cosmic-perspective

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17 hours on the Pinwheel...25 million light years away. 1 light year is 6 trillion miles if driven in a car!

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Palouse Astronomical Society star party Moscow, ID July 2025 out at Virgil Phillips Park.

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Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy or M81 and M82.

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The Wizard Nebula NGC 7380. Do you see it?

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IC 5146 The Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus.

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I got covered in fertilizer or something but it was worth the shot. Thank you strange farmer for allowing me to climb into your field.

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The Pinwheel Galaxy M101. Somehow the first I'm ever trying this target.

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Posing with our club's new 18" Dob. I have a healthy fear of heights so getting on the ladder is hard for me, but this thing is fun to spin around!

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The Whirlpool Galaxy M51, a grand-design spiral 31 million light-years away. It can be seen interacting with dwarf galaxy NGC 5195, causing lots of star formation in the process.

This galaxy is slightly smaller than our own and can be found just under the first star in the handle of the Dipper: Alkaid.

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The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy M109, a barred spiral 60 million light-years away. Home to a trillion stars and surrounded by several other more distant barred spirals. It's the brightest member of a group of 80 other galaxies known as the Ursa Major Galaxy Cluster.

Remarkably boring to look at otherwise, but this is a couple nights of integration since it's typically super faint.

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The Owl Nebula and The Surfboard Galaxy. A surfing owl?

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The dancing galaxies, M81 & M82.

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The Monkey Head Nebula

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The “Quantum” and I succeeded. It went so nice, I flew it twice! I’m now L1 certified and can legally purchase H and I rocket motors. All that said there’s going to be more HPR builds in my future. About as addicting of a hobby as astrophotography, lol.

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For those interested in the life of me…

I also like to build model rockets, and today I finished my 4” LOC Goblin. It’s themed after a Nuka Cola Quantum pop bottle from the videogame series Fallout. And yes, the rocket glows just like the irradiated pop!

Now to pack everything up, get a final weight, run a final sim, then drill the motor to set the delay. I present the “Quantum” rocket. Trying for my L1 HPR certification here in a few weeks time.

Wish me and the “Quantum” good luck! If it survives I can use it for my L2 cert down the road. 😬🚀