Finally! It’s been weeks of high clouds, rain, smoke from forest fires, and nearly everything else imaginable that’s prevented me from getting the telescope back out on the back porch. But a few nights ago, we had a big thunderstorm roll through (which is quite rare for Seattle, actually), and the next day, we had clear blue skies. I’ve had two good nights since then, and I took advantage.

I’d tried a couple times to hunt the elephant, unsuccessfully. This time, I’d done my research. I wanted the exact right ascension and declination of the key part of the elephant’s trunk nebula, and one google search later, found this: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-ic1396hapeman/ … which led me to the WorldWide Telescope, which is AWESOME.

By using that tool, I could figure out the exact coordinates, and I plugged ’em into the telescope, and told it to start a long dwell. It came up with this:

IC1396 – Elephant’s Trunk Nebula

53m

2025-10-13

It’s the right spot, and it’s a long dwell time, and you can baaaaarely make out the hints of a nebula.

Compare that to online pictures of the nebula, and you’ll get a sense of my disappointment.

If I were to speculate – and it’s pure speculation – I’d guess that the Unistellar Vivid Vision Technology (VVT) software is programmed on the basis that “the background is black,” rather than – as in the case above – “everything in the background is slightly red.” The elephant’s trunk nebula is HUGE – about five or six times the angular size of the full moon – and so ALL of the sky in that area is slightly red. As a result, you get pictures like the one above – some red highlights, and you can tell that it’s kinda there, but not a great nebula picture.

The other speculation (and it’s possible) is that the nebula is REALLY dim, and I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m not getting a great photo of it from the greater Seattle metro area. Which do you think? I’m not sure.

I was happy that I could put that one to bed, though – I now know that I’m not likely to get a better shot of the nebula in the near future.

But it was two clear nights in a row, with no moon, so … more pictures!

M71

5m

2025-10-13

The M71 globular cluster is a new one for me. It’s only about 27 light-years across, and is about 13,000 light-years away.

M15 – The Great Pegasus Cluster

6m

2025-10-13

M15 is one of the most densely packed clusters in the Milky Way, with over 100,000 stars inside a diameter of only 175 light-years. Its bright center is a dense sphere of closely-packed stars, possibly orbiting a central black hole.

NGC 0247 – The Claw Galaxy

25m

2025-10-14

I think it’s called the claw because of the large void on one side of the spiral disk – and you can see it here. I think another attempt, with a longer dwell (this one got interrupted) might be worthwhile.

NGC 7000 – The North America Nebula

35m

2025-10-14

This might be the new elephant – the North America Nebula is about 3 to 4 moon-widths across, and I just picked a spot inside it and took a picture. Turns out, I picked one of the most boring spots. Note to self: next time try 20h58m25s / +43:24:26 or 21h00m21s / +43:53:23.

Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN)

11m

2025-10-14

I’m not sure which one of these smudges is the comet. I created the before-after below with what I think is the comet circled, but … yeah, I might be wrong.

M110

5m

2025-10-13

Not a great photo – it cut off after only 5 minutes (I’m not sure why). M110 is a dwarf galaxy orbiting / interacting with the Andromeda Galaxy (like M32).

M2

8m

2025-10-13

M2 is a dense little globular cluster in Aquarius. It’s both one of the oldest (about 12.5 billion years old) and one of the largest (175 light-years in diameter) clusters in the Milky Way. It’s possibly part of an ancient galaxy that collided with the Milky Way 8-11 billion years ago.

As always, the above images will be added to their respective pages.