A Deepness in the New Jersey Sky

With a nod to sci-fi author Vernor Vinge, this site is dedicated to the deepness in the sky -- in NJ USA and elsewhere. More than ever we need to see the wonders of the celestial sphere to help our perspective on this planet. Reducing light pollution to restore dark to the night sky can inspire us, and is critically important to ecosystems and wildlife habitat, and the very survival of birds, insects, other animals, and plants.

I aim to show that doing astronomy through telescopic photography is possible -- even in New Jersey! -- despite the challenges of sky glow from excessive outdoor lighting. It takes good optical and electronic equipment and technique, patience and motivation. I hope you join me in this quest. -- Rex Parker, PhD

See my astronomy club at www.princetonastronomy.org

Images with "NJ" in filename were acquired from my home observatory, most others came from Chile. NJ Telescope: 12.5" f6.7 AG Optical iDK Cassegrain reflector on Paramount MX with TheSkyX, Maxim-DL, and ACP software. Astro cameras (CMOS): ZWO ASI071MC (color) & ASI2600MM (LRGB/Ha). Exposures were typically many hours total for each with 10-20 min subframes.

Images from the Chilean Andes were from Cerro Tololo (CTIO) or since 2021 El Sauce Observatory (30 deg S lat.). Telescopes: 16" R-C at CTIO, and 24" Planewave CDK at El Sauce (thanks to S Watson, M Hanson, and S Mazlin). Cameras (CCD): FLI & SBIG KAF-16803. A few images are from Mt Lemmon AZ, the 32" Schulman telescope (thanks to A Block).

Click on panels below