Spacefarer's Guide to Getting off this Planet

[dazzledbylight]

It's 31 days till new Mars Rover = Perseverance launch --7/20!

Annnnnd.....

for the First Time they're going to try to fly a Helicopter = Ingenuity on another planet!

Finished watching NASA news conference a little while ago.

[dabiggestu2fan]

Hello hello! Has anyone had a chance to see comet NEOWISE? If not go out and see it. It will still be visible for a few more days. Here is a photo I took of it last Saturday about 1.5 hour drive from my home!

[LuckyNumber7]

Damn, that’s beautiful. I haven’t had an opportunity, and it’s been all thunderstorms here for days.

[DaveC]

that's an awesome picture.

i can't see it because of all the light pollution in downtown toronto.

[dazzledbylight]

Originally Posted by dabiggestu2fan

Hello hello! Has anyone had a chance to see comet NEOWISE? If not go out and see it. It will still be visible for a few more days. Here is a photo I took of it last Saturday about 1.5 hour drive from my home!

Oh, swoon, dab! Glorious! What a great photo and memory to have.

Unfortunately between cov19 and being 67, city buildings, I don't think I'd be able to easily find a view. Still happy that I know some who has!

Very beautiful photos from many more countryside areas that appear on my FB feed, too !

[Moonlit_Angel]

That's an awesome photo ! Very cool.

[dabiggestu2fan]

Thank you all for the awesome comments! After these were taken last Saturday, I did not get a chance to see it again as it’s quite light near my place and been kina cloudy! We were going to go out again tomorrow to the very dark spot just a couple of hours away from Vancouver but it looks like the comet has faded fast the last day. I feel fortunate to be able to drive only a short distance to be in very dark sky areas. This comet has certainly rekindled my love of astronomy! Thank you all so much for the amazing comments!!!

[Moonlit_Angel]

I'll have to see if I can find it online somewhere-the Weather Channel showed footage earlier this evening of a time lapse video of a thunderstorm rolling through somewhere yesterday, I think it was, and amidst the clouds and the lightning you could see a flash of the comet sailing by. It was really awesome.

[dazzledbylight]

Originally Posted by Moonlit_Angel

I'll have to see if I can find it online somewhere-the Weather Channel showed footage earlier this evening of a time lapse video of a thunderstorm rolling through somewhere yesterday, I think it was, and amidst the clouds and the lightning you could see a flash of the comet sailing by. It was really awesome.

That sounds awesome, moonlit!

[dabiggestu2fan]

Originally Posted by Moonlit_Angel

I'll have to see if I can find it online somewhere-the Weather Channel showed footage earlier this evening of a time lapse video of a thunderstorm rolling through somewhere yesterday, I think it was, and amidst the clouds and the lightning you could see a flash of the comet sailing by. It was really awesome.

Oh yeah!! I bet that would have made for some amazing photos! I’ve seen some great shots of this comet with the northern lights taken in Alberta as well! Such a photogenic comet!

[dabiggestu2fan]

Since I dragged my butt and my scope out to a dark sky location I also got the chance to photograph other deep sky objects like these two photos of the Andromeda galaxy which is roughly 2.5 million light years away from earth and on a colisión course with our own milky way galaxy. But no need to worry, the colision will happen in approximately 4.5 billion years from now and even if the earth hasn’t yet been swallowed by the dying expanding sun, we wouldn’t notice much of an effect as the distance between the stars in each galaxy are so far apart. But I bet the sky views would be amazing!

These two photos I actually did not use my telescopes but my camera with a 100-400 mm lens mounted on my telescope’s tripod which tracks the sky. The exposures where around 2.5 minutes long at iso4000.

Ps I added a third photo taken the same night of Saturn with my telescope.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by dabiggestu2fan

Since I dragged my butt and my scope out to a dark sky location I also got the chance to photograph other deep sky objects like these two photos of the Andromeda galaxy which is roughly 2.5 million light years away from earth and on a colisión course with our own milky way galaxy. But no need to worry, the colision will happen in approximately 4.5 billion years from now and even if the earth hasn’t yet been swallowed by the dying expanding sun, we wouldn’t notice much of an effect as the distance between the stars in each galaxy are so far apart. But I bet the sky views would be amazing!



These two photos I actually did not use my telescopes but my camera with a 100-400 mm lens mounted on my telescope’s tripod which tracks the sky. The exposures where around 2.5 minutes long at iso4000.



Ps I added a third photo taken the same night of Saturn with my telescope.

Looks like you got yourself a wee transiter there. Better start capturing your beautiful astrophotography fast, because you’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the future!!

[cobl04]

Holy shit dude, those photos are incredible.

Definitely something I want to invest in during coming years.

[dazzledbylight]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

Looks like you got yourself a wee transiter there. Better start capturing your beautiful astrophotography fast, because you’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the future!!

Yeah, I caught that as I looked closer. More photos now before it gets worse!

[dazzledbylight]

Oh woah!!!
Look at Andromeda! Beautiful!!!

And Saturn. So cool!
My cuz saw Saturn at about 50% smaller than your image like about 40 years ago. (envy, yes. )

Mars ice caps, next? Jupiter - Red spot?
(I know - has be right timing as to compatible appearing in x part of the sky )

Thanks for these!

[dabiggestu2fan]

Thank you all for the amazing comments!!

Lucky, Thank you very much!! indeed, you wouldn’t believe how many photos I took with those pesky things streaking across my photos!! Even the comet one I show you guys has a very faint one! I hate to have to photoshop them out as it is a bit of a pain!

Cobl, thanks so much for the great comments! Yes it is a very awesome and rewarding hobby! If you ever have any questions if you are one day thinking of getting into it, just feel free to ask and I can try and help

Dazzle, thank you very much! Yes I actually got the Great Red Spot on a jupiter shot that night! Still not happy with the end result after editing so I will attempt to edit again this weekend! I’ll add a crappy iPhone pic of my computer screen for you guys to see! I’ll show you a better pic when I have it all done and processed. Mars’ icecap was looking great too and it’s getting closer to earth and higher up in the sky! It’s going to be a great Mars season! Sadly I regret not taking a pic on Saturday of it! I guess I was too busy with so many objects to photograph hahaha. However I’ll add here a very old
Mars shot I took like 14 years ago!

[dabiggestu2fan]

The first photo of Jupiter is just a screen shot of one I am processing (sorry for the bad quality!) I’ll post a better one next weekend if I can get it processed nicely. The Great Red Spot was in a perfect position!

The second and third photos of Mars and Saturn are really old pictures I took many years ago!

Ps: the Saturn and mars one was taken with my 10” Schmidt cassegrain scope at my parents home back in Ontario. I miss and love that scope but just too big for my condo here in bc the Saturn and Jupiter pics from now were taken with a 6” mak cassegrain scope I have here.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by dazzledbylight

Yeah, I caught that as I looked closer. More photos now before it gets worse!

I’m curious who it was. Behind each zooming heap of metal is a story just like each star, imo!

[dazzledbylight]

Wonderful! I look forward to your next round.

Somewhen in this Comet Neowise time I vaguely mused on a telescope buy (I've done this on rare occasions for decades). However with no ability to drive leaving NYC for a suitable darker sky etc it's not so feasible. Plus there's other things I need to get first (a new tablet, a new TV).

The NYC Amateur Astronomy Club offers free viewings once a month (pre cv19). I've gone a few times.

[dazzledbylight]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

I’m curious who it was. Behind each zooming heap of metal is a story just like each star, imo!

Have you caught the ISS? Depending on it's orbit?