Laptop Screen Too Bright During Night Sky Session?

If you do night sky observing or astrophotography, you learn that your eyes adapt to the night sky, but bright lights quickly thwart the vision. Using red lighting is suitable for seeing objects and retaining the night vision. Use a clear plexiglass sheet over a laptop screen to achieve a night-sky user friendly interface. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

Planisphere, Star Atlas, Stellarium, Oh, My Stars!

Starting out viewing the night sky? This article briefly describes three items recommended for beginner astronomers (recent astronomy club presentation Navigating the Night Sky). Read the entire article and comment there, please.

Sky Objects, Mostly Moon Shots

The pix in my YouTube collection are from having used mostly two point-and-shoot cameras. Incidentally, smart-phone cameras also have capabilities for taking similar sky pix.

For people who haven't considered photographing sky objects, look, up in the sky. It could be Supermoon! Build your own pic collection for day or night moons! Also, pick other sky objects that catch your fancy. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

Astro Imaging Session Piques Three-item Topic

What arose when the sun set down at the dark site we went to? Dark skies and objects (constellations, star clusters, nebulae, ...) that don't show up well in light-pollution, densely populated areas. What three items am I talking about? A TV tray table, a transparent cookbook stand, and a thin, portable gaming monitor. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

April 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse (44-sec capture)

Why only 44 seconds instead of reported totality of 2 minutes and 35 seconds? Clouds interfered with and distorted the capture, eventually totally obscuring the corona after ~43 seconds. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

GIMP-adding Newest Saturn to 3-Saturn .xcf File

My previous topic, "2-Saturn Composite, Anticipating Future Edge-on Rings" ... includes basic Saturn info and resources. The video "2-Saturn Composite Image, GIMP Revisit" ...

This time around, the topic is about having found a GIMP-editable (.xcf) 3-Saturn composite with images from 2015 and 2018 as well as 2021, then adding the image from November. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

2-Saturn Composite, Anticipating Future Edge-on Rings

We recently pic'd Saturn, then recalled another imaging session (from about 26 months before. I wanted to compare images, then create a composite. The 2-Saturn composite image shows Saturn on 9/2/2021 and 11/22/2023. The orientations differ, and the newer Saturn's set of rings angle narrower than the rings of the earlier Saturn. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

Partial Annular Solar Eclipse Oct 14 2023, Austin

Our area (Austin) was fortunate enough to behold a partial solar eclipse, clear skies and all. Texans in San Antonio, about 100 miles to the south, got a fabulous annular eclipse because of that area being in the zone of annularity. Read the entire article and comment there, please.

June and July 2021 Full Moons, Strawberry and Buck

Did you wonder about recent hoopla about names for full moons? My emphasis is on Strawberry (June) and Buck (July) for this year.

June—moon, strawberries, neapolitan ice cream, neapolitany cakes
July—moon, bucks and other deer, composites of buck-cameo bucks

Read the entire article and comment there, please.

DIY Red-Llght Head Light

You might ask, "Who would want a red-light head light?" Well, amateur astronomers, for hands-free seeing at night, especially if they're carrying or handling equipment, such as telescopes. Other night-sky observers might want to wear them for being able to walk around without bumping into people or items, and they can retain night vision while viewing objects, whether through telescopes or binoculars at night-sky watching events. Read the entire article and comment there, please.