The best gift for an amateurastronomer is a clear dark sky and thats what mother nature gave me the past days. Add that my weathers been warmer than average, virtually no wind at night and there’s no snow on the ground equals awesome present.
It started Thursday night, the peak of the Ursid meteor shower. Pesky clouds cleared away by 21:00 CST and I saw two Ursid meteors after observing for 40 minutes. From what I’ve seen reported so far the shower was a bit weak this year.
The clear sky gift just kept on giving with Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights clear. I spent that time photographing NGC 1555,Hind’s Variable Nebula, my second try at this target.
Well I must have been living under a rock yesterday. This morning I hear local meteorologist Don Harmon passed away on Tuesday. It was a tearful morning show on WDAF. I feel very sad about this as Don was a funny and bright guy. He was the single reason I watched the Fox 4 morning show and showed a big interest in space and the stars.