We are now under 365 days until the next total solar eclipse observable in the U.S. I hope this activity continues...it should make for a dramatic scene next April.
Photo Details
April 15, 2023
Lunt Ha 60mm double-stacked solar telescope
ZWO ASI178MM
SharpCap - 8 Bit Mono
Image Stacking in AutoStakkert
Adjustments in ImPPG
Final Adjustments in Photoshop
Good weather and a nearly moonless sky over the weekend culminated in a late night in my dark sky location. This is NGC 4565, otherwise known as the Needle Galaxy. From our perspective on Earth, it looks long and slender (like a needle, right?), but perspective is everything. It's actually a great example of a spiral, much like our own Milky Way. Sitting about 40 to 50 million light years from us, there's actually at least 4 other galaxies in this same view. Can you spot them all?
We finally got some relatively clear sky and I had some good luck shooting the Moon and Venus through the Mak-Cas. This telescope has a focal length of 2700 mm (160 inches) so the views are kind of incredible, especially in steady seeing. It's interesting to contrast the Moon which has unending detail with Venus which is shrouded in dense cloud cover. Interestingly, I caught Venus with half the disk illuminated. This observation, first made by Galileo, is one piece of important evidence that Venus orbits the Sun and not the Earth.
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