Just letting you know that the Eta Aquariids meteor shower is due to peak on the night/morning of the 5th/6th, though it’s going on right now, since we’re passing through the dust trail left by Hailey’s comet on its passes around the sun – that’s what most meteor showers are, and why we can schedule them. As the Earth trundles around in its orbit, it crosses the paths
Category: Astronomy
It’s that April busy season
Yes, indeed, like every year, we’re closing in on three principle events within April, and unlike some of the other ‘events’ that pop up around this time of year, these are not at all mythological.
First off, we’re already within the Lyrids Meteor Shower,
It’s still cool
It’s kinda funny how abruptly your perspective may change. I’ve been getting reminders of what today is the anniversary of all week, and to a distinct degree, I wasn’t all that motivated to recognize it – and then the rational part of my brain kicks the emotional part in the ass and tells it to go back to worrying about bad drivers.
What I’m talking about is that today
Not ‘arf Wednesday
I was out on the road a little too far from home (where my camera, long lens, and tripod sat) when I spotted the moon rising above the trees – blood red, dim, and of course looking huge. First off, if you know what time the moon rose this morning you may be wondering why I was on the road at that time, but bug off. Anyway, I liked the color but knew it would be unlikely to still be that color
Oop, so much for that
I noticed, in checking over Stellarium late this afternoon, that not only was the ISS going to make a highly-visible pass a couple hours hence, it would be closely tailed by the Dragon Crew Capsule, I believe having recently separated from the station. I figured this was worth a shot in capturing both at once, even if it was going to be difficult to snag. The issue is, the ISS is small
This is not a comet
Well, I mean, duryea! But I did not go out tonight with the intention of shooting the moon. I was out attempting to see and/or photograph comet C/2021 A1, otherwise known as Leonard (and somehow not “Al” as it seems to imply,) because it’s been visible along the horizon not long after sunset, and I finally got clear skies and a free schedule to get out
Today’s sorting find
It’s funny – when sorting photos into their respective folders (or, often enough, deleting them from the drives,) I often find something to comment upon, or something that I meant to feature earlier but forgot about. In this case, it’s a detail that I didn’t notice at the time, and “the time” was the day following the
It’s there, I tells ya!
Doing my check with the ol’ Stellarium, I found that I would have another opportunity for a particular accomplishment this morning right before sunrise, so I set the alarm and made off while skies were still dark (well, as dark as they get around here, which doesn’t count as significantly dark at all,) to be on site when it happened.
“What’s that?” you ask in that long-suffering
Not too shabby at that
Why yes, I was out early this morning in pursuit of astronomical shenanigans, to see if our impish little moon was playing hide-and-seek. Well, there was no uncertainty about that, since we’ve possessed the knowledge of orbital mechanics since before we called a hashtag a pound sign – it was definitely going to happen. But there remained the question of whether I
Seeing is succeeding
Are you all set to go out and watch the not-total lunar eclipse tomorrow morning, i.e., a few hours from now? I plan to be down at a reasonably dark sky location to make the attempt, though at the moment, it’s not looking promising – we have scattered thin clouds here right now, but they’re patchy, so it’s impossible to predict which way they may go. It’s been