Wide Field Winter Campaign/Observing Program for 4 inch Refractor and Wide Field Eyepieces

 

I shared my the Fall Campaign Observing Program that I made for my TeleVue NP101 with the 31mm Nagler (and have included the 22mm Nagler and could use the 26mm Nagler). I am sharing today the Wide Field Winter Campaign from December through February (sooner if you are up later in the night in the fall) since I have it ready. Spring is also done minus the image from LiveSky which I'll do either Sunday or Monday.

Please realize I am sketching each so I don't have as many objects as I could here. I'll add more as time goes by and I get done with these.

The Object is listed and underline and under the image is the FOV by the specific eyepiece. Hope that helps! I look forward to this! If you have suggestions I'd love to hear them in the comments and I'll add them in!

As always, you can get the full program over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK.  Please join the community there to get notified when I post news, observing programs/reports and other astro related stuff as it goes there first! If you can support us with a small donation of $3 to $5 it is really appreciated! Thanks to Andrew Witt for being a contributing member! 

We FINALLY Photographed Betel Buddy or Betelgeuse B, Betgelgeuse's Hidden Companion

 

For as long as humans have looked up into the winter sky, Orion’s right shoulder has held our gaze. Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis) is a monster of a red supergiant—a celestial light bulb so massive that if you dropped it into the center of our solar system, its outer atmosphere would swallow Jupiter. But behind its dramatic dimming events and swirling convective surface, Betelgeuse has been keeping a secrets. We'll now we have seen it! 

For the full article head over to Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. 

Wide Field Observing Program: Fall Campaign (September – November); (for use with my TeleVue NP101 and 31mm or 22mm Naglers).

 

Okay, I am having so much fun observing wide field summer objects in my TeleVue NP101 and using my 22mm, 26mm and 31mm Naglers, that I decided to extend the program into Fall, Winter and Spring.

Now don't think I am giving up on my 17.5" or my 14" dobs, I'm not. This is an additional observing program to use another piece of equipment in dark skies here in northern Utah to view objects that are wonderful to view in a very large field. Basically, it is using the NP101 for what I feel it is incredible at, wide field deep sky observing.

Also, I'm being selfish as I'll be up in Yellowstone in September for a family vacation and I will have the NP101 and the TeleVue's with me for observing during the late wanning crescent and New Moon phase so I want something I can observe using the NP101 and my SeeStar S50 and to do some observing that week up there with.

Don't have a TeleVue NP101 or the Naglers? I could also probably do this in another 4 inch refractor that is similar in f/ratio to the NP101 and with other eyepieces like the UWA 28mm 2 inch eyepiece. I just have the NP101 and the wide field Naglers so here I go!

I'll be sharing the winter and the spring program soon so look forward to those!

The full observing program with PDF or Google Doc is over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK so head over there to get the full program! Please hit subscribe on YouTube and join our community at Eadsy Astronomy to get notified when I post things first! Thanks for watching! 

Eadsy Astronomy Newsletter for July 28th to August 8th, 2026

 

Here is the Eadsy Astronomy Newslette for Tuesday, July 28th to Saturday, August 8th, 2026. We move from the full Buck Moon tongiht, names because anterl animals like Elk, Deer, Moose etc. the males have grown out their antlers so July's Full Moon is named the Buck Moon. 

After tonight we move into the Waning Gibbous Stage where the Moon is still bright. We share some lunar craters and features to observe by period of days this time, trying something new. The Moon will moving into its waxing crescent stage after August 2nd's last quarter stage. This becomes primar territory for Deep Sky Observing. Hopefully the nice summer monsoon we've been having in Utah will be out so I can get out for multiple nights, especially up in the Unita Mountains I hope!  

Comet 10P/Tempel 2 is up right now and reaches perihelion on August 2nd. It's a late night/early morning comet right now. 

Venus is fading now lower into the West so that is our evening planet right now. Saturn rises around 11:30 pm as does nearby Neptune so look for those. Mars is an early morning planet still, after 3:00 a.m .with Uranus. 

 Finally, with most of this period being pretty bright with the Moon I am recommended eye candy objects for Deep Sky work right now. The next newsletter will be heaving on summer Deep Sky Objects,  and I'll be sharing some more obsecure ones that are fun! 

To read or get a copy of this newsletter, head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK and take a look there! Please join the community there as all my info now is posted there first! 

Observing Report: Lunar and Double Stars, July 23rd, 2026: Herriman Utah

 

The evening of July 23rd was great so I set up in the backyard to focus on some Lunar and Double Star observing. Here is the report. 

For the full report, sketches and images, head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please join our community there to get notifications of anything I post over there. I appreciate you doing that and looking here! Clear skies! 

Wide Field Observing Report from July 19th-20th, 2026, N. Alkaline Rd, Tooele Co. West Desert, Utah

 

You can get the full report and see the sketches over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please join the community there and hit subscribe on the YouTube Video. It really helps a niche like mine and I appreciate it.