I discussed this in the weekly newsletter and went out and it has cleared up and saw this. I thought it was very stunning and the Earthshine is so prominent right now! Not the best of shots, sorry but still beautiful!
Taken while they are low but on a tripod:
One of the simple pleasures for me when I go observing is what is commonly called star hopping. Over my 27 plus years none of my telescopes had goto and all were manually driven. That means I had to have a star atlas, much like this one (Insterstellarium Deep Sky) of the Virgo area, full page. So back in the day, I would find the object I wanted to observe by identify the constellation it was in, turn to that page in the atlas I was using, and then find it and figure out my star hop from a bright star.
A lot has changed over the last 26 years and with GoTo and Digital Telescopes I think star hopping, much like visual observing is becoming a lost skill. My post here is to share why I still love and enjoy it and how to do it.
The Why:
The How Part 2
I have a complete article on star hopping over at Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. Please consider joining our community there. It is really appreciated.
For those of us who spend our nights looking up, the steady march of light pollution is a constant battle. We map out our dark-sky excursions seeking pristine, unpolluted skies where the stars aren't drowned out by a permanent artificial glow. But a fascinating new analysis of NASA’s
For the full article and link to NASA's Black Marble Project head over to Eadsy Astronomy. LINK.
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Lunar:
Planetary:
Comets and Deep Sky:
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Johann Heinrich Von Madler was a 19th-century German astronomer whose painstaking visual observations laid the groundwork for modern planetary mapping. Before photography revolutionized the field, Mädler’s steady hand and sharp eye provided humanity with its first truly accurate glimpses into the topographies of Mars and the Moon.
