Type 1a supernova involve a white dwarf in a binary star setting. NGC 4753, also known as the Dust Devil Galaxy, is a lenticular galaxy in Virgo. It is known for the dust lanes that surround the nucleus. I wanted to see if I could capture those dust lanes. This is a very small galaxy and long way out there; the C8 continues to amaze me with its capabilities. The Losmandy G11 mount and the LaCerta MGen III autoguider gets a lot of credit too.I’ve added more time to M104 too. The inner dust lanes are starting to show up. Before I left Ajo, I went on one more night walk up Child’s Mountain Road. There, I found my 3rd Rosy Boa. It is quite fascinating to think about all the years I looked for this species and never found any and now, since last fall, I’m up to three. There was also a Sonoran Lyre Snake. This is the only location I’ve found this species.
Last month, I posted about the first quasar that I had ever knowingly photographed. My story was that while waiting for the galaxy NCG 4151 to rise high enough to capture two quasars, I spent a couple of hours photographing M97, the Owl Nebula. Well, today I was reading some posts on Cloudy Nights forums and found that there is an easy quasar by M97. I went back to my photos and sure enough, there it was. I have probably photographed lots of quasars and didn’t even know it. Now I have three different identified quasars.
And there it is, 8.5 billion light years, I am photographing light that left the quasar before our solar system even existed.
I had to go try again. There is something addicting about this, to keep taking photo after photo hoping for that one great photo to appear. It doesn’t happen very often. I can’t say that any of the images I got last night are great, but there were some keepers. As always, one can right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger view.
My hosts have a tall step ladder to get closer to the agave flowers. Last night I used some bungie straps to fasten my tripod to the ladder and got this. I think I should have spent more time on the ladder.I spent most of the night working the bats at the Octopus Agaves with a handheld camera/lens, prefocused. Here is a Lesser Long-nosed Bat taking off after getting a drink of nectar. There is a species of bat called the Yellow Bat, but this isn’t it. A Lesser Long-nosed Bat covered in pollen. It seems like there is room for all at these agaves but the bats have their conflicts.Ow!A bundle of bats.
A couple of nights ago I went back to Valentine Well to try for, once again, a good shot of a Townsend’s Big-eared Bat. I got no photos of that species. Bat activity at the well was pretty slow. All I got was more Yuma Myotis photos. I stayed until about 9 PM then headed back to Ajo on the Scenic Loop Road and Alley Road. As always, I was looking for snakes or whatever else might show and was pleasantly surprised with a Rosy Boa, only the second one I’ve ever seen.
The only keeper bat photo of the night was this Yuma Myotis. Here the boa has rolled its underside up and one can see the black speckled markings there.
Paul and Linda, fellow snowbirds and friends of mine in Ajo, own a home that has a remarkable variety of desert plants in the yard. There are several species of agave and some of these are blooming now. Nectar bats have appeared in good numbers, I’ve spent a couple of nights there photographing them. The laser trigger won’t work in this setup, so I just prefocus on a point and hope a bat comes to it.
All of the nectar bats appear to be one species, the Lesser Long-nosed Bat. This one had just finished feeding and is dropping off the flower. While feeding on nectar, they get a lot of pollen on their fur. This species is an important pollinator of desert cacti and other plants. This image isn’t very sharp but one can see the yellow pollen on the bat. I find it very difficult to get a good angle on the bats and I don’t get many sharp ones, so I can’t be too picky about which photos to keep. I shot over 200 images and only a dozen or so are worth keeping. Another bat leaving the flower, they don’t stay on the flowers very long. I think this is my favorite one so far. As always, right click on the image and open in a new tab or window for a larger view.
The weather continues to be nice. Birding hasn’t been too exciting except for a pair of Forster’s Terns that appeared on the ponds one day. These are the first terns of any species I’ve ever seen on the Ajo sewage ponds. Astrophotography has been hit and miss with clouds and wind.
This is NGC 3367, a galaxy that is so small in view that I wouldn’t typically bother with it. It is way out there, 120 million light years away. What makes it interesting to me now is the Type II supernova that occurred recently. Well, I should rephrase that, it occurred a long time ago and we are just seeing it now. And there it is. I captured a supernova in the Fireworks Galaxy some years back but wanted to try this one too. This is the sixth supernova reported from NGC 3367 in the last 30 years. One of the two Forster’s Terns at the ponds. First terns I’ve ever seen here. Yesterday I was at Highway Tank and was pleased to find this male Belted Kingfisher. There are no fish in the tank but it was catching large aquatic insects, some looked like dragonfly nymphs.
