NHAC - Neal Site Astronomy Pictures
Images from the (old) North Houston Astronomy Club, (NHAC) Neal Site in Dolen, Texas.
All images on this web page Copyright © 2001 - 2005, Dick Locke. All Rights Reserved. Contact and Image Use Information

Click on the Venus crescent for more pix!

Absolute 2nd Latest: Book Cover Moon

NHAC - 4/30/2005 Orion Setting over the Pond - fixed tripod

The Big Dipper Sets on the Neal Observing Field 10/9/05

10/9/05 Moon

Above: Wide Angle Star Trails and Observing Field, 9/28/02

NHAC Pix - newest

Details for Wide Angle, left: : Nikon F3 Camera, Tokina AT-X AF Aspherical 17mm lens, Kodak E200 slide film, ~2 hour exposure at f5.6 (or maybe f8, I failed to write it down). The North star is the one that doesn't move in the center of the swirls, and you can clearly see the sky rotating about. It's interesting to see the stars on the left, which are setting, get dimmer over time as they sink onto the denser atmosphere. The red lights are from the various astronomers out that evening. You can see my stuff & van on the mid and right part of the frame. The bright light is from a car that drove by. I was a bit careless with the red light close to the camera on the upper right (it's not a red aurora!) Note: There was heavy dew this night, which normally would have ruined this picture. I used rubber bands to attach a small chemical hand-warmer to the bottom of the lens to ward off the dew.

NHAC - moon and mercury pictures

M8 and M20 9/9/2005 - Film

NHAC - 4/30/2005 Orion Setting over the Pond

Moon Sets in Trees at the NHAC Neal Site

4.6% Illuminated; 10/15/2004. It's difficult to get clear shots of the surface so close to the horizon. About 8 people showed up Friday night to enjoy this very rare night of crystal clear skies. One of the top 3 nights I've had out there. Above: Nikon D100, Takahashi TOA 130 telescope prime focus. See more below.

Golden Rays: Neal Pond Sunset

Above: 10/16/2004, the next night. Check out the sun's rays as shaped by the clouds. There were some good views for a while, but most gave up around 10:30 due to clouds/transparency problems.

TOA 130, Neal Site
Another cool shot of the sunlight/cloud interaction on 10/16/2004. See the bottom of this page: Cloudscapes for info on Crepuscular Rays. Above 2 pix: Nikon D100, 24-85mm Nikon zoom lens.

Star Trails & Self Portrait

Nikon D100 Astronomy Images 10-2003 Neal

Nikon D100 9/27/03

NHAC Mars Party 8/23/03 Pictures

Older stuff Cloudage (Clouds through telescope) and NHAC Neal Site 6/21/03 Sunset Clouds

Pictures taken from the North Houston Astronomy Club (NHAC) observing site. Link to 4/26/03 Digicam pix.

Dick Locke's Other Galaxy Photos - Astrophotography

OK, I wasn't able to make the NHAC site the night I took these new Moon Pix.

Double Cluster shot on 6/7/03

Leonids from NHAC Neal Site

Venus Setting 8/26/2000

NHAC - Link to club's page

Above: 2/1/03 M42 & Running Man, Quick & Dirty Photoshop processing (crop & black level set).

Above: The Moon & Venus reflecting off the pond next to the observing field. 8/02 (Nikon 55mm f2.8 macro lens, Kodak E200 slide film, ~8 sec exposure)