Starship Asterisk*

Where stars are born… and maybe a rogue planet too…. This is NGC 1333, a region, with a bright blue reflection nebula, red Herbig Haro objects and a LOT of dark dust. Herbig-Haro objects are small bright patches of nebulosity associated with protostars. They are formed when hot gas ejected by a newb...

Whereas most of us seek to understand the bright lights of the Universe, American Astronomer E.E. Barnard sought out the darkness. This image , shot over 9 hours one evening in November includes 5 dark nebulae know as Barnard 1, 2, 3 ,4 and 5. Barnard B1-B5 belong to the Perseus molecular cloud comp...

Spooky SpaceThe Ghost Sh2-136 As we approach All Hallows Eve, the dark and scary creatures come to life. This magical and spooky part of space inspires the imagination with the little ghostly claws reaching out to suddenly tap you on the shoulder, in the dark…. This is a reflection nebula in the con...

Red Aurora or SAR Arc ( Stable Red Aurora) During the massive geomagnetic Storm of October 10, 2024, auroras spread as far south as California Florida and Mexico. Upon closer inspection, however, not all of those lights were auroras. Some were “SARs” large arcs of pure red light that ripple across t...

One of the first things I noticed last night was the vibrant auroral colour, even in twilight... It began with SO much red and pink as you can see from this picture taken in the early evening. No Stauration is post productions eneded, then the greens and pale pinks came and were visible to the naked...

All the Colours of the Aurora One of the first things I noticed last night was the vibrant auroral colour, even in twilight... It began with SO much red and pink. No saturation in post productions needed, then the greens and pale pinks came and were visible to the naked eye which I had not seen sinc...

The Setting Moon and the Aurora A bright 51% moon last night did not stop the aurora.... such a stunning night for aurora watchers and people all around the world. They say they could see Aurora in Florida and Mexico. This G4 level geomagnetic storm was caused by a solar storm that was launched towa...

Bridge to the Aurora You may have heard, we had a G4 level geomagnetic storm last night and KP8 level Aurora. This was an extreme event with aurora seen as far south as Florida and Mexico. A solar storm was launched towards Earth from the sun a day or so ago and arrived with great speed and density,...

Aurora All around..... About last night.....you may have heard, we had a G4 level geomagnetic storm last night and KP8 level Aurora. This was an extreme event with aurora seen as far south as Florida and Mexico. A solar storm was launched towards Earth from the sun a day or so ago and arrived with g...

Reflection on the Aurora- Timelapse Wait for it.... see how fast the aurora can brighten and grow. Especially during a G4 level geomagnetic storm as we experienced on Earth October 10, 2024. T This was a mere 30 minutes next to a beautiful creek in Kinburn Ontario on the fantastic night of October 1...

Welcome to Solar Maximum in the Calcium K line A deep deep look into one of the many glorious sunspots on the active Sun on October 5th 2024, this time in the Calcium K line located deep in the ultraviolet spectrum. Solar maximum refers to the peak of the Sun's 11 year cycle of activity. The burst o...

A solar maximum sunspot, AR3848 A deep deep look into one of the many glorious sunspots on the active Sun on October 5th 2024. Solar maximum refers to the peak of the Sun's 11 year cycle of activity. The burst of active regions and X-class flares this week remind us that, well, it doesn't really get...

Return to the Cave One of my first astro images when I first bought my Hyperstar lens was this dark and mysterious cave in Space. I have always loved it and was pleased to see how striking the natural colours were ( no narrowband filters were used) How fun to return to the cave with my deep rig at t...

A Day Spotting Sunspots Solar maximum brings every different kind of sunspot one can imagine. For example on September 20th, 2024, I was able to see a creepy crawly centipede, also known as AR 3837, a simple bipolar Beta-type sunspot region. I also saw another “heart emoji” sunspot deep in the centr...

The Omega effect in motion Have you ever watched the sun melt into a lake or ocean? This is known as the "Omega effect", when the sun develops feet at the bottom like the Greek Symbol Omega. You are actually seeing an inverted image of the sun due to refraction. This mirage usually occurs ...

The Omega Effect at Sunset - darker version Have you ever watched the sun melt into a lake or ocean? This is known as the "Omega effect", when the sun develops feet at the bottom like the Greek Symbol Omega. You are actually seeing an inverted image of the sun due to refraction. This mirag...

The Omega Effect at Sunset Have you ever watched the sun melt into a lake or ocean? This is known as the "Omega effect", when the sun develops feet at the bottom like the Greek Symbol Omega. You are actually seeing an inverted image of the sun due to refraction. This mirage usually occurs ...

The Belt of Venus at Prim Point PEI. As the sun sets on a clear crisp day, a watercolour pink band of light can be seen rising in the east, opposite the setting sun. The "belt" belongs to the goddess Aphrodite and is not named after the planet Venus. This atmospheric phenomenon is caused b...

Asteroid Pallas at Opposition The asteroid Pallas This was my first time trying to image an asteroid called Pallas and you can see how much it moves over the course of a night. It was very bright as you can see, mainly due to it being directly opposite from the sun at the moment ( at opposition) Pal...

The Hedgerow Prom All eyes are on the sun after last weeks’ massive solar activity caused a worldwide auroral display. Although the sunspot region responsible for that display has rotated to the far side of the sun, there are potentially new active regions rotating into Earth view. This large promin...

When the Aurora is at its peak it is said to look like soaring birds overhead? How many different birds do you see? Other than the colours from the camera sensor these images represent what I saw visually the night of the powerful G5 magnetic storm on Mother's’ day 2024. The space weather data was s...

Auroral Mountain top I was watching the wild aurora in my backyard the night of May 10/11th when I noticed this big white auroral cloud, right in front of me, growing, pulsating, and rapidly rising into the sky above. I made sure the camera was pointing the right way but frankly I could not take my ...

An Auroral Phoenix (redux) It is often said that during the peak of the Aurora the "wings" of fiery birds can be seen flying though the night sky. The dramatic and powerful Kp8 aurora of May 11, 2024 was full of movement, flashes of light and pulsations. And out of the magnetic chaos rose ...

The Auroral Phoenix It is often said that during the peak of the Aurora the "wings" of fiery birds can be seen flying though the night sky. The dramatic and powerful Kp8 aurora of May 11, 2024 was full of movement, flashes of light and pulsations. And out of the magnetic chaos rose the fie...

A Star Party to Remember What a party! At our spring public outreach astronomy event many visitors came to see the moon and stars through a telescope. Imagine their surprise when, not only did the Aurora appear to the south, ( we live in Ottawa Canada) but the auroral corona exploded over our heads ...