Billy Teets

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) was observed from Dyer Observatory just prior to sunrise on October 5, 2025.  These two-minute exposures show how rapidly comets move among the background stars and how quickly the dust tail can change.  Numerous passing satellites left streaks in several of the frames, and the… Read More

The Witch’s Broom Nebula is part of a large supernova remnant known as the Cygnus Loop. The dominant red and teal emission is due to hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The image above is a composite of nearly 10 hours of exposure with a color camera with approximately… Read More

The Dumbbell Nebula. Credit: Billy Teets In the lesser-known constellation of Vulpecula, the fox, lie the well-known remains of a small, sun-like star that perished fairly recently, at least on cosmic timescales – the Dumbbell Nebula.  Shorter exposure photographs usually only capture the brighter lobes of gas, helping to… Read More

On September 18, a delegation from Pakistan visited Dyer Observatory as part of a weeklong STEM-Powered Immersion Conference hosted by Peabody College of education and human development. Image credit: Balkis Boum In September, a delegation from Pakistan visited Vanderbilt University for the weeklong STEM-Powered Immersion Conference, hosted by Peabody… Read More

Opera on the Mountain at Dyer Observatory on Saturday September 6, 2025. Photos by Joe Howell Many of Nashville’s music lovers are familiar with Dyer Observatory thanks to the Bluebird on the Mountain concert series that features songwriters and artists performing some of the most well-known… Read More

Students use handheld spectrometers to observe the spectrum of light sources and identify their composition. Credit: Joe Howell This past July, Dyer Observatory and Vanderbilt’s Programs for Talented Youth (PTY) Summer Academy at Vanderbilt for the Young (SAVY) piloted an astronomy and space science camp designed for academically advanced… Read More

Three fledgling Carolina wrens await release into the wild after being vacated from Dyer Observatory’s Seyfert Telescope dome. The fourth chick is just out of frame. Credit: Billy Teets The tool cabinet in the Seyfert Telescope dome has become prime real estate for nesting… Read More

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (indicated by the white marker) appears as a faint smudge rapidly moving against the background stars in this animation from Dyer Observatory’s Seyfert Telescope. During the five minutes between each of the frames, the comet moved approximately 10,000 miles. Click on the image for a higher… Read More

In the early morning hours of August 19, 2025, Saturn’s largest moon Titan cast a shadow on Saturn’s globe. This view is a stacked image obtained by Dyer Observatory’s Seyfert Telescope. Credit: Billy Teets In the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 19, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, passed between… Read More

The Great Hercules Cluster (M13) is one of the brightest deep-sky objects and can even be seen by the naked eye on a dark summer night. Credit: Billy Teets We often think that in order to see pretty much anything in the sky other than the Moon or some… Read More