Current Universal Time is…

Current Moon Phase

Rho-Ophiuchi/Antares Region showing M4, NGC6144, IC4603, IC4604, IC4605, and much more. The darkness and transparency was the best I have ever seen, however, it was very windy.

M8 & M20. Taken from New Mexico Skies on Provia 400F. Used my Sigma EX 100-300 APO zoom on my Minolta Maxxum 9 (Dynax 9). This lens shows no signs of vinetting and is completely sharp to the corners.

This wide shot was taken on September 27, 2000 from Sleeping Bear National Park in Northwestern lower Michigan. Taken with a 24mm lens (@ f/4) it covers over 80°. With this wide of a lens guiding was not required so I warmed up in the car while this one was exposed. In many ways I think these wide angle shots are among the most pleasing astrophotos there are. Click on the image for more info and larger images.

This is a composite of two 30 minute unguided exposures taken with my 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor PG lens @ f/2.8 piggybacked on the LX6. One exposure was taken with a Celestron LPR filter then converted to grayscale to provide contrast. The non-filtered exposure was modified to provide only color information. The two were then digitally stacked using Picture Window to give the results here. Make sure you click on the picture for the enlarged version.

Composite of a 5 minute and a 15 minute exposure. The film was Fuji 100 Supria. The images were scanned using my HP S20 film scanner. Like many of my images heavy light pollution has wiped out much of the detail. This is evident by the nearly non-existant flame nebula. (I reprocessed this image to bring out much of the missing detail)

This is a single 60 minute exposure on E200 of the Bubble Nebula Region. The images were scanned using my HP S20 film scanner. Taken with a Tokina ATX 80-200 f/2.8 zoom lens.