A partnership – Asterisk Observatory and NW Jet Boat Charter
We left from the dock in Newberg around 7:30pm and rode the jetboat upstream to a small riverbank beach where I set up the solar telescope just as the sun was setting. We scoped out the sun’s prominences and sunspots and then watched the daylight disappear to dusk.
Imaging First Light!
For over a year now, we’ve been trying to set up an imaging system out at the observatory. Imaging on a telescope is a bit more complicated than simply swapping out the eyepiece for a camera. After many nights of troubleshooting, we finally, earlier this month, got everything (mostly) sorted out and captured our first image!!! The target we chose to image was the Pinwheel Galaxy.
Guest Post: The Armchair Astronomer’s Dream
Light. An astronomer’s muse, when staring into the infinite void of space, sensing the arrival of photons from hundreds or billions of light-years distant.
Light. Also an astronomer’s bane, a pollutant that can wash out beautiful night skies and turn that $15,000 piece of equipment you purchased into a year-round coat rack.
Comet season
There have recently been multiple comets visible in the night sky. My favorite place to find information on viewing comets is from https://theskylive.com/comets. Currently, the brightest visible comet, C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) can be seen just after sunset below the Big Dipper. Grab a pair of binoculars and see if you can spot it in the northwest. Happy Comet Hunting!
September Guest Post: Stars in Our Skies
This September we are featuring a collection of stars from the zodiac known as Capricornus. When translated through Latin, the constellation represents a sea goat. This mythical creature was associated with the god Enki in Babylonian mythology, and later with the Greek deity Pan. In Greek mythology, the constellation is sometimes seen as Amalthea, a goat with a broken horn, which was later transformed into the “horn of plenty,” cornucopia.
August Guest Post: Messier 51 — A Grand Design Spiral with a Dance Partner
Messier 51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, is an iconic Grand Design spiral galaxy found in the constellation Canes Venatici. Located around 31 million light years away, was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral by William Parsons in 1845. It was discovered in 1773 by Charles Messier while cataloging objects that were not comets and has since been a popular target for researchers and amateur astronomers due to its stunning spiral arm structures and interaction with a companion galaxy known as NGC 5195. M51 has been an invaluable tool in the study of star formation, the motion of galaxies, and the evolution of our Cosmos as a whole.