Category: Astrophotography

A Halloween Post

I figure it is about time to post something. I’ve been keeping busy with astrophotography, birding, and hiking. Yesterday I found a Rufous-backed Robin at the city park and even got some good photos. That is the third time I have seen Rufous-backed Robin in the Ajo area. Today, I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the same park but could not get any good photos. I will keep trying.

Rufous-backed Robin in Bud Walker Park, Ajo.

I drive by a Kit Fox den everyday, every now and then I will spot one outside in the sun. This one was catching the late afternoon sun just before sundown.

I’ve got 10 hours on the Helix Nebula now and I think it is enough.

I’ve never tried the Pacman Nebula with the C8 and with guiding. It is almost too big for the C8 but it works, I guess. This nebula is about 9000 light years distant and 48 light years in diameter. There is a dark cloud in the center of the nebula known as a Bok Globule, a dense cloud of dust and gas, a prelude to star formation. Officially NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula is found in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

My Halloween image, the Skull Nebula. I have added a lot more exposure since posting this a few weeks ago.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

A Skull and a Snake, Among Other Things

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date October 12, 2021

Birding has really improved with the latest storm. Today I saw two American White Pelicans at the ponds (first time ever for Ajo) and two Lewis’s Woodpeckers at the golf course, only the second time I’ve seen that species in the Ajo area. There were three Red-necked Phalaropes at the pond too. I had one good night for astro before the storm and now the moon is getting too bright again. I am enjoying this cooler weather but will miss snake hunting, I suppose till next spring, although I did have an encounter with a snake recently.

I was checking out The Thicket for owls. I didn’t see any owls but I did come across this Coachwhip. It was close, laying there and watching me and I suppose hoping I would just go away. I have given up trying to catch this species for photography. Even if I could catch it, all they do is fight, bite, and try to get away. Not a nice snake to handle. And they are big, this one was about 5 feet long.

Zoomed out to see more of the Coachwhip, a very fast and powerful predator.

One of the two Lewis’s Woodpecker at the golf course.

A species of wild *Datura*, or Moonflower.

These wild Morning Glories are blooming by the hundreds in The Thicket.

I got about an hour on this, the Skull Nebula, NGC 246, about 1600 light years away. I have tried this before with the 500f4 but it is too small, it works much better with the C8. I am going to be adding more exposure time to this eventually. This is an interesting planetary nebula, located in Cetus. It has a central star, known as a white dwarf, that is forming the nebula, but also a second star and an even smaller third star, forming the only known planetary nebula with three central stars. None of the stars in this image are bright enough to be seen even with binoculars, the brightest is about magnitude 10.

Here is the white dwarf, cropped out of the image above. The large second star is also visible. I am pretty impressed with my Celestron C8 reflector since it can actually resolve these two stars. Not many scopes can. The third star is too small or maybe is hidden behind these stars, I don’t know. Here’s a link with more information:
Eerie Skull Nebula glows bright for Halloween | Space My little C8 can resolve the central stars just about as well as the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope! I need more exposure time for the dimmer stuff.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

Eye of Sauron?

I think the heat of summer is behind me now. By next week it looks like an even more significant cool down is on the way. I’ve been getting a little bit of astro done too. I decided that I’m going to spend more time on fewer deep sky objects. I started out with the Helix Nebula. As always, one can right click on an image, open in a new tab and see a larger image.

The Helix Nebula in the constellation Aquarius. This is one of the largest and brightest planetary nebulas in the night sky but even at this latitude (32 degrees north) it only rises to about 35 degrees above the horizon, so I am shooting through lots of atmosphere. I’ve got almost 7 hours on it now (with the C8) and the faint outer bands of glowing hydrogen are starting to show up. I’ve become somewhat of a Lord of the Rings fan and I think it looks like the eye of Sauron.

My snake hunting is going OK, I’m finding lots of snakes but mostly of three species, including this one, the Long-nosed Snake. I have photographed these before but here’s a new one.

A young female Red-naped Sapsucker that let me get very close.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

Astrophotography at Datil Well

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 13, 2021
2 Comments on Astrophotography at Datil Well

This area of New Mexico has the darkest skies one can find anywhere in the United States. It is a great place for astrophotography but this time of year, one has to deal with the monsoon season and clouds. To top that off, the moon is getting bright again. I got in a couple of pretty good nights though. It is amazing to be out at night here and see how bright the Milky Way really is. There are lots of birds around too. I have a couple of feeders up and one hummingbird feeder. The Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays have eaten all of my black oil sunflower seed already and there is no place to buy more. A large flock of Pinyon Jays is roaming the area and but have been difficult to photograph.

Last night I worked on the Fireworks Galaxy. I got some time on this last June in South Dakota and added it all together to produce this.

Same with the Crescent Nebula. I really need a lot more exposure to make this one look impressive but this is what I have so far.

Probably the best shot I have ever taken of a Juniper Titmouse. I have a few of them coming to my feeder. The nice perch and clean background with nice light are a tough combination to get.

There are lots of hiking trails in the hills around here. I have found two of these lizards on the trails. This is the same species of horned lizard that occurs in western South Dakota, Greater Short-horned Lizard (*Phrynosoma hernandesi*).

A close-up of one of the short-horned lizards.

As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image.

Astrophotography Insects Photography Travel

Valley of Fire, New Mexico

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 7, 2021
2 Comments on Valley of Fire, New Mexico

I’m currently parked in the campground at the Valley of Fires Recreation Area, near Carrizozo, New Mexico. I’ve been here four days now. This area is in the Malpais Lava Flow and is a pretty nice area, especially since there has been a lot of rain. It is a nice campground too, with showers, electric hookups if needed (I don’t need them), not crowded at all. With my senior pass it costs $6.00 a night. I hoped for some astrophotography and finally last night it was clear and calm. I had an experience with a new night sky object too, a weather balloon.

Last night while I was setting up for planetary photography, I saw a very bright object in the east. There wasn’t supposed to be anything there of that magnitude of brightness. I had the C8 on the mount so I put in a 15X eyepiece and this is what I saw. I decided to hook up a camera and took a few photos. This is most likely a weather balloon, from what I’ve read they can be up to 25 miles high in the atmosphere.

The best night I’ve ever had for imaging Jupiter. It rises to over 40 degree above the horizon and last night seeing was pretty good. I’ve never got detail like this before. One can even see detail in the Great Red Spot! This is a stack of about 12,000 frames from 3 minutes of video.

Saturn was lower and as always, dimmer, so it is difficult to get as many video frames. Still, it came out OK. Saturn is almost as far away from Jupiter as Jupiter is from Earth.

Twice I have come on Scaled Quail with young ones, but the young ones always scurry off and hide before I can get any photos.

And Checkered-Skippers, this one on some species of composite.

A new flower for me, *Phemeranthus aurantiacus*, Orange Fameflower.

There are many species of mallows in bloom, colors range from white to red.

Astrophotography Photography

Slim Buttes, Harding County

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date July 11, 2021
2 Comments on Slim Buttes, Harding County

After a visit to Pierre, I’m now in the Slim Buttes in Harding County, about 25 miles east of Buffalo. Although this is one of my favorite places I haven’t been here for several years now. Not much has changed. There is a Forest Service campground at Reva Gap and it is usually nearly empty, although more people show up on weekends. As of right now, is is empty. No charge for camping, which I like!

My usual spot for Prairie Falcons did not disappoint. They are nesting on the same ledge as the last time I was here.

I got some butterfly photos while in Pierre. This is a Common Wood-Nymph, posing in nice light.

Gray Coppers were common too, more than I’ve ever seen in one place before.

Last night I tried some Milky Way photography. I did this a few years ago at the same location and found the stars in the top center of the photo were elongated, which I attributed to having bumped the camera or poor tracking. Well, I got the same results last night, so it must be the software that is doing it. This is 24 images, taken with a 35mm lens, stitched together in Lightroom. The sky was murky, maybe smoke, so the results are not what I hoped for. The final image was nearly a gigabyte in size. Right click and open in a new window to see a larger image.

Astrophotography Photography

Long Days in June

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date June 16, 2021

I got a couple of good nights for astrophotography but the days are so long, the nights so short! It is nearly 11 PM before it gets completely dark. I think I will give up on astro until the nights get longer. My trail cams have been picking up elk, red squirrels, cottontails, and one coyote, but no more mountain lions. It has been pretty hot, into the low 90’s yesterday. I went to Newcastle for groceries yesterday, it was 99 F. there.

The Crescent Nebula with the C8. I’d like to add a lot more exposure to this but it will have to wait.

The Fireworks Galaxy in Cepheus. This galaxy is somewhat obscured by interstellar dust that makes it faint and gives a more reddish color.

Juniper Hairstreaks are emerging now, fresh adults are quite common. This one is nectaring on Butte Candle, *Cryptantha celosioides*.

There have been some thunderstorms. One evening I watched this dark cloud go racing and swirling under some mammatus clouds. It was pretty impressive, I took this photo but a video would have been better.

Astrophotography Photography

Blue Skies

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date June 4, 2021

The weather has been perfect. Blue skies, warm but not hot, not much wind. I even got one night of astrophotography. I haven’t started the truck since I got here on Tuesday. I’ve just been hiking, taking some photos and reading D-Day by Stephen Ambrose.

Death Camas. As Susan pointed out, this plant is poisonous. It looks like a wild onion, somewhat, but has no onion odor. It is by far the most abundant flower on the prairie here right now.

Nuttall’s Violet, a larval food plant for many species of fritillaries.

Shootingstar. Quite common now and very colorful.

NGC 6913, a large nebula area in Cygnus, with a bluish reflection nebula in the center. About two hours with the 500 f4.

The Cygnus Wall, a part of the North America Nebula. I have imaged this before but not with guiding. I only got about an hour of integration before I got tired and had to quit for the night. Short June nights are not the greatest for astrophotography, I don’t get much sleep!

Astrophotography

Some Wide Angle Astro

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 20, 2021

One of the main reasons I’m still here is I wanted to get in a few sessions of wide angle astro while I’m still at 32 degrees north latitude. This gives me the best opportunities for things in the core of the Milky Way. Tonight the moon sets around 3 AM, so from now on out it really won’t be worth getting up in the early morning.

As far as birding news, a Red-breasted Merganser turned up on the sewage ponds. Brian Nicholas came out for it and while he was here we found 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers, pretty rare for this area.

So what next? I suppose I will head east and maybe stop for a few days somewhere in southeast Arizona. The weather still looks nice for the foreseeable future.

The Blue Horsehead Nebula. A faint reflection nebula in Scorpio, it is large enough to fill the frame at 200mm focal length. The dust reflects blue light from bright stars in part of this interstellar dust cloud. Both this image and the image below were shot at f2.8, gathering light 2-4 times faster than I can with longer focal lengths.

Rho Ophiuchi Nebula Complex in Scorpio. It has been a long time since I’ve done this particular scene. For this image I used a Zeiss 135mm f2 lens and tracking was done on the Losmandy G11. Using this arrangement, I can dither with the autoguider and it really makes a big difference. This is by far the best image I’ve created of the Rho Ophiuchi Nebula Complex.

As always, right click on the image and open in a new tab/window to see a larger version.

Astrophotography

Still in Ajo

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 17, 2021

The Ford dealership couldn’t find anything wrong with the truck. They ran all kinds of tests, adjusted fuel settings but nothing major. The check engine light is off and that is good. They only billed me $100 after working on it all morning. I was expecting a lot more. The NAPA in Ajo wanted to replace all the O2 sensors (there are 4 of them) and that would have cost between $500 and $1000. I am glad I waited. Ford thinks it may have been a fuel problem of some type. That makes sense, it happened just a few minutes after filling it up at the Shell station in Ajo.

The moon is getting brighter and staying up longer but I still put in a full night of astro last night. I stayed up all night, mostly because I wanted to image the Trifid Nebula, M20, with the C8. At this latitude, M20 rises to nearly 35 degrees above the horizon, which is still pretty low but in South Dakota I would lose another 10 degrees. M20, at about 20 arc minutes diameter, is just the right size for the C8 at 1200mm focal length.