Halloween Displays

Neighborhood Fun

Near Halloween my energetic neighbors erect amazing holiday decorations. They seem to get more elaborate and entertaining every year. I took a stroll one early evening and took some pictures. This enormous inflated black cat looks impressive at night.

A happy group of tike friendly inflatables occupy the lawn next door.

This modest display looks quite nice at night.

Further up the street is a nice backlit window display.

A colorful graveyard sits below the previous window display.

Next door to the previous display a large spooky figure greets trick or treaters approaching the door.

New neighbors contributed the following two colorful additions to the street's entertainment.

The biggest, most complicated Halloween showplace is an amazing collection of spooky figures.

Let's take a closer look at some individual creatures. First, we have the skeleton and his werewolf pal. Notice the chain hanging from the werewolf's arm as if he just broke restraints. The werewolf produces a scary recorded monologue and a howl. His glowing eyes are wonderfully effective!

Next, the flying witch seems to be suspended in midair near the scarecrow reaper and foreground mummy.

An illuminated arch of skulls and bones, an animatronic clown, and a huge animatronic rising scarecrow greet anyone approaching the front door. I honestly wonder if very small children would be quite frightened by all this.

This cleaver wielding pig man was recently added to the previous lawn display. I find his white "butcher cap" hilarious.

I viewed other nice displays in daylight. I particularly enjoy the ghostlike figure suspended above the gravestone below. The animatronic Frankenstein nearby makes a nearly unintelligible speech when activated.

I also have to smile at the skeleton walking his skeleton dog. He even carries a poop bag!

Finally, my son-in-law always makes creative use of small skeletons and various household items to create a skeleton lawn party.

The central "fire" with red light under the pot is really effective! The squeezable chicken in the pot emits a hilarious squawk when activated.

It's a treat to enjoy these displays every year!












  

Sun Near Equinox

Perfect Morning Conditions

I used my Seestar telescope during late evening on September 18th and continued into predawn hours of September 19th. Clear skies and very comfortable observing conditions persisted after sunrise on September 19th. The morning Sun presented a nice collection of sunspots! So, in spite of fatigue from the overnight session, I hauled out my Lunt 100mm solar telescope to take advantage of the only good solar observing opportunity for September. Not one cloud appeared in the blue sky while I worked, wind was calm, and temperature ranged from 68 to 74 degrees.

My efforts were rewarded! I was able to construct the following 13-panel mosaic of the entire solar disc, including prominences around the rim. Click on the image to enlarge and see best detail.

The previous image shows five major sunspots. The upper array across the disc has sunspot 4225 on the left, 4221 in the middle, and 4216 to the upper right. The lower two-spot array has sunspot 4217 in the middle, and 4220 on the right. A nice dark filament sits near the lower left rim, and a good number of attractive prominences are spread around the rim. 

I constructed a few different mosaics of varying quality. One particular 9-panel mosaic proved good for isolating interesting portions of the solar disc. The following cropped portion of this mosaic shows prominences and sunspots on the western solar face. 

Enlarge the image above to see the following features: Sunspot 4221 in the lower left has two small dark eruptive features rising from its left side. Complex sunspot 4220 near bottom has a major umbra on the right, a ring of tiny umbras on the left, and a bright active area joining the two. Sunspot 4216 in the center has two dark arching filaments to its left. A small white active area in the upper right near the limb produced modest magnetic arches rising slightly above the surface. Finally, three major prominences sit on the solar rim!  

Shown next below is a different cropped portion of the 9-panel mosaic which displays features in the southeastern solar region.

Once again, enlarge the above image to see the following features. A dark filament is near the limb on the bottom. Double umbra sunspot 4217 on the right sits below sunspot 4221 which also appeared in the previous image. On the left is the elongated, segmented umbra of sunspot 4225. I've never seen an elongated umbra quite like this one! It resembles fossilized remains of an extinct sea creature who might have shared the ancient seabed with trilobites! 

Finally, I cropped and colorized the next image to highlight prominences on the northeast limb. The enlarged image shows some fine detail in the upper prominence. 

I'm glad I made the effort to use the solar telescope this day. It was the last clear day in September.

Late Summer Skies

Galaxies and Nebulae

On the clear night of September 12th most of my neighbors' troublesome lights were turned off. The sky was slightly hazy, but cloud free conditions are so rare this time of year that I decided to try some Seestar imaging.

Galaxy NGC7331 in Pegasus and other nearby galaxies were good candidates for Seestar's mosaic mode. The following 25-minute exposure successfully captured nine galaxies, but all besides NGC7331 at top left were too small to show internal detail. These small galaxies only show up as fuzzy smudges in Seestar's wide field of view. View the next image at full size by clicking on it. In the enlarged image notice three small fuzzy spots to the left of NGC7331 at top left. Notice also the group of small fuzzies on the lower right. These are the five galaxies of Stephan's Quintet. (It's difficult to see any of these small galaxies unless the image is viewed at full size.)

The next labeled image identifies previously mentioned galaxies. In the Stephan's Quintet group on lower right the presence of two foreground stars is distracting. Only the small fuzzy things are galaxies. One of the galaxies has a double nucleus. Four of these galaxies are gravitationally interacting. 

Sky and Telescope magazine's October issue featured an article about visually observing a pair of dark nebulas called Barnard's E in the constellation Aquila. These clouds of gas and dust block starlight coming from behind and appear black against background stars. I usually have no hope of seeing these visually through an eyepiece, but Seestar reveals what my eye can't see. The next 15-minute exposure shows c-shaped dark nebula Barnard 143. The c-shape is the top of Barnard's E.

In order to capture the entire E, I used mosaic mode to widen the field. In the next 21-minute exposure dark nebula Barnard 142 now appears below Barnard 143 and completes the E.

The E-shape is more apparent in a reduced view below.

The September 12th observing session ended when a rising Moon brightened the hazy sky.

Six days later on September 18th the cloud free sky was once again hazy. Some temporary ground fog was also present. Two nebulae high above diminishing ground fog looked like good targets. I began with the Heart Nebula, IC1805, in Cassiopeia. With light pollution filter engaged and mosaic mode employed I was able to fit the entire heart shape within the field of view in the following 60-minute exposure. The heart-shaped outline is definitely visible, but somewhat dim. The heart shape's visibility varies depending on what screen the image is displayed upon. In the heart's center, accompanied by a bright nebular patch, is the star cluster that powers the heart's emission. In the upper right is another nebula, NGC896, sometimes called the Fish Head Nebula. 

My final target was the North America Nebula, NGC7000, in Cygnus. It was well after midnight when I began the following mosaic mode 66-minute exposure with light pollution filter engaged. I was able to catch some sleep while Seestar successfully kept running. "Mexico", the "Gulf of Mexico", and "Florida" are clearly visible, but the "Midwest" is missing.

I'm continually amazed at what little Seestar can produce!