Looking to get into astrophotography? Here are some great places to start!

As longer-term followers of my site will be able to tell you, I've been interested in stargazing ever since my earliest days growing up in the rural US. The lack of lighting at night made it possible for my neighbors and I to go out with a flashlight on overcast nights and light up a spot of the clouds above us, and see countless stars. But as I got older, and had greater exposure to the online communities that are also interested in stargazing, I realized that astrophotography is not only an institutional exercise, that I had long read about in publications from the local state college observatory, but also a personal endeavor that people took part in at home for recreational purposes or personal business. I believe that many, if not most, people interested in astrophotography have a similar story, and are somewhere between the initial childhood fascination with the night sky and the more "developed", for lack of a better term, passion for the practice of capturing high color images of constellations, planets, or specific portions of the night sky. As a resource for people just starting their journey, I've compiled a couple of popular websites that will provide a bit of advice for people looking to get into the hobby or business of astrophotography.

#1. Reddit.com/r/astrophotography

Reddit offers a great way for people to get in touch with others who share similar interests, and for this particular hobby the rule holds true. The people on Reddit have worked together to develop not only a thriving community where individual contributors may share photographs of the sky and discuss the details of their personal setups, seek advice about programs used to colorize and edit photos, and determine best practices for finding areas to collect unspoiled images without surface light pollution. I especially like the accessible language and openness to all experience levels, as it makes it easier for a young person with a small telescope, or no telescope, and a cheap camera to not only find great pictures but also share his or her own pictures with the larger group, with only constructive criticism.

#2 Popular Photography

Great article by Paul Lefavre, Popular Photography, screenshot taken 7/16/16

Popular photography is primarily a magazine aimed at hobbyist and professional photographers that are interested in techniques and equipment to get the most out of the images that they are trying to create, in terms of clarity, color, depth or any one of a number of other important factors. One of my favorite things about popular photography is the amateur focus, in that the language is not overly technical and the concepts discussed are, at least initially, very basic in nature and easy for beginners to understand.
In 2008, about 8 years ago as of the date of this piece, the magazine featured a very nice tutorial on the general principles of astrophotography, and I consider it a "must read" for people that want to take their current equipment that is adapted to, for instance, take pictures of people at birthday parties or milestone events (graduations, weddings, etc) and change the settings to get clear images of stars in a much more challenging low light, high contrast night sky. I can also recommend Popular Photography for other content, since it's quite an interesting read. Please excuse me while I click around the site for a couple of hours...

On May 9, we’ll see Mercury moves across the face of the sun

On May 9, 2016, most of the world will be able to witness the transit of Mercury, when the planet crosses between the Earth and the Sun. The visible transit of Mercury occurs about once every decade, the last being 9 years ago.

A map shows the visibility of the transit on May 9, 2016. While most will be able to watch the event, some, like those in eastern Asia, Oceania and Antartica, won't be able to see it. (F. Espenak/eclipsewise.com)

The sun, being as bright as it is, makes the viewing of this event rather complicated. Although the transit of Mercury is visible to the naked eye, there will be about 7 and a half hours of almost complete sunlight involved, so that would be rather damaging were you to kick back and watch unprotected. The Weather Channel suggests setting up a solar projection box and observing the sun's light with a pinhole display, or using an aluminized solar filter on a telescope set towards the sun.

Interestingly enough, there are a couple of different common points in the intersectional orbital planes of Mercury and the Earth where one might witness a transit of Mercury, one of which occurs in May, and the other in November. Due to the different relative positions of the planets to the sun and each other, transits of Mercury occurring in May tend to have a much larger relative size of Mercury to the sun in comparison to those occurring in November, with the May events showing Mercury to be 1/158th the size of the sun, and the November events showing Mercury to be 1/194th the size of the sun.

Have fun this month!

May is also set to show us a very large Mars, with the Red Planet coming the closest to us that it will in this year's orbit.

Relevant Headlines:

http://www.space.com/32780-mercury-transit-2016-nasa-video.html

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2016/2016-transit-mercury/

https://weather.com/science/space/news/mercury-transit-may-2016 

Clear Skies, and Moon-shine

It's a moony night tonight, and I've been lucky enough to have clear skies.

Unfortunately, light pollution in my neighborhod has rendered me incapable of making out all but a few stars, so I am looking deeply into a field of velvety darkness and contemplating the beauty of the moon.

Over the past few nights, I've watched the progression of the phases of the moon from a crescent to the waxing half moon that was visible tonight, and I must say that it merits more appreciation than people normally give it.

I didn't happen to snap a picture, but feel free to take one of your own.

Enjoy your night, and look forward to upcoming phenomenal events taking place in the skies above!

Anyone Looking To See The Blood Moon?

The "Blood Moon" is a phenomenon that is only observed every couple of centuries, when the normal reflected light of the sun is occluded by the earth and the moon is illuminated only by the light coming off of the Earth and other bodies in space. This is also a lunar eclipse, and according to Yahoo News, it will be highly visible to people in the United States tonight, September 27th of 2015, starting at 8PM Eastern Time. Unfortunately, a good deal of the inhabitants of North America will be unable to see it due to extensive cloud coverage, inclement weather, or bad timing, but it will be a sight to see for all those lucky souls who turn their eyes to the stars tonight.

In this graphic from Sky and Telescope, you can see which areas are most likely to be able to see the entire eclipse. This covers much of North America, All of South America, Africa, and Europe, and much of Asia.

Enjoy yourselves!

For more information about weather in your part of North America, or a longer discussion of the phenomenon of the Blood Moon, check out this piece featured on Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/total-lunar-eclipse-us-weather-forecast-see-blood-155743736.html

Here is additional discussion of the event on space.com: http://www.space.com/30480-rare-super-harvest-blood-moon-to-shine-on-september-27-2015-video.html

Turn Your Eyes North! The Aurora Borealis Reappears over the Northern Hemisphere

One of the most famous phenomena of the natural world, the Aurora Borealis is a stunning visual display caused by the passage of solar wind through the atmosphere. The high energy particles leaving the sun excite molecules of air and create stunning displays of color: faint, watery tendrils of blue, green, red and purple that can appear in any number of forms, from small ribbon shaped patches to vast stream-like expanses that stretch across the night sky.

The visibility of the Northern lights is dependent on location, conditions, and the activity of the sun.

Location

Living in Northern Canada, Alaska, or Northern Europe is the most convenient way to see the Northern Lights. If  there is a solar storm, and a great deal of electrified matter leaves the sun, it is possible to see the lights from closer to the equator, but still rather unlikely. A similar phenomenon may be observed in the Southern reaches of the globe, called the Aurora Australis, but it is less famous.

Conditions

Even if you happen to be located close to one of the magnetic poles, a number of factors can play into the appearance of the lights. The angular polarity of the Earth's magnetic field relative to the solar wind plays a major role in the visibility of the lights and the intensity of the lights, due to the interplay between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar radiation the most visually stunning displays are only seen when the magnetic field is out of alignment.

Good weather is also key. Cloud coverage can obstruct visibility of the Northern Lights, as the reactions that generate the light take place far above the cloud layer in the outer reaches of the atmosphere.

Conditions on the ground can affect the ability of a viewer to perceive and appreciate the lights. Light pollution from vehicular traffic, residential buildings, and other viewers can diminish the appearance of the skies, and vegetation may obstruct your view.

Solar Activity

As I have alluded in earlier portions of this piece, the primary event that triggers the Aurora is a solar emission. This is a poorly understood (by me) event wherein the sun releases an above-average amount of high energy particles into the solar system, some of which eventually stream over to the planet Earth. This is a variable process, and quite unpredictable to the average observer, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes an index to help people predict the degree of activity that we can expect from the Aurora lights every three days.

If you have the opportunity, you should take advantage of the chance to see the northern lights billow across the heavens.

Featured Website: Hilalsighting.org

I occasionally discuss a stargazing site on this blog, and I'm inspired to shout out to hilalsighting.org

It's probably the definitive website for sharing information related to the Islamic calendar and sightings of the moon to begin a new month.

This is especially topical, considering that the new moon is a signifier of the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, prayer, and the anniversary of the revelation of the Quran.

Check it out!

New Telescope Planned for Construction in Hawaii

There is a new telescope slated to be built on a mountaintop in Hawaii, situated out in the Pacific Ocean, away from the big city light pollution of the continents.

The "Thirty Meter Telescope" is likely to be the largest device of its kind in the world, and the most powerful optical telescope ever built.

The problem with the Thirty Meter project, however, is that it is slated to be built directly on top of a sacred mountaintop, and construction has been halted by a group of native Hawaiian protesters that believe that the construction of such a device in that location would constitute sacrilege.

Additionally, the ecosystem of the mountain is both delicate and unique, and the construction of the telescope, and the surrounding superstructure of an observatory and support system, would likely spell disaster for the creatures living on and around the peak.

While legally there is no dilemma, there are significant social justice causes to be considered, and at this time construction has been halted.

I've included a concept image of what the telescope would look like.