Day 2 Glacier Chalet Hike

Day two at Glacier Chalet started with a hike but not before we got to meet the mule train that transports propane for boiling water and removes the minimal refuse we are allow to create

Supply mule train

Beautiful alpine flora

The hike started out not too bad and views well... it is Glacier National Park after all.

See the far side of that lake in distance - that would be our destination on mid day three

The guy on the right - they should name a park after him - considerate, conservationist, protective of our environment, fantastic host. etc.

Another beautiful ending of the day and our last night at the Chalet.

Day 1 Glacier Chalet Hike 2024

This is Gary who invited me on this incredible hike/journey. I must say the hike to the Chalet nearly killed me and my lack of endurance nearly killed Gary

Granite Park Chalet had minimal services but what an incredible way to just disconnect and relax.

This deer was so care free to my presence... what yous looking at...

What a gorgeous way to end a gorgeous hike to the Chalet. 

Aqua Maiden Voyage England

 Memories from London and South Hampton

Visiting Goshawk

 Backyard visitor - small beak large talons - all pinch no bark... This goshawk is small compared to the usual Redtail or Harris hawks we usually see.

Backyard Deer

Backyard buddies decided to pay us a visit yesterday

 

Total Lunar Eclipse Weather Permitted

 Last night the weather parted and left a clearing right on the Moon at about 1/4th into the eclipse. That clearing grew as the eclipse progressed. nearing the end of the eclipse the clouds started to come back - surreal.

M 78 (NGC 2068) Casper the Friendly Ghost

Well I finally gave up and accepted this is the best I can do... Probably not... This nebula is going to haunt me forever! (Pun intended) Messier 78, also know as  Casper the Friendly (not so friendly to me) Ghost, or NGC 2068, literally tested me like no other nebula. The cloud formation in the middle is supposed to be blue and I struggled over five nights and 1,326 light subs and could never draw it out. I was able to pull out the marble countertop look that the Spitzer Space Telescope got obviously without the great detail that telescope has! It was the toughest nebula yet. M78 belongs to the Orion B molecular cloud complex and is about 1,350 light-years distant from Earth. I absolutely appreciate the chunks of dark dust lanes throughout.

Fish Head Nebula (IC1795)

 The Fish Head Nebula is also known as the Northern Bear Nebula, is a star nursery where stars are "born". I really like it because it has some very dark thick dust lanes running throughout the nebula. The light emitted from the nebula takes 6,000 years to reach us - a simpler way of saying the distance to IC 1795 is 6K LY's. The young stars in this system are emitting high amounts of Ultraviolet (UV) light which causes the nebula to glow brightly (kind of like when we sunburn 😁). So I was "fishing" for a target to photograph (pun intended) a couple of nights ago and came across this fish. I liked it so much I stayed with it all night taking 854 sub photos to stack. 697 subs survived the "blurry" test and were ultimately stacked with 60 flats and 60 darks for noise reduction. 81% survival rate tells me the "seeing" (atmospheric steadiness) was pretty good over 7 hours of exposure time. Enjoy this beautiful creation!

Spider & Fly Nebula IC417 & NGC 1931)

 Well these two kind of look like their title - a spider and closing in a fly... This photo is a culmination of 242 sub exposures of which 186 panned out for 77% which is not bad seeing conditions (60 Flats and 60 Darks make up the rest of the stack you see below.  Not my favorite but this is my first attempt on this nebula pair. The magnitude of the two are both about 10 (10 and higher numbers are actually dimmer and smaller and negative numbers are brighter).

The spider is 2,707.5 lights years from my telescope, while the fly is actually 8,155 light years from earth so it is only perspective that appear close to each other and that spider has quite a trip in front of it to catch that fly...

Monkey Head NGC 2174

 So last night I was just searching around and stumbled on this gem of a nebula, perfect composition for my light train and enough of a light emitter that it only took two hours of exposure. Trouble is I did not start on this until midnight... I ended up with 234 sub-exposures (lights) and 153 keepers of them were keepers. I thought I would be able to keep more than 63% but oh well.

So NGC 2174 the Monkey Head Nebula is shining through a star cluster, NGC 2175 which crowds the nebula with a lot of stars. I had to be careful not to over crowd the nebula and still be authentic to the massive star count. The nebula is thought to be 6,400 light years from my telescope. BTW I have no idea how they came up with monkey head (well if you go sideways maybe just maybe)...

Mars Occulted by the Moon

 Stack of the Moon passing in front of Mars (occultation) Starting the first stack at 1:46 UTC (6:46 PM MST) and the final stack at 3:06 UTC (8:06 PM MST) The Moon was in front of Mars from my location for approximately 59 minutes and 20 seconds. You can see there are 8 layers and each layer is comprised of 50 stacks (400 photos stacked on top of each other to diminish blurriness from temperature waves in the atmosphere).

Christmas Tree Nebula (NGC 2264 & my new Favorite)

The Christmas Tree Nebula is very aptly named. NGC 2264 is the location where the Cone Nebula, the Stellar Snowflake Cluster and the Christmas Tree Cluster have formed in this emission nebula. The Snowflake Cluster was granted its name due to its unmistakable pinwheel-like shape and its assortment of bright colors. The Christmas Tree star formation consists of young stars obscured by heavy layers of dust clouds. These dust clouds, along with hydrogen and helium are producing luminous new stars. The combination of dense clouds and an array of colors creates a color map filled with varying wavelengths. Of course I have to reveal it's distance from my telescope and camera, 2,350 light years. 228 FITS (RAW) and 189 stacked with 60 FLATS for photo below.