Comet Lulin at it's Brightest

I took the top photo of comet Lulin on February 20, 2009 as this comet neared it's closest pass with Earth February 23rd. The reddish dust tail, the anti-tail, seen on the left, grows larger as the faint gas tail, at lower right, shrinks in size.

For this photo I used my 90mm F/11 refractor & -0.5 focal reducer.
In the lower photo taken February 25, the date of opposition, the gas tail points directly away from Earth & Sun and is unseen because the comet is directly opposite the Sun in the sky.

This is a very rare alignment for a bright comet.

The dust tail is well presented & at it's longest & brightest.

Over 1.5 degrees of dust tail is seen. This photo was taken at low power with my 80mm F/5 refractor & -0.5 focal reducer.

Comet Lulin Star Shoot Photos

Comet Lulin is due to pass near the Earth on February 23, 2009 at the same time that it appears to pass 2 degrees south of Saturn.

This comet appears to pass so close to Saturn because comet Lulin is closely aligned with the ecliptic, the Sun & planets path through the sky.

Although the rule of thumb is that comet tails point away from the Sun, a comet aligned with the ecliptic with an angular distance from the Sun that is increasing, can display an anti-tail that appears to point toward the Sun.This is because the dust tail, although it initially points away from the Sun, curves as it is spread out along the orbit of the comet. At the same time the gas tail can be seen pointing 180 degrees away, directly away from the Sun.

I took these photos on February 1st & 7th with 114mm reflector & 80mm refractor.

The Veil Nebula

Photo of the NGC 6960, the western section of theVeil Nebula, a 100,000 year old super nova remnant in Cygnus the Swan. 80mm F/5 refractor, -0.5 reducer, Ultra Block nebula filter, Starshoot camera, 20 forty second exposures.

The Whirlpool Galaxy

Last night I imaged M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, with my StarShoot camera & 4.5" F/4 reflector.
The first photo is a stack of twenty, 30 second exposures.
Second photo is a stack of ten, 40 second exposures.
Third photo is black & white, stack of twenty 30 second exposures.

Comet Boattini

Comet C/2007 W1 Boattini could reach 4.5 magnitude in June 2008 but at that time it will only be visible from the southern hemisphere. By the last week of May it may be too low in the southwest evening sky for a good view.

Comet Boattini was 7th magnitude object on May 4th. An easy target for my 4.5" telescope and StarShoot camera.
This photo is a stack of 10 forty second exposures. Click on the photo to enlarge for the best view.

Photo of M37

This is a photo of the star cluster M37 in Auriga. It is a stack of four 8 second exposures with 4.5" F/4 telescope.

Star Shoot Camera First Light

I now have an Orion StarShoot II color CCD camera.

Taking photos of the stars, star clusters, galaxies, & comets is easier than ever before.

This is the first photo I took with this camera, the star cluster M35 in Gemini.

I used my 4.5" F/4 Orion StarBlast telescope and a 30 second exposure.