Crew Dragon DM-2 Launched

Today May 30, Crew Dragon DM-2 on top of a Falcon  9 rocket was launched on time from Space Kennedy Center.

Lunar X and Lunar V during daylight

Lunar X and Lunar V are both optical features on the Moon. Both the letter "X" and "V" can be observed for a few hours before first quarter and near the terminator. It can be seen due to the effect of sunlight and shadows of the rim of different mooncraters. 

Today I took some time to find both Lunar X and Lunar V. According the literature the phenomenon could be seen on May 29, 2020 UT13-15h (Lunar X) and UT15-17h (Lunar V).

This is still during daytime and a challenge with all the sunlight around. But is a good learning for the upcoming (June 17) lunar occultation of Venus.

After sunset I took again some pictures of the moon and found out that Lunar V and even Lunar X was visible. 

Launch Aborted

Launch athe borted of Crew Dragon DM2 on the Falcon 9 at T-20 due to weather conditions.

T-45min Before Launch Crew Dragon

T-45min before launch of the Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon Capsule from the SLC 39A.

Moon

Famous Ghost of Jupiter NGC3242

Earlier on April 21, 2020 I took some pictures of NGC3242, a planetary Nebula, known as the famous Ghost of Jupiter. It's magnitude is 7.3 but it shows up low above the horizon. I could not get the central star as I only could make 2 pictures due to blocking by a tree. The planetary nebula is located in constellation Hydra and about 4800 light years from Earth.

Settting with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5, ISO 6400 and 2x60s exposure time. Stacking and editing with CS4. 

Preparation for Herschel 400

I did complete the PSA (Periodical System for the Amateur Astronomer) earlier this year and I hope to complete the Messier list this summer with only 3 objects to do. 

As I was looking for a next challenge I started to read a book I bought back in 2017 :  Stephen James O'Meara's Herschel 400 Observing Guide. 

My objective is not to get all 400 object done, at least not for now :) But I mad a selection of interesting object. So this is what I will be observing and making pictures :

* 24 Planetary Nebulae

* 38 Double Objects (Galaxies and/or Starcluster) - as within the view field of my TAL200K f/8.5

* 10 Interesting Object eg. Antennae Galaxy

I already have completed the observation of 70 Herschel 400-objects of which most are part of the Messier List and PSA list.