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A Pricescoper''s Guide to the Galaxy ( astronomy thread)

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I hope some of you got to see the eclipse. It was cloudy here. We could see the glow of the moon through the clouds once but that was about it.
 
My view from NJ, not too bad. This was a little after its peak at 10:26pm EST

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WOW!! What an incredible pic tickin, thanks for sharing it!
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Date: 2/21/2008 12:32:55 AM
Author: tickintime
My view from NJ, not too bad. This was a little after its peak at 10:26pm EST
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What a great photo. Thanks for posting it.
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Aw marcy, you didn''t get to see it?!? Dang! It was very cool. Mr. Surf was running all around trying to get his telescope and camera set up when he got home, it was quite funny...It looked like a reddish film over the moon, sort of like when we have wildfires out here, which was weird, I wasn''t expecting the reddish tint...But still cool. I actually watched it through the binoculars as they were really sharp...
 
Date: 2/21/2008 12:36:28 PM
Author: surfgirl
Aw marcy, you didn''t get to see it?!? Dang! It was very cool. Mr. Surf was running all around trying to get his telescope and camera set up when he got home, it was quite funny...It looked like a reddish film over the moon, sort of like when we have wildfires out here, which was weird, I wasn''t expecting the reddish tint...But still cool. I actually watched it through the binoculars as they were really sharp...
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Silly Mr Surf! All I used was my Cannon Elph (850) and an old tripod. Set the shutter to 5 and 15 seconds. 5 seconds worked better as the 15 was over developed and was blurry from the subtle tripod movements (grr wind!)

Thanks for the complements guys. I love taking pictures and it is gratifying to know that they actually work sometimes. (Wishing I had more money for a diamon....better camera!
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Surfgirl, I am glad Mr Surfgirl had fun trying to photograph it. It is amazing how red the moon gets during an eclipse.

Tickintime, that''s the beauty of digital cameras - you can tell immediately what exposure works. I haven''t tried my new digital SLR yet on stars. Maybe this summer.
 
Tickintime - I love your avatar.
 
Yesterday we got up and went to the Very Large Array (approx 2 1/2 hrs away from Albuquerque, NM). We left at 9:30am, the VLA is the world''s premier astronomical radio observatories; here is a linky if you are interested in looking. They only give tours 2x a year so I really wanted to learn more about it and see this for myself as I had only seen it in movies like Contact, Ind Day, etc.

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You can see the true scale of the radio dish since you will notice people in the picture.

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Leaving the VLA, this was after our tour given by one of the VLA, astronomors. It is worth the long drive and the super windy day; it is a must see for any astronomy lover
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Great pictures, Skippy! I want to visit VLA and see meteor crater sometime. It would be an astronomy related vacation. I was thinking we could take in the Grand Canyon on the same trip and think about how our giant canyon is a shrimp compared to Valles Marineris - the giant canyon on Mars.

I always remember something Carl Sagan said in Cosmos - in order for us to be able to see things in radio our eyes would have to be the size of wagon wheels. Wow!

BTW, astronomy buffs - try to get out Tuesday evening within a few hours of sunset and look west and enjoy a beautiful crescent moon with Earthshine very near the Pleiades. Binoculars will give you a nice view too.
 
Date: 4/7/2008 12:31:14 AM
Author: marcyc
Great pictures, Skippy! I want to visit VLA and see meteor crater sometime. It would be an astronomy related vacation. I was thinking we could take in the Grand Canyon on the same trip and think about how our giant canyon is a shrimp compared to Valles Marineris - the giant canyon on Mars.

I always remember something Carl Sagan said in Cosmos - in order for us to be able to see things in radio our eyes would have to be the size of wagon wheels. Wow!

BTW, astronomy buffs - try to get out Tuesday evening within a few hours of sunset and look west and enjoy a beautiful crescent moon with Earthshine very near the Pleiades. Binoculars will give you a nice view too.
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That sounds like a fantastic trip!!!

Thanks! Thanks for the astronomy tip too; I will be watching Tuesday.
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Skip - great pics, thanks so much for sharing them!

Marcy, hopefully the pants weather will subside so I can see that! Also Bee is off to Australia, so I suggested she might want to glance upwards to see the Southern Cross, while she is there!
 
Lorelei, I hope our pants weather clears up too. I love Pleiades. Ooh for Bee heading south. I hope see gets to see the Southern Cross. I''d love to see the Milky Way from really dark skies down south too.
 
Date: 4/7/2008 10:43:37 AM
Author: Lorelei
Skip - great pics, thanks so much for sharing them!

Marcy, hopefully the pants weather will subside so I can see that! Also Bee is off to Australia, so I suggested she might want to glance upwards to see the Southern Cross, while she is there!
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Thank you Miss Lorelei. Bee go see the Southern Cross.
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Date: 4/14/2008 9:37:44 AM
Author: marcyc

CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: After the sun sets tonight, go outside and look south. You''ll see Saturn, the gibbous Moon, and first-magnitude star Regulus gathered together in the form of a scalene triangle: sky map. With the bright Moon to guide your attention, Saturn is easy to find. Got a telescope? Point it at Saturn and behold the planet''s rings before they vanish.



http://www.spaceweather.com/images2008/14apr08/skymap_north.gif?PHPSESSID=hthgome2arkboav6dpsiatnra6



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Darn, I missed this note. Thanks for the other link; very cool! Thank you Marcy, you rock!!!
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Bump
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HEAVENLY TRIANGLE: Ringed planet. First-magnitude star. Crescent moon. Add them all together and you get a heavenly triangle visible tonight. Look up after sunset for Saturn, Regulus and the Moon in scalene formation:

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Very cool Marcy, I will have to try to take a gander!
 
Date: 6/8/2008 12:35:27 PM
Author: Lorelei
Very cool Marcy, I will have to try to take a gander!
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Me too! Thanks Marcy
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Skippy,

Just popped in to say those photos of the VLA are fantastic. I didn''t know about the tours - you''ve put a NM item on my must-do agenda.
 
Date: 6/8/2008 6:59:19 PM
Author: John Pollard
Skippy,

Just popped in to say those photos of the VLA are fantastic. I didn't know about the tours - you've put a NM item on my must-do agenda.
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Awesome, come on out here!
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The tours are in the fall and spring. http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ here is some info! It was so cool and the actual Astronomers give the tours
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Skippy, I did see the moon last night. It was awesome! Did you get to see it? I have people ask me about it at work today.
 
1 hr West of Socorro, NM is the Very Large Array. You can see pictures I posted further up; they give guided tours by their scientists only 2x a year. The next one is Oct 4th and it starts at 12 noon but runs all afternoon. I highly recommend going; it is quite informative and it is quite cool to see the scientists/astronomers and they are more than happy to answer your questions! Thought I would put this info out there for anyone interested (Marcy, John Pollard, others)
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http://www.vla.nrao.edu/genpub/tours/guided/
 
Skippy, thanks for the info on the upcoming tour of VLA. I really want to do that sometime.

The Perseid meteor shower should be GREAT this week. Enjoy the show.
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