astrophotography by bill w

Why the 10/7/2018 falcon 9 launch was special: 1. it was launched from vandenberg airbase aiming south over the ocean so it could be seen...

the magnetic activity of the sun has an 11 year cycle: at its peak, there are frequent sunspots, flares, etc.  while at minimum, not much i...

Here's an image of a sunspot grouping comparing the standard "sunspot" visual filter image with a hydrogen alpha image: Act...

the leo triplet  is a group of 3 galaxies popular with amateur astronomers as all 3 can be seen in the same telescopic field: M 65, M 66, an...

A fisheye lens  is an ultra wide angle lens that can view the entire sky at once, but with strong visual distortions at the edges (straight ...

recent mars images: Mars 8/7/2018 07:45 UTC RGB CM = 84.9 CL = -10.0 Infrared as luminance: Mars 8/7/2018 07:45 UTC IR-RGB wi...

Here's mars at closest approach for the 2018 opposition: Mars 7/31/18 8:21 UTC Visually it looked like a bright orange disk with po...