Time Lapse Star Party

This is a video I found with some nice time lapse photography in Italy. Enjoy!



ps. It looks like someone on the right side kept using a white light during the star party!

Early Days of Hubble- Video by Phil Plait

Found this wonderful video on youtube and thought I'd share:

Fred Watson on Dark Matter

Oberving Galaxies - Astronomy Magazine

400 Years of The Telescope - PBS Documentary

Earth Eclipse seen from Moon.

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

Viewing "Faint Fuzzies"- Video about viewing Galaxys and Nebulas with your new telescope

PBS Special- Phoenix Mars Mission: Ashes to Ice

I watched this documentary titled "Phoenix Mars Mission: Ashes to Ice", a PBS video. This video focuses on preparation of the Mars Phoenix Mission. It was amazing to see all the work and the human side of the mission. I wasn't aware that during the planning there were open houses to help get the public involved. This video focuses mostly on the test and build phase of Phoenix. This mission was the first time that NASA has allowed off site control of a mission such as this. This is because much of the mission once there will be run by scientists at the University of Arizona.

This video was educational, but I didn't find it as entertaining as the some of the NOVA documentaries I've seen on the Rover missions. At times, this video seemed slow and redundant.

The mission was successful and I would have liked to have seen more about the actual mission once on mars. This video does state that it is "to be continued".

I really feel that we are very fortunate to live in a day and age that hobbyist astronomers have access to videos such as this, and information on the internet. We truly are living in the golden age of information. Despite this information we have access to it was surprising to see in the video a member of the press asking if the lander had astronauts on board...


You can watch this video right here:

Watch more PBS Specials videos on AOL Video

Website Spotlights: Cloudy Night Telescope Reviews

One of my favorite places to hang out on the internet is the Cloudy Night Telescope Reviews website. This website has many reviews of telescopes and astronomical gear, but the thing that I enjoy the most is the Forum. I invite you to take a look at the resources this site offers, especially the forum, where you will find many helpful people. It was because of this site that I took part in a challenge of making a telescope for under $100, I did so in January 2009 when I made the 4" "Helotescope" more on that later.

Types of Telescope- Choosing a Telescope

I will be posting some videos and blog posting over the next month or so to help educate those interested in buying a telescope.

Nice Morning Sight on Oct. 13, 2009

Plan to get up early on the morning of October 13, 2009 for a great view in the eastern horizon. About 6:30am CST in the Central United States if you look to the east you should see Venus and Saturn only a half-degree apart in the morning sky. Below them Mercury will be rising above the horizon. Plan to get up and get to your favorite spot from which you have a clear view of the Eastern horizon and enjoy this dance of the planets.

Post your comments if you got to observe this.

Toys on Mars??

I've been thinking about Mars lately. I've learn lots about the Mars explorations over the past years. In 2008 I was selected to be part of a team of educators from NASA Explorer Schools to go to Yellowstone National Park to study the water cycle and extreme-o-files. While there we did many video conferences with Mars exploration scientists to learn about how studying the water-cycle on Earth and extreme-o-files helps with the exploration on Mars. (more on that later)

Mars truly seems to be the next great frontier. We have been to the moon... hopefully we will go back but that depends on the economic and political conditions of our planet. *yes the entire planet*

I look forward to the LCROSS lunar project coming up this Friday and further exploration of Mars and the Moon. I look forward to the day when there is great enthusiasm by the general public. We saw and example of this when Hot Wheels produced an action set of the Mars Rovers. My readers might not know that I'm a past Hot Wheel collector and I have about 4 of these Rover sets still in the package. My Hotwheel days are behind me but it is good to see that I even had an interest in astronomy back then.

The Adventure of being an SAAA member

One of the things I really like is that being a member of the San Antonio Astronomical Association is an adventure! We do star parties at all kinds of locations. During the "School season" I find myself observing in light polluted schools with some times lights only a few yards away. It is almost like a sport we have a team of astronomers at each school and the goal is to get 300 or more people young (some as young as 2-3 years) to look at each telescope in the hour and a half that we are there. That in it self is a rush.

Sometimes I find myself setting up in some of the darkest skys around at our Dark Sky site near Fredericksburg, Texas or at Garner State Park. These events are usually great when the seeing is good and if the seeing isn't up to par at least your their with some friends. Many times we are given free access to events and state parks that we do astronomy at.

A few occasions I've found myself driving across different parts of Texas with telescope in tow. I've been out to Ft. McKavett near San Angelo, Texas with the SAAA for some extremely dark sky on a cold night that dipped into the teens. Not bad to most astronomers up north but we didn't have a warming hut and we slept in tents when viewing became bad. This past summer my wife an I made the long car ride out to Alpine, Texas for vacation and on a number of nights we trekked out to McDonald Observatory to set up our 16" telescope for visitors at the visitor center. Thanks to our connections in the SAAA we were allowed private access to the 86" and H.E.T during the night and got to see actual research being done.

Last night was no exception, my wife and I volunteered to do some sidewalk astronomy at the Botanical Gardens (BGs) of San Antonio for their annual "Gardens By Moonlight" event. It was an adventure we parked in the serve entrance of the BGs and a few members had there equipment carted up the hills to the area we were to set up in by a golf cart. The cart never returned to set pick up my 10" dobsonian and gear. Do I carried it on my back up the hill and though the woods to the area we were to set up at. It really wasn't that bad... it added to the adventure. I took about 4 trips to get all my equipment there... and I needed the exercise! So there my wife and I were now at this location in the Botanical Gardens of San Antonio and we had enough time to walk around and see the Gardens before it got dark enough to do observing.

Later that evening I was showing Jupiter and it was spectacular. At first only 2 moons were visible then the night went on and the moon on the right split and there were now 3 visible. We could see a transit shadow of a moon and we also could see the bands of clouds with great detail. As the night went on those 2 moons that were once one moved further and further apart. And about 10 pm (I didn't have a watch so it is purely a guess) a moon appeared just off the edge of the left side of Jupiter. We continued to observe another hour or so and that moon steadily moved away from the Gas Giant.

Around 11:15 we started to tear down. Once again the cart didn't come quick enough for my taste so I found myself making trips with gear in hand. After everyone was loaded up we headed to Jim's a 24 hour diner here in San Antonio and enjoyed some dinner with fellow SAAA members. We parted ways about 1 am.

What an adventure!

To join the SAAA visit this link.

Mercury and Saturn getting all up ons... Sept 22 in AM

If you go out in North America before sun rise on Sept. 22, 2009 and look to the East just a few seconds before sunrise. Just a little above the eastern horizon you should see the planets Mercury and Saturn appearing only 3/10ths of a degree apart. This might be difficult to see as they are not very far from the sun. I you have a flat horizon to the east of where you are you might want to give it a try.

So your a Photographer But Not an Astro-Photographer??

Well, this is a question I get a lot when people find out I own a photography business. Yes, I'm a photographer...but I really haven't made the jump into calling myself an astrophotographer. I've dabbled in it a little and I'll post some of those images on this blog (see below), but there is a huge difference between wedding/portrait photography and astrophotography.

The main reason I don't do astrophotographer is I classify myself as a "starhopper" my telescope arsenal is mostly dobsonian telescopes ranging in size from 3 inches to 16 inches. (One of them is signed by John Dobson himself) None of my dobsonian telescope have the ability to track/go-to or even digital setting circles or a "push to" locator.

In astrophotography you need a the ability to track objects accurately over time. When people tell me what is keeping me out of doing astrophotography there are two things that come to mind: 1. My light polluted skies I live in and 2. my wallet. The most important thing in astrophotography is your mount it can make or break an image. If you can't track...you can't photograph! A starting mount for astrophotography such as a Losmandy G?? cost well my DSLR camera is worth. Then you add the telescope, CCD camera, Guidescope, Guidescope's Camera, laptop and power tank. It all adds up. To take a serious start into astrophotography I image one needs to shell out about $6,000. My house is located near a football stadium on the northside of San Antonio. On nights there isn't a game we don't have much light pollution... but FORGET observing on a game night.

So I realistically look at what is needed to do some astrophotography and realize I'm just not ready to take that step. I do however have 3 Digital SLR's and I do wide field astrophotography and I have a modified webcam I use to image with my DSX90AT telescope (essentially it is a EXT Mak-Cas on the cheaper/less accurate Meade DS mount.) At this point in my life I haven't completely dismissed the idea of getting more serious about Astrophotography but at this point I feel that I'm a "Star-hopper" or "Dobonain-ian" Astronomer. I like simplicity and no-frills astronomy.

Some of my images:
Star Trails in at my Observing site taken with a Canon 20D.


Photographed with 90mm Mak-Cas Telescope on Meade DS go-to mount with Autostar 497 handbox, Modified Logitec Webcam and stitched using PhotoStitch software.


Done at Fort McKavett, Texas During the Thanksgiving Star Party Put on by the San Antonio Astronomical Association. This was taken with my Canon 20D.


Iridium Flare over McDonald Observatory.

Star Party Movie

Info from YouTube: "'Star Party' is an hour-long documentary about amateur astronomers that aired on Colorado Public Television in 2004. VHS copies are available for FREE, providing you cover shipping & handling. Drop us a line; we'd love to spread the word."

Nova: Mars Dead or Alive

First things first: The peak of the Perseid meteor shower is today.

I recently watched "Nova: Mars Dead or Alive", a documentary on the Mars Rover missions. This was the second time I watched this video. Both times, I found this video both educational and entertaining. I'm really impressed with the video. It was really great to see the development and struggles of Spirit and Opportunity. I found this documentary to be the of the highest quality. I highly recommend it.

Today: Amazing Skies @ Witte Museum

Today (Sunday, July 19, 2009), Tina and I will be helping the San Antonio Astronomical Association out with the "Amazing Skies" event at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, TX. We will have our Meade 16" Lightbridge and our Meade 60mm Refractor (My First Scope) on display for the public to see inside the museum and outside fellow astronomers will be having Solar Telescopes set up for viewing. Tina will be helping with running one of the stations and I will be the photographer for the event and help relieve people when they need a break.


This is what the Witte Museum's website says:
"Experience outer space right in our back yard! This exciting event will feature NASA astronauts, hands-on activities, space exhibits and feature presentations for the whole family. Meet former NASA Astronaut Rick Hieb and John Blaha, shoot model rockets and ride the Rockit Rider in this informative and exciting atmosphere. Free with museum admission. For more information call 210.357.1910 or go to www.amazingskies.org"