The (Not so) Rural Pennsylvanian

  • The February Hubble Challenge Objects

    My attempts at imaging the February objects for the Hubble Anniversary Challenge were more timely. You can read more about this challenge the Pennsylvania Night Sky page. These images are taken for documentation and learning purposes and are not meant to be great examples of astrophotography. The items below are mostly star clusters, which I find easier to photograph. Three also all contain a connection to the Herschel family.

    The first object is the star cluster Messier 46. It is also known as NGC 2437, and it is an open cluster of stars in the constellation of Puppis. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1771. It is about 5,000 light-years away from Earth. There are an estimated 500 stars in the cluster, and it is thought to have an estimated age of 251.2 million years old.

    M46 is in the center and skewed about to the right in this photo.

    M46

    Caldwell 58 (aka NGC 2360 or Caroline’s Cluster) is an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major. It was discovered on 26 February 1783 by Caroline Herschel, who described it as a “beautiful cluster of pretty compressed stars near 1/2 degree in diameter”. Her notes were overlooked until her brother William included the cluster in his 1786 catalogue of 1000 clusters and nebulae and acknowledged her as the discoverer.

    C58 or Caroline’s Cluster

    Caldwell 39 is known as the Clown Face Nebula, Lion Nebula or the Eskimo Nebula (aka NGC 2392). It is a bipolar double-shell planetary nebula. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. The formation resembles a person’s head surrounded by a parka hood and is surrounded by gas that composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star. A planetary nebula is an area of cosmic gas and dust formed from the cast-off outer layers of a dying star. Despite their name, planetary nebulae don’t have anything to do with planets.

    C39 lies about 6500 light-years away, and is visible with a small telescope in the constellation of Gemini. The object is the round spot in the center of the image below that is ringed by a faint blue glow.

    C39

    Caldwell 25 (aka NGC 2419 ) is a globular cluster in the constellation Lynx. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 31, 1788. NGC 2419 is at a distance of about 300,000 light years from the Solar System and about the same distance from the Galactic Center.

    C25 bears the nickname “the Intergalactic Wanderer,” which was bestowed when it was once thought not to be in orbit around the Milky Way. Its orbit takes it farther away from the galactic center than the Magellanic Clouds, but it can be considered as part of the Milky Way. It takes three billion years to make one trip around the galaxy.

    The globular cluster is the fuzzy spot in the center of the image.

    I was able to attend the first star party of the season on March 8 and got to view multiple objects (such as the Orion Nebula, Uranus and a crescent phase of Venus) through a variety of telescopes. It was still quite cold in early March but still worth it to get out before daylight savings time set in.

  • Some Orchard-y Goodness

    Barnards Orchards is a fourth generation business in Kennett Square, Chester County, I was able to visit shortly after Christmas and found some great produce and treats to take home.

  • A Delaware Covered Bridge

    The Ashland Covered Bridge, also known as Ashland Bridge or Barley Mill Road Covered Bridge, is a covered bridge over Red Clay Creek on Barley Mill Road (near the junction of Brackenville Road) in Ashland in New Castle County, Delaware. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

    It is a Town lattice truss bridge following a design of Ithiel Town, built about 1860. It is almost identical to the Wooddale Bridge. It adjoins the Ashland Nature Center and is one of the last remaining covered bridges in Delaware..

    The Town lattice truss.
    I loved the Kingfisher on this building at the Ashland Nature Center.
    A stream at the Nature Center.

  • The Genius of Wharton Esherick

    The Brandywine Museum of Art recently hosted an exhibition of the work of Wharton Esherick, roughly coinciding with their holiday displays. Wharton Esherick (July 15, 1887 – May 6, 1970) was an American artist and designer who worked in a wide variety of art media, including painting, printmaking, and sculpture. His design works range from architectural interiors to handheld, tactile objects like light pulls and chess pieces. Esherick is best known for his wood furniture, which synthesizes modernist sculptural form with functional craft. You can also visit his home and workshop in Malvern, Chester County.

  • The (late) January Astrophoto Post

    These are my photographs of objects that are part of the Hubble Night Sky Challenge for January. The challenge is coordinated by The Astronomical League in cooperation with NASA. More information about this project cam be found on the Night Sky page.

    First, we have two objects that were not official targets for January but that I think made for better pictures. The Rosette Nebula contains an open cluster known as the Satellite Nebula (NGC 224 or C50), This cluster contains some super bright stars and has been estimated to be less than 5 million years old. The nebula and the star clusters are in the constellation Monoceros.

    NGC 2244

    NGC 2264 gives you two objects for one – the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula. My photo did not pick up any significant nebulosity. I do see a “Christmas” tree with a star on top. Do you? The Christmas Tree star formation consists of young stars obscured by heavy layers of dust clouds. These dust clouds, along with hydrogen and helium are producing luminous new stars. This object is also in Monoceros.

    NGC 2264

    Due to short integration times, lost frames and incoming cloudy weather, the photos below are not all they could be. Hopefully this project will be a learning process for me to improve my astrophotography and visual observing. If you would like to see some beautiful photos of the objects taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, please visit the NASA page here. Do you see the objects in these photos below?

    A popular target for astrophotographers is Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976. It is a diffuse nebula south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion, and it is known as the middle “star” in the “sword” of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. I usually need binoculars to see this faint fuzzy patch in Orion. It is 1,344 ± 20 light-years away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth.

    M42

    Messier 43 or M43, also known as De Mairan’s Nebula and NGC 1982, is a star-forming nebula also in Orion. It was discovered by the French scientist Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan some time before 1731, then catalogued by Charles Messier in 1769. It is physically part of the Orion Nebula , separate from the main nebula by a dense lane of dust known as the northeast dark lane. I found this difficult to pick out in my telescope and tried to zoom in on the area designated as M43, but I the small pink blob at the top of this photo is what I’m looking for,

    M43

    NGC 2261 (aka Hubble’s Variable Nebula or Caldwell 46) is a variable nebula located in the constellation Monoceros. The nebula is illuminated by the star R Monocerotis (R Mon), which is not directly visible itself. The first recorded observation of the nebula was by William Herschel on December 26, 1783, being described as considerably bright and ‘fan-shaped’. It has also been described as looking like a small comet and can be variable in appearance due to changes in its apparent brightness. I definitely see the comet-like appearance in this phots. It also looks like a shuttlecock to me.

    C46

    Below is a very faint reddish blob which is a photo of the Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A), a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The common name comes from a drawing that somewhat resembled a crab with arms produced by William Parsons in 1842 or 1843. The nebula was discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. It corresponds with a bright supernova observed in 1054 AD by Native American, Japanese, and Arabic stargazers. The supernova was also recorded by Chinese astronomers as a guest star. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historically-observed supernova explosion. This is one I will definitely image again with longer exposure integration times.

    M1

    Messier 78 or M78, also known as NGC 2068, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.

    M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae which belong to the Orion B molecular cloud complex and is about 1,350 light-years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th and 11th magnitude. These two B-type stars are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light. The nebula came out quite faint and small in my photo and only the main area of nebulosity is visible.

    M78

  • More Looks Around Havre de Grace

    My Christmas post featured a look at an inn in the Maryland town of Havre de Grace back in November. Here are some the sites from this historic and picturesque town at the mouth of the Susquehanna.

    The lighthouse at Concord Point Park is a signature feature of the town.

    The lightkeeper’s house.
    The Maritime Museum.
    Is this a houseboat?
    The Decoy Museum. I love the sculpture out front.
    The Havre de Grace Colored School has been converted in to a museum and cultural center.
    The Moore Family Homestead.
    A lighthouse playground at Millard E. Tydings Park.
    What a great house near the main shopping district.
    Havre de Grace is known for its murals and other public art.

  • The Historic Boal Mansion

    Boal Mansion is a historic home located at Boalsburg, Centre County. The original pioneer cabin was built in 1809 as a simple one and a half story stone house. It was incorporated as the kitchen and kitchen hall when the house was expanded. The expansion is a two-story stone house in the Georgian style which measures 30 by 50 feet (9.1 by 15.2 m) and has a side hall plan. The house was expanded again between 1898 and 1905 by Theodore Davis Boal and introduced some Beaux-Arts style design. The main façade was expanded from three to five bays.

    Also on the property is the 16th century Columbus Chapel, which was imported from Spain in 1909, an 1898 hipped-roof carriage house, a silo and Boal Barn (previously a summer theater), a stone smoke house, and two outdoor fireplaces. The house, open as a historic house museum, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

  • Bellefonte and Boalsburg

    Bellefonte is the county seat of Centre County. It is approximately 12 miles northeast of State College, and the borough population was 6,187 at the 2010 census. It houses the Centre County Courthouse, located downtown on the diamond. Bellefonte has also been home to five of Pennsylvania’s governors, as well as two other governors. All seven are commemorated in a monument located at Talleyrand Park.

    The town features many examples of Victorian architecture. It is also home to the natural spring, “la belle fonte,” bestowed by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord during a land-speculation visit to central Pennsylvania in 1790, from which the town derives its name. The Bellefonte Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places are: the Bellefonte Armory, Bellefonte Forge House, Brockerhoff Hotel, Centre County Courthouse, Gamble Mill, McAllister-Beaver House, Miles-Humes House, Pennsylvania Match Company, South Ward School, and the William Thomas House.

    Talleyrand Park

    Boalsburg is an unincorporated community also in Centre County. It is also near State College, and rhe population was 3,722 at the 2010 census. The Pennsylvania Military Museum is located in the town, and it has a lot of intact Victorian architecture.

    The name “Boalsburg” comes from the Boal family who settled the region after emigrating from County Londonderry, Ireland. The Boalsburg Historic District and Hill House were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The Boal Mansion was added the following year. The village claims to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. However, that claim was brought into question by Bellware and Gardiner in their book, The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America, in 2014. In their book, Bellware and Gardiner point out that the Boalsburg story was first published in 1904, forty years after the fact with no indication that General Logan drew inspiration from any activities in Boalsburg and no evidence that it started the holiday.

  • Around Bald Eagle Lake

    The towns of Howard and Blanchard sit on or near the shores of Bald Eagle Lake in Centre County. I was able to capture some shots of the towns after a recent snowfall. First up on my trip was Howard.

    I made my way north towards the dam and the Blanchard area.

    PFC Foster Joseph Sayers Statue and War Memorial

  • A Well Preserved Historic Site

    Curtin Village and Eagle Ironworks is a historic district composed of buildings and structures related to an ironworks dating back to 1810. The village was founded by Roland Curtin, Sr., father of Pennsylvania’s Civil War-era governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, and Miles Boggs. It includes an iron master’s mansion (1830), a late-19th century Victorian style dwelling, the Eagle Furnace stack (1847), the remains of a grist mill, a number of worker’s houses, and an overgrown canal basin. The Eagle Ironworks closed in 1921.

    Owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, it is operated as the Curtin Village at Eagle Ironworks Historical Site by the Roland Curtin Foundation. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

    The iron works is quite a large facility, at least compared to other iron furnaces that I have seen in the state. It’s amazing that this operated until 1921.

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