A Visit to Smithfield

Attractive Historic District

The regional cross country championship was held in Smithfield, VA this year. Our granddaughter's high school team was participating, so we decided to attend and spectate. Only 27 miles from home, Smithfield is famous for its meat curing and packing industry, including well-known Smithfield ham and bacon. Meat processing isn't particularly interesting to us, but, after researching the town online, I discovered an attractive historic district there. It seemed like a nice place to visit and explore at leisure. We decided to go a day early, stay overnight, and enjoy a brief vacation.

Upon arrival we went to the Visitor Center on Main Street and saw the first of eight colorful pig statues celebrating Smithfield's main industry.

We saw only two of eight possible pigs because I failed to read the visitor's brochure before beginning our walking tour. There were more pig statues and historic houses on side streets. If we return on some future day, we'll be sure to visit side streets we missed on this initial visit.

Main Street was a wide, attractive road, often with very little traffic. In addition to numerous gift shops, antique stores, art shops, and cafes/bakeries, the street was lined with historic buildings and homes. For example, the colorful Nelms house built around 1899 by Charles Nelms, a local contractor, was the first of many interesting old houses to catch my eye.

Two houses down from the Nelms house was the Barrow House built after 1873.

At the intersection of Main Street with Church Street we admired the beautiful yellow Thomas House built around 1889. It now serves as a bed and breakfast. Unfortunate electric wires impose on the view. 

We eventually continued walking down Church Street to see more old houses. First up was the Wentworth-Barrett House erected in 1752.

Further down the street was the Delk House built in 1877. 

The King-Atkinson House constructed in 1795 was another old brick dwelling.

The 1897 Holloway House hid behind a big tree. 

The next house, built in 1876, was owned by P.D. Gwaltney Senior who founded the Smithfield peanut business.

The pink 1875 house below has been the home of a few Smithfield mayors over the years. 

The 1886 Goodrich House had elaborate front decorations.

My favorite house was completed in 1901 and built for P.D. Gwaltney Junior who developed Smithfield's meat curing and packing industry. The stained glass windows and elaborate decoration were awesome!

All these old houses made me think that historic Smithfield was a bit like a late 1800's version of Colonial Williamsburg. Of course, Smithfield didn't include reenactors, horse drawn carriages, and closed streets like Williamsburg, but when traffic disappeared at times, it felt like walking through the past.

Next, we went to the Isle of Wight County Museum housed in what was once a bank. The exhibits included a mix of amusing and interesting things. For example, we laughed at the world's oldest ham!

We also laughed at the world's oldest peanut!

The museum contained a reproduction of an old country store as it would have appeared in about 1900. I regret not taking more photos. If you wanted a Coca-Cola in 1900, the syrup would have been deposited in a glass by the following dispenser. Carbonated water would be added later.

The country store also featured an old Sears and Roebuck Catalog, the Amazon of its day, which I would have enjoyed browsing through in detail.

The museum basement (once a bank's basement) housed a nuclear fallout shelter in the 1950's. The basement bank vault now displays a fallout shelter exhibit with an old "duck and cover" video playing on a loop. (Enlarge the images if you wish to read the text.)

It was hard to take pictures through the bank vault bars.

We stayed overnight in the Smithfield Station Hotel located on the Pagan River. This was the view from the hotel restaurant.

Smithfield Station was a pleasant hotel with courteous efficient staff, a nice location, and nice clean rooms. I particularly liked the quiet restaurant with no blasting background music. We could actually hear our conversation without the usual roar of competing noise. There were only two negatives. Unfortunate road construction in front of the hotel took away some of the charm. Late at night we could hear guests in a neighboring room talking for quite a while.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the Cockeyed Rooster Cafe. Once again, we enjoyed the absence of gratuitous background music! The omelette and hash servings we had were delicious!

As I mentioned above, the primary reason for going to Smithfield was the regional cross country championship to be held within Windsor Castle Park. After breakfast we went to the park to find good places to watch the races. In spite of its name, the park doesn't contain anything that could be called a castle. Instead, there is a historic old house which at one time was the manor house of a plantation on the grounds. The previous day we walked over a good portion of the beautiful cross country course and became familiar with its nature and level of difficulty. The surface consisted of packed dirt with frequent gravel sections and many small rolling hills. There were a few long wooden bridges along the way, but much of the course passed through lovely woods as you can see in the pictures below.

Five years ago we would have brought our running clothes and run the course ourselves. Sadly, neither of us are able to run anymore. Oh how we missed being able to run this course! It would have been wonderful.

I'm happy to say my granddaughter's cross country team from Jamestown High School won both the boy's and girl's races and qualified to move on to the state championships ten days later.

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the races and visiting Smithfield. There's a good chance we'll return someday to have another Cockeyed Rooster breakfast and explore places we missed on this trip.

Seestar at Work

Clear Skies Continue

October in southeastern Virginia usually has a good number of cloudless days, but this year has been unusually clear. October 24th was one such clear night. So many annoying neighbor lights surrounded my backyard that I initially hesitated to use Seestar. Eventually, however, the lights were all turned off, and I set Seestar to work in late evening.

The first target was globular cluster M71 in Sagitta which I added to my Messier collection. The following 10-minute exposure shows the globular among a rich Milky Way background star field.

Another addition to my Messier collection was open cluster M35 in Gemini. The next 10-minute exposure shows larger cluster M35 slightly left of center with smaller, more distant open cluster NGC2158 in the same field of view on the right. M35 is about 3,000 light years away and NGC2158 is about 17,000 light years away. 

Just for fun I commanded Seestar to move to the Bubble Nebula, NGC7635, in Cassiopeia. I was astounded to watch the "bubble" slowly emerge during a filtered 45-minute exposure! Unfortunately, after about 30 minutes or so, rotational tracking flaws showed up on edges of the full frame image. I cropped out the flaws and reduced the image size to produce the picture below. The bubble is being blown by a powerful stellar wind from a massive central star 10 or 20 times the Sun's mass.

November 2nd was another fairly clear night with only some scattered hazy clouds drifting around. My late start this evening allowed Orion to rise above the eastern horizon. Next to Orion's belt is white reflection nebula M78 which became visible in the 30-minute exposure below.

Just before hazy clouds moved in I was able to take a 10-minute exposure of globular cluster M79 in Lepus and add it to my growing Messier collection. 

Unprecedented clear sky continued on November 3rd! Just out of curiosity I pointed Seestar toward IC1396, the "Elephant's Trunk" nebula in Cepheus. As the following 32-minute filtered exposure accumulated I was amazed to see the dark Elephant Trunk gradually emerge on my tablet screen. The edge of the dark cloud is illuminated by a nearby massive star.

I waited long enough for the Sculptor Galaxy, NGC253, to rise well above the horizon and approach its meridian crossing in the south. The next 30-minute exposure is one of the best Seestar galaxy images I've made.

This night's final target was open cluster NGC7380 in Cepheus. This pretty cluster is accompanied by some glowing nebulosity as shown in the next 20-minute filtered exposure.

Seestar is amazing! Through more than 50 years of astronomical observing I always thought there was nothing quite like having actual photons enter my eye through a telescope eyepiece, even if the view usually fell far short of photographs. Seestar has changed my mind. Although the images it produces aren't immediate, in just a few minutes Seestar reveals so much more than eyepiece views, especially in light polluted suburban skies. It also compensates for loss of visual acuity due to age. I'm loving roaming around the night sky seeing things I would never think to try observing through an eyepiece.

More than ever before Seestar images have made me aware of how different a given image can look when viewed on different screens. For some reason the image initially obtained on my tablet screen looks great. This same image looks significantly worse when viewed on my newest laptop screen. After processing in Photoshop on the new laptop, I find the processed image requires even more processing to look good on my phone and older laptop. It seems like each screen has a different definition of black.

My Messier collection is building nicely and now contains 76 out of 110 objects.

Emerging Sunspot String

Prominences Too!

Miraculous clear sky continued on the morning of October 25th. A string of significant sunspots had rotated into view on the Sun's eastern edge and conditions were too good to pass up. When I began imaging at 11:00am EDT, wind was calm, temperature was 57 degrees, and seeing was fairly good.

The following 9-panel mosaic shows the sunspot string at lower left along with a number of filaments scattered about the disc. (Click on the image for an enlarged view.)

A good number of prominences were visible in addition to the sunspots. Some of these prominences are revealed when the previous mosaic is processed to show them.

The next 3-panel mosaic shows a closer view of major sunspots. From left to right below are sunspots 3873, 3872, 3869, and solitary spot 3868. The weird triangular-shaped dark filament above the sunspots has an unusual configuration. I find the emerging "baby" sunspots particularly interesting. One is above the triangular filament, and one is below. When you enlarge the image to full size you can see magnetic arches rising above these active areas. This mosaic shows particularly good detail when viewed at full size.Next is a single detailed picture of sunspots and accompanying prominences. When you click on the image to see the enlarged full-sized version, you get a good view of the swirling activity within the sunspot string.

Prominences were arranged all around the solar limb this day. I took 17 separate images, stepping around the limb, hoping to eventually combine them into a complete prominence limb mosaic. Unfortunately, one of the 17 images was slightly too close to the limb. I guess my concentration wavered during that one image alignment. Consequently, Photoshop would not combine the images well enough to produce a normal mosaic. I tried to salvage the mosaic as best I could and produced an imperfect version. I couldn't figure out how to remove the annoying "notch" you see below.

In spite of the screwed up limb mosaic, I really enjoyed eavesdropping on this complex sunspot arrangement!.
 

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas C2023

Spectacular Views!

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas C2023 put on quite a show in October! This was the best comet I've seen since Comet West in 1976. 

On October 12th the comet had just recently swung around the Sun and was predicted to appear close to the horizon shortly after sunset. I had previously searched for an observing site with an unobstructed horizon and found a nice one overlooking the James River about a 10-minute drive from my house. I arrived shortly before sunset to use the setting Sun as a guide because the comet would appear closely above the sunset point. The following wide field sunset image was taken at 6:31 pm EDT.

As you can see above, sky conditions were unusually clear near the horizon. At 7:19 pm EDT I took the next twilight image capturing Venus on the left and the comet on the far right, both having nearly the same 6.67-degree height above the horizon. (Enlarging the image makes the comet easier to see.) In the photo a portion of the comet tail shows up even in bright twilight, but, on October 12th, I had a hard time seeing the comet with the naked eye.

In the next image I isolated just the comet alone from the previous picture.

On the next evening, October 13th, the comet was higher in the sky after sunset. When I saw clear sky conditions, I decided to see if the comet would be visible from a corn field within walking distance of my house. It was a relatively mild evening with temperature in the upper 60's, so I didn't bother to exchange shorts for long pants. I hurried over to the corn field taking a shortcut through about 200 meters of grassy field. This brief journey over grass had unexpected consequences! I later discovered both ankles covered with chigger bites! Several days of itchy discomfort followed.

As I took pictures with my Nikon Z6II mosquitoes attacked in a dense cloud. They constantly brushed my bare legs and face, and their high-pitched whine buzzed past my ears. While working the camera I danced around swatting my legs while pulling a light jacket over my head. At home afterward I discovered legs and socks covered with bloody spots where I had crushed mosquitoes. Miraculously, I managed to avoid mosquito bites. The chiggers were another story, however.

In spite of the insect assault, I did manage to get some images on October 13th. The following picture was taken at 7:37 pm EDT when the comet was 7 degrees above the horizon and faintly visible to the naked eye.

On October 14th the southwestern sky was hazy, but the comet was higher in the sky. This evening the comet was clearly visible to the naked eye even in the presence of moonlight. Once again, I journeyed to the nearby cornfield, appropriately clad in long pants to avoid the previous night's insect disaster. The next image is a 6-second exposure that shows some corn field foreground and approximates the actual naked eye view.

The next image from October 14th is an 8-second exposure. It shows more of the tail, but makes background sky brighter and causes stars to trail a bit. In both previous pics the comet was about 7 degrees above the horizon.

There are two interesting things to notice in the previous October 14th images. First, the anti-tail pointing downward just below the bright comet head is faintly visible in each picture if you enlarge and use averted vision. I needed darker sky and less moonlight to make the anti-tail more visible. Second, look roughly halfway up the comet tail to see two star-like objects within the tail itself! (Once again, enlarge the images to see this better.) The object on the left is the star 5 Serpentis, and the object on the right is globular cluster M5! Of course the comet tail is very much in the foreground with the star and globular cluster far away behind it! The comet was 4 light minutes away, 5 Serpentis was 82.8 light years away, and M5 was 24,000 light years away. This was a chance alignment of three unrelated objects along the line of sight. Here is a magnified picture of 5 Serpentis and M5 captured on March 13th, 2024 with my Seestar 50:

On October 15th globular cluster M5 was next to the comet's head! It would have made a great picture with my Seestar, but the sky was completely cloudy, and comet observing was impossible.

Although clear sky returned on October 16th, the nearly full Moon now became a problem. Moonlight washed out the tail in the next pic taken at 7:34pm EDT when the comet was 18 degrees above the horizon.

Enlarge the next labelled image and notice star 5 Serpentis and globular M5 below the comet head. By comparing this October 16th image with the October 14th image (where the distant pair were behind the tail) you can see how far the comet moved relative to the stars in two days.

The comet was higher above the horizon on October 17th. It would have been seen against darker background sky under moonless conditions, but, unfortunately, the nearly full Moon's brightness cancelled the comet's higher altitude advantage. Nevertheless, in spite of a streetlight directly in the line of sight, I could see the comet from my front porch. Instead of making the long trek to my cornfield observing site I set up my camera on the front porch to capture the next image at 7:54pm EDT when the comet was about 17 degrees above the horizon. The comet now looks slightly dimmer than the previous October 16th image even though I doubled the 16th's ISO value for this 4-second exposure.

The incredible string of cloudless evening skies continued on October 18th. This night I discovered a new observing site in a field only an 8-minute walk from my house. Better yet, the 8-minute walk was entirely on paved surfaces avoiding chigger infested grass on the way to the corn field! The Moon rose a bit later than the previous night and was slightly less full. The next image shows the comet about 24 degrees above the horizon. It was taken at 7:31pm EDT with the same camera settings as the October 17th image .

Sagittarius and the Milky Way were visible low to the south, so I took a couple constellation pictures. While gazing around overhead I noticed a strange object moving across the southeastern sky. It looked like a bright feather. After a moment of stunned inaction I quickly swung my Nikon around and tried to get a picture, only managing to capture one shot at 7:36pm EDT before the object disappeared behind trees. (Enlarge to get the best detail.) Here's what that hasty shot revealed:

I wondered if this was a rocket launch from Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore, but could find nothing online about such a launch on October 18th. Later at home, when I inspected a Sagittarius/Milky Way image taken at 7:34pm EDT, I noticed the strange feather-like object exiting on the image's extreme lower left edge. (You need to enlarge the picture to full size to recognize the object on the very edge.)

I searched for other possible October 18th rocket launches and discovered Space X had launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 20 Starlink satellites aboard from Cape Canaveral on October 18th at 7:31pm EDT! So I had, indeed, observed that Space X rocket launch! From the Sagittarius/Milky Way pic I could see it originated in the southeast. So it couldn't have been a launch from Wallops Island in the northeast. I only wish I had seen it sooner! If I had taken the Milky Way pic a few seconds sooner, I might have caught the rocket closer to image center. I couldn't get the camera in position fast enough to get better subsequent pictures. Still, this was an awesome sight to behold!

Incredible as it seems for southeastern Virginia, the sky was completely clear again on October 19th! This evening I tried something different. I took my Seestar to the new nearby observing site. It was worth the effort because Seestar produced the following comet image with a 2-minute exposure.

The entire comet tail was too large to fit within Seestar's field of view. Due to its orbital motion during the 2-minute exposure the comet drifted slightly relative to background stars. The comet head is slightly smeared out by this drift, but not too badly during two minutes. Longer exposures reveal more tail detail, but the comet head then becomes trailed into a straight line instead of being the point-like object it truly is. For example, look closely at the comet head in an enlargement of the following 5-minute exposure. You can see the head elongation.

As the comet dimmed day by day, Nikon images were less impressive. I looked forward to using Seestar again on the diminished comet.

On October 20th I took a day off from imaging. Then it was clear yet again on October 21st. Once again, I walked over to my favored observing site carrying the tripod-mounted Nikon. The Moon had not yet risen and the comet was higher in the sky. In spite of these advantages, the comet had dimmed so considerably that I could barely see it with averted vision. After struggling for some time to find the comet in the camera viewfinder I managed to get the following image at 7:38pm EDT when the comet was about 28 degrees above the horizon.

The sky is noticeably darker and the comet noticeably dimmer than previous photos with identical camera settings (4 sec at ISO 3200 with a 70mm f/2.8 lens).

After October 21st the comet faded significantly. I could no longer see it with the naked eye. On October 28th the comet's orbit brought it near distant globular cluster NGC6426. In spite of scattered hazy clouds I thought it might be worthwhile to capture this close encounter with Seestar. This time I hauled a beach chair to the observing field so I could control Seestar more comfortably. The best picture I managed to get between drifting clouds was the following 3-Minute exposure.

Dim globular cluster NGC6426 is visible to the lower left of the comet head. Once again, this is a chance alignment of unrelated objects. The comet was 7.26 light minutes away this evening and NGC6426 was 67,000 light years away far behind the comet! 

Clouds and increasing moonlight put an end to comet imaging. Perhaps I'll try again with Seestar near new Moon sometime in November.