Finally a Good All Nighter!

Sickle of Leo (left), Mars (middle), and Beehive Cluster (upper right).

In an usually gloomy winter, clear nights are hard to come by, and that's not even factoring in the annoyingly bright moon, which plays havoc with astrophotography but also always seems to be out on those clear winter nights. Well, Wednesday night was the exception here. It was clear all night and the moon, not even to first quarter, quickly got out of the way. Some long exposure constellation pictures will be coming soon, but above is a quick 10 second shot of a near opposition Mars between the Sickle of Leo and the Beehive Cluster.

Below are a couple of pictures from late last year. Having a frozen over observing pad gives one a lot of time to play around in Photoshop.

The Sword of Orion with the Great Orion and Running Man Nebulae

The Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and Satellites

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