Author Topic: When you watch the sky... (Read 347358 times)

Lady Sa'iltu · « **Reply #200 on:** April 12, 2009, 06:26:46 pm »

The eclipsed moon is so awesome!!!

P.S.: Hi!!!!!

saphira · « **Reply #201 on:** April 13, 2009, 08:41:53 am »

Hi there!
The third one is fantastic!

RagingRadish · « **Reply #202 on:** April 13, 2009, 10:21:21 am »

Thanks for the compliments folks

@ Luth: Yes, that is snow - we get a fair bit of it here. It's nice at the beginning but winters sometimes drag on too long but it looks like an early spring this year.

Markus · « **Reply #203 on:** April 13, 2009, 06:01:42 pm »

Hey Radish,

firstly:

And your pics are terrific! The dawn mood is very beautiful, the eclipsed moon is great with the maria and the gradient in the umbra, and the star trails are wonderful and gain a lot due to the foreground trees. Looks like you've got pretty dark skies there!

I've noticed an extra-bright trail near the pole. Is that Polaris or some other object?

Cheers!

Markus

RagingRadish · « **Reply #204 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:28:36 am »

Thanks Markus. The skies there were very dark - it was about 400km away from the city in the wilds on northern Ontario. What made that night even cooler was the ISS going by about 2 hours before. The bright object near the pole is Polaris. Being a mag. 2, it really becomes apparent over a 20 min exposure.

Lady Sa'iltu · « **Reply #205 on:** April 19, 2009, 08:58:24 pm »

The moon outside my windows: http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1632/img1898zzm.jpg
Today.... : http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5480/img1948k.jpg - I love this pic so much!!!!

Markus · « **Reply #206 on:** April 21, 2009, 10:21:52 am »

I watched a wonderful dawn this morning on my way to work: Near the brightening, colourful horizon, from right to left I saw Jupiter, a slender crescent moon, brillant Venus (for only the second time as morning star for many months) and a light-column which heralded the coming of the sun. Wonderful! Watch out for the scene tomorrow when Luna will be very close to Venus, even occulting it for North-American viewers.

Cheers!

Markus

lavaniegosII · « **Reply #207 on:** April 25, 2009, 12:01:14 am »

Rise venus!

Markus · « **Reply #208 on:** April 25, 2009, 06:57:44 am »

Quote from: lavaniegosII on April 25, 2009, 12:01:14 am

Rise venus!

Indeed.

See this beautiful image of the crescent of Venus right next to the moon.

Rise, oh bright Venus - thou brilliant crescent!

Cheers!

Markus

RagingRadish · « **Reply #209 on:** April 25, 2009, 11:42:28 pm »

Did you catch APOD on 4/24?: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090424.html Awesome shot.

Markus · « **Reply #210 on:** April 26, 2009, 03:21:06 am »

Yeah, that's the one I was trying to link in my last posting- Really terrific!

Cheers!

Markus

RagingRadish · « **Reply #211 on:** April 26, 2009, 11:52:24 am »

Woops, I didn't even notice the link.

I'll just go sit over there --->

Aluqak · « **Reply #212 on:** April 27, 2009, 08:34:51 am »

Really great stuff guys. I still have to keep reminding me to raise my head and watch the sky more often

.

Oh and btw!

RagingRadish!

It's nice to have some fresh Canadian blood in this forum. I lived in Canada for 10 years and even got a Canadian 'wife' in the process. We would like to come back soon... but we will see. Plane tickets are too expensive these days.

Loke · « **Reply #213 on:** July 02, 2009, 02:40:35 am »

Oh my , i ll be watching my dreamy highlands sky again in no time, tears flow right now

yo yo yo

Markus · « **Reply #214 on:** July 02, 2009, 09:02:38 pm »

Hey, there's a poet inside you, Loke.

Myself, I've seen a few wonderful thunderstorm clouds in the past few days. There was a huge one at night above my roof-deck. I could see the dark blue midsummer-nightsky with a few stars beyond it. The bottom of the cloud was shapeless and lit up by the ugly city-light, but its top - probably several kilometers above me - was a beautiful cumulus-structure, lit slightly blueish by the dusk light still visible up there.

Yesterday I saw wonderful clouds on my way home from work. Cumuli were lined up along the horizon - for more than 180° - billowing upwards. To the Northeast I saw an enormous cloud rising above the others, looking anvil-shaped and fuzzy. I could tell from the clouds in front of it that it must have been farther and much higher than the other clouds. It looked like this - the top of a large thunderstorm cloud, something I have never consciously seen before.

Cheers!

Markus

Markus · « **Reply #215 on:** July 03, 2009, 06:25:12 am »

Hi folks,

has anyone seen a volcanic sunset like this one in Spain? They are visible these days in North America and Europe due to the eruption of the volcano Sarychev Peak. I haven't been lucky yet. Have you?

Cheers!

Markus

Lucy · « **Reply #216 on:** July 03, 2009, 07:58:20 am »

What makes a sunset "volcanic", oh Master of Astronomy?

Markus · « **Reply #217 on:** July 03, 2009, 03:44:15 pm »

Dear Lucy,

you can see a volcanic sunset when a cloud of fine volcanic dust is high in the air. (More exatly: Strong volcanic eruptions cast fine sulphurous particles into the stratosphere, the second layer of atmosphere, where they can spread over a huge range or even circle the globe.) After sunset these high particles, called aerosols, still receive sunlight while at the ground the sun has already set. This leads to intense and unusual colours: A wide range from a warm yellow near the horizon to a deep purple high above. I watch out for these sunsets when I know the chances are high, but I've never actually one. Yet.

Cheers!

Markus Sulphuricus

Markus · « **Reply #218 on:** August 02, 2009, 09:26:01 pm »

Hey folks,

what a wonderful sky I saw this morning! Spent the weekend at our family's cottage and awoke somewhen at the beginning of dawn. The skies were very clear... I saw so many stars, bright and faint ones alike. The milky way was clearly visible overhead. Perseus was high in the Northeast - a lot of shooting stars will appear from that constellation in the days ahead.

But the most beautiful sight was near the horizon. Winter was greeting me as the Pleiades had already risen. Below them the whole constellation of Taurus was rising. Between the horns of the Bull there was an extra "star", not very bright yet but still eye-catching: Mars. In front of the horn-tips there was a brilliant Venus blazing in the pre-dawn-skies. Oh, what a sight!

Cheers!

Markus

Markus · « **Reply #219 on:** August 06, 2009, 10:05:28 am »

Hey folks,

don't forget about the Perseids! There are many shooting stars to see in the days ahead, as Earth crosses a stream of debris and dust from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The nights over Europe are often clear these days, only the bright moon is disturbing. Under theoretical, ideal conditions you can already see about a dozen Perseids per hour, and this number may rise to 200 when the shower peaks on August 12. But even now it pays to keep an extra eye on the nightsky. Good luck!

Cheers!

Markus

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Author Topic: When you watch the sky... (Read 347358 times)