Returned from solar power conference, Three photos of the lunar eclipse, full blood red moon with 300mm , waiting for next weeks viewing from Mt Wilson 60-inch

Well, finally back from attending the solar power and electrical energy storage conferences and eager for some astro imaging.  It was great though to get to Portland again, which I remember as a real fun town with a lot of microbreweries and such.  This time however, I was on a diet and sadly, only sampled one local brew the whole four days.  Oh well it was fun hearing about the latest battery electrochemistry and improvements in

Physics colloquia, Solar Power International Conference, Get ready for Nightfall Festival in Borrego Springs, and a couple from APOD

Well, not much to report this week since the weather has been very hot and cloudy at night and Resident Astronomer Peggy has been under the influence of stomach flu or such.  Besides I was still sort of bummed out about my last week attempt to capture an image of Andromeda Galaxy (M31).  Recall that all I could get at Black Star canyon was the glow of the galaxy core with none of the spiral arms detail.  What to do to rectify that?

The next two weeks are busy with other study activity and we don't have much opportunity for other viewing until next month.  Today, I was busy with

Space 2015 Conference in Pasadena with the Science Squad, Sofia flying observatory takes images of Pluto for New Horizons and fun with M31 at Black Star Canyon Star Party

Well we had a great time at the Black Star canyon Saturday night but first some comments about the recent Space 2015 conference.  It was a lot of fun hearing about some of the latest space exploration plans, in situ resource utilization studies that might make Mars habitable, new planned science exploration projects and space telescopes and much more.  It was fun to wander around old town Pasadena.  It was also a great opportunity for our science squad