An amateur astronomer blogger highly interested in aerospace, astronomy, astro equipments and other astro related fields. Robin shares the astronomy enthusiasm with people from kids to seniors.
Please check Heavens Above regarding the passing of ISS and STS-117. The STS-117 has undocked from ISS and prepared to return to earth on Thursday. This will be a very great chance to photo the flyby of them. Most of the America has the sight of them. I don’t have the chance to take the photo as the nearest flyby is only going to happen on 29 June. The STS-117 has backed to earth by that time.
Ok guys, gear up!
Watch out for this event! This is a great chance for those who have solar telescope or solar filtered telescope who wish to take a memorial photo or observe visually. If you miss this, you are going to wait for another 10 years, i.e., 9 May 2016. Most Americans, Asians (except Indians), Aussies and those who live in the visible area have the chance to enjoy this transit. It starts at 3:12 am GMT+8 on 9 November 2006 and lasts for 5 hours.
You must protect your eyes with solar filter. If you have a telescope, make sure that it has a proper and safe solar filter (I’m going to get Baader Astrosolar Film for my 8″ LX90). Don’t look at the Sun directly, it will severely damage your eyes. For those who don’t have any of the equipments or not lucky enough to be in the visible area, you may visit SOHO on 9 November 2006 for the real time movies.
To know the exact time of the transit happens in your area, please visit NASA - Transit of Mercury 2006.
Mercury transits can occur only in May or November, when the planet crosses the ecliptic plane. And they happen rarely - 13 or 14 times per century.
Recommended Equipments
My classmates organize a Lantern Festival party tomorrow. It’s going to be held at my house. We’re going to observe the Moon for sure! We will have moon cake and shaddock as well as buffet. Moon cake and shaddock are Chinese traditional food eaten during the Moon Cake Festival or Lantern Festival/
Stay tune for the photos! I am not going to miss the chance to photo the Moon again.
My friend March05 has contributed very much this time. He has done the lunar eclipse sequence photo. Credits to him! The photo above was taken by his lovely Casio EX-Z750.
What about mine? I still have to adjust some of their brightness and crop them out. It’s quite time consuming.
Yeah~ CFHT captured a photo that the lunar dust was ejected by the impact of the SMART-1 on the Moon. Could you see the expansion of the dust cloud? It’s followed by the image of the impact of SMART-1.
As the force of impact was so great that the reflecting force was as great as it, the acceleration was fast too according to the formula F=ma. Thus, the cloud expanded at such a high speed.
9.34PM: Tonight sky is almost 80 percent clear. Moon is the brightest objects tonight. It’s so clear that I am able to see the terrain of the Moon. Other than the Moon, Jupiter is another hotspot on the sky. It’s time to do astrophotography. 
12:25AM: I has done setup my telescope. However, the Jupiter has been hidden by the house. Therefore, Moon is the only object for me. This time, I finally know how to use the parafocal ring. It is really easy, I would write an article about it after I have finished my exam.
I have figured out a new format for every photo-op articles, let’s take a look of it!
Telescope: Meade 8″ LX90 w/UHTC
Imager: Meade Lunar Planetary Imager
Software: Meade Autostar Suite
Filter applied: None
I am quite satisfied the result of this image. It’s the least stacked photo with the most gorgeous details. I intended to turn on the screen by touching the touchpad but I forgot that the cursor was on the stop button. It could be better.
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