Observing at Wolf Creek Pass, Duchesne Ridge: August 16th-17th, 2026

 

In this video I share my full post over at Eadsy Astronomy on my observing trip out to Wolf Creek Pass, Duchesne Ridge on the night of August 16th and 17th, 2026.  I usually am too busy on a Sunday to head out, but I finished all my needed things that day and it was the one window I had in August. 

So I had considered doing Top View/Toon Rd but the forecast went south and Wolf Creek opened up. I absolutely LOVE this site so anytime I can go there I will.  I had planned in July to do several nights there but the weather didn't cooperate! Go figure. 

So here I share what you'll see if you head over to Eadsy Astronomy. Probably my favorite observing and sketches that I share are Sharpless 2-91, that OTHER Supernova Remnant in Cygnus. Thanks to my good friend Shane I was able to observer for the first time Sharpless 2-94 and 2-96! I also got some planetary nebula so this observing trip has fit right in with some of my posts lately! 

For the full report, including additional video of how to get there and of the site with images and my sketches and SeeStar images, please head over to Eadsy Astronomy! LINK

Here is a list of the sketches over at Eadsy Astronomy: 

NGC 5907

NGC 6343

NGC 6171 

NGC 6638

NGC 6642

Sharpless 2-91 

Sharpless 2-94

Sharpless 2-96

M-1-92 wide field and with magnification 

NGC 6543

NGC 6826 The Blinking Planetary Nebula 

NGC 6309 The Box Planetary Nebula 

NGC 6884 

NGC 3310

Hubble Solves Merger Mystery from Milky Way's Early Years Using Globular Clusters

 

LKH and Milky Way Merging 11.8 BY ago 

This is a fun summary of the article that shows that the Milky Way hasn't just undergone two mergers with dwarf galaxies; the Sagitarrius Dwarf Galaxy that started over 6 billion years ago and is still ongoing and the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus merger  that occurred 10 billion years ago. 

Guess what, they now have found a third merger that occurred 11.8 billion years ago which is only 2 billion years after the Big Bang! Come learn more about that merger and how they found it! 

My summary article and images are available over at Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK along with a link to the release and my highlights of the article. 

Lion Nebula or NGC 2392 in Gemini Roars to Life in James Webb

 

Yesterday, I posted a LOT about planetary nebula. I discovered this article/news release from the James Webb Space Telescope Website on NGC 2392 the Lion Nebula.  Here they use the NIRCam and MIRI instruments/cameras on the James Webb to image it.  The article discusses how all this is being caused by the white dwarf star seen in the center!

Head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK to see the images from Webb and a link to the news release! 

SwRI Led Modeling Identifies New Scenerios for the Formation of our Moon!

 

Real cool article on possible ways the moon formed. In the image above (and in their video I shared) they show how the Moon may have formed when a Mars size object that formed relatively close to the Earth in the protoplanetary disc, so they had the similar composition, resulted in material being blasted around the Earth that later formed into the Moon. OR if the protoEarth and the Theia object were of the same temperture basically, the Moon could have formed within hours of the impact! Cool! More to learn and more for our astronomers and scientists to study and learn!

To see the simulation that SwRI put out on YouTube and get a quick snapshot of this video, head over to Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. You can also go and see the article for yourself! 

NGC 2392, the Clown Face or Lion Nebula in Gemini; My Sketch from winter of 2017. 

My purpose here is  to get more of you looking up and observing Planetary Nebula. They are some of the most beautiful objects in our night sky and they represent the end stages of a main sequence star like our Sun, one that is between 0.4 to 8 solar masses and is at the end stage of life. I guess I love them for a couple of reasons. They are the opposite of my other favorite objects, Supernova Remnant which is the leftover of a massive star that went supernova and basically destroyed itself, leaving in most of their cases, a neutron star. 

So I'll show you what I have done here. I broke the Astronomical League's Program into seasons. It is NOT perfect. Some objects probably need to go in another season or could. If you find such, please let me know by making recommendations in comments or by contacting me. I'm not the type that is set on anything and will always make adjustments if the logic is good and sound. 

I've also included my own observation, or as most show, Steve Gottlieb's 

Anyway, they are in both a Google Sheet and Doc format. I"ll include them both in the links below. I'll also attach as either a PDF or a Excel Doc also if that helps.  

To get the full copy of the Google Doc, Sheet or the PDF or Excel version, please head over to Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. The links and attachements are at the bottom of the post. 

Observing Planetary Nebula: A Seasonal Approach in 3 Tiers

 Messier 57 The Ring Nebula Planetary Nebula in Lyra; August 30th, 2016: 2:15am MDT; Antoniadi II, mild; 17.5" Truss Dob f/4.4, Star Catcher; 22mm Nagler T4, 10mm & 7mm Pentax XW; FarPoint UHC 1 1/4 Filter.  

It's been awhile but it is the Ring Nebula.  The outer edge has varying levels of brightness and the inner region is even surface brightness with some hint of varyness at higher magnifications.  Central Star visible with averted and direct vision. 

So besides Supernova Remnants, one of my favorite Deep Sky Objects to observe are Planetary Nebula. I love them because of what the represent, a main squence star that is from 0.4 to 8 solar masses that has lived its life and is now in the end stage.  I also find them challenging to see how much detail I can pull out whether I am imaging them or observing and sketching them, or both!  Finally I am constantly amazed at how our Universe recycles materials and uses that material to create even more stars, planets, solar systems and continues on. 

So I've done several things that I am going to share in this post and the next post. First, I made a Planetary Nebula Observing Prorgram by season and have included images, sketches and descriptions of most of the objects.  That's in this video. I'll share the Google Doc and PDF's below and the program. The list is also in XLS formation for Excel. 

In the next video, well, you have to watch that one to see what that is! 

As always, I REALLY encourage you  to head over to Eadsy Astronomy to see the program, get a copy of it and to admire the many wonderful observations, images and sketches done of this wonderful objects! Please hit subscribe and like here, and thank you if you do or have already done so. It really helps a niche site like mine.  

Also, please join Eadsy Astronomy. You can join as free member, my content is always free or you can, if you find value in what I do, become a contributing member at the $3 or $5 a month value. It just goes to offset the cost of some of the apps and materials I use to bring the content to you. I'll keep doing it and I won't get rich, it just offsets some of my time and my costs and is deeply appreciated! 

As always, I REALLY encourage you on this one to head over to Eadsy Astronomy. There you can get the program, see the sketches and images of the objects, and read observations done by many who have observed or imaged these! Here is the LINK!