Josef Chlachula

Most likely I was able to see 8 mag comet 12P/Pons-Brooks by 10×50 binocular from light polluted backyard.
See at stellarium-web.org .

Very nice GIF image comparing images M101 with supernova about 250 days(8 months 5 days) apart!

This morning at about 4:45 AM I was able to see comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura from Root River Park by binocular 10×50. Comet was left from M44. See Stellarium.

Great picture of the supernova 2023ixf! Looking at stars around like at Stellarium-web  supernova could be brighter than 12 mag. According to https://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2023/sn2023ixf.html it could be around 11 mag.
See also AAVSO chart and labeled stars or brightness reports.

There is just now Kp 7.67 – storm, higher probability to see aurora, see https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/update-g4-storm-observed-sunday-april-23-2023

Great picture of the M81 and M82 with 80 mm (3.14 inch) aperture with total 16 minutes exposure. Thanks!

I see Northern light even from my backyard, no color though. It could be stronger about midnight see https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-northern-hemisphere.jpg

Great Trapezium area exposures animation! Basically we can see nebula isophots on each grooving exposure. Thanks for sharing.

Jim, I asked ChatGPT at https://chat.openai.com/chat  “Explain why is ecliptic so high now in Winter” and here is answer:

The ecliptic is the plane in which the Earth and other planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. The tilt of the Earth’s axis causes the seasons, including winter, and determines the angle at which the ecliptic…[Read more]

Well, it is very simple. Mars is in Taurus, an zodiacal constellation, not so far from bright Aldebaran. Ecliptic in this area has high positive declination. Actually, Mars is not too far from ecliptic. Mars has today ecliptical latitude  2°20′, not much.

And Mars is gone behind Moon. It was  awesome!

Astronaut Scott Kelly wrote on November 24, 2022 https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/1595925959081070592

Ukraine from space yesterday. The dark area above the Black Sea. Among many other things today I’m thankful I have electricity and heat.

Bob, well done images of the 40 Eridani! Thanks for bringing attention to the White Dwarfs – https://rochesterskies.org/40-eridani-b/

I called yesterday Eagle Bluff general number and left message (at I believe option 6) to switch off parking lights. No answer so far 🙁

Public observing night at Elgin I spent a lot of time observing carbon star V Aql. I set my own user object with J2000 coordinates, but I was puzzled, why 10″ SCT with goto Autostar II is always off.  Day later I found that Autostar most likely is using coordinates RA/Decl for current time with current precession. One can find such coordinates a…[Read more]

Bob, this is great picture of Jupiter! You should use club 10″ SCT more often.

Great picture, Bob! Yes, the color is much closer to the visual experience. I put update2 at https://rochesterskies.org/carbon-star-v-aql/. I don’t understand “on the 9-6 picture was used“. 6 pictures was stacked? Or 9?

Astronomer and owner of the small busines astro-gadget.net Plakha Alexander was lucky when Russian shell landed in his front yard, but it did not explode.

See more at article https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/wartime-skygazing-an-amateur-astronomer-in-ukraine/

Unfortunately weather did not change to better, but to worst 🙁