Partial Eclipse of the Sun

Time for something a little bit different. Today those of us living in South Africa had the opportunity to see a partial eclipse of the sun (around 30-40% depending on location). The conditions were less than ideal with high-level cloud and lots of wind, but I managed to capture a few photos. So for those of you interested in astronomy here are some eclipse pictures.

If I've lost my sight after taking these, you'll all know why...*

* To clarify: All necessary precautions were taken. Images were captured through a telescope fitted with a solar filter.

Comet Lovejoy 28 to 31 December 2011

Comet Lovejoy is fading fast and is becoming much more difficult to see with the naked eye. Aside from the 30th December when windy conditions (and exhaustion) prevented me from going out I was lucky enough to be able to image Lovejoy for most of the weekend.

31 December 2011:

(This is a heavily processed image to bring out the comet)

29 December 2011:

28 December 2011:

If conditions allow I'm hoping to get at least another couple of sessions in, especially when Lovejoy nears the South Celestial Pole which will allow for longer untracked exposures.

Comet Lovejoy Animation

I've created an animation of Comet Lovejoy consisting of three images taken on consecutive days at approximately the same time. Each image is a crop from a singe photo taken using the same settings. Pay attention to the motion of the comet and how the brightness decreases over the three day period. I fear Comet Lovejoy might quickly become too dim to see with the naked eye.

If you live in the Southern Hemisphere you really need to do yourself a favor and make some time to observe the comet while you still can!

Comet Lovejoy - 27 December 2011

I'm making the best use of the clear morning skies, the borrowed camera and the visibility of Comet Lovejoy while I still can. My sleeping patterns are now synched with the rise and set of Lovejoy so getting up at 02:40 is getting to be second nature.

For images I shot this morning I went with a vertical orientation to include as much of the surrounding constellations and Milky way as possible.

Unprocessed Images:

Canon 1000D, 18mm, ISO 1600, 30sec, F/3.5

Canon 1000D, 18mm, ISO 1600, 30sec, F/3.5

Canon 1000D, 18mm, ISO 800, 30sec, F/3.5

Stacked Images:

10 x ISO 1600 images stacked using DSS

10 x ISO 800 images stacked using DSS

Labeled Image:

Image with labels showing brightest NGC objects and stars

Comet Lovejoy Revisited

After being hampered by my equipment I managed to get my hands on a Canon 1000D in order to give Comet Lovejoy another shot. I had to give myself a crash-course in DSLR usage since this was the first time I got to shoot with one. Focusing in the dark was extremely difficult and I don't know if I actually achieved the optimum focus. I also had to experiment with all the settings to get the hang of things.

I'm reasonably happy with the results although it's nothing like the images other people have managed to get.

Here's a timelapse video of Comet Lovejoy I created from 30 still images.



And some stills:

Canon 1000D, 18mm, f/3.5, 25 sec, ISO 800

Canon 1000D, 18mm, f/3.5, 30 sec, ISO 1600

Canon 1000D, 18mm, f/3.5, 30 sec, ISO 1600

Canon 1000D, 18mm, f/3.5, 30 sec, ISO 800

Comet Lovejoy

All I wanted for Christmas was to see Comet Lovejoy and I got my wish! It has been a tiring couple of days. Each morning I was up at 03:20 and outside to catch a glimpse of this once in a lifetime event, only to be met with a tantalizing glimpse before the skies clouded over.

This morning I tried again and wonder of wonders the sky was completely clear! I raced indoors to grab my camera and snapped away until dawn. My camera isn't really suited for the job, but I managed to capture the comet, even if only just.

Below is a short Youtube video I created from all the images. The images were taken roughly 20 seconds apart and spans a period from 03:40 to 04:40.



And here's a still image of the comet and a satellite that happened to pass by. It's not up to the same quality as some of the images out there, but I'm reasonably proud of it.

Comet Lovejoy. The streak at bottom right is a satellite called Intercosmos 25.
The two brightest stars are Alpha and Beta Centauri also known as "the Pointers".

The comet itself is an amazing sight and well worth the effort to get up in the early hours. The tail is now more than 20° in length and very easy to see with the naked eye. For those living in the Southern Hemisphere Comet Lovejoy should still be visible for the next couple of days. If you want to catch a glimpse set your alarms for approximately 03:20 and look to the South. You can't miss it!

PS: Santa if you are reading this I want a DSLR camera next Christmas so I can do a proper job if something like this happens again!

A tribute to the Space Shuttle

I grew up with the space shuttle. At every opportunity I watched each and every launch on TV and later via NASA TV streaming over the internet. I was a bit too young to witness the loss of Challenger, but I will never forget as Columbia fragmented during re-entry. I was watching the landing live via NASA TV and I was completely devastated. It took two years, but the space shuttle flew again. In 2005 Discovery took to the skies and that amazing sense of wonder was rekindled again.

The launch of Atlantis on 8 July was a bittersweet moment. For the last time in human history a space shuttle charged into the sky on pillars of flame.. I made my whole family watch, even though they didn't seem to care as much about it as I did. It was history in the making, and like the events of 9/11, will remain with me for life. On Thursday, 21 July, Atlantis returned home safely bringing the era of the space shuttle to a close.

There are no words to describe the impact the shuttle program had on my life. I shared the excitement and peril with each and every crew. I held my breath during every launch and sighed in relief at every safe return. The video above goes a long way in sharing that sense of awe. Each time I watch it I break out in goose bumps. I challenge anyone to watch it and not be touched.

The future of manned spaceflight is unclear at the moment. Let's hope the commercial companies will be able to step in, fill NASA's shoes and keep the dream alive.

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Jupiter and the Great Red Spot

The last couple of weeks I've been in a reading slump.  I just can't seem to concentrate on reading.  I'll start reading a book and then after the first 30 or so pages loose interest.  It's not the book's fault, it's just that I'm not in a reading mood.

So in an attempt to get my mind on something else and perhaps reawaken my reading appetite I've been focusing a bit more on my astronomy hobby.  In particular getting some more imaging done.

So, without any further needless verbosity I'm proud to present an image of Jupiter and three of its moons.  These were taken under less than ideal conditions, but turned out reasonably well.

 
If you look very closely at Jupiter you'll be able to spot the Great Red Spot.  Something else to take notice of is that Jupiter only has one belt at the moment (the dark brownish colored band to the lower right of the image).  The Southern equatorial belt has disappeared, but it will make an eventual return.  The cause of this phenomenon isn't known and it is interesting to keep an eye on Jupiter to see when the SEB will appear again.

Jupiter was also at opposition on the 21st of September, which means that it is on the opposite side of the Sun and that the Earth is between the two.  It is also the closest distance to the Earth since 1963, at a mere 592 million kilometers!

So fellow bookworms, don't miss out on this chance to see Jupiter at its brightest.  Go outside and look to the East.  Jupiter will be the brightest "star" you can see rising from 20:00 onwards.  If you have binoculars give spotting the Galilean moons a go.  If you are lucky you should see four bright dots surrounding the planet's disc. These are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, the four largest and brightest moons surrounding Jupiter.

Venus Occultation

This is not book related, but it's still very cool.  One of my other hobbies is amateur astronomy.  On Saturday, 11 September 2010, South Africa was in an ideal location to view a rare occultation of Venus by the Moon.

 Occultation is just a fancy way of saying that one celestial objects seems to disappear behind another.  In this case it was Venus that disappeared behind the Moon.  One added benefit was that it made it extremely easy to see Venus during the daytime as a bright dot of light.

I managed to capture a few images, but since this happened very close to the Sun conditions weren't ideal resulting in images that seems a bit washed out.

Using some carefully selected still images and compiling them into a video gives a good idea of what it looked liked.  So if you missed it here's your chance to see it for yourself!