Looking at the Sky
I am one of those people who, although rarely, look at the sky. Remember yourself as children, then each of us often looked at the night sky and we were interested. We were interested in the stars and even tried to recognize the planets. Over time, a person grows up and this childhood hobby disappears. What new things can be seen in the sky? Everything is as usual there, especially since everyone already has a lot of problems. However, if you really want to, you can always find something interesting in the night sky.
Late last night, I went outside. Despite the fact that daylight hours had long since ended, it was very light. But this was expected, since the moon at this time is close to full, and the sky was cloudless. These are not the best conditions to observe the stars, because the bright light of the moon hides most of them. However, out of habit, I looked at the sky and I was lucky. I saw a rather rare optical phenomenon - a lunar halo.
Unfortunately, I do not have the technical means for night photography. And, given the situation in the country, it is unlikely that I will have one in the next decade. However, I tried to photograph this beauty especially for you 🙂
It is worth noting that I looked at the sky for a reason. And here I come to the main topic of this post. Comet Ponce-Brooks approached us right now. So far, it can only be seen in the app or through a telescope.
However, already in April 2024, it will be visible in the night sky with the naked eye.
Comet Pons-Brooks orbits the Sun every 71 years. In April of this year, it will approach the star closer than the orbit of Venus. According to some sources, despite the fact that the comet will be closest to the Sun in April, it will be visible to the naked eye from Earth in July 2024. I don't know why there is such a discrepancy in forecasts.
It is also known that Comet Ponce-Brooks was last visible to the naked eye from Earth in 1954.
So, if you still have a child's casual curiosity inside you, then don't forget to look at the night sky in the spring, maybe a special sight will be waiting for you there ☄ 🌠.
I have actually managed to get some halfway decent night time sky photographs with a cell phone camera.
i.e.
You need to play around with manual settings for shutter speed and ISO settings, and a tripod helps, but sometimes it's possible. Perhaps surprisingly, I think it's actually harder to get a decent shot of a bright moon with a cell phone than of the stars on a moonless night.
I was not aware of Comet Pons-Brooks, so thanks for the tip. I'll try to keep an eye out for it, especially in April.
Thanks for the tip. I'll try playing around with the settings. I wonder what I will be able to achieve.
Now I am 100% sure that I did not write the post in vain 😊
Unfortunately, the phone matters a lot, too. The LG-G4 that I used at Cherry Springs took far better dark sky photographs than any of the Samsungs that I've had since then. I think the key was that it had a 30 second exposure time. The Samsungs all topped out at something like 10 or 15 seconds. They are workable, but not quite as good (or, at least, I haven't found the right settings).
TEAM 1
Congratulations! This comment has been upvoted through steemcurator04. We support quality posts , good comments anywhere and any tags.Oh great !
I can finally use our telescope for an interesting celestial event.
I haven't tried taking pictures of stars because I hardly see any where I live (light pollution...)
I took these in the normal settings of my phone camera. I've yet to play with the manual settings - hopefully that'll yield better results.
I was thinking about you when I wrote that the comet can now only be seen through a telescope 😁
You and remplas got me interested. I'll try playing around with the settings, I'm very curious to see what I can achieve.
I was second guessing my decision to invest in a telescope. Still can't figure out how to use it effectively. I think it requites patience more than anything which I highly lack. 😅
This comet made me excited once again though.
Here's another picture for you which I captured two nights ago. It's again taken from my phone camera zoomed at max limit (30x). I tried seeing it with the telescope the same night. Again couldn't get a stabled view (for a picture) but I managed to have a peak on craters. 🤩
This is a really good shot for such a zoom😀.
Wow, that's something I'd like to see too😮. I had thoughts of buying a telescope for my daughter, but it seems to me that it will be idle for nothing, since she is not very interested in astronomy.
My son takes an immense amount of interest in astronomy. Although we bought the telescope for him, it's me who's always eager to do stargazing. He's a little young for handling it on his own. So I have to supervise in any case.
I haven't explored its full potential yet but if I do I will tell you if it's a good investment or not. I think if it manages to show something interesting then anyone can find themselves attracted towards astronomy. 😀
TEAM 1
Congratulations! This comment has been upvoted through steemcurator04. We support quality posts , good comments anywhere and any tags. TEAM 1
Congratulations! This comment has been upvoted through steemcurator04. We support quality posts , good comments anywhere and any tags.Interesting! I've just read that Pons-Brooks could be visible in Germany as early as the first half of April, until half past ten in the evening.
It would certainly be impressive to be able to see it. Thanks for the tip!
You know, I'm glad that I managed to tell at least a few people something interesting 🙂.
Beautiful photos, I like that Moon's halo.
I agree with you, I think it's important for humans to look in the sky more often. I think it brings perspective of how small and unique we really are…in a great big universe.
I think looking up into the sky is a unifying force. It reminds us that humans are all collected on this small blue planet in a very big dark expansive space. We should feel lucky that we have each other… because outside of our atmosphere…as far as we know…there is no other intelligent life…at least nothing we can talk to now :)
I very much agree with you on this. Looking at the sky, you involuntarily realize how tiny we are in such a huge universe. Then we begin to understand how complicated everything is, how great a miracle our existence is in such a huge space of lifelessness. And also, a few minutes of gazing into the night sky allows you to relax, put aside all worries and recharge.