First I am going to post some of the pictures that I took with my telescope.
The were a lot of good clear nights during the weeks around the new moon in
August so I had the scope out quite a bit. In September, however, there were
none.
I usually set up the scope on the ground at the end of the deck. Then I can
run the cables that control it inside where I can be warm and bug free while
it takes the shots. From our beach I can only see the north to south eastern
sky and well as straight up so I am somewhat limited as to targets.
I’ll start off with a shot of the moon from one of the nights where it washed
everything else out.
Each of the following is a single 10 minute exposure which is then slightly
enhanced in photoshop. To do a proper job I should be taking many shots of
each target and then combining them to lower the noise produced by the camera
sensors when it is open for so long but these are just a quick and easy way
for me to see things that I could never see with my eyes.
This one is called the Bubble Nebula, upper right, with an open cluster of
stars in the lower left.
The Fireworks Galaxy with another open cluster.
The Eastern Veil Nebula is the outer blown off layer of a star that went
supernova.
The Western Veil Nebula is the other side of the shell of expanding gas.
The Dumbbell Nebula is another expanding shell of an exploded (non supernova)
star.
This is the barred spiral Superman Galaxy. Instead of a pinwheel of arms like
our galaxy, it has a central bar and only one arm on each end.
This target is a bit small for the field of view of my telescope. Here is a
cropped version. You can easily see all the coloured speckles of noise from
the camera.
The North America Nebula, tilted sideways, is on the other hand too large a
target for my scope. I had to take 6 shots and stitch them together 2x3 to get
most of it in one picture.
Back on planet earth, we had a pretty good month weather wise, with lots of
calm days.
As the cottage faces east, we get some nice sunrises.
Early in the month two couples cam up for a visit. We met them while working
for the company where Jennie and I met. We, and some others, have been getting
together every few months for meals at each others houses for almost 40 years
now.
On one of the very calm days we headed back to the Benjamin Islands. They have
been there before, on their last visit, but it is always a great place for a
picnic.
Getting the drone ready.
Such a beautiful place.
The others did some exploring while Dave and I just relaxed.
Once we were by ourselves again, Jennie got to spend time creating thing with
all the things she has collected on our travels.
I really like this curtain of shells.
The leaves are starting to turn and Jennie collected a few.
As curling season approached, the sad day came when it was time to take the
boat up to the marina to be winterized and them put into storage.
If you notice the bird in the foreground, it is a seagull that we have named
Bob.
He (or she) has taken ownership of our beach and chases any other gulls away
that even try to fly over. Every day we see him walking up and down the beach,
patrolling his territory. Also notice all the flags on the dock and boat
lifts. He had a tendency to like to relieve himself while sitting up high on
the cover of my boat. He still likes to eat his crayfish on the dock.
We went home on the 22nd and began the even sadder task of emptying the RV,
giving it an oil change and then wintering it. It is so big that it takes me
an entire day just to wash it, as I have to climb up and down a step ladder to
reach the upper areas.
It always amazes me as too how much stuff we take with us but it is our home
for almost 5 months. After a week of work it was finally ready to be driven up
to the storage lot for the winter.
Right now I am back at the cottage to do the final closing for the season. It
takes more than one person to pull the dock and boat lifts out of the water,
so the cousins arranged to be here together to get the job done. We mostly
pull things in with the winch on the ATV but there is still a lot of
manhandling of the dock sections to get them high enough on the shore so that
the ice won’t destroy them.
The beach always looks so empty with out the dock.
It seems that Bob went missing for a day because this is the first time I have
seem more than just him on the beach. He was soon back and everyone vacated.
On another note, this summer we seem to have a lot of mushrooms growing around
the property, which is quite unusual.
Lots of singles.
A few huge clumps.
And this really gross looking bunch. They were even gross to touch as they
feel gooey and squishy.
On one of my walks I went to the local causeway and boat launch. This will
only be of interest to people that have been here but with the high water the
township had better do something or it will soon be washed away.
The next day the water was much lower.
Over by the nearby creek, the salmon have made it up as far as they can go,
next to the dam.
This one was nearly 3 feet long.
The trees are quite colourful from the ground.
Too bad it doesn’t really show from the air. Looking west, down onto our beach
On my last full day here I went back to the causeway with the drone.
It sure was tough to leave when the weather is this nice.
Back at home now.
