Lunar Eclipse In San Antonio, TX

Well since I didn't have to work Today. I stayed up late last night. I heard there was going to be fog and clouds on the radio earlier on Monday as I did my holiday shopping. I went outside around 1 am and saw that clouds were starting to form on this bright full moon night. I watched some re-runs on DVR and decided I'll go out at 2am again. I went outside at 2am and the fog was worse and I couldn't see the moon, but I could see the effects of the eclipse. It was now darker than before I didn't have a glow of a full moon night. Even though I didn't see the moon during the eclipse felt it's effect first hand and in someways that made this the best Lunar Eclipse I've seen. (I've seen a few of them in my life time).

McAllister Park with San Antonio Astronomical Assocaition- Nov. 17, 2010

The weather was cooperating rather nicely this week for observing so I headed over to McAllister Park with my “Big Red” dobsonian
telescope.

I sat up next to John K. and Bill B. Keith arrived a short time later with this 12”. Before dark we were already looking at the Moon and Jupiter. I noticed a shadow transitioning across the face of Jupiter and John K. confirmed this with his Explore Scientific Refractor.

I spent a good time looking and the Moon and this night I really enjoyed looking at the crater Gassendi which is on the edge of Mare Humorum, Clavius and Tycho were included with the usual features I observe when I can. I’d like to thank John and Bill for offering a lunar filter to me which made viewing way more pleasurable.

After looking at the Moon I when back to looking at Jupiter and we saw the moon that was transitioning in front of Jupiter now as a little bump on the edge of Jupiter. I checked in to every so often to look at the Moon and Jupiter and saw it move away from the face of Jupiter little by little.

I also decided to challenge myself to search for the Veil Nebula… and I knew the chances were slim and I was unsuccessful. I was not surprised that I couldn’t see it…I would have been surprised if I did see it! Perhaps I’ll try again from McAllister Park to see if on a moonless night.

Jet in front of the moon!

Cool video:

Sunspotter becomes Moon Spotter and SLR Imaging on a Sunday Evening

News: Annie M. had a group of people over to her house last night in celebration of the Moon's Occultation of the Pleiades. She was able to take some images and stack them using HDR processing and they were published on Spaceweather.com. Congrats to my fellow amateur astronomer and friend for getting published... and it was exciting being there as she was taking those images!


Ok... so Annie inspired me to try some imaging...
I spent the last few hours of my spring break enjoying the night sky. I decided to try my newly purchased Sunspotter Solar Telescope on the moon... and what do you know it works! Now I need to modify it to hold a Regal Finder... and I'll be able to trace the moon. The only issue is that the image isn't bright enough... I need to find me a nice 4" or 6" objective and make a folded projected refractor for lunar observations. (More on that later!)

Image of Sunspotter not being used correctly:


I decided to take some images of the Sunspotter with my D-SLR camera and then I decided to try my hand at some astrophotography. I've been toying around with the idea of getting a Astrotracker for my DLSR but haven't been able to justify to $600 cost. Here I was trying my best to image without a tracking mount. The following images were taken with my Canon 50D, and a 400mm f/4 L lens and 1.5x teleconverter. I used mirror lock up and a Velbon Carbon Fiber tripod. I triggered the camera using a remote shutter cord.

Moon


Orion:


Clusters:



Cassiopeia and "E.T."


ISS PASS... some tripod movement... in this one



Pleiades

Earth Eclipse seen from Moon.

Solar eclipse as seen from Japan's Kaguya Lunar Orbiter.

Looking at the Moon- Video for Beginners

Apollo 15's Landing Site

Video takes a look at the landing site of Apollo 15 and compares photos from the Apollo mission to that of ones taken by Japanese Lunar Satellite Kyuga (launched Sept. 2007).

Video- Moon Photos

LRCROSS - Get Your Telescopes Ready!

The LCROSS mission is basically every boys dream.."smashing stuff". NASA is smashing a satellite into the moon, literally.

According to NASA's LCROSS Page:
"Projected lunar impact is on October 9, 2009 at 11:30 UT (7:30 a.m. EDT, 4:30 a.m. PDT), +/- 30 minutes.

The impact time will be refined as the mission progresses. Two weeks prior to impact, the impact time will be known to within a second.
Check back on this webpage for the most up-to-date timing information."

With that said we still have over a month to wait. Now is the time to start planning and researching how you (YES YOU) can help with data collection for the LCROSS Project right from your backyard.

This is what NASA says about your involvement: "Mission scientists estimate that the Centaur impact plume may be visible through amateur-class telescopes with apertures as small as 10 to 12 inches. The LCROSS mission will actively solicit images of the impact from the public. These images will provide a valuable addition to the archive of data chronicling the impact and its aftermath...To participate in the LCROSS Amateur Observation Campaign, visit the LCROSS_Observation group."

Star planning and practicing those lunar photos.