The Sonoran Desert is in a heat wave. Near record heat started yesterday and continues through tomorrow, it was 86 F here at the campground today. It feels good! Night time lows are much warmer too. I don’t suppose it will last too long. I have had many nights of clouds again. I wouldn’t mind so much if it would rain, but that does not happen. I have got a little astrophotography done but not much.
Vikki and I made another trip to Gillespie Dam. This time the White Ibis was there, but the Reddish Egret was not. This is the first White Ibis I’ve seen since my 2010 trip to south Texas. A nice pose from a male Western Bluebird. There is a flock of six that comes into water at Highway Tank, this is one of them. This is my finished IC 2169. I posted this in my last update, but now have added two more hours of exposure. Last night I spent a few hours on IC 443, the Jellyfish Nebula. I used the IDAS Nebula Booster Filter. This is a supernova remnant that I have imaged before. I wanted to add this to my results from last year but the framing was too far off, so this is what I have. From Earth, the nebula is nearly twice the size of a full moon, but in reality it is about 70 light years in diameter. The power of a supernova is unimaginable, this one is thousands of years old. I did some planetary imaging Saturday night. The “seeing” was forecast to be good and it turned out OK. I caught the transit of the Galilean moon Io. In this image Io has passed in front of Jupiter and the shadow of the moon is still passing. I spent a little time on Mars too. With a C8 this is about as good as it gets. At least the polar cap stands out.
2 replies on “Springlike in the Desert”
Crazy beautiful photos Doug. I got to see some E. bluebirds this past week in SC. Fun to see the difference to your W. bluebird up close. Happy February!!
Hey Doug, we met last year birding at the Ajo sewage pond. I lost your card so I’m contacting you this way! I’m driving to Ajo from my home in North Carolina and will be around the area March 14-18. Would love to get up with you if possible.
2 replies on “Springlike in the Desert”
Crazy beautiful photos Doug. I got to see some E. bluebirds this past week in SC. Fun to see the difference to your W. bluebird up close. Happy February!!
Hey Doug, we met last year birding at the Ajo sewage pond. I lost your card so I’m contacting you this way! I’m driving to Ajo from my home in North Carolina and will be around the area March 14-18. Would love to get up with you if possible.