Hersey – The Suffolk Sky

Lightning on the AllSky – 09/04/2026

September 5, 2026 by Hersey

Some pretty strong storms moved through Southeastern VA just after dark last night. Most of the heaviest wind and rain passed just south of us. Lots of lightning and thunder, a little wind, and some heavy rain. The SuffolkSky All Sky Camera…

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INDI AllSky Update – Some Neat New Features…

August 17, 2026 by Hersey

The SuffolkSky.com INDI AllSky Camera provides a live view of the Suffolk, VA sky from my backyard. I have been running my indi-allsky camera for several years now. Over time I have updated the enclosure and tweaked the configs. The software has…

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New SVBONY SV555 Astrophotography Telescope – First Light

August 8, 2026 by Hersey

I picked up a new telescope for my Birthday, the SVBONY SV555 Astrophotography Telescope. The SVBONY SV555 is an F/4.5 widefield APO lens with a 54mm aperture and a 243mm focal length. I ordered it while we were down on Ocracoke Island…

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07/14/2026 – NGC 6819 – The Foxhead Cluster

July 15, 2026 by Hersey

First kind of clear night without a Moon since I really can’t remember when. Even though the sky was free of clouds, the humidity was very high and it was pretty hazy throughout the night. Still I was able to capture a…

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03/28/2026 – Quick SeeStar Session – Few Galaxies and a Nebula or Three.

March 29, 2026 by Hersey

The temperature was cool, in the mid-30s and the sky was clear, but seeing was not great. The 85% waxing Moon was also nice and bright. Not the best conditions, but it has been a minute since I have been able to…

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Astrophotography with Google Gemini AI

January 20, 2026 by Hersey

It’s Monday and it is a holiday so no work today. While I was enjoying my coffee on a quiet morning I did a little tinkering with Gemini, an AI assistant from Google, wondering what kind of things it might tell me…

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01/15/2026 – M81 and M82

January 16, 2026 by Hersey

Very cool, fairly clear… a few thin clouds here and there early in the night, over all a very nice night to look up. Before dark I cooled the camera to -10 C and shot some new bin1 3 minute darks. Once…

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Been a bit… 01/12/2026 M42 The Orion Nebula

January 13, 2026 by Hersey

It has been a good while since the last time I was able to capture any far off photons with the SV503. I broke the scope down and stored it away in the Astro Shed just before we went down to Ocracoke…

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SeeStar EQ Mode, M33 on 11/01/2025

November 2, 2025 by Hersey

Pretty nice night. Clear, cool, bit of a bright Moon but that’s fine. I decided to set out the SeeStar S50 to give EQ Mode a try. After dark I switched the SeeStar into EQ Mode and preformed the polar alignment. Picked…

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch from 10/13/2025

October 19, 2025 by Hersey

Not in the Suffolk Sky, but still pretty neat. We were down in Ormand Beach, FL for Biketoberfest. For the past 24 years or so we have road down to Biketoberfest and every year we check the launch schedule. We have been…

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