Star Trails | Ursa Major and Minor

This was a fun project.

How I See It

I was inspired by a recent post in the blog Cosmic Focus by fellow amateur astronomy Ggreybeard in Australia. He put his DSLR camera on a tripod facing north and attached an intervalometer. The result was a series of 100 images each 45 sec long stitched together showing the star trails across the northern sky. I encourage you to go visit his blog to see the beautiful image.

I noticed Ursa Major and Minor, the Big and Little Dippers to most people, in the northwest sky in recent summer evenings when I was out with my telescope or binoculars. That post by Ggreybeard made me want to try the same thing. I decided to try to get the star trails using two different camera setups.

NightCap Camera

My iPad has the app NightCap Camera on it. It can capture many varied low-light scenes including one called Light Trails. I…

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Harvest Moon | Shine On Us

A lot of fuss was been made of the Harvest Moon on Friday the 13th. Our Chinese friends noted its significance for them and their love of Moon Cakes. On our way home last night from a dinner party with our friends, we enjoyed views of the full moon high in the southeast sky.

Awake before sunrise on the 14th, I looked for the Moon before it set in the west and was rewarded for my effort with these views. The most-zoomed was at 6:34 am.

A few minutes later sunrise approached. I turned to the east and was rewarded with this golden sky. That radio tower is 13 miles away. Good luck and blessings for all. Peace.

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Venus and Jupiter Rising

It was early on 20 Jan 2018. There they were, nicely paired behind the trees. Venus is the brightest. I set the iPad on the mantel for a long exposure (~20 min) to document their rise. Some stars joined them.

NightCap Camera | https://www.nightcapcamera.com/

SuperMoon | 3 Dec 2017

There it was shining into the bedroom windows low in the western sky. By the time it reached the full SuperMoon phase at 9:46 am CST, it would be well below the horizon. I give you the almost SuperMoon just before setting. Sorry about the trees being in the way.

Click to embiggen

Oh My Stars | Winner Chosen

Thanks for the offers. Here is the winner.

How I See It

Melanie and I are happy to announce the recipient of the Oh My Stars donation quilt. The story and monetary offer combined to make a compelling case that it should go to this person. She will be known as Grace in order to maintain her privacy. Here are details of the donation quilt offer in case you missed the earlier post.

Grace has been a volunteer with her local hospice center after they cared for her mother and father. She has assisted patients and their families as they transitioned through the hospice process. Grace knows first-hand the wonderful help they give to others in their hours of great need. She has chosen to donate her offering to Iowa City Hospice.

Melanie and I visited the office of Iowa City Hospice. We brought the quilt and Grace’s donation. We explained the circumstances of the quilt project that led to her donation. They…

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Oh My Stars | Quilt Donation

Would you like to own this quilt and help a charitable group, too?

How I See It

Two years ago, Melanie made the quilt below for a blog project that I especially liked called Oh My Stars. I want to offer it for someone to purchase. The quilt dimensions are 59″x60″ (1.50m x 1.52m). A deserving charitable organization in our community will receive the money. I’ve never done this kind of thing before. We learn by doing.

My Stars | Melanie McNeil | Catbird Quilt Studio | 2013

My Stars | Melanie McNeil | Catbird Quilt Studio | 2013

The basic plan is for interested persons to (1) explain why they want the quilt, (2) make a monetary offer, and (3) choose one of the six organizations below as the recipient of their offer.

Offers are to be made in private using my email address provided below. Only offers submitted using that email will be considered.

Only offers from the U.S. will be considered due to shipping cost constraints.

The winner…

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Supermoon v.2.0 | Another One?

In case you missed it last month…

How I See It

Maybe you were one of the fortunate ones last month to see the July Supermoon. My blog post explained quite a bit about it. There were news stories, images, and streaming webcams covering it. It was hyped as a big deal. For some of us, it was.

Well, here we go again. There is another even bigger Supermoon this month on August 10. It will be the biggest perigee full-moon of 2014.

Mark your calendar. Watch for it in an evening sky near you.

Science @ NASA

PS: There is yet another coming in September. You will have another chance if your skies are cloudy.

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Supermoon | Just An Illusion?

How I See It

It’s time again for the Supermoon. This post is for those who will have clear skies on the evening of July 11 or 12 and want to see the Moon closer and bigger than normal. Full moon is actually at about sunrise on July 12 when it is setting in the west for those of us in the U.S. Most people don’t notice it setting full. The view of it at evening moonrise, before or after full, will appear almost exactly as it does at moonset the morning of full.

First, a little sciency stuff. This won’t hurt a bit.

• The Moon takes about a month to orbit Earth.
• The Moon’s orbit is not a circle around Earth. It is a bit oval-shaped.
• During the closest part of the orbit it is called Perigee.
• During the farthest part of the orbit it is called Apogee.
• Closer things look bigger and farther things look smaller.
• The…

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