| January 25, 2002 |
Pardon the lack of updates, but there have been a few changes. Last summer, I was transferred to El Paso, Texas, as part of the Atlanta-El Paso project. You can read about it here.
El Paso is a great town. Though the skies are often clear and there's very little rain (and dust storms are new for me), there's a bit too much light pollution for really good imaging. The local astronomy clubs go way out into the desert, which is kind of difficult for me, lugging around a 12" scope. So I set up the scope in the heart of the lower valley and will see if I can get some good planetary images.
I've also set up some more websites. First, the homepage for my new parish, Santa Lucía in El Paso. Next, a picture page. And finally, a homilies page. Enjoy!
| July 5, 2000 -- Finally, an update. |
It's been hot and hazy recently, but I did manage to image a few good globulars. Images were taken on June 23rd and and July 3rd. Check the What's New? page. Some highlights:
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| April 6-7, 2000 -- Finally, a day off. |
Took some photos of the nice conjunction of the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars just after sunset. Once developed and scanned, I'll post some. The night was beautiful, so later I imaged some obscure galaxies, plus a few globulars. Check the What's New? page. Some highlights:
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| March 15, 2000 -- New: Constellation Maps. |
I had this idea a while back, but I wanted to be able to link my images to maps of the Constellations. So check out the new Constellation Map page. Thus far, only Coma Berenices has been added, but more will come with more images and time. It will probably be past the next new moon before I get any new images, so in the meantime, enjoy!
| March 12-13, 2000 -- More M's. |
Some more decent images, mostly Messier, this time using MaxIm DL/CCD exclusively, which automated the process a bit. Here are some highlights, check the What's New? page for more (12" LX-200 @ f/3.3, HX516 CCD, all are 5x2min combined):
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| March 5-6, 2000 -- Finally, two perfect nights! |
Didn't get much sleep. Check the What's New? page for some pretty good galaxies, including the obligatory showpieces (12" LX-200 @ f/3.3, HX516 CCD):
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| March 4, 2000 -- Happy 5th Birthday, Fr. Paul! |
Well, sort of. Today is my 5th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, which I celebrate nowadays in lieu of my birthday. Here are some happy memories from that day. Now if the Lord is listening and wants to give me an anniversary present, how about some clear skies on my day off? :-)
I've also added a new page to this site that addresses some of the questions I frequently receive regarding Faith and Science. It's still under construction with just a couple of questions thus far. I'll add more as time permits.
| March 3, 2000 -- Another day off, another poor night for imaging |
Wednesday night was fun. After our parish teen group meeting, I took some of the teens outside with my TV-85 to teach them a little about the stars. After viewing Jupiter, Saturn, Orion, and the clusters in Canis Major, we had a special treat: a beautiful shooting star appeared right overhead and went across a full two-thirds of the sky. We were amazed, to say the least, especially at its brightness and colors (mainly blue and white, with a hint of orange or red). It lasted a full five seconds. Enough time for the teens to look up when I hollared out "Look! Look! Look!" Lot's of fun.
But as always, it seems the skies clouded up on my day off. Oh well, between them, I did get a few interesting images. Check out the What's New? page.
| February 25, 2000 |
Last night started out pretty poor. Starcast predicted fair seeing at best, but somehow the clouds and moisture cleared out by 10pm. Now if only they were wrong more often. So I spent most of my time visually observing, but got one good picture of planetary nebula NGC-2438 in open cluster M46. Check out the What's New? page.
| February 15, 2000 -- New Lunar Images with my new TV-85! |
Got some pretty good images of the waxing gibbous moon with my new TV-85. I attached my HX516 in prime focus and was very pleased with the results. I even tried eyepiece projection, which seemed to work pretty well. Now if only I could find a good tracking mount (just a Telepod for now), I might be able to take some wide field views to see how this new 'scope performs. Check it out at the What's New? page or the Lunar Images page.
| February 4, 2000 -- Fr. Paul "discovers" his first Supernova! Well, sort of... |
Had two great nights for imaging, but spent most of my time collimating the scope and then on what I thought was a new supernova in NGC 1637. It wasn't on any of my star maps, so when I checked CBAT, and their list of recent supernova's, it turned out to be a supernova discovered just last October. I thought it was pretty cool that I should "independently" discover it. Anyway, this is what the galaxy looked like before the supernova, and this is how it looks now, in a CCD image I took on February 3rd.
You can also check the What's New? for some other recent images. As soon as I can find a working scanner, I'll post some awesome photos I took of the eclipse on January 20th.
Main What's New? About Dome Maps Lunar Planets Comets Deep Sky North Georgia Astro Links Faith and Science? Other Links
All original images (c) 2000, Fr. Paul D. Williams, Jr., Blairsville, Georgia.