Thursday, May 12, 2016

This blog is being watched....

The NJAA AstroPhotography blog is watched by many people.... over 5,ooo  viewers have seen what our members can do since this blog was started. Interestingly, almost half of our viewers come from Russia, also, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the U.K. represents groups of viewers so I want to welcome them and all the others that have watched our postings. 
I know Tim, Vlad, Jim R, Les, Perry, Judson and other members have been imaging, so let's start letting people see our work. You can take images from anywhere, on your personal equipment or the clubs... it doesn't matter. Just send in your image to me or post it yourself.... but let's get going!

I should have mentioned in my last post that the Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaked on May 6th ~ during the time I was in Arizona. Luckily the comet stream continues with various success through May 26th ~ Find a dark sky and LOOK UP!!! 
Unfortunately, I left Sedona and travelled to Scottsdale the day before and so seeing them was hindered because of the city lights. But as you can see in my photos, there often is a meteor in the shot.  Because of the dark sky near Sedona, I saw meteors or satellites almost every time I looked up from the camera! 
It was wonderful to see the myriad of dim to bright streaks so easily there. 
And wouldn't you know that right after I took a photo of Mars and Saturn (and while I waited patiently for the camera to finish saving the data), a very bright green meteor fell right between both planets.
Argggh!!!

A plane competes with two meteors:
Coincidentally, the brighter meteor streaking between Mars and Saturn is almost exactly in the same position that the green  fireball fell. The green fireball was travelling in the opposite direction though.
The next fairly strong meteor shower will be the Delta Aquariids peaking  July 28 - 29th 2016. They will be a southern hemisphere shower but the northern latitudes will still be able to see some. They predictably are a bit fainter than the Eta stream.
Then of course, the Perseids will peak August 11 - 12th which ~ this shower often has a larger viewing due to more people being outside.
Keith

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