Comet Neowise and Venus


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Welcome to taosastronomer.com!

offering local "hands-on" observing
(visual and imaging) sessions and instruction
viewing and imaging from Rabbit Valley Observatory
a dark sky location on the mesa just west of Taos, NM

 

Galaxy Group Montage -- 2015
Galaxy Group

 

The galaxies digitally combined above are all in the northern sky, and are individually displayed and described as linked from this text. They are, from left to right -- M82 and M81 in Ursa Major, M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) and companions M32 and NGC205 center, and M33 in Triangulum on the right. Please link on the specific linked text for more information -- these galaxies, separate "island universes," are all quite different in their specific characteristics, as one can certainly correctly conclude from their unique individual appearances. Before Edwin Hubble ascertained the vast distances and the red shift phenomenon characterizing all galaxies, it was thought that these remote objects were close by; indeed, part of our own system. The discovery that galaxies are vastly distant and all moving away from us (i.e. the universe is expanding) provides the scientific underpinning for the roots of modern cosmology and allows us to logically contemplate the "beginning" of our universe. The Hubble Space Telescope, thought by many to represent the apex of human technological achievement, is aptly named after Edwin Hubble. It's original "deep field" image imaged countless distant galaxies, some at the theoretical "edge" of the known universe; this original deep field photograph proves visually Einstein's landmark theory involving the curvature of space-time, previously only mathematically predicted by Einstein.

Several oddities involving the seminal cosmological research as discussed above -- Hubble never received the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking discoveries -- astronomy was not thought to be a deserved individual discipline; instead it was considered to be part of physics.

Einstein did not own and never even peered through a telescope until his later years, far after the publication and global acceptance of his creative, brilliant and profound theories. Only at that time did he received a generous offer of a small handmade reflecting telescope; he was apparently delighted with this thoughtful gift.

As the author of the article in Sky and Telescope Magazine notes: "Einstein then confided in me that he had never looked through a telescope. 'I've been invited to the dedication of several new observatories, but no one has ever asked me if I ever wanted to take a look through the telescope.'" (This from the modest man whose soaring intellect, creative imagination and powerful use of mathematics radically changed astrophysics and our view of the cosmos forever!)

To read this extraordinary account from the archives of Sky and Telescope Magazine, click this text.

 

 

[copyright Rabbit Valley Observatory/Willis Greiner, 2015 -- all rights reserved]

 

nebulae

click the rollover image above or this text to access astro-imager Willis Greiner's newest galleries of colorful original astrophotographs
-- these most recent astrophotographs taken using RVO's exemplary Explore Scientific 127mm apochromatic refractor

click this text to access Willis Greiner's original gallery #1 of astrophotographs / these images taken through RVO's original photographic instrument, the 80mm William's Optics Megrez achromatic refractor
click this text to access Willis Greiner's gallery #3 of astrophotographs taken through RVO's original 80mm Megrez achromatic refractor
click this text to access Willis Greiner's gallery #4 of astrophotographs taken through RVO's original 80mm Megrez achromatic refractor

 

solar eclipse

 


home
history
equipment
visual observing sessions
imaging sessions
image post-processing
"The Imperative of Night" narrative
contact us

 

(all content copyright 2015-2019 Willis Greiner Photography, all rights reserved)