A clear, dark night

Last night from 11:15 PM - 1:45 AM you could've found me in the backyard with the telescope. It was the darkest, clearest, most steady night I have ever seen. Stars were pinpoints - no flickering, and there was no Moon to washout everything. I took the opportunity to go through one of my star guide books (Turn Left at Orion), page by page, trying to find each object. Many of the objects are too dim to see on anything but the darkest night, especially because there is light pollution from the Bremerton Shipyard, Tacoma, and Seattle.

Here is the list of objects I observed:

• M13, The Great Globular Cluster (This is obvious most cloudless nights of the year, very bright, very big)
• Albireo, Double Star system in Cygnus. (All other doubles are compared to this spectacular blue and yellow pair).
• *NGC 6826, The Blinking Planetary Nebula (This seems to disappear when directly looked at, then reappears when you look away).
• M27, The Dumbbell Nebula
• *M71, Globular Cluster (?) (Astronomers aren't sure exactly what this is because it doesn't have the same type of stars as other clusters).
• Gamma Delphini, A Double Star (Crisp double system of a light blue and orange star).
• M17, The Swan Nebula (A huge cloud of hydrogen and helium, 40 light years across, that sort of looks like a swimming swam)
• M11, Wild Ducks Open Cluster
• *M15, Globular Cluster (A ball of a few hundred-thousand stars with a bright center)
• *M2, Globular Cluster
• M31, Andromeda Galaxy (I was able to see this with no aid, the sky was so dark. Through the telescope the disk was visible with the bright nucleus in the middle. It is the most distant object the naked eye can see without a telescope, at about 2.5 million light years.)
• Almach, a Double Star (Obvious colors of yellow and blue, and very crisp under high power).
• *M33, The Triangulum Galaxy (This was the toughest object of the night. It is very large with its brightness spread over a large area. I could just barely make it out. I have searched for it before, but last night was the first time I could make anything out).
• *Mesarthim, a Double Star (These look like two shining diamonds, evenly matched in brightness and color).
• *Iota Cassiopeiae, A Triple Star (This one was tough. One of the stars is much dimmer, and one is very close to the primary. I could make them out under the highest power.)
• M34, an Open Cluster
• NGC 869 & NGC 884, the Perseus Double Cluster ( I could make out this smudge with no equipment, but they were stunning through the telescope. Like God has thrown diamonds across the sky.)
• Jupiter and the four biggest moons
• Pleiades cluster
• 3 very bright meteors
• Numerous satellites crossing the field of view

*First Observation

It was a very productive evening! Between the stargazing and feeding the girls I got around 5 hours of sleep, so today should be interesting!

Early Morning Moon

If you happened to be awake at 4:30 AM like me, you might have noticed this beautiful sight. The Moon is almost new, and Venus is shining very brightly. During the next few nights the moon will be absent from the night sky, there will be clear weather, and I will be out late with my telescope.

From Blogger Pictures

Summer Beauty

We can complain about the heat or the rain, but I think summer is just beautiful in Western Washington.

Summer Beauty

5 Years Later

Last week Stephanie and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful 5 years, and we could've never anticipated the changes that have taken place. A few things were planned such as buying a house and getting our masters degrees. We planning on starting a family, but were blessed with the two wonderful girls right away! On our anniversary we went back to the chapel where we were married, on Fox Island, to take some photos. It was a beautiful day, similar to the day we were married.

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

A few days later my mom came to our house and watched Charlotte and Elise while Stephanie had a little getaway! We went to Bainbridge Island and stayed at the Eagle Harbor Inn in Winslow. We had great fish-n-chips at the Harbor Public House along with some good beer. I tried pear cider, and was impressed with the flavor - it was light and sweet, but not too much. Desert was fresh ice cream from Mora Creamery - my choice was coconut and raspberry on a waffle cone. Delicious. We had a wonderful evening and took our time coming home the next day. Walking through our front door and hugging our girls was the best part though!

From Blogger Pictures