I’m back from vacation! And what a time it was up north seeing the Perseid meteor shower this year. With no Moon and the best dark skies I have had all summer, the shower did not disappoint, with at least 50 per hour and perhaps as many as 80 where I was viewing! I saw a few great shots on Reddit’s Astronomy sub. I didn’t catch any meteors in my photos, and not for lack of trying. I am still a rookie astrophotographer, so I had some trouble getting the settings right on my camera, even though I spent two...
It’s that magical time of year once again, the best meteor shower of the year is upon us: The Perseids! Generally the most reliable meteor shower and the one that most people know about, the August meteors have one of the highest rates, typically anywhere from 50 – 100 meteors per hour. Its amazing how well known it is considering most people don’t know there are more than nine showers during the year. Either way, this year will be particularly good for a very special reason: It’s a new Moon. The Moon is the enemy of a meteor shower. Its...
Every 29.5 days we see a new Moon, or rather we don’t see it, since it’s lost in the glare of the Sun. But a few days after the new moon, we can see it slowly move away from the Sun and become visible after sunset, with the thinnest crescent growing a bit larger each night. You may have heard that Mars and Venus also live in the Western sky after sunset, with Venus moving higher and Mars appearing to double back toward the Sun, soon to be lost in the glare of our home star. Last night I was...
Even though the weather has been insanely cold in Canada the past few weeks, there is an upside for astronomers. Call me a perpetual optimist, but when it’s colder in Canada than it is on Mars, you have to find some kind of silver lining. The upside is that colder weather and clear skies are sometimes synonymous. I’m not a meteorologist so I don’t have any reason to go into detail as to why, but we have had a lot of cold, clear evenings. I’ve had a chance to go outside and test my new DSLR camera, at least for a...
