14123747 - Stars over the moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14090994 - Stars and clouds over Mesa Arch in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14089311 - A shooting star & the Milky Way over sandstone towers in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14249492 - This is the Omicron Velorum cluster in Vela, catalogued as IC 2391, a bright naked-eye star cluster, though rather sparse when viewed through a telescope even at low power.14249420 - The Moon rising a day after Full, on November 28, 2023, over the flat prairie horizon near home in southern Alberta. This shows the flattening and distortion of the lunar disk from atmospheric refraction effects.14249403 - This illustrates the minor level of darkening of the lunar disk during a deep penumbral eclipse of the Moon.14249389 - This frames the rich area in southern Scorpius that contains the "False Comet" cluster, NGC 6231 which, along with the looser, larger clusters Ruprecht 122 and Collinder 316, appears as a hazy elongated comet to the naked eye. In 1986 Comet Halley was in this area and many mistook this deep-sky field for the comet, thus the moniker, as best I know! Photos show the nebulosity in the field, which is IC 4628, aka the Prawn Nebula. Above the nebula is the star cluster NGC 6242. To the left is NGC 6268, and above it is the larger cluster NGC NGC 6281. At the bottom edge at centre is the cluster NGC14249344 - The waxing crescent Moon near Jupiter on the evening of March 14, 2024, with the pair below Orion, all setting into the western twilight sky on an austral autumn evening. The Moon is in thin cloud adding the colourful lunar "corona" around it from diffraction from the cloud's water droplets.14249295 - This is a 270º panorama of the May 10/11, 2024 great aurora display, when the Kp Index reached 8 this night bringing aurora to as far south as the southern U.S, and even into the tropics.14249265 - This is a framing of the most spectacular area of the southern Milky Way, from Centaurus at left, to Carina at right, with Crux, the Southern Cross, at centre.14249169 - This captures the colourful rays of aurora towering up the sky and displaying a variety of colours from green to red and magenta, and at the right blue, the latter likely from sunlight interacting with the aurora. This was the great display of May 10/11, 2024 over my house in southern Alberta, Canada at latitude 51° N.14249167 - A panorama of the sandstone landscape in blue-hour twilight at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park (Áísínai'pi) in Alberta, with the Milk River below winding amid the sandstone rock formations, and the Sweetgrass Hills in the distance in Montana.14249086 - This is the total eclipse of the Sun over the waters of Lac Brome, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, on April 8, 2024, with the Sun just re-appearing at the moment of the final diamond ring, at Third Contact.14249041 - Other than the region of the Milky Way around the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius and Scorpius, this is arguably the richest area of the Milky Way for showpiece nebulas and star clusters. This two-segment telephoto lens panorama extends from the colourful stars of Crux, the Southern Cross at left, to Carina at right — from the dark Coal Sack Nebula to the bright Carina Nebula.14249004 - This is a composite showing the sequence of events surrounding totality at the April 8, 2024 total eclipse of the Sun, from just before totality (at upper left) to just after totality (at lower right), with totality in the middle. Or, in eclipse terms, from just before second contact (C2) to just after third contact (C3).14248995 - A panorama of the landscape and sky at sunset at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park (Áísínai'pi) in Alberta, with the Milk River below winding amid the sandstone rock formations, and the Sweetgrass Hills in the distance in Montana. Note the people at far right for scale.14248950 - This depicts the satellite-filled sky that is now a reality and getting more crowded every week!14248816 - This is a portrait of the constellation of Orion, shot and processed to bring out the rich array of bright and dark nebulas within its boundaries.14248809 - The rising Full Moon of April 23, 2024, with the April Full Moon called popularly the "Pink" Moon or the Frog Croaking Moon.14248764 - This is a portrait of the faint but distinctive northern spring constellation of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, located between Böotes and Hercules. The framing includes the two famous variable stars in CrB: R Coronae Borealis and T Coronae Borealis, to illustrrate their location and brightness (the latter as of early May 2024).14248763 - The great aurora show of May 10/11, 2024 showing rays converging to the magnetic zenith and exhibiting a variety of colours, not just the usual oxygen greens, but also reds (from oxygen as well) but also pinks here, likely from nitrogen, and also some yellow tones from the reds and greens mixing.14248684 - This frames a 15º by 10° field around Sirius, at top, to include the bright star cluster Messier 41 below it.14248661 - This frames a pair of contrasting and superb star clusters in Puppis: rich NGC 2477 on the left and sparse but bright NGC 2451 on the right, the latter centred on the orange star c Puppis.14123992 - Stars over the colorful moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14123494 - Stars over the moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14093070 - Stars over moonlit Standing Rock in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14091950 - Star trails over sandstone towers in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14091231 - The Milky Way over sandstone towers in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14089651 - The Milky Way over sandstone towers in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14275377 - A beautiful view of Granada, Andalusia, Spain at dusk, captured from San Miguel Alto viewpoint. The city lights sparkle under the twilight sky.14249502 - This frames the entire Small Magellanic Cloud, a member of the Local Group of galaxies and a companion of our Milky Way Galaxy.14249484 - This is the waning crescent Moon (lit by Earthshine) and Venus (as a "morning star") rising together on the morning of January 8, 2024 in the brightening dawn twilight. The Moon had just occulted (hidden) the star Antares a few minutes earlier when both were low and in the trees. So both worlds were in Scoripus this morning.14249478 - This frames the southern Milky Way from Canis Major and its bright star Sirius at top, to Carina and its bright star Canopus at bottom. Sirius and Canopus are the first and second brightest stars in the night sky, respectively. The major feature here is the massive Gum Nebula, perhaps a remnant from a nearby (1500 light years away) but ancient supernova. Or it might be a more normal emission nebula created as part of star formation and stellar winds. Its 36º-wide extent sprawls across Puppis (just below Canis Major) and Vela (to the left of Canopus). It was discovered by Australian astronomer 14249436 - This frames the famous Southern Cross, aka Crux, and the star clusters and nebulas in its vicinity.14249418 - This frames the rich area surrounding the Galactic Centre, which is located at top centre here amid the dark lane of dust and above a small diffuse area of red nebulosity. To the left is the bright Sagittarius Starcloud, which contrasts with the dark lane that runs down the Milky Way. Nowhere else is there such a stark and sharp contrast between bright starclouds and dark lanes of dust. The star clouds show the yellowing effect of interstellar dust absorbing star light and reddening it.14249356 - This is the close conjunction of bright Venus (at magnitude -3.9) and much dimmer Mars (at magnitude +1.3) as the pair was rising at dawn on February 22, 2024. They were about 40 arc minutes apart this morning.14249354 - This is the sky-filling aurora of February 10, 2024, over the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. This was a Kp4-level display, though that was an unexpected level of activity this night. Predictions had been calling for only Kp1 or 2 at best. The aurora was bright enough to light the snow green.14249347 - This frames most of the intricate arcs and loops of the Vela Supernova Remnant (SNR), the remains of a star that exploded about 11,000 years ago. It is one of the closest SNRs to Earth, about 900 light years away. Most arcs and segments have no separate catalogue numbers, with the exception of the short straight Pencil Nebula, aka Herschel's Ray, in the lower left corner which is NGC 2736. It is the brightest segment of the Vela SNR visually in a telescope. The nebula complex is marked with lots of cyan arcs emitting oxygen III wavelengths, mixed with regions of red hydrogen-alpha emission.14249288 - An aurora appears across the northern sky over the University of Calgary's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory on May 11, 2024 during one of the RAO's monthly Space Nights with talks and telescopes for the public. The RAO is near Priddis, southwest of Calgary, Alberta. Telescopes are staffed by members of the Calgary Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.14249268 - This was the view as the great aurora display of May 10, 2024 suddenly and briefly brightened and converged at the zenith for a superb corona effect. This lasted no more than a minute before it dimmed and subsided again, to continue to fill the sky but with much less structure and motion. The camera at left was set up for shooting movies, but this outburst was so brief I did not have a chance to start that camera going. The Big Dipper or Plough is above centre.14249132 - This is a telescopic close-up of the eclipsed Sun at the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, with the Sun's intricate atmosphere, the corona, surrounding the dark silhouetted disk of the Moon.14249099 - The waxing two-day-old crescent Moon amid pink sunset clouds and in a twilight blue evening sky, on June 8, 2024. Taken from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta.14249074 - The Scutum Starcloud in the Milky Way, with the bright star cluster Messier 11 embedded within it. M11 is known as the Wild Duck Cluster. Below and to the right of M11 is another Messier cluster, the smaller M26. Directly below M11 is the star cluster NGC 6712, paired with the small green planetary nebula IC 1295, which barely shows up on this scale. At lower right is the small star cluster NGC 6649. Surrounding the bright starclouds are dark dust clouds are varying densities. Some are almost starless. Most of these dark regions carry "B" designations from E.E. Barnard's catalogue of dark nebu14249072 - This frames a region along the Milky Way on the borders of: northern Canis Major, southern Monoceros, and northern Puppis. It is rich in nebulas and, in particular, open star clusters. The field is 10º tall by 15º wide, so roughly twice the width of a binocular field of view.14249067 - This is a telescopic close-up of the eclipsed Sun at the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, with the Sun's intricate atmosphere, the corona, surrounding the dark silhouetted disk of the Moon.14249066 - This frames the dark Coal Sack nebula in Crux, the Southern Cross, here recorded as multiple dark lanes, though to the eye the Coal Sack appears as one solid dark region in the Milky Way. The bright star at bottom is Acrux, or Alpha Cruxis, while the star at top is Becrux, or Beta Cruxis. Acrux is a superb double star in a telescope but it is not resolved here at this scale.14248959 - This is the supernova remnant known as the Spaghetti Nebula, but more formally as Simeis 147 or Sharpless 2-240. It was discovered at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in 1952, an observatory also known by its name of Simeiz for the location where one of its facilities was located, thus the name of the catalogue of objects that includes entry #147. The supernova that created this nebula exploded some 40,000 years ago and is about 3,000 light years away. In the sky it stretches across more than 3°, so it is big! The field of view here is 6.6° by 4.4°. The bright star at right is Elnath in T14248893 - This is a panorama of the southernmost portion of the Milky Way, from the stars Alpha and Beta Centauri at far left, to Sirius, the brightest nighttime star, at far right. The second brightest star, Canopus, is included at lower right.14248773 - This is the southern Milky Way in Carina, Crux and Centaurus arcing over Mirrabook Cottage near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. At right are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This is looking south to the South Celestial Pole which is near centre here.14248769 - This is a framing of the southern Milky Way from the Southern Cross, Crux, at left, to the False Cross, with its stars in Vela and Carina, at right. In between is a third though upside-down cross, defined by stars in Carina, with blue Miaplacidus as the lower star of this cross.14248736 - The waning crescent Moon in a wide conjunction below Venus in the dawn sky, over a snowy field at home in southern Alberta. Earthshine lights the dark side of the Moon. This was December 9, 2023.14248701 - A selfie of me at the start of the great aurora show of May 10, 2024, with the aurora curtains still in the early evening twilight sky and looking very purple. Despite the clouds about.14248669 - This portrait frames the constellation of Orion, plus parts of Monoceros to the left and Gemini and Taurus above, composed to include most of the emission and reflection nebulas in this rich region along the Milky Way.14248654 - This frames the rich field in Carina and Centaurus containing some of the finest nebulas and star clusters in the sky, and is one of the brightest regions of the Milky Way, certainly the southernmost.14248635 - This is a portrait of most of the northern constellation of Cepheus the King, shot and processed to emphasize the rich collection of bright and dark nebulas within its borders. North is up in this framing. The lower portion of the image contains the Milky Way and is rich in bright stars, emission nebulas, but also dark dust lanes that stand out easily.14248634 - This is the very blue and bright Southern Pleiades star cluster, catalogued as IC 2602, surrounding the naked eye star Theta Carinae.14248609 - This is a selfie portrait of me under the Milky Way from my backyard in rural Alberta, on a spring night, May 9/10, 2024. The summer Milky Way and the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius (with yellow Antares) lie due south here, but low in the sky at my latitude of 51° N. This shows the Dark Horse well, made of dark dust lanes in the Milky Way. The galactic centre is just above the trees at centre. A meteor is at left below Altair.14248567 - This is the rich region in the Milky Way in the tail of Scorpius. It is replete with many nebulas, both bright emission and dark dust clouds.14124980 - Stars over the colorful moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14124674 - Stars over the moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14123336 - Stars over the colorful moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14093033 - The BIg Dipper beside moonlit Chimney Rock in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14092840 - Stars in the night sky over sandstone towers in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14092605 - A shooting star & the Milky Way over sandstone towers in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14275796 - Stunning evening shot of the historic Jaen Cathedral in Spain, capturing its detailed architecture and serene ambiance.14249433 - This is a 360º panorama of the all-sky aurora of February 10, 2024, from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (the building in the distance), on the site of the old Churchill Rocket Range outside Churchill, Manitoba. At latitude 58º north, Churchill is under the usual location of the auroral oval, for sky-filling displays on many clear nights.14249410 - This is the total eclipse of the Sun over the waters of Lac Brome, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, on April 8, 2024.14249333 - A portrait of a sunset sky with the waxing two-day-old crescent Moon amid colourful clouds over the prairie. This was from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta, on June 8, 2024. Taken from "Sunset Point" at the west end of the park.14249303 - This is a showpiece of the southern skies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a member of the Local Group, and a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, one rich in star forming nebulas and clusters. The LMC is cross between a dwarf irregular galaxy and a barred spiral. The nebulas along its bar and arms show as regions of magenta and cyan, from hydrogen and oxygen emission.14249298 - This is the bright reflection nebula complex that includes Messier 78 (the largest blue-white nebula) and NGC 2071 above it. They are set in a region of dark clouds of interstellar dust, and framed by the red-magenta arc of the emission nebula known as Barnard's Loop, aka Sharpless 2-276. The small reflection nebula at upper left on the edge of another dark cloud is van den Bergh 62. The large star cluster left of centre on the edge of the Loop is NGC 2112.14249227 - There's no richer and more colourful area of the sky than this field encompassing the Galactic Center in Sagittarius at left and the constellation of Scorpius seen in full here at centre and at right. The Dark Horse prances at top with dark tendrils of dust r.eaching down to yellow Antares and the colourful emission and reflection nebulas of the Rho Ophuichi area.14249220 - This is a demonstration of the crowded sky we now have, with all the trails being from Earth-orbiting satellites, with the exception of the tapered orange streak at lower right which is likely a meteor. This is a stack of 40 exposures taken over 70 minutes, layered to accumulate the satellite trails, not eliminate them, to show how many satellites crossed the field in the hour plus of the imaging. Are some SpaceX Starlinks? Perhaps, but there are many other satellites up there now.14249216 - This is the sequence of the total eclipse of the Sun over the waters of Lac Brome, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, on April 8, 2024. Onto the base single exposure of the totally eclipsed Sun set in the darkened eclipse sky I have layered in images of the pre- and post-totality partial phases taken every 5 minutes from the start to the end of the eclipse. As the Sun moved across the sky from left to right, the Moon moved across the disk of the Sun from right to left.14249183 - This is a framing of dust clouds among the stars of the Hyades star cluster in Taurus.14249162 - This is a panorama or mosaic of the rich region in the tail of Scorpius — from the bright star cluster Messier 7 at upper left embdded in bright Milky Way starclouds, to the large star cluster NGC 6124 amid dusty dark lanes at lower right.14249158 - This is a series of images showing a brief outburst of bright and structured aurora at the magnetic zenith overhead during the major storm of May 10/11, 2024. These were with a 7.5mm fish-eye lens taking in most of the sky for 360° scenes, and looking south at bottom. The Kp Index reached a high level of Kp8 (on a scale of 0 to 9) this night, bringing auroras to the southern U.S., a rare occurence.14249110 - Aurora photographers at work around the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, February 10, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. This was the third and best night for the first Learning Vacations aurora tour group of 2024, with a good Kp4 all-sky display this night. There were a good number of skilled photographers in this group, more than usual.14249102 - This is a 270° panorama of the May 10/11, 2024 great aurora display, when the Kp Index reached 8 this night bringing aurora to as far south as the southern U.S. Here, from my home in southern Alberta, Canada (latitude 51° N) it is exhibiting very odd vertical blue and magenta rays across the northwestern (left) and northern and eastern sky (centre), green and red bands to the southeast (right), and an odder bright patch to the south high at top. This was toward the end of the main activity of the show for me this night, at about 2:20 am. These distinctive blue rays appeared like this only at t14248989 - The stars and clouds trail across the sky over Cameron Lake in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, and Mt. Custer across the border in Glacier National Park in Montana. The sky and mountains are illuminated by a waxing crescent Moon off frame to the right, setting in the northwest. The stars of Scorpius are rising at left. Some ice remains in this alpine lake, as this was early June 2024. Wind and the long exxposures blurs the lake surface and reflections. The hill at left is scarred by the 2017 forest fire.14248987 - This is a two-segment vertical panorama of the sky-filling aurora of February 10, 2024, as seen and shot from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. This was a Kp4-level display, though that was an unexpected level of activity this night. Predictions had been calling for only Kp1 or 2 at best.14248969 - The nearest bright star to our solar system, Alpha Centauri (aka Rigel Kentaurus) on the left and blue Beta Centauri on the right. Alpha and Beta are unrelated — Alpha is 4.2 light years away while Beta is 390 light years away. Together they are called the Pointers as they point to the Southern Cross, to avoid confusing it with the False Cross nearby. Alpha is a close double star, one of the finest for small telescopes, but it is not resolved at this image scale.14248916 - This is a series of images showing the evolution of the aurora borealis over about 80 minutes during the major storm of May 10/11, 2024. This version has the 12 images arranged in three rows of four. (There is a version with the images in a vertical arrangement of two columns of six.)14248900 - This is the showpiece nebula of the southern skies, the Carina Nebula, aka the Eta Carinae Nebula.14248855 - A weak Kp1-level aurora with a hint of dual parallel arcs in the northeast seen in a moonlit sky, February 14, 2024, from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Churchill, Manitoba. Arcturus is at right, Vega at lower left. The waxing crescent Moon provides the illumination and blue sky.14248830 - This is a 270º panorama of the May 10/11, 2024 great aurora display, when the Kp Index reached 8 this night bringing aurora to as far south as the southern U.S. Here, from my home in rural southern Alberta, Canada (latitude 51° N) we saw curtains strongly colored green and red from oxygen, but also pink and blue from nitrogen, with the latter colors unusually strong with pinks visible to the naked eye and purples and blues to the camera. Here the pinks stand out despite the extensive amount of cloud about.14248786 - This is a composite showing the complete sequence of the April 8, 2024 eclipse of the Sun, from first contact (at upper left) to last contact (at lower right), with totality at mid-eclipse in the middle.14248750 - This is the region around the star Lambda Centauri, with the Running Chicken Nebula or IC 2948, at bottom, surrounding the star Lambda Centauri and the loose open star cluster IC 2944. The "head" of the chicken is the nebula catalogued as Gum 39, the "feet" of the chicken is RCW 61 (Rodgers-Campbell-Whiteoak).14248716 - This frames the rich region of the southern Milky Way in the small constellation of Ara.14248695 - The rising of the winter "Wolf" Moon, the Full Moon of January, over the frozen Crawling Lake Reservoir, in southern Alberta, January 25, 2024. While it looks very cold, the temperature was actually a mild 0° C this night.14248641 - The Milky Way and its core region in Sagittarius and Scorpius is here low over the Badlands landscape of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. This was the night of May 31/June 1, 2024, when from this latitude of 50° 45' N the sky is not fully dark even in the middle of the night, here about 2:30 a.m. MDT. So the sky retains a blue tint.14248633 - A vertical panorama of the moonlit spring sky with the Big Dipper and Arcturus over the jagged outline of Anderson Peak at the Red Rock Canyon area of Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, a UNESCO World Heritage site and Dark Sky Preserve.14125245 - Stars over the colorful moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14124249 - Star trails over the moonlit sandstone in the White Pocket Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.14092809 - The North Star & the BIg Dipper above a sandstone tower in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.14091298 - The Milky Way Galaxy over Mesa Arch at night in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah.14090753 - Stars over Standing Rock in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.13999700 - This is a portrait of the October 14,2023 annular eclipse of the Sun,captured in a sequence of images taken from the rim of Bryce Canyon,Utah,from sunrise until nearly the end of the eclipse before noon local time.13999666 - The Full Moon of July 31,2023 rising at the end of a long line of high tension towers across the prairie near Milo,Alberta. Some smoke in the air made the rising Moon even redder than normal,making it look like an eclipsed Moon. This night the alignment of the rising point of the Full Moon coincided with the angle of the powerlines off to the southeast at 135° azimuth.13999615 - The thin one-day-old crescent Moon just above Jupiter as both set on the evening of March 22,2023. The Earthshine glow is obvious on the dark side of the Moon. The age of the Moon was about 31.5 hours this night at this time and longitude.next page
