http://iya2009.com Supporting the International Year Of Astronomy with news and articles for beginners Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:25:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I have just photographed the "Summer Triangle" from my driveway, using my Canon DSLR camera. The three stars are low in the East, so we can rejoice.. summer has arrived! [caption id="attachment_581" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Summer Triangle Of Stars (click for larger)"][/caption] The "Summer Triangle" is a startling asterism of three bright ... http://iya2009.com/summers-here-summer-triangle-of-stars-just-seen.html I'm a little late with this... I usually try to give a "heads-up", a week or two in advance. Tomorrow, the night of Sunday 13th December to Monday 14th December is the peak of the Geminids meteor shower. This is the annual shower of "shooting stars" that appear to emanate from the ... http://iya2009.com/big-december-meteor-shower-tomorrow.html The annual "Leonids" meteor shower takes place next week over the period Tuesday 17th to Wednesday 18th November. What is it? This shower of meteors (often wrongly called "shooting stars") occurs every year. It happens when the Earth on its orbit about the Sun, passes through dust and rock remnants, left behind ... http://iya2009.com/leonids-meteor-shower-next-week.html [caption id="attachment_537" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Moon Jupiter Conjunction Sept 29th 2009 (click for larger image)"][/caption] Lovely close conjunction (appulse, for some) of the Moon and planet Jupiter tonight. The Moon appears to be about half a degree in diameter to us on Earth, so tonight, Jupiter is about half degree from the ... http://iya2009.com/jupiter-and-moon-conjunction-tonight.html I've been outside just now, trying to sneak an image of Jupiter and its moons, in between the clouds and general haze here in South-East England tonight. (Isn't it often this way? Two hours earlier, the sky was sparklingly clear!) Anyway.. what I've realised is I need more focal ... http://iya2009.com/imaging-jupiter-and-moons-i-need-more-focal-length.html My earlier article on the Perseid Meteor shower back in August, seemed to help lots of people. So I'm going to follow the same format here for the next big shower, the Orionids. Q. What are the Orionid meteors? A. Each year in October as the Earth orbits about the Sun, ... http://iya2009.com/next-meteor-shower-orionids-october-2009.html My local astronomy society, based at Cranbrook School in Kent, decided for the first time to book a stand at a large public astronomy event (Herstmonceux Astronomy Festival 2009 - it's just happened this weekend) If your astro soc is thinking of doing something like this, then I strongly recommend it. I ... http://iya2009.com/herstmonceux-astronomy-festival-2009-plus-making-astrosoc-promo-youtube-video.html Very much enjoyed my first visit last Saturday, to the new Peter Harrison planetarium at the old Royal Greenwich Observatory.   [caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Top of 35 Ton Bronze Dome of Harrison Planetarium"][/caption]   It was for the special SPA Greenwich event.   After setting off from Kent early, I reached Greenwich and parked ... http://iya2009.com/spa-greenwich-planetarium-event-plus-trip-to-the-southern-hemisphere.html Well, what fun this week... It's been designated  "Spring Moonwatch" week, as part of the IYA 2009 and we have been blessed with wonderful clear skies here in South-East England.  I have helped run two public events at my local astro society . I even gave a talk yesterday to about 30 people, ... http://iya2009.com/fabulous-spring-moonwatch-week.html We at cadsas.com had an excellent observing night, tonight. "Spring Guide to the Night Sky" public event.. totally horrible, rainy and windy weather at 5pm. Event starts 6.30pm.. All clear! Plus very clean skies, after all the rain. Looked at 1st magnitude stars as they appeared from the ... http://iya2009.com/trying-my-modern-canon-dslr-on-the-alan-young-telescope.html