it's true what calvin says....... scientists can lack creativity when it comes to naming things. i know that there are billions and billions of galaxies out there and therefore it makes sense to give them names based on their coordinates and not their appearance, but still. i'm sure you can come up with better examples of horribly named sciencey things than i can. NGC 1398by the way, i actually hate the work "quark." it's way too awkward to pronounce!
Posted by astropixie
here are some absolutely beautiful photos of comet panstarrs, currently the largest object in our solar system, and the distant andromeda galaxy that just happens to be sitting behind the comet in our current line of sight. the fuzzy tail of panstarrs is about 15 times the diameter of our sun right now - remember that you can fit 100 earth's across the diameter of the sun. that is a HUGE comet! no one was sure how bright or big the comet would get as it passed by the
Posted by astropixie
Almost one month ago, everyone was in comet hunting mood. Me too. In Malaysia, this Comet PanSTARRS was not more than 15 degrees above the horizon. To us, it was a challenge, because we seldom have a clear cloudless horizon. But unwilling to give up easily, I spent every evening for one whole week at
Posted by My Dark Sky
my first day "tramping" along the kepler track in new zealand started out rainy, but cleared up for a lovely evening of nearly-full-moon star-gazing. the glow of the bright moon on one of new zealand's largest lakes - lake te anau. the constellation of the southern cross, the crux, and the bright pointers. the moon with a nice halo and reflection on the waterthe second night on the trail provided slightly more suspense as we waited for the full moon to rise. the shadows of the clo
Posted by astropixie
Last November (2012), I went to Nan, Northern Thailand to attend a family function. Nan is a small town with minimal light pollution, and is a fantastic place for stargazing. I spent two nights on the rooftop balcony catching the star lights. I bought along with me two cameras, Canon EOS350D and 60D, Vixen Polarie
Posted by My Dark Sky
... finalist in the smithsonian magazine's 2012 photography contest, viewing an annular eclipse in new mexico:
Posted by astropixie
Only connect, as Goethe said. Or was it E. MForster? Or did I already already use that gag in an earlier post? Anyhoo. Two or so weeks ago commenters on my own nuclear blog post made me eat humble pie , liberally sprinkled with Thorium. Last week I was in Thurso, in the far distant north
Posted by The e-Astronomer
The crescent Moon close to Jupiter and Aldebaran, March 17, 2013. Canon IXUS, 3x zoom, 400 ASA 6 seconds exposure. The sky was clouded out over the South, so no chance of aurora fro me (although I did get to see the Adelaide FEstival spotlights reflected nicely. I did get this picture of the Moon close to Aldebaran and Jupiter. The Moon is overexposed to bring the stars out through the thin cloud covering g everything. They will be even closer tomorrow, so it should be good to photograph.
Posted by Astroblog
This time, I observed the comet in Quezon City.
Posted by The Sky Above
... searched again on March 13, 2013 but it rained so it was a disappointing observation. The next day, I tried again but had a hard time looking for the comet because of cloud cover and its position in the sky moved further to the right. Sadly, the comet was no longer visible to the
Posted by The Sky Above
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