Bart B

@bart22.bsky.social

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Retired planetarium director 🪐 Astronomy • Astrophotographer Civil War & coin history • Cyclist

Waxing Gibbous Moon. 2026 June 22. 9:10 p.m. CDT. A single frame taken with Olympus camera and 600 mm lens. Taken from west suburban Chicago.
Tonight's lovely crescent Moon (18 June). The Sea of Crises is prominent in tonight's 21% phase. Taken with an Olympus camera, 600 mm lens, tripod from west suburban Chicago.
From today’s ride along the Mallard Lake Trail.
Tonight's First Quarter Moon. Taken with an Olympus camera and OM Systems telephoto lens. Single frame. Lightly processed and denoised.
20 April Crescent Moon. The Sea of Crises is nicely centered tonight. Olympus camera. Telephoto lens.
On the Trail: the greening of spring continues in Chicago’s western suburbs.
Along the trail in northern Illinois, the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is starting to bloom in violet/pink hues.
Wow! It was GREAT to see the complete success of Artemis II. 🚀 It feels like a whole new Apollo era has truly begun! 🌖 . . . and something GOOD has happened in the world! 🌎
On the two-year anniversary of the Great American Eclipse, NASA releases this stunning Total Solar Eclipse image from Artemis II. Saturn, Mars, and Mercury shine near the Moon’s ghostly orb. Credit: NASA
Wow! Did you see this nice Milky Way photo from the Artemis II astronauts? P.S. That's the Large Magellanic Cloud in the right corner. Credit: NASA
Tonight's 3-day old crescent Moon, exposed for the Moon's sunlit portion.
Tonight's waxing crescent Moon, with prominent Earthshine. Olympus camera, telephoto lens, tripod. From west suburban Chicago.
The Gemini gathering: Castor, Pollux, Moon, Jupiter. Taken with Olympus camera and 53 mm lens.
Celestial traffic jam in Gemini tonight . . . high overhead! Tonight, the 86% lit Moon is positioned beside Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars of Gemini. The Moon essentially becomes a third (and very bright) brother. And bright Jupiter stands nearby.
Tonight's Great Rectangle overhead . . . with corners marked by the Moon, Jupiter, Castor and Pollux (stars in Gemini). Two of Jupiter's moons can be seen by zooming in on the lower right "star." Olympus camera; zoom lens set at 53 mm.
The Moon visits the Pleiades February 23. 8:01 p.m. CST Olympus camera. 270mm f.l.
Remembering Abraham Lincoln on his birthday, which was in 1809 (217 years ago).
12 Days of Lincoln Day 11 — The Lincoln Cent In 1909, on the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, the U.S. replaced the Indian Head Cent with the Lincoln Cent — the first circulating coin to feature a real person. 117 years later, its obverse design hasn’t changed.
Today I enjoyed my first bike ride in 4 weeks! It reached a balmy 45 degrees, with traces of snow still clinging to the less traveled streets.
12 Days of Lincoln Day 8 — Lincoln’s Beard In 1860, an 11-year-old girl wrote Lincoln suggesting he grow a beard to soften his appearance. After the election, he did just that! When his train passed through Grace’s town in 1861, he met her and credited her suggestion.
12 Days of Lincoln Day 6 — Lincoln’s Speaking Voice (Part 1) Lincoln’s voice was high-pitched and reedy — not the booming baritone we imagine. But it carried across crowds and proved remarkably effective once listeners adjusted. Tomorrow: a voice reconstruction experiment.
12 Days of Lincoln Day 5 — Lincoln at Gettysburg Following Edward Everett's two hour speech, Lincoln's short address argued that the Civil War was a test of whether a nation founded on equality and self-government could survive. Lincoln’s 272 words redefined American democracy.
12 Days of Lincoln Day 3 — Thinking Anew (Annual Message, 1862) In 1862, Lincoln warned that: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.” To save the country, Americans had to “think anew” — and free themselves from past traditions and outdated habits.
12 Days of Lincoln Day 1 — Lincoln and Power In an 1858 letter to his law partner William Herndon, Lincoln warned that adversity builds character — but power tests it. In an era of celebrity politics and constant amplification, the warning feels uncannily modern.
Tonight (Jan. 30), the waxing gibbous Moon will be near Jupiter all night. If you have a clear sky, step outside and have a look. The cold air and beauty of the night sky will do you good! SkySafari rendering.
2026 Sky Highlight #9: The night of December 23-24 will feature the largest Full Moon of 2026, which will appear 15% larger than the smallest full moon that occurs on the night of May 30-31. December’s “SuperMoon” will also be the largest Full Moon since January of 2023!
2026 Sky Highlight #7: Saturn will be closest to Earth on October 4th and remains a fixture in our evening sky through February of 2027. By this time, Saturn’s rings will have opened up considerably since going edge-on in 2025.
2026 Sky Highlight #6: Late on the evening of August 27th, everyone in the Americas will be able to see a Partial Lunar Eclipse, when 93% of the Moon will be immersed in the Earth’s shadow. Maximum eclipse will occur at 11:14 pm CDT. Best seen in eastern U.S.
Perseid Meteor Shower diagram by Sky & Telescope
2026 Sky Highlight #2: On Monday evening, Feb. 2nd, Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, will be occulted by the waning gibbous Moon for much of the U.S. From Chicago, the dramatic reappearance of the star on the Moon’s dark limb will take place around 8:42 pm CST. SkySafari rendering.
In 2025, I took 148 rides totaling 1,653.8 miles.
🪐 Saturn’s year lasts 29½ Earth years, during which time its rings appear to open and close twice. For the past 7 years, I’ve photographed Saturn with my Olympus camera and Questar telescope and gathered the best image each year to assemble this time-lapse sequence, which spans about ¼ of a Saturnian year — from Saturn’s rings being fully open (2018) to edge-on (2025). 🔭 📷
The December Full Moon is tonight. It’s a Supermoon. . . and it’s lovely.
Twice in its 30 year orbit, Saturn’s rings appear edge-on as seen from Earth. Now is that time. My image was taken with an Olympus M4/3 camera attached to a Questar 90 mm telescope in west suburban Chicago.
Today’s artsy image from the Great Western Trail in west suburban Chicago.
The late afternoon Sun illuminates autumn leaves on the Mallard Lake trail.
Autumn’s colors are slowly unfolding. But today, the clouds stole the show over Mallard Lake in west suburban Chicago.
Autumn Fireworks (staghorn sumac) along the trail in west suburban Chicago.
A meeting of ducks. . . at sunset.