Home Base: Ryan Observatory ~ Holtwood, PA

Ryan Observatory ~ Muddy Run Park, Holtwood PA, (just south of Willow Street which is below Lancaster)

Hurricane Ida and the resulting floods changed my first night out and I decided to stay at the campground and check out what was happening at the Observatory.

No one knew I would be there since everyone thought I was headed to Wyoming. So….this gets me two hours closer to the Bighorn Mountains.

I found Al, Dawn, and Zeb tweaking the alignment of the scope in Dome 1. The passage of Ida left this night sky with bands of clouds passing over. It was crystal clear one moment (First glimpse of the Milky Way on this trip!) and cloudy the next. The group stopped their alignment attempts, and decided to use the time to create some flats.

This process reminds me of setting up a studio for the camera. . The idea is to take pictures with pure white backdrops. This allows the camera software to see any imperfections (dust) and then subtract them from the images taken of the night sky.