Went to my first ever drum lesson today and .... the instructor wasn't there. He had a gig. In New York. (I'm in Illinois.)
Dave
@astronomydave.bsky.social
I share photos, mostly of nature/night sky. I play guitar, bass & keyboards for fun; I share videos sometimes. Reconstructing a small prairie space. I garden a bit. I vet anyone I follow. I used to have a pretty big YouTube channel.
Spent FOUR HOURS helping my daughter buy a car yesterday only to discover the dealer had fraudulently added $2,200 to the financing which my daughter CLEARLY had said "No" to, so I had to raise my voice at them and threaten to kill the deal before they updated the contract. So that was fun (not).
My lovely wife noticed a flower she didn't recognize on our prairie earlier this week. I took a photo and used Google Lens. Appears to be Rattlesnake Master, which would definitely be a first for our property.
Gotta love seeing fireflies in the backyard. I could even make them light up by flipping my hand over my phone's flashlight and flashing at them.
Restoring a bit of land to natural prairie is an exercise in immense patience. We planted a wide range of prairie seeds THREE YEARS AGO. Today, I finally saw FIRST THE FIRST TIME EVER on our property: Blazing star Yellow coneflower Purple coneflower (echinacea)
Two firsts: I'd never taken a truly satisfactory photo of a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Their unbelievably fast nectaring pattern has always made that challenging. But yesterday I did, for the first time, of the very first one I've documented on my property. #nature #moths #nativeplants #insects
Not mine. But my wife says she'll let me use it if I'm good. 🤪
Because, as always, Mercury is a tough one to capture even in the best of circumstances (like tonight) here is Jupiter and Venus at upper left and Mercury at lower right with the arrow pointing to it.
My wife has wanted one for a while, and they were on sale, so .... She is now the owner of this 200mm / 8" Dob. 😁🔭 (She was ridiculously excited. She also was not fond of the photos I took with her in them so here's the scope by itself.)
Wife, at 8:10 this evening: "The under sink hot water heater is leaking." A trip to Lowes, $213 and 90 minutes later, we have a new under sink hot water heater. I hate plumbing.
Got all four anchors for the shed into the ground, and the anchors attached to the shed. Then installed the exhaust fan for it to stay cooler in warmer months. Figuring out how to route the solar panel wire was a challenge, but got it all set up and working. Oh and the laundry is done too. Whew.
All the different robots that companies are making are admirable, I suppose, but all I want is this one so my wife and I don't have to do laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. Is it just me?
Aristarchus is a really freaking bright crater on the Moon. Last night I photographed it when it was just past the terminator on the lunar surface. Brought out a few subtle features in that area that can be harder to see most times. 102mm Explore Scientific refractor & Pixel 10 Pro as camera.
Tonight's Moon. (Not through a Zeiss this time, but still pretty good.)
We got an offer on our other house we've had on the market for several months. Any and all good vibes, positive thoughts, etc. greatly appreciated because I reeeeeally need that house to sell.
Yesterday morning’s native bees for your Tuesday afternoon. All the purple pollen for these two. 1/6
What does the Moon look like through an 8" diameter ZEISS refractor lens? Pretty darn good, actually.
Our little prairie space was looking pretty nice today. The grasses are starting to grow after me having mowed a lot of them down last fall. It was a little breezy.
Date night last night with my lovely wife. The food was AMAZING. And I'm not even really a foodie-type person.
So, gasoline rising from $3.29 a gallon to $4.59 a gallon hasn't slowed people down on the highway yet. Just curious at what price it will slow them down.... Over $5.00? More? Perhaps people will keep driving just as fast and complain more instead of doing something they can control. Thoughts?
Needle Galaxy 🪡- a beautiful edge on spiral seen almost perfectly side on from our viewpoint here on Earth. That bright central bulge is packed with stars, while the thin dark lane is dust blocking the light behind it, giving it that striking needle like appearance. #astro
I would simply like to point out that space science is quite literally ONE OF THE THINGS THAT ACTUALLY MAKES IS GREAT! Defunding it will make us, well... not so great anymore, which is dumb AF. (I say this notwithstanding all the other general stupidity floating around the White House.)
Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 4mo agoExperts found that the White House budget request for the upcoming fiscal year could defund 54 NASA science missions, including a spacecraft currently studying Jupiter and two planned Venus missions: www.scientificamerican.com/article/whit...
So we went to war - err...conducted a "military operation" - to degrade Iran's nukes and leadership. And the Iranians got/demand: A more hard-line leadership, Strait of Hormuz $2,000,000 per ship toll, all U.S. military leave region & no sanctions. That about right? And that's "winning"? Huh.
#Waxing #Gibbous #Moon Date: 2026 03 27 Time: 19:10:12 UTC Altitude: 56° 53' Distance: 371 130 km Phase: 72% Nikon Z8 iOptron Rumak 150 Exposure: f/12, 1/125s, ISO-400 Focal Length: 1800 mm #astronomy #astrophotography #craters
