Basic astronomy and night sky information
The outer rim of the Milky Way as seen in late summer towards the constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus.
“Peer at things up close and you may learn their true form
but guessed at from afar, they seem like something else.
Vastness such as this is beyond comprehension:
all I can do is sigh in endless wonder”. – Su Tung-P’o (1060 A.D.)
An abandoned sailboat in a grassy field in northern Virginia makes for a good, if unexpected, foreground for this image of the summer Milky Way. Mars is at lower left, while Saturn is below center, and just below the airplane trail. The silvery rectangle of stars above the plane trail is the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (Messier 24). Many pink nebulae and silver-gray star clusters fleck the trail of the Milky Way. Look to the upper left of the image to see the little upside-down ‘Coat Hanger’ asterism known as Collinder 399.
Image taken on July 8, 2018 near Warrenton, VA, with a Nikon D750 and Tamron 15-30mm lens at f/2.8, a NiSi natural night filter, ISO 3200, 20 seconds.
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The winter stars set in the southwestern sky in the mid-evening hours of late winter as seen from Northern Virginia. Here you see the stars of the constellations Canis Major, Monoceros, Orion, and Taurus, among others, as well as the Pleiades star cluster. Outreach events such as these are superb opportunities for newcomers to stargazing to learn and gain inspiration. And they help experienced stargazers hone their craft and reconnect with their passion with for the night sky.
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The last Sunday of northern winter in 2018 brought a clear and dry night for stargazing in the Washington, D.C. area. In this image, taken from The Plains, Virginia, shows a slender crescent Moon just 3% illuminated by the Sun’s light. The Moon is joined by the two inner planets Venus (brighter, at center) and Mercury (upper right). Mercury has just passed its greatest eastern elongation and will now begin quickly moving back toward the Sun. Venus moves in the opposite direction, more languorously, as it slowly gets higher and brighter in the coming weeks.
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If only capturing all nightscape images was this easy! In the international dark-sky community of Sedona, Arizona, where artificial lighting is strictly controlled, you can simply pull over by the side of the road on the outskirts of town on a clear night, set up your camera on a tripod, and release the shutter. Chances are you’ll capture something good.
This image of the winter stars over the red sandstone formation known as Cathedral Rock, taken in mid-February, required only slightly more planning. After a day hike up to a saddle point in this conglomeration of red sandstone, I noted the orientation of this famous landmark relative to the sky as seen from trailhead, waited for a clear night, and snapped away. Here you see the stream of the winter Milky Way at the upper left, and the winter constellations from Canis Major at lower left, through Monoceros and Orion at center, to Taurus at the upper right [Read more…] about The Winter Milky Way Over Cathedral Rock
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