Astronomy – Page 2 – bwuphoto.com

Camera club meeting will feature astrophotography | Arts

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To start off the new year the Land of Waterfalls Camera Club will present a program featuring “The Fundamentals of Astrophotography” at its monthly meeting Thursday, Jan. 19. Starting promptly at 7 p.m., “live” via Zoom, the evening will conclude with the popular Shoot & Show activity.

For thousands of years people on earth have gazed into the night sky with awe and with questions. They have tried to capture and record what they could see with the naked eye. The German 3,600-year-old Nebra Sky Disk shows the first known depiction of the cosmos on a disk.

Opportunities to see the cosmic phenomenon increased drastically with the invention of the telescope early in the 1600s. Galileo saw the potential for the telescope and improved it drastically. He was then able to make many observations which he recorded in text and sketches.

Appropriately, it was an astronomer who coined the term photography in 1839, when Johann Heinrich von Madler combined “photo” (from the Greek word for “light”) and “graphy” (“to write). In that same year the French photography pioneer Daguerre himself is believed to be the first person to take a photograph of the moon, using his daguerreotype process. A year later John William Draper, an American doctor and chemist, took his own daguerreotype of the moon. By that time both astronomers and photographers realized that they could capture and document images that had eluded star gazers for centuries.

In 1850 Draper collaborated with astronomer William Bond to produce a daguerreotype of the star Vega. Henry Draper’s 1880 photograph of the Orion Nebula was the first ever taken.

Then physicists Jean Bernard Leon Foucault and Armand Fizeau improved the process sufficiently to photograph the Sun in sufficient detail that sunspots could be seen for the first time.

Over a century both telescopes and cameras continued to improve the science of documenting the heavens. Professional applications got bigger, better and more expensive. The science belonged to those with giant observatories and special cameras. But the amateur photographers and astronomers really got their first break with the more recent introduction of digital photography. The digital camera gear and the software processing created limitless possibilities for the amateur Astro Photographer.

Night photography isn’t the easiest genre to master. There are so many things to consider. On top of your usual composition and exposure, you have to deal with noise, shadow detail, preserving highlights and camera gear considerations for night lovers.

Being out alone in the dark isn’t for the faint-hearted, but astrophotographers have learned to handle any fear of the dark when conditions are favorable. Some night images take a lot of planning: full moon and milky way images with specific foreground, for example. Interestingly, there are very few photographers who specialize solely in astro photography. The majority are versatile and shoot various types of landscape images.

Astro Photographer James S. Mack’s presentation of “The Fundamentals of Astro Photography” will be geared to enlighten and entertain photographers of all levels of proficiency (beginner to experienced pro). With a lifetime interest in the sciences and nature, 34 years as a graphic artist, 50 years of photographic experience (which includes over 25 years of astro photography with digital equipment), he will pass on tips and other valuable information about what common equipment to use and how to use it.

Mack has six telescopes and is a member of the SCSG – Suncoast Stargazers, LGDSO – Local Group of Deepsky Observers and WAS – West Jersey Astronomical Society.

Following the astro photography program the fast paced “Shoot and Show” activity will showcase the latest photographic achievements of local members. It will be a good example of what local photographers can accomplish.

These open-to-the-public monthly meetings will be “live” on-line with Zoom until the health crisis subsides. Club members and guests are encouraged to sign in at least 10 minutes early (6:50 p.m.). Non-member guests are encouraged to go to [email protected] for invitation and access information at least a day prior to the meeting.

The Land of Waterfalls Camera Club welcomes participation from those interested in becoming a photographer, to novices who need fundamental skills, to photographers who enjoy sharing with others, as well as experienced pros. No special equipment or software is necessary.

To offer more focused forums for small group participatory learning and sharing the club features two Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The Capture SIG concentrates on how to take the best picture and meets from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. on the third Monday of the month in the community room of the United Community Bank in Straus Park or by Zoom. Please consult the website for the latest schedules. The Post Processing SIG features the developing/control of the digital image into the final photograph and continues to meet via Zoom at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of the month.

For more information, visit the Land of Waterfalls Camera Club website at www.lowccnc.com.

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The ecliptic: Super highway of the heavens – Post Bulletin

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DEC 7, 2022 MARS OCCULATION signed.jpg — Mars passes behind the moon on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.

We’re getting a great gift in our skies this holiday season with three bright planets — Saturn, Jupiter and Mars — decorating our evening skies. We also have some nice celestial conjunctions, or what I call celestial huggings, between the moon and planets.

Every month there are at least one or two conjunctions. These frequent conjunctions happen because of the ecliptic, the superhighway of the planets in our skies. Planets are wanderers, moving among the stars from night to night and year to year. In fact, the word planet has a Greek origin that roughly evolved from what they called “wandering stars.” Back then, no one really knew the nature of the planets except that they appeared to roam among the fixed stars in the celestial dome. Early civilizations observed that the moon and the wanderers, or planets, didn’t move randomly among the fixed stars. Instead, they followed about the same path, mainly migrating to the east and at times moving backward, or retrograde, in a westward direction. This path is called the ecliptic because it’s along the same line where eclipses of the sun and moon occur.

All of the planets take pretty much the same ecliptic path among the stars because they, along with our Earth, all orbit the sun in nearly the same geometric plane. They also move along the ecliptic at different speeds. The planets close to the sun, Venus and Mercury, are in the fast lane. Their paths around the sun are shorter and travel faster because the sun has a stronger gravitational pull on them. So they zip around the sun compared to outer planets like Uranus and Neptune, which take their sweet time completing their longer ecliptic circuit. Consider the ecliptic the long and winding road in the stars. Also, along and on either side of the ecliptic are thirteen constellations referred to as zodiac constellations. On any given night or day, a planet or our moon will be in one of these constellations as they travel down the ecliptic highway.

The planets aren’t the only wanderers in the night sky. Human-made satellites rip across the sky in just about all directions. Hundreds of them have been launched into space in the last 70 years. Many of them are still functioning, fulfilling their various missions and tasks, but there’s also a lot of junk up there like dead satellites and spent rocket stages. At my star-watching programs, I’ll inevitably have someone call out, “Hey, look at the satellite up there.”

The best times to spot satellites are early morning and early evening. While the sun has gone down from our point of view on Earth, it’s still shining high up in space where the satellites are. The light we see when we observe satellites is sunlight bouncing off their reflective surfaces.

Some satellites are brighter than others. The absolute king of the satellites is the International Space Station. At first glance it resembles a high-flying jet airliner. There are also the new Elon Musk Starlink communication satellites. Hundreds are already in use, and hundreds more are planned. The only problem is that with so many satellites, astronomical observations from Earth could get messy. I know it affects my astrophotography. Hopefully, solutions can be worked out so this won’t become a huge problem.

There are a lot of good websites and apps for helping you spot and identify satellites. Not only can these help you with satellites, but many apps and websites can also help locate comets, asteroids and more so you can enjoy all the wanderers, natural and human-made!

Celestial Happening this week: The winter solstice is during the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 21, and it’s the astronomical first day of winter and the shortest day of the year. From here on, days get longer, and the sun climbs higher and higher in the heavens.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications. Send questions to

[email protected]

The Rochester Astronomy Club welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. Their website is

rochesterskies.org

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Travel trend: Why Astro Tourism is growing among domestic travellers in India? | Travel

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Travel enthusiasts, who crave a holistic astronomy experience to give voice to their curiosity about the vast skies beyond our stratosphere, can gain an integrated astronomy experience through Astro Tourism, a trend that has seen an increasing number of travellers who are keen to get to experience activities such as stargazing, sun observations, stargazing parties with friends, experiential science activities and much more. The spike in Astro Tourism could be a result of the post pandemic world where many people are looking for less crowded and nature driven experiences or the offer of a sense of discovery as when you look up at the sky, you may see a big white moon or two bright stars that never twinkle but when you look at them through the telescope, the moon suddenly has massive features (craters, flat grey surfaces, highlands, etc.) of varied colours and the two bright stars are no longer stars – one is Jupiter, a big disc with a giant red dot on it (which in itself is a storm three times the size of the Earth) and the other is Saturn, with many rings around it.

You literally cannot believe your eyes and you realise that the universe is so much more complex than what you see, with so much left to discover hence, a number of resorts and hotel chains are now offering stargazing as one of the activities for their guests to treat them to a flashback to their childhood. For a large number of people, the last time they looked at the skies and enjoyed the stars was when they were kids and ever since they turned into adults, they moved to a city and neither got the opportunity nor the time to experience the cosmos but looking up at the skies lets them relive their childhood.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Paul Savio, CEO and Co-Founder of Starscapes, revealed that Astro Tourism is seeing a spurt for three reasons:

(1) With higher disposable incomes and a more liberal view of living a wholesome life, people are on the lookout for new and exciting experiences that are beyond the usual offerings available. Anything new piques a huge interest, and today people are more willing to try them out than before.

(2) Millennials have, due to access to the internet in their formative years, a much more global exposure to life and career than previous generations. As parents, this demographic is open to encouraging their kids to look at radical career options, and therefore get exposed to such experiences that could kindle an interest in the kids becoming astrophysicists, aerospace engineers or even astronauts.

(3) Space is in the news, with NASA going back to the moon (Artemis), India sending humans to space (Gaganyaan) and space tourism kicking off with private enterprise (SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin). So it is currently top of mind.

He shared, “Lots of people, especially in metros, are beginning to step out to nearby dark sky locations to get a glimpse of the starry sky. Apart from the usual suspects (Ladakh, Spiti, Kodaikanal, Kutch, Coorg, Jaisalmer, etc.), myriad sites exist within 2 hours of all metros which can give a great dark sky experience. However, daytime astronomy as a concept is slowly picking up too.”

According to Neeraj Ladia, CEO of Space Arcade, there is a lot of interest in Astro tourism all over India. He said, “One major reason is social media. More and more people are showing people where they can travel. Places which were accessible for very few people earlier, like mountaineering and trekking, are now common among people. There are videos, reels on social media accounts where there is a lot of conversation around offbeat activities such as astro tourism. People have become more aware of these kinds of things. Astro tourism has gained more popularity post lockdown mainly because people want to be closer to nature and want to do something new and offbeat. Similarly, like wildlife photography/nature photography, people are developing an interest in astro photography too.”

Talking about some of the common activities under astro tourism, Paul Savio highlighted stargazing, sun observation, astrophotography (where you learn how to photograph the night sky and even deep sky objects using different cameras and mounts), astro tours (trips to dark sky locations for an enhanced night sky experience), workshops and activities to understand different phenomena associated with astrophysics and space exploration.

For a person who has never experienced astro tourism, Neeraj Ladia suggested stargazing as one of the most exciting activities to do. Secondly, he recommended, “If it is a starry clear night, guided telescope view of planets and deep sky objects along with an astrophotography session can be quite exciting. With astro tourism, people have an opportunity to see and learn the names of the stars and constellations. They can also go much deeper into understanding these concepts.”

Paul Savio concluded, “Astro Tourism is the sunrise segment of the experiential tourism industry. Massive interest is being shown by luxury resorts across India to incorporate astro-experiences in the bouquet of offerings for their guests. Today, the customer base is overwhelmingly of people who are looking for a new experience and not necessarily an astronomy experience. We expect this to flip in the next 3 years – people will travel with an intent to have an astronomy experience. This will be driven by the springing up of dark sky parks (the astronomy equivalent of national parks) and other dark sky places equipped to service this interest.”

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