FAS Observatory Director Images 70 Caldwell Objects

FAS Observatory Director Dr. Bill Rankin has done it again. After imaging all the 109 objects in Messier’s catalog, he has captured images of 70 Caldwell Objects. Caldwell objects were identified by Patrick Moore in December 1995 when he developed a catalog (C1-C109) with an additional 109 objects not included in Messier’s catalog.

Most of us observe, much less image, only a fraction of these, particularly those in the Caldwell catalog. However, Bill has managed to visit and capture a significant number. Note that we can’t, typically, image all of the Caldwell objects because they are too far south for our latitude.

Bill completed his journey in June of this year and received his certificate from the Astronomical Society.

Bill started in astronomy as a teenager in the Rocket City Astronomical Association where he received an award from Dr. Werner Von Braun. He now has his own observatory with an Ultra-Cat 108 from Williams Optics. He recently shipped his William Optics RedCat 71 off to Starfront Observatories in Texas where he can remotely observe under Bortel 1 skies. He also takes out his ZWO Seestar S50 from time to time.

We can’t show all of Bill’s Caldwell images, but we’d thought we would include a few. You can find more of Bill’s astrophotography on his AstroBin page.

Again, congratulations to Bill for quite an accomplishment!