The Horsehead nebula is a dark nebula located about 1400 ly away in the constellation of Orion.

What the two images here show is the difference in using filters to provide colour as our eyes would see (L) vs using light from specific elements (H alpha, S[II}, and O[III])(R).

Strong winds in Strathmore. #AbStorm

Midnight tonight is the deadline to post all of your #citynaturechallenge iNaturalist observations made April 26-29 in the Calgary region! We are very close to 2nd place for CDN Cities! Post everything you've got!

Ice halos are almost more fun in warm weather! They aren't usually as complex, but most people think they're only a cold weather thing!

Another demonstration of our crowded sky, in 40 exposures taken over 70 minutes of a field 11° by 7.5° framing Corona Borealis, and stacked to accumulate the satellite trails, not eliminate them. The sky is now a web of satellites. Taken May 3, 2024 from latitude 51° N. #StarLink

The Eta Aquarids is an above average shower, capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs from April 19 - May 28. The nearly new moon means dark skies and best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight.
Photo: Ethan Johnston

With Spring Migration starting up, the chances of finding an injured bird are high. Follow these steps to help, giving the bird it’s best chance at recovery!

Find a wildlife rehabilitation centre near you : flap.org/finding-an-inj…

With a period very similar to Halley's Comet, an eruption of the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis aka the 'Blaze Star' to naked-eye visibility is literally a once in a lifetime celestial event. Expected soon, though no way to tell *exactly* when.

forbes.com/sites/jamiecar…

If you’re in the Peace River area of Alberta, keep an eye for massive flocks of cranes and geese. #birds

The struggles of an astrophotographer who images comets are many we fight light pollution, weather, and all of the satellites that circle our globe. This short timelapse is of C/2021 S3 Panstarrs taken outside of Calgary to the West in an area called Jumping Pound, the images…

A new eclipse image, a month later. This is a composite of a single image of totality and the eclipse sky over Lac Brome in Québec, blended with telephoto images of the filtered partial phases, placed to be fairly accurate for position and size. #TotalSolarEclipse2024 #TSE2024

Do you ever see things in the Aurora? #May4thBeWithYou

Watch this space! This marks the location of the star, T Coronae Borealis or the Blaze Star, that is expected to brighten to naked eye brilliance this year. Also indicated is the naked eye star, R Coronae Borealis, that sometimes drops in brightness dramatically. #TCorBor #TCrB

Was just outside (~11 PM), feeding my horses and could hear migrating #songbirds twittering overhead and a bright Eta Aquarid #meteor streaked across part of the sky.

Lights out everyone! 🐦

Calgary Urban Species Response Team (CUSRT) RASC Calgary Centre And always use luminaires with full-cutoff optics to prevent glare and uplight!

Please turn out your exterior lights! If RASC Calgary Centre is right (and they are always right 😉), that’s a lot of birds heading over Calgary.

Please keep them safe!

The cold northern winds eased just enough this afternoon to allow this Turkey Vulture to cross N into Alberta. I was fortunate enough to watch it soar in and choose its first Canadian overnight roosting site for the season.

For some reason, the YouTube algorithm has decided to promote this older video by Larry McNish 🇨🇦🇺🇦 on our channel and it’s getting hundreds of views per day since last month. “Lunar Eclipse Rising Sep 27, 2015” by Larry McNish youtu.be/-vlhHiAJSUc?si… via YouTube

I believe that this is radar evidence of NNW-migrating #birds in the #Calgary area (note how the precipitation/clouds are moving in the opposite direction. #ornithology