Category: Star-gazing

Mercury sun transit – May 2016

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Mercury sun transit May 2016

Today was a very special day for star-gazers and astronomers. For about 7 hours the Mercury sun transit could be observed what is a quite seldom event. At 11:12 UTC Mercury started to show up in front of the sun and left again at 18:42 UTC. The little planet will not transit again until 2019 and then again 2032. More information can of course be found on wikipedia.

One of the images made it into “My Top Astro-Pics Gallery” and is also available in full resolution.

For me it was great to see the Mercury sun transit with my own eyes and again getting an idea of how huge the sun is compared to all the planets. Untrained eyes have to look twice to recognize little Mercury on the photo. Simply fantastic!

Mercury sun transit May 2016
Sun spots
Mercury sun transit May 2016
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Mercury sun transit May 2016 and sun spots
Mercury sun transit Cartes du Ciel

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 13:41 pm

Star cluster Messier 44

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photo_present_m44_small_web_qual

Tonight was the first time since mid of November with acceptable conditions for astropohotography… I don’t like this weather… However, this night it was good – at least until about 3am. For stacking I again used DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2 with Kappa-Sigma Clipping. Happy Easter! 🙂

Date2016/03/09
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectMessier 44 (Star cluster)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance11x, 600s, bin: 1x1
Red10x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Green10x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue10x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h15min.
Beehive Cluster (M44) - 2016/03/09

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 14:20 pm

The ParaTi magazine on La Palma published a lost-infinity.com article

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Orion Nebula (M43) - 2014/02/07

Recently I had the chance to contribute an article about astronomy to the La Palma Para TI magazine. In this article I write about my impressions and emotions when I was visiting Roque de Los Muchachos at night. “El Roque” is the highest point on La Plama (2426m).Up there the Roque de Los Muchachos Osbervatory is situated. The title picture of the article is the Great Orion nebula (M42) which is one of my favorite pictures. I imaged it back in February 2014. If you are on La Palma, I recommend you to visit “El Roque” in a clear and moonless night (see also my previous article) – you will be surprised 🙂

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 19:11 pm

Taking a look at comet Catalina C/2013 US10 from La Palma

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Comet Catalina C2013US10 - 2016/02/01

This single shot of comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) was taken with a modified Canon EOS6D camera on a Cassegrain Relay 400mm f/6.5 telescope in the Tacande Observatory on La Palma. The exposure time was ~5 minutes. It is amazing to see the low noise level of the picture since no averaging took place. The image is also available in full resolution.

Date2016/02/01
LocationTacande Observatory / La Palma / Spain
ObjectComet Catalina C/2013 US10
CameraCanon EOS 6D
Guidingno
TelescopeCassegrain Relay 400mm f/6.5
Barlow lensnone
MountCustom made equatorial fork mount
Cooling-
Luminance-
Red-
Green-
Blue-
Dark-
Flat-
Total exposure~5m

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 19:12 pm