Life Quest (and other stuff)

This past weekend me, my hubbie, my son, my daughter and my mother-in-law (our lovely grandchild sitter)  went on a trip to gaze at the stars, on a farm about 20km from Montagu. The event: The Autumn 2013 Southern Star Party . It was a lovely weekend, shared with other gaze-ers of stars, as well as draw-ers of stars and photographers(-ers?) of well, stars. Soooooo, how could I let this opportunity slip past without a bit of self-portraiture? The short answer, I couldn't. On Friday night I popped my camera on my tripod, stood around for 25 seconds waiting for an amazing capture for this week. Turns out, in daylight, I did not stand as still as I thought, and 25 seconds is not quite enough time to give me the illumination I deserve. (You can read whatever you like into that. Smiley face.) Here’s what I got: Canon EOS 60D;   28.0 mm, 25.0 sec;     f/4.0;     ISO 6400; WB -  Fluorescent Processed in C...

It was International Observe the Moon Night this past Saturday. Although threatened by clouds, we still managed to see the moon and show it to anyone interested. The moon as it was on the night. Taken with a Canon 350D prime focus mounted on 10inch wide, 1200mm long dobsonion  telescope, f4.8, ISO100, shutter speed: 1/8sec. The photo was taken by my hubbie. Read and see more about the InOMN on  www.psychohistorian.org  or the Cape Centre Facebook page .

This past Saturday there was a Moon-Venus occultation. There was no dark magic involved, it simply means that the Moon passed in front of the planet Venus, and therefore Venus disappeared from the sky for a while. Here in Cape Town we were ideally positioned to see this occurrence and hubbie and I was standing by with the camera. Venus moved behind the moon at 14:15 from the dark side of the moon, making it look like it just disappeared from the sky. About an hour and a half later it popped out on the other side. But, although seeing the occultation itself was very special, the fact that I could see Venus during the day was enough to get me excited. As a friend says, once you’ve seen it for the first time, you want to kick yourself that you've never looked for it before. The following photos were taken mostly by hubbie, with at least one (possibly two) by me. We used a Canon 350D attached to a 10 inch, 1200mm long dobsonion telescope (f4.8), no tracking (moved by hand from ti...

We went on a stargazing weekend to the Cederberg Observatory last weekend. The weather was kind, although cold, and we had clear skies the two nights we were there. So I decided to try my hand at astrophotography. I didn't think it would be easy - but what I didn't realise is that taking the photo is just the first part. The processing afterwards is as important. So you can imagine my disappointment when I opened the pics on my computer and mostly saw black with a dot here and there. And as I am very much a beginner at taking and processing star photos, these are not the best you'll find on the web even after processing, but I gave it a shot and will hopefully just get better and better and better and better... (All ISO400,  f5.6, taken between 21h00 and 03h00 ) The belt and sword of Orion, just before they set. Canon EOS 350D standard lens, 5 second exposure, processed in PhotoShop. The Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring galaxy (fuzzy blob). Canon EO...

There are some things in life that you cannot really plan for. Things that make you think: “Man, that would be cool!” but in truth you don’t believe it could ever be a reality. Things like owning an island or controlling a NASA rover. Well, last night I took control of a NASA rover. Yes, I am serious. The SAAO (South African Astronomical Observatory) organised an uplink to the NASA lunar exploration guys in California and as members of the Cape Centre “Astroclub”, hubbie and I was able to attend the demonstration. Via Skype we were introduced to the NASA guys and then introduced to Max Rover. Now, Max isn’t one of the lunar rovers, but rather created to explore areas on earth that is less than friendly to humans. Like the middle of the desert. But don’t let this fool you. A lot of what is learnt by developing rovers like Max is what will put a rover on the moon. And getting back onto the moon is what is aimed for. When we met Max he was in a 4m x 4m test box with fine sand a...

I may have mentioned before, that somehow this year just wouldn't start for me. I did new years, lifted my glass (although it was 7 minutes past the hour) and even made a resolution: being happy. So I had high hopes for the weekend past. Our holiday for the year transition existed out of a whirlwind astronomical tour. With way too much luggage (sprogs need a lot of crap) we boarded the bus on Friday morning and put foot on Cape Town soil last night again. I am tired as hell this day. As stars are viewed at night (with exception of our sun of course) and I have now learnt that my sproglet hardly sleeps* during the day while on tour, I think the excessive yawning on my part can be forgiven. The bad news: I can't become a proper astronomer**, and I so badly want to today. The good news: Even through my sleepy eyes I think I can see this new year at last. So I lift my glass one more time: Happy New Year! * He must have been seriously tired though, coz he has been sleep...