With rain on the way I decided to stay close to home today and visited Fletcher Creek west of Little Rock off Kanis Road. I decided to not cross over the creek on that log bridge in the second picture.
3/5/2023 Melotte 15 – Center of the Heart Nebula
Technically, I think Melotte 15 is the star cluster here that is carving the nebulosity that you see from the larger Heart Nebula (here) but I think most people think of this nebulosity when they hear the name.

This was taken Saturday night at the River Ridge Observatory under a nearly full moon. The scope was pointed away from the Moon and I used a dual narrowband filter to reduce it’s impact. I had just swapped out my Hyperstar adapter with the secondary mirror and returned to imaging in a more conventional way, albeit with a 0.63 reducer/corrector. F/6.3 and focal length of 1760mm instead of f/1.9 and 530mm. 28 5 minute subs went into this image, stacked with DSS and processed in Photoshop.
I also used the evening to test a new power supply. You’ve heard of Jackery and Bluetti. They have entry level models with about 250 WHrs for about $250. I couldn’t justify that as I almost always have electricity handy. Then I saw an ad from Walmart for their Onn house brand offering a 220 Whr power supply for $99. I got one and after it arrived and I had a chance to check it out, ordered another. One powered the mount, the dew straps, and the camera for four hours using up just over 50% of capacity. I did not include my laptop because I did not yet have a way to run it off of 12V. I think the two will be more than enough to run everything all night if I find myself without electricity like at a dark site.
2/26/2023 Rattlesnake Ridge
I wanted to get out of the house and shoot fog this morning. Fortunately, there was some fog after all the rain over the last couple days though not as much as I hoped for. I chose Rattlesnake Ridge for its nice views of Lake Maumelle, Pinnacle Mountain, and the unnamed valley to the south of Lake Maumelle.




