low Sun trekking across the winter sky
January 24th, 2012 
a couple of weeks testing a new pinhole camera for solargraphs…I think this one will work just fine!
while you were sleeping… 6:30 AM
January 21st, 2012
January 21, 2012
pink trails and guest blogging
January 19th, 2012 
My sky is usually free of clouds, but occasionally there’s a bit of messiness to it and jets leave contrails behind. Sometimes the contrails at sunset are fairly interesting. The one above is an example. Venus is a teeny speck below and left of the contrail. Maybe averted vision will help you pick it out. 
Oh, and this is uber cool! I was the guest blogger on Astronomy.com this week. Check it out at http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/daves-universe/archive/2012/01/17/guest-blog-becky-s-bucket-list.aspx
Thanks to editor Dave Eicher at Astronomy.com for putting me in the starlight!
Prepping for May 20
January 16th, 2012 
Yes, May 20 seems like a long way off right now, but when that day comes, this is going to be my view.
May 20 is the date of the Annular Solar Eclipse, and this spot has a nice foreground view for watching the Moon hide a large portion of the Sun. As you can probably guess, I’m already anxious and excited about the day. Maximum eclipse only lasts a bit over four minutes, so I hope to make the most of that time. The Sun will be just a little bit right of the mountain in the distance.
The Sun will be setting during the eclipse, (it’s a Sunday evening) and I’m hoping there won’t be too many clouds interfering with the view.
This is a pinhole image made yesterday at my selected site, and I expect there will be quite a few others viewing there too since it’s the Albuquerque Astronomical Society’s observatory area. I’m counting the days!
Sun spewing
January 14th, 2012 
The Sun is an amazing star. Sometimes when I think about it, it’s even kind of scary. But for now, I’m just enjoying a warm day of sunshine in a crystal blue sky! Lumix GF 1 held up to a Lunt Solarscope
