moon/mars pics

[serosang]

Duh..because in the west after sunset without the moon in the sky, there's no doubt about Venus and Mercury.

Your Mars pictures (with the moon in the image) were worthless, so needed no analysis.

That's why I suspect the Saturn image is no good as well.

What the heck does "around 10;30-9 pm at night" mean? Whast day? If you want your images to be useful you must note the date and time they were taken, with what lens, what shutter speed and f-stop, etc, especially with a relatively dim object next to a full moon. If it's in a dark sky, where the stars of the surrounding constellations can be discerned, that wouldn't be an issue.

The blueish color of what you think is Saturn also makes me suspicious it is an artifact, since Saturn is a bit more yellow than the moon.

taken last night around 10:30-9pm 300mm lens and idk about the shutter speed was; it was the only thing close to the moon i could see the earlier; about venus/mercury are they geting lower or higher in the west as they get closer? ; guess i have to try agian tonight

 

[serosang]

very nice.....

OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Whats this that I spy with my little eye.........

The elusive Mercury perhaps?



Star

this ones from tonight 8;22pm mercury/venus right?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Since it was in the picture a few days ago, I don't understand your comment, but still another great image.
thanx!

 

[serosang]

Since it was in the picture a few days ago, I don't understand your comment, but still another great image.
thanx!

yhea but last time mercury was in the tress and this time it aint; still cant find saturn though if what i shot last night aint it i wonder how far im off? i may just stop looking if its not as bright as venus is it probly wont come out on camera anyway. would the lyrids meteor shower later this month be bright of enough or ???

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

would the lyrids meteor shower later this month be bright of enough or ???

It's a crap shoot. Looking online you can find some pictures so it can be done but it'll take a lot of luck and a lot of empty pics. You just aim your camera in the general direction, preset the focus = infinity, shutter = max (or bulb if you can), aperture = wide open and set shutter speed = fastest that won't wash out due to skylight. Use as wide of an angle lens as you can. Then keep clicking away and hope you get one when the shutter is open.

 

[serosang]

would the lyrids meteor shower later this month be bright of enough or ???

It's a crap shoot. Looking online you can find some pictures so it can be done but it'll take a lot of luck and a lot of empty pics. You just aim your camera in the general direction, preset the focus = infinity, shutter = max (or bulb if you can), aperture = wide open and set shutter speed = fastest that won't wash out due to skylight. Use as wide of an angle lens as you can. Then keep clicking away and hope you get one when the shutter is open.

im just gonna wait for the lyrids later this month and see if i can get anything from that;

 

[satthralope]

The blueish color of what you think is Saturn also makes me suspicious it is an artifact, since Saturn is a bit more yellow than the moon.

I have another idea. I think this is Spica, which is notorious for twinkling and changing color as it is bright and relatively low in the sky. I ran starmaps for the time and date and found that Spica was in about that relationship to the Moon at the time serosang took the picture.

Serosang, I think you got Spica! It's an interesting star, too -- a rotating ellipsoidal binary, which causes it to be variable on a period of about 4 days (not that you can tell with the naked eye).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spica

 

[serosang]

The blueish color of what you think is Saturn also makes me suspicious it is an artifact, since Saturn is a bit more yellow than the moon.

I have another idea. I think this is Spica, which is notorious for twinkling and changing color as it is bright and relatively low in the sky. I ran starmaps for the time and date and found that Spica was in about that relationship to the Moon at the time serosang took the picture.

Serosang, I think you got Spica! It's an interesting star, too -- a rotating ellipsoidal binary, which causes it to be variable on a period of about 4 days (not that you can tell with the naked eye).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spica

spica...well in the other post everyone said you could see saturn through the moons glow and thats the only thing close to it i could see; im glad i didnt waist my time....thanks Satthralope

 

[satthralope]

You could, on Monday. By Tuesday, they were further apart. That's why I'm thinking Spica.

Mind you, I could be wrong. Knowing details of your camera would help the more knowledgeable members to figure out how much of the sky is in this picture.

Oh, I just thought of another way to ask that question!

Do you remember how far the blueish thing was from the Moon? A handswidth? More? Less?

 

[MeteorWayne]

The peak Lyrid rate is not very high (~20/Hr across the whole sky), so you'd have to be very lucky. Better odds would be during the Perseids, Orionids, Geminids, or Quadrantids later in the year. Still, you could get lucky.

 

[serosang]

You could, on Monday. By Tuesday, they were further apart. That's why I'm thinking Spica.

Mind you, I could be wrong.

um there is a bright star close to orion but i couldnt focus on it

 

[serosang]

The peak Lyrid rate is not very high (~20/Hr across the whole sky), so you'd have to be very lucky. Better odds would be during the Perseids, Orionids, Geminids, or Quadrantids later in the year. Still, you could get lucky.

Oh, I just thought of another way to ask that question!

Do you remember how far the blueish thing was from the Moon? A handswidth? More? Less?

20/hour? whats that mean; how bright with the lydrids be? and to naswer the 2nd question it was close enough that if i looked outside my lens i'd have to try hard to find it agian lol

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

The peak Lyrid rate is not very high (~20/Hr across the whole sky), so you'd have to be very lucky. Better odds would be during the Perseids, Orionids, Geminids, or Quadrantids later in the year. Still, you could get lucky.

Oh, I just thought of another way to ask that question!

Do you remember how far the blueish thing was from the Moon? A handswidth? More? Less?

20/hour? whats that mean; how bright with the lydrids be? and to naswer the 2nd question it was close enough that if i looked outside my lens i'd have to try hard to find it agian lol

20/hr means just that, on average you might see 20 meteors in 1 hour at the peak of the event. That's 1 every 3 minutes so expect a lot of empty pictures. As to brightness ... nobody can predict that.

 

[serosang]

The peak Lyrid rate is not very high (~20/Hr across the whole sky), so you'd have to be very lucky. Better odds would be during the Perseids, Orionids, Geminids, or Quadrantids later in the year. Still, you could get lucky.

Oh, I just thought of another way to ask that question!

Do you remember how far the blueish thing was from the Moon? A handswidth? More? Less?

20/hour? whats that mean; how bright with the lydrids be? and to naswer the 2nd question it was close enough that if i looked outside my lens i'd have to try hard to find it agian lol

20/hr means just that, on average you might see 20 meteors in 1 hour at the peak of the event. That's 1 every 3 minutes so expect a lot of empty pictures. As to brightness ... nobody can predict that.

i see i can see why its not a big deal lol....so the whole thing only last an hour or?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Actually, the whole shower lasts from about April 16-25, but during most of that time the rate is less than 4 an hour. The period with rates higher than 10 per hour usually lasts about 30 hours. During the last dozen years, the peak has occurred between solar longitude 32.0 and 32.45 which would be 1000-2100 UTC, or 5AM to 4PM CDT on the 22nd. Unfortunately, that means the peak will occur during the daytime for the US this year. The Zenithal Hourly rate was 15 in 2009 and 21 in 2007...that is the rate under perfect conditions, i.e. very dark country skies with the peak occuring right before dawn when the radiant is the highest. Taking all that into account, it probably won't be much to look at this year. The best time would be the last few hours before dawn on the morning of the 22nd, after moonset which is ~ 2:30 AM.

Rates will be much lower the morning before and after that.

 

[serosang]

Actually, the whole shower lasts from about April 16-25, but during most of that time the rate is less than 4 an hour. The period with rates higher than 10 per hour usually lasts about 30 hours. During the last dozen years, the peak has occurred between solar longitude 32.0 and 32.45 which would be 1000-2100 UTC, or 5AM to 4PM CDT on the 22nd. Unfortunately, that means the peak will occur during the daytime for the US this year. The Zenithal Hourly rate was 15 in 2009 and 21 in 2007...that is the rate under perfect conditions, i.e. very dark country skies with the peak occuring right before dawn when the radiant is the highest. Taking all that into account, it probably won't be much to look at this year. The best time would be the last few hours before dawn on the morning of the 22nd, after moonset which is ~ 2:30 AM.

Rates will be much lower the morning before and after that.

i see well at least i'll get to see some of it wile im turkey hunting this year lol besides the lyrids whaen are the other meteor showers? and what else is there to watch for this month?

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

 

[MeteorWayne]

ROFLPIMP!!! That's it, I have to :lol: :lol: :lol: sign off for the night

Thanx my friend, I will do so with a silly grin on my face!!!

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Heres a treat

http://yfrog.com/eutestw001j



Taken with my point n click

Star

 

[MeteorWayne]

Finally spotted Venus and Mercury together naked eye and with binolulars tonight; shared it with the neighbors.
Not a good location so I could snap a stable image. Oh well, I've now seen Mercury 3 times in my life!!

 

[CalliArcale]

i see well at least i'll get to see some of it wile im turkey hunting this year lol besides the lyrids whaen are the other meteor showers? and what else is there to watch for this month?

I try to visit this page regularly. It's a calendar, and although most of the events listed are things like astronomical conventions and close approaches of faint asteroids, it's still very nice because it gets so much stuff together in one spot. One of the things it lists is meteor showers.
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/

Another good page to frequent daily is SpaceWeather.com. They have new content almost daily, nearly-live Sun and aurora data on the left sidebar, and information about what sorts of interesting things you should be watching out for tonight. They will carry meteor shower information as showers approach, and usually include a map to help you find the radiant point. (The radiant point is the spot that meteor trails will converge upon if they're part of the shower, but note that the actual meteors could appear anywhere in the sky.) They also have a service that will give you a phone call in the middle of the night if auroras are reported in your area.
http://spaceweather.com/

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Yup. I would say that would be the case.

Its OK though, Im sure Saturn didnt mind, and now, you know where to look

Saturn wont be as brite, and its a creamy white color.

Star

is this saturn?

In case your still interested:

Saturn, taken a couple of weeks ago......Its afocal, and the sky kinda sucked, but here it is. Ill give it another go tonight and post back the results:

Now as to where Saturn will be tonight:

And with a little help:

Good Luck

Star

 

[serosang]

on another topic; shouldnt the lyrids meteor shower start tonight? and was that meteor on the news part of it? also is this site liget? also what dose it mean when it says frequency? http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well, the very early part of the Lyrids should start overnight with a rate of about 1 an hour at best. However, the time of the fireball makes it extremely unlikely it is part of that stream. The peak is a week away, and rates are very low outside of the 24 hours closest to that time, which will be on the early morning of the 22nd from the US.

As far as what frequency means on their site, you'd have to ask them. I can say as a meteoricist, they are completely unrealistic, so I suspect the site author is not someone who knows meteor showers, and they are relying on some source of average annual showers, which does not reflect the 2010 conditions..The realistic Lyrids rate for the western US this year might be 5-15 per hour , just before dawn after moonset, in the early morning hours of the 22nd. The rate will probably be lower for the eastern US. Highest rates would be in Asia. Outside of that morning, the Lyrid rates will be much lower.

 

[serosang]

Well, the very early part of the Lyrids should start overnight with a rate of about 1 an hour at best. However, the time of the fireball makes it extremely unlikely it is part of that stream. The peak is a week away, and rates are very low outside of the 24 hours closest to that time, which will be on the early morning of the 22nd from the US.

As far as what frequency means on their site, you'd have to ask them. I can say as a meteoricist, they are completely unrealistic, so I suspect the site author is not someone who knows meteor showers, and they are relying on some source of average annual showers, which does not reflect the 2010 conditions..The realistic Lyrids rate for the western US this year might be 5-15 per hour , just before dawn after moonset, in the early morning hours of the 22nd. The rate will probably be lower for the eastern US. Highest rates would be in Asia. Outside of that morning, the Lyrid rates will be much lower.

oh ok i was just curious; kinda makes me whish i was outside last night after seeing the clip of the meteor on the news