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Equipment

 
Meade LX200GPS, 8"
Meade 700mm FL guide scope
Meade DSI-c & DSI-II Pro cameras
Philips SPC900NC webcam
Canon T2i camera
Wireless remote control
Dell D830 computer
 
Telescope set up in back yard in Bandera (golf course in background!).  The equipment is powered by two gel-cell batteries, and is remote controlled from the house desktop computer using a Radmin server over the home WiFi network.  The guide scope is only used for planetary photography to keep the image in the field of view at high magnification.

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Latest Photographs
LUNAR ECLIPSE 5/15-16/2022

Partial Solar Eclipse
8/21/2017
Bandera, Texas

T2i, 210mm lens with filter.
1/250 @ f11, 400ASA		 eclipse 8/21/2017
Sunspots visible during the Partial Solar Eclipse
8/21/2017
Bandera, Texas
Equipment setup for eclipse photos.

T2i camera with 210mm lens on Equitorial mount.
The lens had a solar filter on the front. 

The camera was controlled remotely using
Canon EOS Utilities.

The Equitorial mount with motor drive did a good
job keeping the camera pointed at the sun.
M16-Eagle Nebula.

Davis Mountains
August 2016
M8, Lagoon Nebula
Davis Mountains
August 2016
Saturn imaged on 7/18/2015 from Lost Maples State Park.  
M8 (Lagoon Nebula) imaged at Lost Maples State Park on 7/19/2015. 
M17  - the Omega Nebula, 7/19/2015.
M20 - theTrifed Nebula, 7/19/2015. 
M6 - Butterfly Cluster, 7/19/2015.   

Mars on 4/15/2014 from Starry Night (as reference).
Mars photographed in Bandera on 4/15/2014.
Phillips SPC900NC with 2.5X Barlow.
A supernova was discover on August 24 in the Pinwheel Galaxy (M-101).  This animation shows images taken from my back yard in March and again on September 20, 2011.  More information on this supernova can be found here.

Comet C2009 P1 Garradd on 9/20/2011.
Mouse over for zoom view (about one degree vertical field of view).
 
 
 
Comet Hartley 103P photographed on 10-07-2010.  The two images in this slideshow are 50 minutes apart showing the motion near NGC869 and NGC884.  The photographs were taken with the Canon T2i for 10 seconds at 6400 ASA and f/2.8.  The focal length of the Tamron lens was 210mm.

Stacked with Registar and processed with FITS Liberator 3 and Photoshop CS5.
 

Slideshow of selected Astrophotographs

These were taken from various Texas locations including Bandera, Lake Whitney and the Davis Mountains State Park. 
CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL BELOW TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE.

Neptune and its' moon Triton Mars on 5/15/2015 from Bandera - webcam & 2.5X Barlow. moon North American Nebula NGC 253, Sculptor Galaxy NGC 6543, Cat's Eye Nebula NGC 7293, Helix Nebula NGC 7293, Helix Nebula Saturn, November 2008 Saturn July 2015 from Lost Maples Veil Nebula (very faint) Comet Hartley 103P, 10/2010 Comet Holmes, Oct 28 - Nov 2, 2007 Comet Lulin, 2/22/09 with tracking on comet cometlulingc_2007n3_22209 Horsehead Nebula Horsehead Nebula, B&W Jupiter and 3 moons, 10/29/2010 Jupiter and 3 moons, 8/15/2009 Movie of Jupiter and its moon Io over 2 hour period, 10/29/2010 M6, Butterfly cluster M8, the Lagoon Nebula M8, Lagoon Nebula (2015 form Lost Maples) M13, the Hercules Globular Cluster M16, the Eagle Nebula M17, Omega Nebula M20, Trifed Nebula M27, the Dumbbell Nebula M31, Andromeda Galaxy - our nearest large galaxy. M33, Triangulum Galaxy M42, Orion Nebula M51, Whirlpool Galaxy M51, Whirlpool Galaxy M52 is an open cluster in the Cassiopeia constellation. M57, Ring Nebula M63 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici M64, Black eye Galaxy M81, Bode's Galaxy M82, Cigar Galaxy M82 and M81 are close enough for this "portrait" M83, Southern Pinwheel Galaxy M101, Pinwheel Galaxy M103 is an open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia M104, Sombrero Galaxy Center of M16 often called <strong>The Pillars of Creation</strong> Mars in 2005 lightbox image gallery exampleby VisualLightBox.com v6.1

Click here to see the COMET page.
 
 
Iridium Flare photographed at the Davis Mountains on June 4, 2005.  The flare is a reflection from Iridium satellite antennas (the sat-phone satellites).  To find flare schedules for your location, visit http://www.heavens-above.com/.

Other pictures from that trip here.

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On June 27,2005 a German amateur astronomer discovered a 14 magnitude supernova in M-51.  A photo I took on June 1, 2005 is shown here.  Mouse over that image to see the published image with the supernova (at the end of the arrow).