WITN TV Toys For Tots

I presented a small telescope to Heather King (L) and Jim Howard (R) of WITN-TV in Greenville. WITN is collecting toys for the Marine Corps Toys For Tots campaign for 2005. While not a high quality instrument perhaps it will spark an interest in someone's young mind that might inspire them to learn more about our beautiful night sky.

Cub Scout Pack 826 Loopapalooza

On November 19 I was invited to by Cub Scout Pack 826, at St Peter's School in Greenville, to assist their scouts in the requirements for earning Astronomy Beltloops. The beltloops are similar to Boy Scout Merit Badges and the scouts must learn various aspects of using telescopes, learn the planets of our Solar System, and learn about other objects in our galaxy and beyond. Twenty-three scouts earned their beltloops that evening. As is sometimes the case in eastern NC the night sky was nearly clouded over by the time we went outide to do some observing. However, there were enough holes in the clouds that I was able to point out a few stars, such as Vega, Deneb, and Altair, (the summer triangle) and the constellations Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, and Perseus, and located where the Andromeda Galaxy would be if it were clear and dark. Mars was also in a clear spot for a little while and several of the adults had brought their telescopes and were able to view the planet with them.

Orion Nebula

Messier object M42, the Orion Nebula. My first attempt at photographing a night sky object with a Nikon D70 DSLR. Image taken with a Celestron NexStar 11 telescope at prime focus and F10. Exposure time 30 seconds. Taken at Mid Atlantic Star Party, November 2005.

Goose Creek State Park Photo Contest

This photo of a "Skink in a Tree" won third place in Goose Creek State Park's 2005 photo contest. This was my first formal entry in a photo contest. The photo was taken on July 16, 2005, along the Live Oak Trail in Goose Creek State Park. It was taken with a Nikon D70 DSLR using an 18-70mm lens at 70mm with an exposure of 1/180 sec at f4.8.

Solar Program At NC Estuarium

On Sept 17 members of Carolina Skies Astronomy Club presented a program on the Sun and how it affects our environment at the NC Estuarium in Washington NC. Fred Davenport provided a Celestron NexStar 11 with a solar filter, and a Coronado PST hydrogen alpha telescope, John Bray provided a 6" Dob with a solar filter and I setup my Celestron NexStar 11 with a Baader solar filter to provide visitors with views of Sunspot 897 and 810. As sunspot 810 had just emerged on the sun's eastern limb we observed a prominence emanating from it through Fred's PST. Quite an awesome view.

John Bray tried to photograph it through the eyepiece of the PST - I hope he was successful.

Photo at right from top clockwise: Fred Davenport, John & Nancy Bray at the PST, Visitor at Fred's NexStar 11, Visitor at the Sunspotter. You can view the entire photo collection at http://csac.weseestars.org/Album/

Thanks to the director and staff of the NC Estuarium for their hospitality.

Sunset Over The Pamlico

While waiting for Venus and Jupiter to appear on the evening of Sept 4 I snapped this photo of the sun setting behind the US17 bridge over the Pamlico River in Washington NC. Photo taken with a Nikon D70 SLR with 18-70mm lens at 44mm. Exposure was 1/180 second at F11.

Venus & Jupiter Conjunction

On September 4 2005 the planets Venus and Jupiter, along with the star Spica formed a lovely trio in the western sky sortly after sunset. This photo was taken from the Riverfront Walk in Washington NC looking west toward the US17 bridge over the Pamlico River. Venus and Jupiter are low in the sky in the upper left of the photo. Spica can barely be seen to the left of Venus (the brighter object).