Bart B
banner
bart22.bsky.social
Bart B
@bart22.bsky.social
Retired planetarian 🪐 Astrophotographer • Civil War historian / SUVCW member • road & trail cyclist 🚴🏻‍♂️
The late afternoon Sun illuminates autumn leaves on the Mallard Lake trail.
November 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Autumn’s colors are slowly unfolding. But today, the clouds stole the show over Mallard Lake in west suburban Chicago.
November 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Autumn Fireworks (staghorn sumac) along the Hawk Hollow Trail in west suburban Chicago.
October 21, 2025 at 12:51 AM
This year, one of the few exceptions to an otherwise drab autumn palette is staghorn sumac, which is beginning to explode in color along DuPage County trails in west suburban Chicago.
October 19, 2025 at 12:54 AM
A meeting of ducks. . . at sunset.
September 30, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Sunset on the Hawk Hollow Trail bridge.
September 26, 2025 at 12:54 AM
🚴🏻‍♂️ Tonight’s sunset on Mallard Lake.
September 16, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Mallard Lake Sunset • 2025 Aug 20
August 21, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Sun-soaked Trees Under a Cool Sky. Mallard Lake. Bloomingdale, IL USA.
August 20, 2025 at 2:36 AM
13 Aug 2025. 4:39 a.m. CDT. The predawn Venus - Jupiter conjunction, with and without lines. Taken with Olympus camera and medium telephoto lens. Adobe Photoshop Elements was used for post production. Taken from west suburban Chicago. #astrophotography
August 14, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Tiny black dot on Saturn. Early this morning, I photographed a rather rare astronomical event, a shadow transit of Saturn’s largest moon Titan across its parent planet. This is a composite of two frames. Questar telescope /Olympus camera. Observed from metro Chicago. #astrophotography
August 4, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Opening to “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
Photo taken on today’s ride. 🚴🏻‍♂️
May 12, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Tonight, Mars could be found amidst the stars of the Beehive star cluster (M44) in Cancer.
#astrophotography #astronomy
May 6, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Spring colors are beginning to “pop” on the bicycle trails in west suburban Chicago. 🚴🏻‍♂️
May 4, 2025 at 2:17 AM
🚴🏻‍♂️ On my short bicycle ride today, the landscapes near Mallard Lake displayed both the greens of spring and the leftover browns of winter.
May 3, 2025 at 3:00 AM
#11. A 3-frame animation of the winter sky. My first frame was exposed about 10 minutes to show trailing. My second one was short to render pointy stars. A third frame (constellation lines) was added recently. Taken on Kodak Tri-X film with my Pentax SLR.
#astronomy #astrophotography #startrails
April 30, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Tonight's 2½ day old Moon with significant Earthshine. Taken with Olympus m4/3 camera and 300mm telephoto lens.
#astronomy #astrophotography #moon
April 30, 2025 at 3:05 AM
#10. August 7, 1978: Here I caught a very close conjunction between Venus and the Moon. It brought back fond memories of a pre-dawn occultation of Venus that fueled my early interest of astronomy 4 years earlier. Taken on Kodak Tri-X film with my Pentax SLR.
#astronomy #astrophotography #moon
April 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
#9. November 24, 1976: In a melding of old and new, I combined my photograph of Rho Sagittarii (mag. 3.9) about to be occulted by the crescent Moon [outlined by my box] with a simulation of the Moon that same night, rendered by SkySafari software.
#astronomy #astrophotography #moon #occultation
April 28, 2025 at 6:43 PM
#8. August 2, 1976: The face of the Moon is timeless, as seen here when I first mated my Pentax SLR camera to the historic 9-inch f/16 refracting telescope at Northmoor Observatory in Peoria, Illinois to capture its First Quarter phase. Taken on Kodak Tri-X film.
#astronomy #astrophotography #moon
April 27, 2025 at 2:54 PM
#7. Early March, 1976: One month after I purchased my Pentax SLR, a surprisingly bright Comet West appeared in the pre-dawn sky. Good timing, eh?! Amazingly, my first comet remains one of the best comets I’ve ever seen!! Taken on Kodak Tri-X film.
#astronomy #astrophotography #comet
April 26, 2025 at 1:53 PM
#6. March 6, 1976: I took this image of an overexposed waxing crescent Moon amidst the faint stars of Aries and Taurus, with the Pleiades cluster sparkling nearby. Taken on Ektachrome slide film with my Pentax SLR.
#astronomy #astrophotography
April 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
#5. NORTH POLAR STARE. Some of my first astro images were circumpolar star trails. This one included the Big Dipper and Polaris. In February of 1976, I finally purchased my own (real) camera — a Pentax SP1000 SLR, and a tripod. Taken on Kodak Tri-X film.
#astronomy #astrophotography #startrails
April 24, 2025 at 3:32 PM
#4. July, 1975: I took my first solar photos through my original 4¼ inch reflecting telescope fitted with a Solar Skreen filter. Taken with Kodak Instamatic camera on Kodachrome 64 slide film.
#astronomy #astrophotography #sun
April 23, 2025 at 2:38 PM
#3. May 24-25, 1975: My first big astrophoto opportunity came when the U.S. enjoyed a late-spring total lunar eclipses that year. This montage gathers my best frames, taken on Kodachrome 64 slide film.
#astronomy #astrophotography #moon #lunareclipse
April 22, 2025 at 2:17 PM