Category Archives: Home Observatory

Home; private, backyard observatory. Deep-sky objects explored.

Messier 31

M31 (NGC 224) is a spiral galaxy in Andromeda and is our closest galaxy neighbor– the Andromeda Galaxy.

Most of M31 is in the frame below.

The picture was taken by a modified Canon Rebel on a TEC 140 in the Alpenglow Torrey House Observatory in the dark sky community of Torrey on September 25th 2022. Continue reading

Stroked — fyi Greer and Terri

On October 6, 2021 I had an ischemic stroke. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot keeps blood from flowing to your brain. In my case it was in underdeveloped blood vessels in the cerebellum part of my brain. I did not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. The result was a form of ataxia which effects my balance and my left side. I cannot stand up unsupported or walk or do do simple things with my left hand like type.

Mark Bailey (before stroke)

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Charles Messier

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Charles Messier- source Wikipedia

Charles Messier was born in 1730. Messier was a comet hunter which led him to continually come across fixed fuzzy objects in the night sky which could be mistaken for comets. He made a list of them so that he and other comet hunters would not be misled by the objects. Continue reading

Alpharetz

I had a stroke at the beginning of October 2021. The observatory quit working well and so did I on my left side.

Right before my stroke I replaced the observatory camera with my modified Canon Rebel XT1 color camera. My aim was to make things a little more simple. So to keep things simple and test out the observatory I have chosen to take a picture of a star. The star I have chosen is named “Alpharetz” and oddly shares the corner of constellations Andromeda and Pegasus. Originally Alpharetz was in Pegasus but now makes the top of the “V” of Andromeda. The constellation Andromeda is in the northern sky and is not wholey visible south of about 37 degrees north latitude. The head of Andromeda overlaps Pegasus at the horse’s midriff. Alpharetz uniquely shares the northeast corner position of the “Square of Pegasus.” Continue reading