Last night was an excellent evening to relax by the fire.


The clouds moved out and the sky was perfectly clear. It was a rare, awesome condition for a star party. The atmosphere was so stable that I could even see the flashes from the Rhythm and Booms fireworks, 80 miles away. All I had to do was look at the sky and I could see many of the clusters that I normally have a hard time even finding with binoculars!


Saturn, Regulus, and Mars setting in the West, just barely above the treetops. The light pollution on the horizon is the car dealership, 6 miles away.


A satellite (I don't know which one) streaking along the edge of the Milky Way near Vega.


This star cluster is called the Coat Hanger (CR 399). It's upside down in the East now, but will be right side up later in the year when it's in the West. The stars are trailed because of the zoom/exposure combination. It's hard to tell if they're trailed in the viewfinder, until I download the image to my computer. I'd rather have a little too long of an exposure (trailed) than not long enough (nothing).


The King of the planets - Jupiter! And four or five of his moons. As with all of my pictures, this one was taken solely with my Canon SX100 IS and no telescope or other optical aids, and no post digital manipulation. Straight from the camera, for good or bad!


Views of the Milky Way!