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Author Archives: Bob Vickers
Galaxy Trios 42 & 43
Decent weather the last couple of nights has allowed me to go out early, before Moonrise and find two more Galaxy trios from the Astronomical League GG&C list. Both have been pretty straightforward to find with the combination of a … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
Galaxy Groups & Clusters
My next astronomy project is the Astronomical League’s Galaxy Groups & Clusters. I figured this would be a good project for the 18” Obsession as it would give me a good bit more light grasp than my 12.5” Dob. It should … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
Heiligenschein
A couple of days ago, during an early morning walk in the park, Melissa and I noticed a bright white “halo” around the shadows of our heads in the dewy grass. I took this picture: Later, I looked it up on an excellent … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy, Other Nature Studies
Halos, Clouds, and a Blue Moon?
Here’s another 22 degree solar halo upper arc showing some nice colors – reddish inside, bluish outside. I took this late morning 30 August 2012, just as high, thin clouds were pushing up from the south ahead of Hurricane Isaac. It was raining … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy, Uncategorized
Distant Thoughts
Tuesday night (7 August 2012) was clear and not too hot, so I went out and did a little observing through my “new” 18” Obsession. I decided to view the targets in Sue French’s July 2012 Sky & Telescope article, By … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
Primary and Secondary Rainbow Arcs
I caught these primary and secondary rainbow arcs late one afternoon a couple of weeks ago. They are the left and right ends of the same rainbow which never showed as a complete bow. The secondaries are fainter and shorter but … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
…the rest of the story
My wife, Melissa, has chastised me for not including “…the rest of the story” of the 18” Obsession in the previous blog post, so here it is: Several years ago (I think around 2007) I was dreaming of getting a … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
New Addition to the Family
I finally took the plunge and bought an 18″ Obsession telescope. Ronnie Harris (webmaster for Obsession) and observing buddy David Lamb had their 6 year old 18″ scope up for sale at an affordable price, so after work on Tuesday, I made … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
New Article in Amateur Astronomy Magazine
I have another Night Sky Naturalist article published in Amateur Astronomy magazine entitled More Fun on the Moon. See the Articles page for a link to the “split out” of the new article. This is a follow up to the original … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
Venus Transit Aureole Graphics
Here are two graphics showing the aureole of light (the Sun’s illumination of Venus’ atmosphere from behind) as I saw it develop along the edge of Venus just before second contact with the Sun’s limb. I did not see any evidence of it from first contact … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
Venus Transit – 5 June 2012
I took off work a little early and came home to set up my 12.5″ Dobsonian telescope in our front yard to view the Venus transit (where the planet Venus comes between the Earth and the Sun). The last Venus transit … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
Non-eclipse
They say patience is a virtue. Nowhere is that more evident than in amateur astronomy. If you don’t have patience, you must develop it or you might as well just plop yourself in front of the TV every night. Weather … Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Astronomy
