Planetary Nebula in Lynx

Lurking around 1800 light years away in the constellation Lynx lies an extremely faint dying star that shed off all its outer layers of gasses. Planetary Nebula cataloged Jones-Emberson 1 (PK 164+31.1) and also called the headphone nebula was discovered from a photometric plate of Harvard Observatory back in 1939.Due to its low surface brightness and apparent visual magnitude of 17, it is extremely difficult to observe visually even through large telescopes.The central star is now a white dwarf with .63 solar masses and a visual magnitude of 17. I imaged this from my bortle 7 light polluted yard through an 8 inch reflector telescope and cooled astronomy camera with a dual narrowband filter of hydrogen and oxygen. Two hours of 180 sec exposures with calibration frames stacked and processed using Siril and Photoshop CC. It was a frigid night on January 10, 2025 with real bright moon interference, but the lack of clear sky this winter made it a no brainer to find a target as far from the moon as possible on a rare clear night.

Short eared Owl Season

 The first of the year always reminds me to get out there and watch the SEO's hunt their open grassland migration territories. Here in western New York, 2025 appears to be a wonderful year for this NYS endangered species with dozens of birds frequenting the known territories and even taking in some new fields. Their mothlike flight and occasional sparring for prey between each other and Northern Harrier Hawks is an entertaining sight to see in late afternoons on the country roads. I like to get out there on an early afternoon right after a night of snowfall which appears to force them to become more active earlier in the day looking for food.