West Texas May/June 2011 Astronomy & Lightning Pictures
Images and text Copyright © 2011, 2014 by Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.  Contact and Image Use Information 

This is my May/June 2011 Davis Mountains astronomy pictures page.  One again I had some spotty weather; with one very good night, one pretty good night, and a couple fair to poor nights of imaging.  Plus, on Thursday morning the Davis Mountains caught fire (see below for pictures.)  My 2011 scenic pictures are here.

My Main West Texas Astrophoto page is here.


The 2011 Spring trip was interrupted by Fire! Pictures here.

 
Check my M20 page for narrowband Trifid Nebula Pictures


Blue Reflection Nebula IC4592 (IC 4592)

Above:  2011 Spring Davis Mountains Trip.  23*5 minutes or about 2 hours total exposure through the Takahashi FSQ-85 Telescope with reducer, AP 900GTO mount, QHY8 CCD Camera.  See more on my Antares Area Prime Focus Images Page.  See the Reflection Nebula Page


Snake Nebula, Barnard 72

Check out the very large image of the snake and other dark nebulae on my Snake Nebula Page.


Trifid & Lagoon Nebula Area

This & the next image reflect early results from the 2011 Spring Davis Mountains Trip.  One hour total exposure through the Takahashi FSQ-85 Telescope, AP 900GTO mount, QHY8 CCD Camera.  Needs a little flat-fielding but nice first results I think.  This links to my primary M20/M8 page, for more information about these objects.

The area above the Lagoon Nebula includes NGC 6559 and Barnard dark nebulae 302 and 303.  This page has more information and a narrowband shot nicely showing the dark nebulae.


Check out: Trifid and M8 Area Master Index - includes area object links


Antares Area:  The Sky's Best!


Rho Ophiuchi Nebula, IC 4603, IC 4604

Exposures from this trip were used for Antares & IC4603 enhancements; see links above.


Davis Mountain Lightning 2011

Unfortunately, I believe this lightning storm let to the fire that cut this trip short.


2011 Three-Scope, 3 Imaging Camera Davis Mountains Setup

 


NGC6519 Area

 Main West Texas Astrophoto page is here.


Milky Way Mosaic


2010 Dark Nebula Pictures


All West Texas Scenic Photography


Cactus Flowers


Main West Texas Astronomy Pictures Page Is Here

Wide Angle Astrophotos

Main West Texas Scenic Picture Page is here

Dick Locke's Astrophoto Gateway page....

Images Home

Contact and Image Use Information

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Nite 1, 5/27/11: (Friday) After driving all day I set up and started shooting around 11:00 p.m. and had a clear night.  On this night I learned that the RGB filters are not parfocal, meaning it is necessary to re-focus my ST8300 camera ever time I change filters...  The RGB shots from this night were not usable.

Nite 2, 5/28/11: (Saturday) Had clear skies and shot all night.

Nite 3: 5/29/11: (Sunday) Poor transparency early, imaged from midnight until dawn.  Cabin swamp cooler was leaking and cabin ran out of water!  Hauling water from "office" and manually filling swamp cooler is working OK!

Nite 4: 5/30/11: (Monday) No good early; set the alarm for 2:00 a.m. (and John came by and yelled at me at 2:02!), and was imaging by 2:45 am (on the 31st) until dawn.

Tuesday and Wednesday were clouded out.  Thursday morning began with me chilling out with coffee on the front porch and finally feeling relaxed...  Then I noticed an abnormal amount of air traffic, followed by a realization the area was on fire!  I decided to bug-out immediately, so I packed up and headed home!