Basic astronomy and night sky information
Happy New Year! 2018 begins with a busy month of stargazing. January brings several bright planets back to the sky, especially in the pre-dawn hours. There are two full Moons this month, the second of which is completely eclipsed for a short time for observers over half the planet. And telescopic observers get to see three separate double-shadow transits across the face of Jupiter. Here’s what to see in the night sky this month… [Read more…] about The Sky This Month – January 2018
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Orion is perhaps the most famous of the 88 constellations in the night sky, and it’s likely the easiest to find for stargazers all over the world. And unlike most constellations, Orion looks like its legendary namesake: a mighty hunter with a shield, a raised arm, and a sword hanging from his star-jeweled belt. The constellation harbors some dazzling sights including what may be the most beautiful object in the night sky for a small telescope, the famous Orion Nebula, a bright blister in the nearest star-forming region to our solar system. In this little tour, we’ll have a look at some lesser-known sights in the constellation Orion north of the three bright stars of Orion’s Belt [Read more…] about Orion, Above the Belt
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Never let a clear sky go to waste! After a quick look with binoculars at the Orion Nebula and the other features in and around the Sword of Orion, I tried to capture the same view with a quick snapshot through a DSLR. This view shows the Sword region framed against tree limbs over Washington, D.C.
Taken with an unmodified Nikon D750 with Nikkor 70-200 mm f/4 lens at 200 mm, 2 seconds, ISO6400.
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Newcomers to astronomy and casual stargazers are sometimes disappointed by their first glimpses through a telescope, especially when looking at deep-sky sights like star clusters, galaxy, and nebulae. They look through the eyepiece, see a dim smudge without much detail or any color, and conclude that one dim smudge looks like all the others. Some become disillusioned, wonder what all the fuss is about, and take up bird watching instead.
Like most activities, however, looking through a telescope takes a little skill and practice. But once you get the hang of it, you can learn to see an astonishing amount of subtle detail, even in a small telescope. The image of a distant galaxy or star cluster in your telescope will never rival the pro-quality photographs you see in books and magazines. But with a little practice, you’ll learn to observe subtle detail and structure in faint objects that even the best cameras will never capture. Here are a few tips to help you get the best view of ‘faint fuzzies’ through a telescope… [Read more…] about How to Look Through a Telescope
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You can spend thousands of dollars on a big, advanced telescope, hundreds more on the best eyepieces money can buy, and still not see much of anything at all. Unless, that is, you know you to extract maximum light and detail with your eye. There are two concepts every stargazer should know to get the best visual views: averted vision and dark adaptation. Here’s how it all works… [Read more…] about How to See – Averted Vision and Dark Adaptation
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