big-dipper-web.jpg
This is a photo I took of the big dipper. More photos are here.
Here is a practice drawing from Starry Night.
Here is Van Gogh’s impression of the Big Dipper. One of the first asterisms many people learn to recognize is the seven-star Big Dipper, consisting of the seven brightest stars of Ursa Major, [...]

No telephoto, just the DSC F717, 30 second exposure (I figured out how to do that yesterday) on my telescope tripod. Note how Mizar and Alcor are well seperated and easily visible. Note also that a 30-second exposure amplifies a streetlight-lit tree to daylight levels.
I took this and several other pictures tonight in [...]

I decided to walk with my binoculars to a park 1/8 of a mile from my house, a wide-open space with trees far enough that I could see down to the horizon. I tried and failed to find M4 in Scorpius, most likely because in the east, there was a glow from the rising [...]