Rick's
Astrophotographical
Album
(Please be patient, this is a tough load...)
Come with me as we venture the universe
with reserved enthusiasm...
(since I, a rank ameteur astrophotographer
took the pictures, we must be reserved)...
and learn something new today about this vast space...
Please realize that this is the downloading phase.
Just be patient and all the pictures will be loaded shortly.
Let us seat ourselves in the touring pod
and settle in for an evening of celestial viewing
(most of that time spent waiting for the photos to load).
We can see stars all around us...(if the background has loaded)
Before we begin, be sure to buckle up, and please keep sodas and
ice cream cones in their fully upright positions....
lower please...
As we glide down to the first viewing here,
we notice a white orb before us...
(Take the glasses off for emphasis) this is Jupiter!
Indeed the largest of the nine planets.
It is an impressive bohemeth of poisenous gas,
but much more demure looking if viewed from
my photo here taken at about 100-200 times magnification
with a modest 6 inch reflector telescope,
an old Olympus SLR camera, and a barely respectable ocular of
which brand I will not disclose at this time...
3 of the 4 largest moons are shown here.
Ooo-Hoo..the Moon.
Its these viewings out in the night sky through that
6 inch light bucket of a telescope that really makes it worth while.
Mainly since it's the easiest thing to find in the eyepiece.
Everything else to view is an awkward telescope set up
and camera adjusting nightmare,
consistantly threatened by layers of clouds that
suddenly rush over to block your view just
as soon as the telescope is aligned and the camera ready..
You swore those clouds were no where in sight
just 20 minutes ago. Yea...it's happened.
This photo is about 100 times magnification.
This is the famous Orion Constellation.
No scope-work here.
Just the dusty trusty (spindly) tripod
and the Olympus SLR camera...
that pink gaseous cloud is the Orion Nebula
or M42 scientifically speaking.
It is the finest nebula in the sky.
Let's scoot in a little closer to view that M42 Nebula...
Lower please....
Ooo..that's bright! It looks much better through a telescope.
Careful, look quickly and let's move on...
Pardon the two stripes atop this gem...
this is Venus in it's waxing or waning phase...
O.K. this is the comet Hyatuke.
It showed up in April of 1996. This
actually was at night but the exposure length
coupled with that full moon behind
me made the photo seem like dusk.
You can see the comet can't you...
that fuzzy patch in the middle of the picture.
You'd better move on because the brightness
is ruining your viewing experience...
you don't want to go back into a dark room
for 10 minutes to reacclimate your vision again do you?
(Oh yes ...you were in a dark room
adjusting your vision.
When you were at the top of this page...
that downloading you waited for
was superbly cloaked amidst that tough
and lengthy downloading time we had up at the top
of this page...
Lower please...
This is the Hale-Bopp comet.
A little more obvious, huh?
Here I had the tripod set up on the hill going down into the wetlands.
I was in a hurry because I was runnig out of room
trying to get this shot before it went behind the trees.
I was almost in the sticker bushes....
This is as close to the moon as I can get...
300 times magnification....(long whistle)
Yowee...that's Saturn as close as I can get.
The camera had reached critical mass
just before I clicked this one off.
I almost had a telescopic meltdown...
And more to come....
Music by Rick Frazier
