I’m still in Ajo. I will likely be heading east next week. It is getting pretty hot everyday now. I really hate to leave but it is time. I’ve had a few good nights of astro and the Long-tailed Brush Lizard mystery may have been solved.
M90, another of the Messier objects I’ve never imaged before. Looking at this in Stellarium I didn’t think it was going to look like much, but I’m impressed. It is a beautiful galaxy, rich colors, and lots of interesting things going on. The star-forming regions are very limited, so the outer arms appear smooth and nearly featureless. But the center is a different story. About 60 million light years out there, in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, M90 is another of the rare, blue-shifted galaxies that is moving toward our galaxy instead of away from it. There are a lot of small, faint background galaxies and one larger dwarf galaxy, IC 3583. NGC 5033, also named the Waterbug Galaxy, is an inclined spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. I’m quite proud of this one, M13, the Great Cluster in Hercules. While it is pretty easy to get a photo of star cluster, getting one without blowing out the central stars, getting good round stars all around, good star color and without star bloating, is hard. I finally figured out a good formula, use shorter exposures, take lots of them, and use some different processing. The star colors came out very nicely. I like this!This afternoon I had two different Long-tailed Brush Lizards show up on my solar panel. One had half its tail missing, so I know there were two different ones. I think the explanation for where the earlier one came from is this; it climbed up the cables for the solar panels, which enter the camper through the window I sit by. Note the yellow throat and hints of blue on the belly of this male. A male Ornate Tree Lizard showing off. A male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher carrying food, there was a female in the area doing the same thing. I could not find the nest but didn’t spend much time looking for it.
3 replies on “More Astro and Brush Lizard”
I’m glad you solved your mystery. Isn’t it funny how you can get a lifer and then they start showing up everywhere? That’s happened to us many times.
That ornate tree lizard is a colorful fellow.
The M13 compilation is really good, very clear. That cluster must be massive. I see it and know it’s real but it’s dumfounding to me.
M13 contains over 100,000 stars, about 25,000 light years out there. The M13 cluster is approximately 150 light years across. Numbers like these are just incomprehensible. Our entire solar system is .0127 light years in diameter, just a speck of dust in the cosmos. Boggles the mind.
Wonderful images and I am happy yhe brush Lizard mystery got solved, but it was fun working through that one. Safe travels and I look forward to more nature nerding next season.
3 replies on “More Astro and Brush Lizard”
I’m glad you solved your mystery. Isn’t it funny how you can get a lifer and then they start showing up everywhere? That’s happened to us many times.
That ornate tree lizard is a colorful fellow.
The M13 compilation is really good, very clear. That cluster must be massive. I see it and know it’s real but it’s dumfounding to me.
M13 contains over 100,000 stars, about 25,000 light years out there. The M13 cluster is approximately 150 light years across. Numbers like these are just incomprehensible. Our entire solar system is .0127 light years in diameter, just a speck of dust in the cosmos. Boggles the mind.
Wonderful images and I am happy yhe brush Lizard mystery got solved, but it was fun working through that one. Safe travels and I look forward to more nature nerding next season.