Saturday, January 20, 2024

Our New Astrophotography Blog

In an effort to keep track of our astrophotography images, I wanted to keep a journal. The more I thought about it, the more I felt drawn to documenting it all on a blog site, instead. So I have started that project ... still a work in progress. 

Please check it out at https://astrojudds.blogspot.com

It is titled "Lift Up Your Eyes and Look to the Heavens (Isaiah 40:26)". I hope you will come often to see what's new. Our most recent image is of the Rosette Nebula, and is featured at the top of the first page.


2023 Holidays

Where did the time go?! It flew by so quickly, and I neglected to keep my blog up to date. Thanksgiving passed, as did Christmas and New Year's Day. Each of those days were full of joy for us, and two of them - Thanksgiving and Christmas - were spent with family. 

Thanksgiving, for Dan and me, was spent in Houston, with Chris, Kelsey, Clara and Robert. Chris was still undergoing chemo treatments, but he was feeling well and able to enjoy the day along with the rest of us. In fact, it was he and Robert who prepared a charcouterie board, which kept us all fed throughout the day. We didn't try to do a big feast, but chose, instead, to keep the day low-key and calm, especially for Chris' sake. The day after Thanksgiving we all went over to the nearby park so that I could take some photos of the Houston Judds. Kelsey was hoping to get a few good ones to put on their family Christmas card. We were successful, and here is the card she made and sent out.


Christmas was spent at our house. The family all came here, arriving on different dates and at different times. Tim was first to arrive, on the evening of December 22. He drove straight through from Albuquerque, so arrived tired and hungry. On Saturday, Chris arrived around noon, along with Thor (Clara's corgi). That evening, as we sat at the table for dinner, I was struck by the fact that I couldn't remember the last time JUST the four of us - Dan, our two sons, and I - were all together. The reason that Chris came alone was because Kelsey and the kids had gone to Pecos to spend a few days with her family. She left Pecos early on Christmas morning, and arrived at our house mid-afternoon. After she and the kids caught their breath from their journey, we opened presents. The gifts this year were mostly for the kids. As Dan and I said many times, our gift was having Chris successfully through his chemo treatments and feeling well, and having the whole family together. It was a wonderful Christmas.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were both very quiet at our house. We didn't do anything special. I actually went to bed on New Year's Eve around 10:30. I read awhile and then fell asleep. I woke to the booms of fireworks, at midnight, so I did "see the new year in," though it was from my pillow.

2023 Christmas Letter



 



Sunday, October 15, 2023

Partial Solar Eclipse - October 2023

Yesterday we were in the path of a partial solar eclipse. The beginning of the eclipse was at 10:23 AM, its maximum was at 11:53 AM, and it finished at 1:31 PM.

About 30 people from church were doing some door-knocking in the morning, and then having lunch together at the church building. Dan and I offered to provide some entertainment. Our goal was to set up our telescope to photograph the entire eclipse sequence, and project it on a screen, indoors. Sadly we had a bit of a technical issue at the very beginning, so didn't catch the very start of the eclipse. However, once we got it going, everything worked perfectly. Here are a few of the images we took, showing the different stages of the event.

Some of us went outside when the eclipse was near its maximum. We noticed these little crescent shadows on the wall of the building. They were created by light from the eclipsed sun passing through the leaves of a tree. It is actually the pinhole camera effect, which works by letting light through a tiny hole and creating an image of the sun. The second photo is a zoomed in selection of the first photo.


Other strange shadow effects were happening. People were holding up their hands to cast a shadow, and between their fingers a short "stubby" finger seemed to appear. 


 



We were pretty happy with our first time effort to image an eclipse. This was a practice run in preparation for the upcoming total eclipse in April 2024. Our town, Temple, will be in the direct path of that one, so we are hoping for good weather.