Astronomy

[Nealh]

Mars and Aldebaran are both high directly in the sky tonight both tinged with a bit of Red, Aldebaran is the main star in the Taurus constellation. Also burning bright WSW are Jupiter fairly high up and Venus below it.
From now until the 27th both will converge more to get as close as they will this year and will be separated on the 27th by the Moon.

 

[jonathan.agnew]

Mars and Aldebaran are both high directly in the sky tonight both tinged with a bit of Red, Aldebaran is the main star in the Taurus constellation. Also burning bright WSW are Jupiter fairly high up and Venus below it.
From now until the 27th both will converge more to get as close as they will this year and will be separated on the 27th by the Moon.

Brings to mind asteroid ph27 which has the shortest orbital period of all asteroids (113 days I think) and gets closest to sun (closer than mercury) and so dips deepest of all objects into sun's gravity and experiences biggest distortion of space time (but, unfortunately, at 500 celsius)

 

[guerney]

Brings to mind asteroid ph27 which has the shortest orbital period of all asteroids (113 days I think) and gets closest to sun (closer than mercury) and so dips deepest of all objects into sun's gravity and experiences biggest distortion of space time (but, unfortunately, at 500 celsius)

That's bound to disintegrate soon (in terms of galactic timescales), unless composed of hard material.

I tried in vain to witness this very rare happening, purported to be visible with the naked eye. I suppose I could have settled the phone on the ground camera upwards with a timer set for 5 seconds and it's max shutter of 30 seconds at max ISO to take a long exposure. But I didn't.

Green comet UK: How to see the once-in-a-lifetime space spectacle tonight

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be visible for the first time in 50,000 years. Astronomer Dr Darren Baskill explains how and when to see it

www.sciencefocus.com

The green comet: how to see a once-in-50,000-years event in Australia’s night skies

The speeding C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and its icy tail will not be visible from most parts of Australia until 5 February – and won’t be visible again from Earth for a long, long time

www.theguardian.com

 

[Nealh]

A part from the moon any celestial body seen from earth using bins or scopes are just small specks in the sky , which for most leave them very unimpressed. Folks think they will see the fine detail and close up views as seen by the huble scope or the various explorers that pass by these distant planets, which is never going to be the case.
Mars explorer for instance takes the best part of a year to get near for the stunning pics. One with a phone/camera attached to a scope can get better pics magnified but these again are far beyond what a human eye can actually see.

Probes to jupiter , saturn take nearly 2 years to get near before the stunning pics are taken.

As at the mo jupiter, venus and mars are well lit up in the clear night skies by eye one won't see much , even with a scope not much can be seen. In the case of Jupiter depending on light pollution one will clearly see the planet and maybe pick out some colour bands, for sure one will also see 3 or 4 of her satelite moons with a reasonable scope but the magnified image via the naked eye is still very every tiny like a pea in the far sky and the moons like small bright pin heads.

 

[guerney]

I have friends who spend a fortune on big telescopes and cameras to image stack:

Astrophotography: Star Photo Stacking

Astrophotography: Star Photo Stacking: Ever wondered how people take those amazing photos of the night sky, filled with nebulae, galaxies and all sort of impressive sights? Well, you don't need the Hubble telescope for a great photo of the night sky. You can get great results with just a…

www.instructables.com

...and they get good results. I'd rather hire online, control and use online something none of them or I could ever probably afford to buy and properly situate, for comparatively nothing, from observatories located in many places in the world:

iTelescope - Leaders in Internet Astronomy since 2006

22 Internet Telescopes across 5 Observatories. Download Image Sets Now updated every 14 days. Direct control of telescopes. Internet Astronomy, Astrophotgraphy. Scientific Reserach including Photometry, Variable and Double Stars, Asteriods, Comets, Supernova, Exoplanets and Deep Space Imaging. LRGB

www.itelescope.net

... or simply enjoy Hubble and the James Webb's new releases and greatest hits, then read a book with the time saved.

 

[Nealh]

That' s the issue one can only see via imaging and spending a lot of money, it is all views that the naked eye even thru a good scope can't see.

It's like the Green comet, one may see a very faint Green smudge on a scope and that is about it , it needs good imaging equipment thru the scope to actually see a half reasonable result of a better blur.

 

[Nealh]

Tonight with the naked eye one saw the following shining stars to just name a few, Jupiter , Venus, Mars, the 7 sisters aka Plaeides , Aldebaran & the Taurus constellation, Betelgeuse, Rigel of the Orion constellaton & the 3 stars known as Orion's belt, the 4 stars forming the Aries constellation, Triangulum, also co linked with Taurus is the Auriga constellation and the main star Capella , also nearby Andromeda of the Pegasus constellation.

 

[guerney]

Do you have an obsession with observing numerous small things? I would have been quite happy seeing a tiny green smudge, and if I had trekked four miles out away from streetlights, perhaps I might have... but I was too cold, crackered after work. I get lucky sometimes seeing suprise streaks across the night sky, like that giant gold croissant I saw one time while drunk, sitting on a bench on top of a hill near a military base. Whatever the hell it was, it crossed the entire sky impossibly fast and silent right to left at very high altitude within 2 seconds. I think the scrumpy was off. Could have been Clint Eastwood at it again.

 

[Nealh]

All my observations are simply by standing outside my back door and looking.
For nearer objects like the moon I have a 5" scope to see it better.

 

[guerney]

All my observations are simply by standing outside my back door and looking.
For nearer objects like the moon I have a 5" scope to see it better.

Oh no! You've entered the mouth of the rabbithole! You may as well get a good Magic Lantern compatible Canon DSLR such as the 650D (cheap now), adapters and lenses (cheap to eye-wateringly expensive), all sorts of other gubbins and dive in headlong like the rest of them, never to emerge...

magiclantern for astrophotograph - DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging - Cloudy Nights

magiclantern for astrophotograph - posted in DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging: hi, I found this customization for canon camera called magiclantern it sounds interesting for the functionalities unlocked in the cameras. Have you used it...

www.cloudynights.com

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/product/canon-eos-650d?sort[productPrice]=ASC

I was half-thinking of cutting a Velux into my roof for a scope, but the skies are too polluted where I live. If you can see all that from your back door, you're missing out on years of pointless but fun (? depends on how fun is defined within your mind) astrophotographical time-wasting.

 

[Nealh]

Taking pics and wasting money buying camera stuff is for those with money to burn , if I want to see those pics they are available to find online.
The interesting bit for me is seeing other lunar watchers who use their creative side sketching what they see , a more enjoyble artistic persuit and a skill to awe at.

 

[guerney]

The interesting bit for me is seeing other lunar watchers who use their creative side sketching what they see , a more enjoyble artistic persuit and a skill to awe at.

The artist has used a compass to draw the perfect circle, which according to legend, Leonardo da Vinci could draw freehand.

Taking pics and wasting money buying camera stuff is for those with money to burn , if I want to see those pics they are available to find online.

It doesn't have to be expensive:

 

[Nealh]

Most do so and use a compass or something to draw around for the initial shape to save time , it is the detail and having an eye for it to sketch in the detail.

 

[guerney]

Man, Gazing Upwards — Stavros' Portfolio

portfolio.stavros.io

 

[guerney]

You’d bee silly to miss this! Venus will pass through the Beehive Cluster tonight – how and when to see the rare astronomical phenomenon

• 'Beehive' or M44 is a star cluster - gravitationally bound groups of multiple stars
• Venus has been approaching the cluster and will appear above it from tonight

Venus will pass through the Beehive Cluster tonight

Venus has been steadily approaching the Beehive Cluster for weeks and will appear just above it in the night's sky from Monday to Wednesday this week.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[guerney]

 

[guerney]