Casual Astronomy, Spaceflight News and Lower California Weather 

Last launch of a Delta II after 22 years. It was a Heavy so the sound rolled on a while. It is carrying twin satellites that are headed to survey The Moon. Beautiful launch NASA!

Last launch of a Delta II after 22 years. It was a Heavy so the sound rolled on a while. It is carrying twin satellites that are headed to survey The Moon. Beautiful launch NASA!

A Super Scooper Fixed Wing Aircraft Makes A Water Drop Directly Behind A Home At The Wagon Fire.

I watched this storm develop for about an hour before it slowly bled off the mountains and turned severe in the Santa Clarita Valley. 60+ mph winds and dime sized hail. Wild weather day here !

Full Moon on 10,11,11

Mr. Cagtripodi discovered these sunspots on the Sun today from Italy as shown here earlier before on this site. This is a picture angled from Yonkers, N. Y. USA. All credit and thanks Must go to Mr. Cagtripodi for making us aware of the phenomena

Atlas 5

The moon is nearing entirely in the Earth's shadow as Longs Peak sits below.

Another near infrared image. The bright part of the mountain is bright because it is covered in snow still.

The clouds moved in and covered the moon just after I took this shot. Everett, WA

I had to bundle up this morning as temps were in the teens..

Over the Santa Clarita Valley

Every Year on the Winter Solstice for many years now I have taken the Sunrise. It is always in the same spot behind that Evergreen Tree. This year there are some clouds but you can still see the Sun Blazing through. Today is the shortage amount daylight. The Good News! We will start picking up daylight from now on! Happy Holidays, Make it The Best Ever! P.S. In the Northern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice starts: Dec. 22, 12:30 A.M. EDT (05:30 UT*), Sun enters sign of Capricorn; winter begins.

A very bright meteor from the Quadrantids at 3:00:08 am EST captured by the wide field sky camera on the roof of Ladd Observatory.

Delta 4 rocket launching the Air Force's Wideband Global SATCOM 4 military communications satellite.

Not the best due to all the local light pollution but still better than a black sky. It was approximately 5 below with a slight wind while waiting for the lights to appear.

I did this in Charcoal. It is ~6"X8". It should be the first in a series of three.

I did this in pen & ink it is STS-120 Discovery, launched on October 23, 2007. It's ~6

Full Moon Tomorrow. 2/7/12.

I did this in pencil.

Atlas 5 rocket launching the Navy's MUOS 1 mobile communications satellite.