California - Disneyland and Beach

After my girls returned from China, I flew to Los Angeles, California to meet them at LAX. Re-uniting at the airport was like out of a wonderful movie. The next two days, my wife and I took our "little princess" to Disneyland as well as the California seaside. What a beautiful trip with two beautiful girls. I'm a lucky guy...
THIS is what life is all about.

M82 - Cigar Galaxy (a starburst galaxy)

Hi all, here is:
M82 - Cigar Galaxy (a starburst galaxy)
Distance: 12 million light years

Captured from my backyard in Las Cruces, New Mexico USA
Details here: http://jeffjastro.com/dso/M82_13Feb24.htm

Milky Way - from Las Cruces

Here are two results from one night in my backyard ... I have more info/details on my Facebook Science page for both of these. They are not yet on my main astro site, tho :)

https://www.facebook.com/jeffjastrocom

Widefield work...

These are to get me sorta caught up here - I used a new SkyWatcher mount and tripod with my Canon T3i DSLR. Here are just the results. More details on my main site :)

https://jeffjastro.com/dso/

NGC 3953 - Barred spiral galaxy

My most recent result: NGC 3953 - Barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major Distance: 55 million light years Shot with my *big* RC scope in LRGB.
Jeffrey O. Johnson (Las Cruces, NM USA)

My Total Solar Eclipse progression: Featured by Sky & Telescope Magazine!!!

Hi all,

I am HONORED. The Editor of #SkyAndTelescope Magazine has featured my Total Eclipse Progression as one of the "Editor's Picks" on their main page!!!

I'm attaching a screengrab from their site.

Total Solar Eclipse!!!

Yes, I made it (with my family)!!

Clouds cleared just in time! (Killeen, TX) And...
Here are my results from my Canon T3i, 250mm Canon lens @ f/5.6, ISO200, and 1/40s (and re-doing focus continuously throughout --- super difficult as had to WAIT for it to come out of the clouds in most instances). All shot at 250mm, just cropped differently in these .jpgs (for size consideration here).
However... the clouds did magic actually in varying the results. I think my favorite is the "10 carat" diamond ring effect...looking like an explosion. And, you can STILL see the prominences as it comes out of Totality.
Summary: It was incredible... indescribable...but I will try: Unlike anything I have ever seen in my life...and I have seen and captured many, many, MANY eclipses that were *near* total... including full annular...
But nothing, NOTHING comes even close to a Total Eclipse. Nothing.
Yes... THAT incredible! 🙂
Jeff