Look up

[sheepfarmer]

Anyone seen the Christmas Comet? And can give me more clues where to look besides near the Pleides? Not sure where they are.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

My neighbor Bob sent me shots he made of M42, the Great Nebula in Orion which is visible in the eastern sky this time of year... Amazing eh? (Bigger files this time... Bigger be mo-bettuh!!!)

M33, the Pinwheel galaxy...

 

[hope to float]

Great pics. Keep them coming.
I'd love to get a good telescope but can't justify the expense when we get so few clear nights.

 

[Lil Foot]

Love astronomy. Still have a 4" reflector at my place in the mountains. Using it to view Haley's comet was awesome.
When I was in 7th & 8th grade a few of us put together an astronomy club- did field trips to big telescopes & such. Not much time for the hobby these days.

Incidentally, one of the guys from our club was the guy who headed the team that ground the mirror (incorrectly) for the Hubble telescope.

 

[Yooper]

Love astronomy. Still have a 4" reflector at my place in the mountains. Using it to view Haley's comet was awesome.
When I was in 7th & 8th grade a few of us put together an astronomy club- did field trips to big telescopes & such. Not much time for the hobby these days.

Incidentally, one of the guys from our club was the guy who headed the team that ground the mirror (incorrectly) for the Hubble telescope.

We put a two billion dollar telescope up in space with an out of focus lense to search for intelligent life. We know it aint pointing down! Credit goes to comedian Gallagher for that one.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

A couple more of Bob's killer shots.

Rosette...

Western Veil...

 

[sheepfarmer]

Those are phenomenal! Ask him if he is watching that comet aka 46P Wirtanen. We had a couple of clear nights here, but about all I could recognize was the big dipper maybe. And too much light from barns.

 

[bearbait]

Awesome pic's, thanks for sharing

 

[Daren Todd]

Reminds me.

Couple months ago, the guy who co-owns a company locally that takes care of our shop rags and mats came by and we chatted a little. He lived in town (same town as Daren Todd) for his entire life, all 42 years of it, until recently. He had been building a place out at their family farm about 30 minutes from town. Anyway he got his place built and moved in, he stopped in while bringing us our 200 rags and 4 floor mats, and was telling me about staying in the new place. Said the first thing he did was walk out on the back porch at night in his underwear and take a leak off the porch, and while doing so, looked up and said he seen something he's never seen before. The big dipper. Said he's never seen so many stars. Now I grew up in the city too (much larger city) and I had seen it when I was a kid, then again about 5 years ago when I moved out of town. Now every night if it's clear, I make sure to go out & have a look even just for a minute or two...out where I'm at, I can just barely see the milky way. Just barely. I'm not far enough from town unfortunately. Tonight is cold, clear and everything's nice & bright. Good night for gazing, but still way too much light pollution from the school-and the towns closeby.

I lived in that town for around 13 months then moved. Address says I'm from the city, but I'm actually 8 miles out. Actually 500ft from the next town line headed east About 2/10ths of a mile from where the first tornado crossed the bypass. 6/10th of a mile from where the second one crossed. Close enough to town where it's not a hassle if you need something, but far enough out to avoid the BS Have about the same luck with the star gazing. Was better when I had the street light cut off in front of the house. But my neighbors paranoid, so they had it turned back on I can still see the stars and satellites though in the back yard.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Living were we do we get an excellent celestial view!

I've seen the international space station several times and it's awesome.

We have hot tub contests on seeing how many satellites one can spot.

 

[m32825]

We have hot tub contests on seeing how many satellites one can spot.

There's an app called "Heavens-Above" which is great for figuring out when and where to look for things in the sky.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

There's an app called "Heavens-Above" which is great for figuring out when and where to look for things in the sky.

Yep got it!
But it's a little tough to use the phone in the Hot tub!