Jun 4, 2023
NGC 7293, the Helix nebula by SteveCoates
seen from South Africa
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from India
seen from Germany
seen from Denmark
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Iraq
seen from United States
seen from Costa Rica
seen from United States
NGC 7293, the Helix nebula by SteveCoates
Blood Moon and Mars Opposition
Blood Moon and Mars Opposition
Lunar Eclipse, July 27th 2018
Mars appears… Lunar Eclipse, July 27th 2018
Lunar Eclipse, July 27th 2018: the moment the moon exits the earth’s core shadow, with Mars to the lower right
End of lunar eclipse, July 28th 2018: still some shadow visible as well as a wonderful view on the moon’s surface structures
My impressions from the lunar eclipse and Mars opposition that occurred July 27th 2018,…
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What a starry night.
Hey. It’s been a while. I hear the stars are just as pretty where you are. I guess no matter how far away a friend is, they can always see something similar. Well I guess that’s not entirely true. I miss the people I used to talk to. I saw one of them the other day and it felt like it was only a short while since we had last talked. Would it be the same with you? I guess like every star, everyone is different. Hope you’re doing well bud.
You know what? I still like them. They may not be perfect, and I know that I messed up, but there is something about them that I like. Next time I just need to raise the shutter speed and raise the exposure. Maybe then I will have a better outcome. I plan on doing some more when I go out to liberty lake. I hope these will do for now.
Good night.
The Himalayas
Here are two beautiful open clusters in Gemini - M35 and NGC 2158.
http://www.astropix.com/M35.html
Click on the link to see a larger version with more information.
It's interesting to note the golden star colors in NGC 2158 compared to the bluer star colors in M35. This is because NGC 2158 is a much older cluster.
I though I would see what I could get out of a single exposure with my new Nikon D5300 DSLR camera.
This is one 10-minute exposure at ISO 200 at f/6.3 with my AP 130EDFGT refractor at 825mm of focal length.
The big thing about the D5300 is it's low readout noise at low ISO. This gives the camera a large dynamic range and the ability to better hold star colors in the highlights at long exposures because a low ISO can be used.
NGC 7293, the Helix nebula by SteveCoates
Perseids
Perseids, Aug. 12 ’18
Perseids, Aug. 12 ’18
Perseids, Aug. 12 ’18
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail (called the radiant) lies in the constellation Perseus. The name is derived from the word Perseidai (Greek : Περσείδαι), the sons of Perseus in Greek mythology.
What we see as “shooting stars” is actually a cloud of debris – tiny pieces ejected by the comet Swift-Tuttle, as it travels along its 133 year orbit around the sun. These particles burn up in the earth’s atmosphere at around 80 km height. They are visible every year from July to August and reach maximum activity between August 9-14, depending on the location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour.
They can be seen all across the sky; however, because of the shower’s radiant in the constellation of Perseus, the Perseids are primarily visible in the Northern Hemisphere. [from Wikipedia]
Shown above are photos from my first attempt at capturing the “Perseids”. They occurred in pretty much all directions and I saw some brilliant trains high in the sky as well as fireballs just short above the horizon line. But it was difficult to photograph them.
I set up the camera towards the North East and the constellation Perseus, with the widest angle available (f 18 mm) and 30 seconds exposure time. And then I spent the following 2 hours pressing the shutter every 30 seconds…
The camera did capture a few Perseids as well as plenty of planes. The difference is that a plane shows a twofold and non-continuous light trace (because the plane lights blink periodically) whereas the train of a meteor shows as a thin, continuous bright line on the photo.
Later that night Auriga rose in the North and the Pleiades became visible in the North East. The camera caught a small train directly above the Pleiades.
Around 2 am the sky started to cloud and my photo session ended.
In the photos I marked some of the constellations and stars for orientation. I hope you enjoy this little excursion. I recommend to check this website for further reading: https://sternenhimmel-fotografieren.de/sternbild-perseus-perseiden-h-und-chi-herz-und-seele-herznebel-sternschnuppen-finden-beobachten-fotografieren/
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Combination of 2 images from January’s partial lunar eclipse
Bloody Halo (Synthesis) Combination of 2 images from January's partial lunar eclipse