If you want to do a long exposure with a DSLR, do it like the astrophotographers. Take multiple exposures and use stacking software to layer them.

You don't need 16 megapixels unless you're planning to take a small part of an image and blow it up huge, or you're doing graphic editing. For just posting an image to the internet, there's no advantage to over 2 megapixels.

No, snow is long gone as the temperatures are in the 70s and 80s.

I particularly like using my eyeballs.

With digital astrophotography, you get much more detail than you can with your eye when you stack images. It has been said that using this technique with CCD cameras on amateur-size scopes can record fainter objects than the 200" Mount Palomar telescope could record on conventional film just 10-15 years ago.

Very soon SDLR will catch up with human eyes the way it is going. What is it at about 100Mp?

Yes of course typical web jpgs are ok at 2 Mp but obviously if you spend the time to find the right colors and location, composition etc you need to have as fine resolution as possible for all kinds of reasons and 16M seems to be the point you catch up with one of the best films in history Fuji Velvia 50. You can then resize it as needed anyway.

A typical pc monitor is about 1.5 to 2 mp as it is but if you want to create a picture for your home or some exhibition and you have to go up in size you will not lose value if you have the definition to begin with. I bet it would show even in prints.

Cool stuff (including videos) from JPL and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope [Cigar Galaxy & other space goodies]:

Link:http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/video...xy-up-in-Smoke

Interesting tidbit from link:

Spitzer's infrared spectrograph told astronomers that the dust contains a carbon-containing compound, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. This smelly molecule can be found on Earth in tailpipes, barbecue pits and other places where combustion reactions have occurred.

Hubble telescope captures the birth of a star.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5420373.html

From above link:

The birth of a star can be both violent and beautiful.

In a Hubble Space Telescope image released this week by NASA, an infant star shines within a cloud of golden gas and dust. IRAS 14568-6304, located about 2,500 light-years away, can be seen within the Circinus molecular cloud complex, one of the most prominent star-forming regions.

The young star is a particularly spectacular sight since it has a protostellar jet. This tail-like formation beneath the star is composed of remnants of gas and dust from the parent cloud that gave birth to the star.

The Beast Asteroid

From above link:

Watch as ‘the Beast’ Asteroid Sails Past Earth This Week


A giant asteroid will silently glide by Earth this week, a stark reminder of cosmic dangers lurking nearby.

Measuring about 1,067 feet (325 meters) wide, the space intruder nicknamed “the Beast,” more formally known as HQ124, has an estimated width equal to an aircraft carrier (earlier estimates had been even larger). It will be three lunar distances away from Earth at its closest approach on Thursday, so thankfully there is no risk to our planet.

However, it’s a big one and we didn’t notice its approach until April 23. While it’s nothing new, thanks to dedicated telescope surveys, to hear about asteroids whizzing past Earth or the moon, it is unusual to see such a large one go unnoticed for so long.

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer picked up its movement against a fixed backdrop of stars, traveling at approximately 31,000 miles per hour (50,400 kilometers per hour).
Sky surveys have catalogued and are tracking approximately 90 percent of the potentially dangerous asteroids that are 3,200 feet (1,000 meters) and over in diameter. Those are the ones that have the potential to destroy continents on impact.

Only 30 percent of the 460-foot (140-meter) rocks have been accounted for, and unfortunately less than 1 percent of the 98-foot (30-meter) Earth-orbit crossers have been detected to date. While these may not be global killers, they have the potential to damage or destroy entire cities. A 2013 Russian asteroid strike damaged buildings and blew out windows across the Urals, for example.

“What’s disconcerting is that a rocky/metallic body this large, and coming so very close, should have only first been discovered this soon before its nearest approach. HQ124 is at least 10 times bigger, and possibly 20 times, than the asteroid that injured a thousand people last year in Chelyabinsk, Siberia,” said Bob Berman, an astronomer with Internet astronomy outreach venture Slooh.

“If it were to impact us, the energy released would be measured not in kilotons like the atomic bombs that ended World War II, but in H-bomb type megatons.”

Slooh will cover the flyby of the the Beast live on Thursday, June 5, starting at 11:30 a.m. PDT/2:30 p.m. EDT/6:30 p.m. UTC. For international times, visit http://*******/0iYDxR .

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The European Space Agency (ESA) will be landing a space craft on a comet this November - critical maneuvering is now being done to get in position to accomplish this:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/7831...aching-target/

From above link:



BERLIN—A comet-chasing spacecraft on a mission to land on a fizzing ball of ice and dust later this year has begun a crucial slow-down maneuver to avoid flying past its target.

The European Space Agency says the Rosetta probe is firing its thrusters to cut by almost two thirds the speed with which it’s hurtling toward comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The agency says Wednesday’s burn is the first of four before Rosetta comes within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the comet in early August, beyond the orbit of Mars. The final rendezvous requires two more precision maneuvers.

The probe, launched a decade ago, will spend time observing 67P before dropping a lander onto its icy surface in November.

The comet is about four kilometers long and orbits the Sun every six-and-a-half years.

Last week I drove from the LA area to Reno (stopping at Mammoth Lakes), and then over the mountains and through the woods (and the central valley) to the central coast and then down the coast to LA area.

Incredible diversity of landscapes. I was too busy looking around at things to be bothered to snap photos.

I only took a few pictures of a chicken that I made friends with on a pier when I was at the central coast.

"Supermoon" and the annual Perseid Meteor Shower, Sunday and Monday, etc. Be sure to watch if you can.

http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/weath...moon/13743861/

From above link:

SAN FRANCISCO (USA TODAY) -- Aug. 10 brings the start of the "Old Faithful" of meteor showers, the Perseids, as well as a super moon.

The prolific Perseids show up once a year, in August, filling the night sky with as many as 80 shooting stars an hour. This year's show coincides with the arrival of a super moon, which occurs when the Earth and moon are at their closest.

Super moons bring with them 30% more light. That's a problem as it makes the meteors less visible.

Still, the two events together make this a good few days to spend some time outside at night, says Ben Burress, an astronomer with the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.

The shower's peak will come in the hours before dawn Aug. 11-13, Burress says.

Look in the constellation Perseus, which is just to the left of the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters constellation, in the northeastern portion of the sky.

Normally, a bright moon would dim the visibility of meteors, but the Perseids have bright meteors, so "it's not a complete washout," Burress says. "But it won't be nearly as good as it would if the moon wasn't up."

Another option is to look as night falls, when the moon is low in the east, according to Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.

If you're lucky, you might see some Earth-grazing Perseids. These are unusually long and graceful meteors, less frequent but quite lovely.
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That supermoon is looking awfully bright. Big too, though that's not supposed to be especially noticeable.

Check out the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter shortly before dawn tomorrow (Monday) morning. They will be just 1/3 of a degree apart. That's close enough for both to fit in the same field of view of a telescope.



http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...&rid=246900495

Solar storm headed our way.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space...-earth-n200321

From above website:

Solar Storm Warning: Sun Shoots X-Flare Outburst at Earth


A cantankerous sunspot region erupted with a powerful X1.6-class solar flare at just the wrong time Wednesday. The blast was pointing right at us. That means any resulting outburst of electrically charged particles, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, could have a disruptive effect.

"Initial information suggests that CME is likely associated with this event, but further analysis is underway at this time," the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center reported on its Facebook page.

Solar storms don't have a significant impact on human health, although high-altitude fliers and astronauts may get an extra dose of radiation. In a worst-case scenario, the storms can deal a blow to orbiting satellites and power grids on Earth. In a best-case scenario, they merely cause heightened auroral displays.

It generally takes a couple of days for the charged particles associated with a CME to make their way to Earth.

The sunspot region is known as AR2158, and it's been acting up over the past few days. Wednesday's flare was detected at about 1:45 p.m. ET and was strong enough to cause a wide-area blackout of high-frequency radio communication for about an hour.

X-class flares represent the most powerful kind of solar blasts (as opposed to medium M-class flares or the lower-energy A, B or C classes). Solar scientists spotted a triple-X outburst in June, but none of those blasts was directed toward Earth.

Check SpaceWeather.com for more on the solar storm.........
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Total Lunar Eclipse on Oct 8 can be seen in North America.

Details in link below

http://earthsky.org/tonight/total-lu...tober-7-8-2014

Vast Solar Filament Seen By NASA Probe Stretches One Million Miles

Huffington Post link: [the short video is good and also at the end of the page nine different views of the sun is also very interesting]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...usaolp00000592

From above link:

Solar filaments are clouds of solar material, which become suspended by powerful magnetic forces above the sun's surface. Filaments aren't rare, but one of this size certainly stands out -- straightened out, the filament would measure around one million miles in length.

NASA says the spacecraft's photos may hold clues to what causes solar filaments, and how they trigger huge eruptions from the sun called coronal mass ejections.

These eruptions can disrupt the flow of solar wind and even send high-energy particles toward Earth.

“That’s one of the coolest things about a filament — when it finally lifts off and you’ll see these million-mile things just rip off the surface of the sun,” astrophysicist Dean Pesnell, project scientist for the Solar Dynamics Observatory, told the Los Angeles Times.

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Comet zooms by Mars today. See link below. I think you can watch it live on the web also.

http://www.space.com/27473-comet-sid...s-webcast.html

Comet Lovejoy is here for your viewing pleasure (should be at its peak brightness and last through end of January); see Sky and Telescope article/info link below:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...ght-122920141/

The Dawn Spacecraft is about 238,000 miles from Ceres, due to arrive on March 5, 2015.

New Horizon will reach Pluto in July 14, 2015. This spacecraft has two distinctions, besides the obvious of going to Pluto.

New Horizon set a record for the highest launch speed of any human-made object from Earth, taking only nine hours to reach the moon’s orbit. The third stage burn to Earth-and-Solar escape trajectory boosted New Horizons’ velocity to 58,536 km/h (36,373 mph). Imagine going to the Moon and back in a day. It's going to take nine and a half years to get to Pluto.

New Horizon is powered by one radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). If Rosetta had one of these we'd be getting tons of data from comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Once Pluto is sufficiently peered upon New Horizon heads out to the Kuiper Belt. They haven't picked out which objects to visit yet, but 1110113Y could be reached in four years using up around 35% of trajectory adjustment fuel supply.

Asteroid will buzz by earth 1/26-27.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...bl86-01222015/

I was alerted by Bruce emailing me today morning about interesting events going in the sky this weekend.

For instance right now (literally lol) if you have night in your location and telescopes;

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser...&rid=246900495

"Saturday, February 21

Venus and Mars are in conjunction 0.4° apart at dusk, with the Moon now looking on from above.

Two mutual events among Jupiter's moons. Watch Europa pass in front of Io this evening, from 9:05 to 9:11 p.m. EST. Their combined light dims by 0.6 magnitude (not quite half) at the center of this time.

Then less than an hour later, Europa casts its shadow onto Io from 9:41 to 9:49 p.m. EST, dimming Io by 0.9 magnitude at the mid-time.

Watch Christopher Go's highly magnified videos of Europa occulting Io and then Europa eclipsing Io on February 18th. (The gray spot at the center of each satellite is a processing artifact.)

Sunday, February 22

Jupiter blazes in the east after dark this week. High above it are Pollux and Castor. Look about half as far to Jupiter's right for the dim head of Hydra, the Sea Serpent, about the width of your thumb at arm's length.

Before the Moon starts brightening the evening sky too much, take a telescopic tour through some of the Melotte star clusters with Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders column, charts, and photos in the March Sky & Telescope, page 58.
- See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/weeks-sky-glance-february-20-28/?et_mid=726666&rid=246900495#sthash.DmQxUWZQ.dpuf"

If Bruce had been treated better he would be the one posting these things and a lot of other material here (i certainly wasnt paying attention for example). But at least you know he still cares for the SMP community.


It might be possible with a decent amateur telescope judging from eg this image

Thanks to Bruce and Masque. I've tried to keep this thread going myself as it is very useful. Jupiter's moons are also visible with telescope or a good pair of binoculars as I noted in the SMP Random content thread. Also the crescent moon the last two nights has been very beautiful.


There is always something interesting see if you look up, even if it is just clouds.

Cool thread. I bought a Star Blast 90 about 3 months ago. I go to the Everglades usually 2-3x a month. I was able to see the zodiacal light last weekend. Jupiter is really cool to see w/ the telescope. Haven't seen Saturn yet; that's next on my list.

Total Solar Eclipse this Friday. UK in Darkness. Chaos and human sacrifice predicted. Druids in uproar.

http://www.space.com/28820-total-sol...arch-2015.html


From above link:


This week, the moon will completely cover the disk of the sun, creating a solar eclipse that only a small part of the world can see.

The March 20 total solar eclipse event will be the first since Nov. 3, 2013. The dark umbral shadow cone of the moon will trace a curved path primarily over the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, beginning off the southern tip of Greenland and then winding its way counterclockwise to the northeast, passing between Iceland and the United Kingdom.

The shadow will then pass over the Danish-owned Faroe Islands, the sparsely inhabited Norwegian island group of Svalbard and then it will hook counterclockwise toward the northwest, where it leaves the Earth’s surface just short of the North Pole.

Cloudiest day ever, man.