It has not been very good weather for doing astrophotography, or anything else for that matter. Cloudy, windy, cold, and even wet most of the time. I have only managed a few nights of good astro weather. Birding hasn’t fared much better, but I am able to pick up 25-30 species on a good day. I have now seen at least five different Long-eared Owls in the area. They do not cooperate for good photos.
This is one of those “I did it to see what it would look like” astro images. In the upper left is NGC 2537, also known as the Bear Paw Galaxy. It is a blue, compact dwarf galaxy in the constellation Lynx, about 22 million light years away. The narrow galaxy in the lower right is IC 2233. The two galaxies were once thought to be interacting, but we now know that they are separated by vast distances and not close enough, IC 2233 is probably at least 30-40 million light years out there. There are many other galaxies in the background. Here’s a tighter crop on the Bear Paw Galaxy, one can see how it gets its name (except a bear would actually have 5 toes). Maybe there are 3 toed bear-like creatures on a planet orbiting one the galaxies stars. Or some intelligent life form shooting images of the Milky Way Galaxy and wondering the same things. I’ve imaged the Leo Triplets and each of the three galaxies in the triplet, but this is the first time I’ve tried the Leo Quartet. Each of these galaxies is very small in view, much smaller and fainter than the Leo Triplets. Also known as Hickson 44 galaxy group, these are interacting galaxies. Located in the constellation Leo and about 80 million light years out there. The Tiger’s Eye or NGC 2841. I have imaged this before and am just adding more exposure. Lots of distant background galaxies, none of which show up in Stellarium. NGC 2683, also known as the UFO Galaxy. As with the Tiger’s Eye, I’m just adding more exposure to a previous image. Despite the lousy weather, spring is starting to show, I saw my first Mohave Desert Stars a few days ago. A sure sign of spring!
I went owling a few nights ago. I didn’t expect to get much but I did get what I expected, Western Screech-Owls and Great Horned Owls. I only heard the Great Horned Owls but I played some screech-owl calls and had a pair come in close. The weather has been just about perfect lately. Of course now it is the full moon time and I haven’t been doing any astro. Back when it was still dark enough, I imaged comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) again, this time with the 500 f4, giving a much wider field of view.
Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) as it appeared awhile back. I imaged this around midnight, giving it enough time rise higher in the sky. I could easily see it in binoculars when the sky was dark but now with the bright moon it would be hard to see. A few more days and it would be worth looking for it again. Lately there has been an invasion of Sage Thrasher. One morning I stepped outside the camper, and I saw one, so I got my camera and bird songs, it didn’t take long before I had three Sage Thrashers right here at camp. I saw two more yesterday. I had two Western Screech-Owls calling and got photos of both. Their plumages are different enough to recognize that they are different birds. It has been a long time since I’ve photographed Western Screech-Owls. It is fun getting out there at night and finding the nocturnal birds.
