Featured Photograph
Messier 51 (Whirlpool Galaxy)
© 2026 James Glish
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is easily observed by most any telescope looking to the north in our clear, dark Flagstaff sky. M51 itself is an interacting grand spiral galaxy that's paired with its neighbor dwarf galaxy NGC 5195. They are connected by a tidal bridge of dust and gas and both are surrounded by a subtle translucent plume of material extending out from the pair. During post-processing, I've tried to maintain a balance between the contrasting spiral structure details of M51, the brilliant light of NGC 5195, and the ethereal glow of the plume.
DETAILS: Captured using a Celestron Edge HD 8 inch SCT telescope at a native focal length of 2100mm (f/10) and an ASI294mc cooled camera (with UV/IR filter) controlled by an ASIAir Plus and ZWO autofocuser. A stacked image consisting of 75 three-minute sub frames (3.75 hours) was processed with Pixinsight and Topaz DeNoise AI.
Jim Glish
The featured photograph is any astronomical photograph provided by one of our members. If you are a member and have a photograph you would like to submit, please send the request along with the photograph and description to: info@coconinoastro.org.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Presenter: Klaus Brasch
Title: Leo Aerts: Solar System Imager Extraordinaire
This presentation highlights a long-time friend of mine in Belgium. Leo is one of the world's truly leading amateur astronomers who has specialized in solar system imaging and is widely known in Europe and Britain but not in north America. I have co-authored several articles with him in Astronomy magazine and elsewhere.
Klaus Brasch was hooked on astronomy as a high school student in Canada after the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and has been an avid amateur ever since. After a lengthy career in biomedical research and teaching, he retired as director of research from California State University, San Bernardino and with his wife Margaret moved to Flagstaff in 2006. After joining the CAS, he volunteered in the public program at Lowell Observatory for 8 years and was honored by Asteroid 25226 Brasch for his many popular articles about the Observatory in Sky & Telescope, Astronomy and the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
CAS Monthly Meetings and Astronomical Programs are held the
Saturday closest to the Full Moon at the Mars Hill Campus of
Lowell Observatory, Hendricks Center for Planetary Studies
Auditorium (6:45 pm - 8:00 pm)., unless otherwise noted followed
by refreshments, and informal discussion. Meetings are open and free
to the public.
