I got tagged on Twitter to explain an apparent Hubble tracking error image. Since the explanation will take more than 140 characters, I've put it here. Image after the cut.

In my travels on the interwebs, I often come across creationists who like to use the "randomness" argument against, well, non-creationism. The reality is that these people are really just showing their ignorance of science.

Over the past month I've acquired a new mount for my telescope, and also a new telescope. Now in addition to my 127mm (5") Maksutov I also now have a 200mm (8") Newtonian. The Newtonian is photographically quite fast so it provides a wider field of view than the Maksutov. So after many nights of waiting for quasi-clear skies I was able to give both the new mount and 'scope a test run.

Some time ago I ended up on some email list of bloggers. This means I get a litany of emails from various media outlets asking me to review some book or what-have-you. Generally the topic is some crackpot theory or another (the Maya apocalypse has been a fairly constant theme of late) so I've generally just sent the emails to the bit-bucket. Now I assume other bloggers (those with readerships that require the use of more than one hand) also get these and as I do probably ignore them as well. Until today. A few days ago I received one of the review emails from someone in the publicity department of the U.S. Discovery Channel about one of the upcoming episodes of their show Curiosity about solar storms.

About a week ago I took an an astrophoto of a galaxy cluster, those of you who know me on Facebook have already seen the shot (some possibly on Twitter as well). Though I provided some basic information about the photo, I didn't really do much analysis of it. So this post is to provide that analysis about my first attempt at a really deep (for me) astrophoto. There's a copy of the photo after the cut.

My project for my final course in my degree has been approved. I'm looking at if there's a connection between the presence of singly ionized sulphur and the morphology (shape) of the nebula. A side benefit of this is that there will be lots of pictures of planetary nebulae. Not the best cosmetically since that's not my purpose, but they still can be quite pretty.

Ok, dying stars. Some more planetary nebula. Again not the best images as they're residuals from some science images I'm taking for school (no to mention is was a couple of days before full moon). I need to image several more, but the weather isn't cooperating at the moment. Hopefully things clear up by next weekend.

As part of the data collection process for my current school project, I've had to image various objects through various filters. The purpose is to see if elements can be detected using narrow band filters. Now as a byproduct I do have some astrophotos of these objects. The photos aren't the best as they were taken for scientific purposes and aren't necessarily cosmetically the best (not to mention the C-14 needs some collimation). So here we go.

Instead of doing my school observations this weekend, I and the Evil clan nipped off to the Alberta Star Party. The first night I had to borrow Mrs. Evil's telescope since, by tradition now apparently, I forgot the tripod for mine. A quick trip back to cowtown and I had my tripod and could use my 'scope for some astrophotography.

With school (both work and study) back upon me, my observation time shifts back to scientific imaging. The past month though I had some time to take some "pretty picture" astrophotos. One is from the WCO and the rest are from my first trip to the SSSP. Photos below the cut, click on the photos for larger versions.