This past year has been an important one for me in regard to astronomy and faith. Though I have dabbled with simple forms of astrophotography in the past, I decided to take the plunge and learn how to take high quality images of the night sky instead of just using online services to image the heavens. As is the case for many, I always felt intimidated when trying to do astrophotography. If you do a quick Google search on the subject, you will be introduced to many confusing articles and videos with equipment that can approach the price of a small car. Since my first attempts at astrophotography were in the film days, the expense combined with past failure seemed too risky. Then a friend of mine who lives in Arizona, Ken Walsh, introduced me to a “fund me” campaign for a “point and shoot” astronomy camera called the Nano 1. The promise of doing astrophotography in a point and … Continue reading →

What does it really mean to see God as Creator? One of the most foundational statements about God is that God is Creator, bringing all things into being from nothing. This is well and good, but it leads to another question: How does God create? This question reemerged in my thoughts at our parish’s Saint Nicholas Party. Every year, St. Olaf Parish holds a party for our youth around the date of St. Nicholas. We tell the story of this great saint, helping our youth understand the origins of what our culture presents as the celebration of Christmas. It acts as a fun evening celebration with stories, music, games, and activities. Here is a summary of his life, including reference to the dowry he secretly gave to a poor family so their daughters could marry, which morphed into the gift giving we do in our modern celebration of Christmas. My part of the evening is to provide an activity by … Continue reading →

As I write this post, we are only minutes away from the transit of Mercury across the Sun (click this link from EarthSky for a little more information). It was my hope to do my first LiveStream on Sacred Space Astronomy, talking with you live about the transit from my rectory office, showing real time video from my small h-alpha telescope, and give you a presentation about the connection between this transit and the Catholic Priest, Pierre Gassendi. The reason I didn’t promote this little event was because Wisconsin is notorious for cloud cover at this time of year. And, as fate may have it, even though the Weather Channel claims the skies over my house are clear – It’s cloudy. Nevertheless, Sacred Space Astronomy has wonderful resources about Pierre Gassendi. Christopher Graney wrote a marvelous post about the rare books collection at the University of Louisville that includes Pierre Gassendi’s work, Institutio Astronomica juxta Hypotheses tam Veterum quàm Recentiorum. … Continue reading →

Do you enjoy the endless wonder of God’s handiwork that is your backyard? Whether your backyard is a back forty or forty feet of enclosed concrete, I assure you there is something worth discovering just outside your door. Some may dismiss this idealistic, romantic notion as merely the whimsical musings of an aloof theologian priest who tries way too hard to see God in all things. Others may want to believe that signs of God’s handiwork can be this close to them, but hesitate due to years of feeling estranged from the divine. And those who daily practice divine attentiveness might simply smile at my question and affirm, “Of course I live in wonder!”  I can see all three responses to the question of wonderment present in my life and ministry. When I’m at my best, I find a deep connection with God that allows me to see every moment as an encounter with the Lord. There are times, sadly, … Continue reading →

As I continue to learn the art of night photography, I’m exploring the technique called light painting. Light painting is when you introduce artificial light to illuminate the foreground of an image. The trick is to not introduce this light into the sky, otherwise you wash out your stars. Part of me bristles when doing light painting. From an astronomy standpoint, it violates one of the most basic rules of stargazing: Don’t turn on white light! So irksome has this feeling become, I decided to try a different angle on light painting. Instead of a flashlight, I decided to try and use the Moon to light paint my images. What was the result? The images below and a moment of joy when I opened them in my computer. Dare I say, it became a moment of prayer as the images called to mind the words of the Exsultet from the Easter Vigil. This is the night of which it is … Continue reading →

To follow up on last week’s post, a big part of my vacation was to explore the capabilities of a new camera. Looking back, I can’t remember how I stumbled upon the TinyMOS Kickstarter for the Nano1. I wasn’t a frequent flyer on “fund-me” pages and really had no interest in donating toward new technological gadgets. Nevertheless, when I saw the advertisement for an astronomy camera for the beginner, I felt a tug. Ever since my youth, I wanted to do serious astrophotography, but after a few failed attempts in the film era and limited funds, I figured it was a lost cause. The promise of a user friendly camera to enter into astrophotography was quite alluring. After receiving the camera, I was impressed with how easy it was to use (after finding the power button of course). Now, truth be told, I don’t know if I would call it a completely “point and shoot” astronomy camera. In order to … Continue reading →