Comet Lemmon, C/2025 A6, Sky's the Limit, November 1, 2025

There was another "NASA Night" at Sky's the Limit, in Twentynine Palms. Numerous things going on in my life, so I could only afford the evening. Left for STL around 2pm, and got there around 5pm. Plenty of time to set up and be ready for dark.

The talk was scheduled for 5:30pm to 7:30pm, so we could show the waxing gibbous moon before the talk, then, I hoped, show Comet Lemmon after the talk.

As it turned out, from where my telescope was set up, I lost Comet Lemmon behind a structure pretty early after 7:30pm. My photographing rig, which I set up south of the telescope pad, had a slightly longer view. Took about a dozen shots before it dipped below the horizon, so at least I could show visitors that, if they arrived after the direct view was lost.

Lemmon is still a very photogenic comet, and not a bad telescopic view, even with the large moon on Saturday.

My photo setup is an 80mm f/70 refractor, with a focal reducer, yielding a focal length of 448mm, and a focal ratio of f/5.6. Exposure of the top show was 30 seconds and ISO 1000; second shot was 20 seconds at ISO 1600. Nikon D780, downloaded to my phone at 2mp size, cropped to reduce visible vignetting.

Comet Lemmon is slowly moving south and west, so it's setting earlier and is lower in the sky at any given evening hour as seen in the northern hemisphere. Should still be viewable next weekend, as it gets to perihelion (closest to the sun), but farther from earth. The weekend after that will be more iffy, as it gets both dimmer, farther from us, and lower and further south. After that, you'd have to be viewing further south, say around 20-degrees north latitude, to have a shot at it, for another week. Then, it's gone for another 1100 years or so.

Comets SWAN and Lemmon

With both Comet SWAN (2025 R2) and Lemmon (2025 A6) approaching perigee (closest approach to earth), I headed out once more to semi-dark skies on October 18, again setting up at the Ryan Mountain trailhead. Traffic heading up on CA-62 was heavy, and I feared a social media-induced frenzy. Fortunately, that did not arise.

The lot was about 1/2 full when I arrived, about fifteen minutes before sunset, but largely emptied out over the next 50 minutes. There were a few late arrivals, however. One group with a few cars seems to have hiked Ryan Mountain well after dark, while the other set up lawn chairs and looked for meteors. But both were groups were very responsible with their light control, and did not affect my imaging.

Lemmon was setting first, so I started there. The first shot was actually later in the night, with a 105mm f/2.8 lens on my Nikon D3500 (crop sensor dslr). Ten second exposure, ISO 800. Shows you that Lemmon was visible and pretty apparent as a comet through binoculars. You can also see a heck of a lot of satellite trails around the object, which really showed up in my closer shots.

The closer shots were using (with the focal reducer) an 80mm f/5.6 telescope and my Nikon D780 camera body. ISO 3200, 30 second exposure. Cropped, to reduce visible vignetting. Nice tail, some variation within the tail.

By contrast, SWAN was not nearly as apparent in binoculars, and took me much longer to find in my imaging rig. Higher surface brightness, but not much of a tail, so pretty stellar in binoculars. Same photo specs as the SWAN shots.

Next weekend is the Night Sky Festival. Despite the federal government shutdown, the talks and telescope aspects are still going forward. If I can get there early enough (not a given), I may try some more photography on Friday. If not, might try to manage some shots on Saturday, before, during, or after the formal outreach at Sky's the Limit.

Comet SWAN 2025 R2

On October 11 and 12, 2025, I drove up to the Northshore Summit trailhead, in Lake Mead NRA, NV, to try to photograph Comet SWAN 2025 R2. October 11 was mostly clouded out, though I did get rather impressionist-looking shots. But October 12 was clear, so I got a much better view.

From this trailhead, the comet was over Henderson, Boulder City, and the southwestern part of the Las Vegas Valley, so the sky was not super dark, even after astronomical twilight. But definitely better without the clouds than with the clouds!

The first shot was with my 80mm refractor. Just a trace of a tail. The second shot was with an 85mm lens on a crop dslr. The bright star near the center is about mag 2.4; the one near the bottom left is about 3.2. So, photographically, SWAN looks somewhere in the middle, distinctly non-steller, and green. Each day for the next week or so, it'll be a bit closer to earth and farther from the setting sun. View should keep improving, against a darker sky.

At the same time, Comet Lemmon 2025 A6 is getting higher in the northwest sky after sunset. By this weekend, it should also be against a moderately dark sky before it sets, so there should be two photographable comets, soon.

After I figured I got as good as I was going to get on SWAN on Sunday, I took a few quick shots of M8 and M20 (Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas, respectively). Obviously, both bigger and more obvious than SWAN at the time.

On Friday (October 17), SWAN will be drifting near the the Eagle and Swan Nebulas. Unfortunatley, I won't be free that night day. But perhaps some wide angle stuff the next night might still be fun.

Flowers in Joshua Tree Still Blooming, Sept 28, 2025

I was back in Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday, September 28. Well, I was there on the evening of the 27th, as well, but mostly after dark, for astrophotography. Came back the next morning, for a better look at the flowers. The additional week has allowed the bloom to spread; while, last week, there was little on Park Blvd, this week had some pretty thick blooms west of the Pinto Wye.

I also had a bit of time to walk, so I parked at the Twin Tanks / Arch Rock trailhead, and took the California Riding and Hiking trail east and north, to Belle Campground. That's where I saw the best flowers, last week.

I also went briefly west on the California Riding and Hiking Trail from Twin Tanks. Good bloom that way, too. But less potential feature objects, like rock formations of Joshua tree, appeared that way, so I didn't go far.

After my brief hike (3.5 miles roundtrip), I drove out via Park Blvd and the west entrance. Some relatively thick patches of chinchweed near the Wye, ane scattered patches further west.

The previous night, I was at Ryan Mountain trailhead, trying to photograph Comet SWAN (2025R2). But I got there later than I wanted, and there were clouds along the western horizon. Took many photos, but no sign of a comet.

After I failed, I took some random shots, just because I was already out there. Took a quick shot of M51 (Whirlpool galaxy), as the clouds encroached. Wasn't well-centered, but by the time I could move it, the clouds completely covered it.

Also took some shots of M31. Not great, but just something to do, given I was already out there.

I had originally intended to go back early the next morning, to look for Comet Lemmon (2025A6). But my failure the night before discouraged and demotivated me, so I didn't get up early. In fact, because it was higher and rising higher towards dawn, the chances would have been better. I have been getting relatively more photos of Lemmon on my newsfeed than I have of SWAN. But I didn't feel it in the morning, and decided I'd just sleep in later, then look for flowers the next morning, which I did.

Fall Color in Joshua Tree!

Thanks to some seriously torrential downpours last month, there is a nice fall bloom going on in parts of the Mojave Desert, including parts of Joshua Tree National Park. These are from Sunday, September 21. It's mostly chinchweed, but some other yellows are also blooming, and some sacred datura.

Not really a hike, but I thought I would post, in case you're able to make it out there the next few weeks. If I did have time for a hike, I'm thinking the east end of the California Riding and Hiking Trail, between Arch Rock and the service road near Pinto Wye has some good potential. Undoubtedly other areas, but I did not have time to explore.

Not sure how long the bloom will last. It depends if we get another hot streak (definitely possible) or an early freeze (highly unlikely). With moderate temperatures, some cloud cover, and maybe additional showers, the flowers could last several weeks, for sure.

These were all near Pinto Wye, where the road splits between the North Entrace (towards Twentynine Palms), the South Entrance (Cottonwood Springs), and Skull Rock (continuing towards the West Entrance).

I only went as far as Twin Tanks Campground, but I understand they go quite a distance to the south. If past experience is a guide, there may also be some flowers further south, closer to the South Entrance. Very few flowers once I headed on Park Blvd, towards the West Entrance. May have been more further from the road, at lower altitude and with more soil.

Anyway, just thought I'd post, if you have some free time coming up soon.

Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Leeds, Utah

Hiked September 13 and 14, 2025. Red Reef, Silver Reef, and Anasazi Trails. First trip was a very quick pop-in, just because we were already there, having visited Silver Reef Ghost Town earlier that morning. Second time was a slightly longer stay, to hike the Red Reef and the part of the Silver Reef trail near the dinosaur prints.

The "main attraction" near the Red Cliffs campground is the "waterfalls" up the Red Reef Trail, into the Cottonwood Canyon wilderness. It's the first photograph, here.

Not surprisingly, by late summer, the waterfall is often dry. There are two spots where steps are carved into the sandstone, to help you attain the next level. The second one goes above what was a pretty substantial pool of water, which psyched me out. Without a potential fall into water, it's an easy traverse. But I was afraid of mentally freezing and/or falling into the water with my camera and phone, so I waited below for an opening to photograph it.

Despite the relatively small number of people there, the wait stretched about 45 minutes, as some groups were very slow to traverse the six or seven steps, and some individuals posed repeatedly for pictures at the top, and one group just stood around talking at the top for about 20 minutes. When other groups were taking their shots, I moved back into an alcove to give them a clear view. When I finally had a break in the people, I spent about two minutes snapping my pictures, then headed back.

To me, I thought it was obvious, if a guy with a camera keeps peeking around, then moving back, he's waiting to take a picture. But either it wasn't obvious why I was loitering, or people just didn't care. I spent more than half my time on this hike just waiting. Gave me plenty of time to check my exposures, of course. :D

On the way towards the waterfalls (a bit earlier in the trail), there's a large alcove, at the canyon split. A pictoglyph is to the left of the cave, and a few other pictoglyphs are inside the cave.

Two other "attractions" in this area of Red Cliffs: Dinosaur tracks, and an ancestral puebloan ruin. The ruin isn't much to see; the residence was mostly below ground, so you're just seeing the outline of where the sticks and mud would have made a roof over the residence. The dinosaur tracks are pretty cool, though.

There may once have been more signed viewing points along the Silver Reef trail, but now there's only the one, quite near the start. It overlooks a campsite.

There are quite a lot of known dinosaur track sites in the St. George area. Big, protected one at the Johnson Farms Discovery Site. Outdoor one is the Warner Valley site. Another small one is closer to Washington (which I could have sworn I posted about, but can't find!). Also, some further north, at Parowan Gap.

The ancestral Puebloan ruins I found along the Anasazi trail, which was my expectation, with a name like that. Pretty setting and a nice, short walk, but with some inclines. Pretty becuase there are quite a bit of cottonwood growing along the dry wash. Their green stood out nicely against the red rock cliffs.

Because of that, I think this area might be interesting come October or November, when the cottonwood leaves change color. Not sure if I'll be coming back this way, though. Giving some thought to either southwest Utah or the eastern Sierra for my fall foliage trip. Also, there's a comet (not superbright, but might photograph nice) that, come early- to mid-October, might be a sight to see. Will have to decide in the next three weeks or so what I'm going to do.

For this trip, the only other post I'll need to make are for the ghost towns or Silver Reef and Grafton. Not much walking, but something different.

Sky's the Limit, August 16, 2025

There are a number of art works and landscaping elements to the Sky's the Limit campus, where I volunteer as a telescope operator on a roughly-monthly basis. I took a few photographs during my last volunteer session (August 16, 2025). I may do so again during my next one.

The first shot was with my dslr, a Nikon D780 and a Nikon 20mm f/1.8, stopped down to f/4 to improve depth of field. ISO 3200, 30 sec, processed in Lightroom for mobile.

Second shot was with my cell phone, a Samsung S21, set to "Pro" mode, then to iso 1600 and 30 seconds, also processed in Lightroom for mobile.

These were just shots of convenience; next time, I'll check on composition a bit more.