Can you comprehend it?

[Buck]

Whoa...awesome!!!

What resolution are your pics? Can't check from my iPod. I might use on as my comp background if it's at least 1920 x 1080.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Buck

Whoa...awesome!!!

What resolution are your pics? Can't check from my iPod. I might use on as my comp background if it's at least 1920 x 1080.

I tried to post the larger size for your background but its too big PM me your email and I'll send it to you .

[alnorth]

One sad reality today is that virtually the entire US is bathed in such a bright nighttime light that most people spend most of their lives never really seeing how cool the night sky can really be. Even if you are in a small town it all gets drowned out in a dull grayish off-black with only the brightest stars visible.

You pretty much have to go to someplace like northern Arizona or rural Utah to see the true beauty of the night sky. That actually will probably play a significant role in deciding where I want to retire someday 25-30ish years from now.

National Geographic wrote a really cool article about light pollution a couple years or so ago. I go outside, and I just simply don't see stuff like this:

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by alnorth

One sad reality today is that virtually the entire US is bathed in such a bright nighttime light that most people spend most of their lives never really seeing how cool the night sky can really be. Even if you are in a small town it all gets drowned out in a dull grayish off-black with only the brightest stars visible.

You pretty much have to go to someplace like northern Arizona or rural Utah to see the true beauty of the night sky. That actually will probably play a significant role in deciding where I want to retire someday 25-30ish years from now.

National Geographic wrote a really cool article about light pollution a couple years or so ago. I go outside, and I just simply don't see stuff like this:

Absolutely, theres nothing like being waaay out in the country on a clear night. Back in my service days, i spent untold hours using my night vision goggles to stare at the sky while out in the field, the sky literally explodes with stars when you're wearing those on a clear night out in the boonies.

[Rasputin]

[Dave Lane]

Had to put this up, its not mine but its a 60 hour exposure in 4 sections of the Orion nebula, Horsehead nebula and the flame nebula. I know the guy who did it and had to share. I thought it was tits.

[Buck]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

Had to put this up, its not mine but its a 60 hour exposure in 4 sections of the Orion nebula, Horsehead nebula and the flame nebula. I know the guy who did it and had to share. I thought it was tits.

How exactly do you keep a 60 hour exposure without noticing any movement? I mean the Earth is moving, right?

[Dave Lane]

I should be able to get that close. The raw image is about 3200 x 2500. I'm using it for my background and it looks pretty cool.

[Jenson71]

I'm amazed that a personal/private telescope can get those images. That's a great piece of technology.

[tooge]

do these "star parties" have pizza, beer, chicks, that sort of thing, or are they more for like looking at the sky and stuff?

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by tooge

do these "star parties" have pizza, beer, chicks, that sort of thing, or are they more for like looking at the sky and stuff?

Yes they generally do but maybe not the focus of the event

[chasedude]

Cool pics Dave

I use Spitzer and Hubble pics for my background and would love to add yours to the cycle.

PM sent

[MahiMike]

No. No I can't comprehend it.

[alnorth]

another interesting picture of the same group of stars. If the image on the right looks familiar to you, believe it or not, that image on the left does exist in some places in the western and northern US farther from cities.

[Dave Lane]

M81 and M82 from last night... 3 hour photo. A American-Canadian team determined the distance to M81 to be 12.9 million light-years ± 0.9 million light-years. So the light I recorded last night happened about 13 million years ago.

Explanation: On the left, surrounded by blue spiral arms, is spiral galaxy M81. On the right marked by red gas and dust clouds, is irregular galaxy M82. This stunning vista shows these two mammoth galaxies locked in gravitational combat, as they have been for the past billion years. The gravity from each galaxy dramatically affects the other during each hundred million-year pass. Last go-round, M82's gravity likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in the richness of M81's spiral arms. But M81 left M82 with violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the galaxy glows in X-rays. In a few billion years only one galaxy will remain.

Updated pic...