A Couple of Nights Under the Stars

I was able to take Hercules out to Area 62 the last week of August.  This was likely the last night under the stars Hercules will have until I get a break from school.  I was also able to make a quick trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument (CBNM) in early October but only took my camera.

- Area 62

The weather in August was fantastic and I was able to see many galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, double stars, and a couple of planets.  After setting up my gear, my first target was the Moon.  I had recently bought a couple of moon filters, which I probably didn't need on this particular night since the Moon was less than half illuminated.  I wanted to try them out anyway and they worked as I expected!  I'm excited to use them again when the Moon is reflecting more of the Sun's light.

The Moon with smart phone and Hercules.

The Moon with smart phone and Hercules.

The Moon with smart phone and Hercules

After the Moon, I had Hercules target Jupiter which was just to the upper left of the Moon from our perspective.  It was low in the sky so I couldn't make out as much planetary detail as I was hoping for.  After my short views of Jupiter, I located Saturn.  The ringed system looked as amazing as I was hoping for.  I was able to get a few pictures with my phone that are a little blurry, but you should get the idea.

Saturn with smart phone and Hercules.

Saturn with smart phone and Hercules.

I spent the next several hours looking at the Andromeda Galaxy, many star clusters and double stars, and a few nebulae.  Everything that I could see looked great!  I took many pictures at Area 62, but I feel like I'm sharing things that I have already posted here.  So I will share just my favorites.

Panorama of Area 62

The Moon setting and some campers.

The Pleiades and city glow.

Star Trails.

The Pleiades again.

- Cedar Breaks National Monument

We arrived at Cedar Breaks National Monument less than an hour before sunset.  I quickly set up my camera and started firing off shots almost immediately.  I think we were there for close to 2 hours and I took over 250 pictures.  There was a slight breeze on this night, and a little bit of smoke on the western horizon.  We were about 10,000 feet in elevation and it was cold.  The sky looked spectacular as CBNM is a national dark sky park.  The Milky Way was easily seen shortly after sunset.  I felt like I could see millions of more stars here than I can at Area 62.  The pictures also lacked the reddish color of the sky glow that I capture in my images from Area 62.

Most of the pictures looked absolutely amazing on the camera's view finder.  After getting home and looking at the pictures on a larger screen, nearly all of them are blurry!  So I am only going to share a few of them.

View to the Southwest at CBNM.

View to the South at CBNM.

Sunlight on the rocks.

Sunlight on the rocks.

Sunset at CBNM.  Notice the smoke.

Ursa Major (The Big Dipper).

Stars through the trees.

Milky Way and stars through the trees.

- Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, I really like the atmosphere and images I was able to capture at CBNM.  I just wish they weren't blurry!  There's always next time though.

You know what to do.....

Now get outside and look up!