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, May 30, 2026
Presenter: Stephen Williams
Title: High Mass Stellar Astrophysics from Eclipsing Binaries
Much of our current understanding of stellar astrophysics is underpinned by well-studied eclipsing binaries. High mass stars are more rare than their lower-mass counterparts, and are therefore less well-studied. I will talk about a few systems I’ve been part of a team studying, how eclipsing systems help improve our understanding of stellar astrophysics, and where future research efforts will be focused.
Who I am: I was first bitten by the observational astronomy bug when my dad held me up to the eyepiece of his 8-inch Newtonian in rural northern Utah. Because of that start, I’ve gotten astronomy degrees from San Diego State University, Georgia State University, spent time in Greece as a postdoctoral researcher, and ended up “landing” as an astronomer at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff.
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.
