Haven’t been posting, and you know why?

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Bart Ehrman, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, Pawn Stars, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, turks and caicos islands

We have left the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the dark skies that arch over them, to return home in the United States. Ain’t no dark skies here…unless I want to drive 100 miles to get to a remote location. Besides that, the weather has been fairly crummy since returning home…cloudy, cool, and rainy for a good portion of the time. So, other than reading Sky and Telescope, I haven’t been participating in astronomical activities for the past three weeks or so.

I have been doing a lot of reading:  Bart Ehrman, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, especially.  Also managed to reread Carl Sagan’s “Contact.  And, of course, getting caught up on episodes of “Pawn Stars” that I missed while away for the winter.

But, oboy, do I miss those skies!

Accidental satellite

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amateur astronomy, astronomy, HST, hubble space telescope, salt cay, satellites, turks and caicos islands

I went out under the dark skies of Salt Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands last night to burn up some digital memory using my Nikon D80.  After taking several exposures of star trails in various parts of the sky, I decided to try to capture the zodiacal light which was rapidly fading in the west. Never having captured the light before in a photo, I thought I’d give it another shot, even though it was difficult to see with the naked eye.  (Under the dark skies in Salt Cay, the light is visible practically every cloudless evening.)  I set the camera to manual at f4.0, 1600 ISO, 22mm on the lens, and opened the shutter.  I originally was going to take a two-minute exposure, but cut it short at 79 seconds.  This is what I captured:

HST and plane

The easily recognizable “V” of Taurus is seen in the center of the photo.  The bright object to the left is Jupiter.  The Pleiades are visible near some clouds to the lower right.  But, here’s the thing…as I was taking the photo, I noticed a plane moving into the field of view.  That was cool enough.  Look to the right of Jupiter to see the red light of the plane.  (If this picture is enlarged, you can even see the spacing of the planes blinking light.)  Then I also noticed a rapidly moving white speck travelling from the WNW climbing into the sky.  Whoa!  A satellite!  Cool, again.  I let the exposure run until I thought the satellite had passed through the field of view and stopped the exposure at 79 seconds.

When I returned home, I verified using www.heavens-above.com that the satellite was the Hubble Space Telescope.  Cool, one more time!  I have no idea of the plane’s identity or where it was headed.  And, even though I was not successful in getting that elusive photo of the zodiacal light, I did manage to get a memorable picture..by accident!

Satellite Rodeos and Iridium Flares

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amateur astronomy, Iridium flare, satellites, turks and caicos islands

While on vacation in the Turks and Caicos Islands last year, a bunch of friends got together for food and drink and nights under the stars.  We called these gatherings “satellite rodeos” because the object was to “round-up” (observe) as many satellites travelling overhead as we could that particular night.  During the winter of 2012, we had two of these rodeos, which became known as SR1.0 and SR1.1.

During the current season of 2013, we managed to have three satellite rodeos, SR2.0, SR2.1, and SR2.2.  The first two were very successful.  The third, held just two days ago, was a bust.  The skies were cloudy and it eventually rained.  But everyone had a good time anyway, enjoying the BBQ’d flank steaks, cheesy mashed potatoes, slaw, and very tasty desserts.  And, of course, whatever a person’s favorite drink was!

On all these occasions, we took advantage of www.heavens-above.com to plan our evening activities.

On a side note, I love to watch and photograph Iridium flares.  If you are not familiar with Iridium satellites, go here to read up about them.  I have beaucoup pictures of these satellites going back several years.  A novice sky watcher can easily spot them.  Here’s a timed exposure of Iridium 39 that passed overhead earlier this evening.

Iridium 39 from Salt Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Nikon D80, 28mm, 400 ISO, approximate 10 secs.

Predictions regarding Iridium flares at your particular location are available also at www.heavens-above.com.  It’s a great site for all kinds of stuff:  other satellites passing overhead, planet and comet information, sky charts, etc.  Check it out.

The Perils of an Amateur

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amateur astronomy, astronomy, astrophotography

There were two events I wanted to try to photograph this evening. One was an Iridium flare which was to occur near the star Sirius. It was predicted to be mag -8.1, one of the brightest and I definitely wanted a pic. The other event was the appearance of Comet Pan-STARRS.

The flare was to occur almost exactly at 7:30 pm. When I finally noticed that the time was almost upon me, I had only about four minutes to rush my camera and tripod outside and get it set up and pointed in the right direction. A friend stood nearby as I framed the camera just to the east of Sirius and made sure the lens was in focus. I then turned on the camera and was greeted by a message on the view screen…”No card present.” On, no! I had removed the card earlier in the day to transfer some files to my laptop and left the card in the computer’s slot. So, I ran into the house and retrieved the card. By this time, I had less than a minute before the scheduled flare. I tried desperately to get the card into the camera, but fumbled it and watched it fall between the boards of the wooden deck on which we were standing. “Shit!” I yelled and ran into the house to get another card. As I was racing back outside, I heard my friend, who was standing patiently by the camera and tripod, yell, “Oh, man, that was great!” “What?” I asked as I ran to the camera. “The flare,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was so bright!”

Damn, I missed it. But, there was still the comet. By now, the sky had darkened enough in the west that I thought it surely must be visible. I looked though my 7×50 binoculars and, after 2 or 3 minutes trying to locate it, I finally spotted it. Trouble was, there were several dark clouds nearby and they all were slowly drifting toward the comet. I quickly changed lenses on the camera and zoomed in on the comet using 200mm. I fired off a 3 second exposure and then checked the pic on the camera’s monitor screen. I had forgotten to set the focus. I reoriented the camera toward Jupiter and focused in, then quickly moved back to the comet. It was disappearing behind one of the slow-moving clouds. So, I waited. And waited. Meanwhile, my friend had wandered back into the house to check on the pizza that was cooking in the oven. Still, I waited but the cloud was not moving. Maybe, I thought, the comet will drift toward the horizon far enough to clear the cloud. So, I waited some more. Another cloud, slightly lower than the one currently hiding the comet, drifted under the cloud obscuring the comet. I knew then that I was doomed. No photos of the comet tonight.

So, I bombed out on two events this evening. One because I had not prepared far enough in advance and one because of Mother Nature interfering with my plans.

I have to work on the first issue and make sure I allow enough prep time when I venture outside. The other problem, Mother Nature, I just have to live with.

Comet Pan-STARRS Nailed

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astronomy, astrophotograpy, C/2011 L4, Comet, Comet Pan-STARRS, Comet PanSTARRS, Turks and Caicos Island

Comet Pan-STARRS 3/14/13 from Salt Cay, Turks and Caicos Islands

Earlier this evening, I again spotted Comet Pan-STARRS low in the western sky about 45 minutes after sunset. I hauled my Nikon D80 outside and snapped a series of photos. The one above was taken using a 50 mm lens with an exposure of 4-5 seconds at 1600 ISO. It was later slightly enhanced using Photoscape to bring out the comet a little better. As pictured, it still fairly represents what could be seen with the naked eye.