RichC | December 20, 2020
For those who enjoy astronomy, space exploration or just looking at the night sky, an event know as Saturn and Jupiter’s Great Conjunction is happening on December 21st (although look in the southern sky shortly after sunset any night this month). A “conjunction” is an event that happens every 20 years for these two planets […]
RichC | September 28, 2020
As usual, my night celestial bodies viewing in person is SO MUCH BETTER than trying to capture the beautiful night sky with an iPhone (and older 7 model to boot) … but that doesn’t stop me from trying. Here’s a view of the rising moon, with the faint speck of Saturn about a 1/3 from […]
RichC | August 12, 2020
An image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is just too beautiful not to include on MyDesultoryBlog. I many not be the biggest astronomy or space geek, but I do spend time looking up at the stars in the evening. Although I didn’t get a good look at the NEOWISE comet last week (not for […]
RichC | July 21, 2020
If you enjoy nighttime sky watching, the next couple of days will have Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) at its closest point for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Hopefully the sky will remain clear and you’ll be able to see the “beautiful crescent” of this 3 mile wide glow. I’ve personally yet to see […]
RichC | June 3, 2020
Every once in a while when seeing what cellphone cameras can do, I wonder why I even bother to ever grab my camera bag and relatively expensive DSLR camera anymore? Last night the weather in Cincinnati was clear and humidity low. The moon was large and rising in the sky in the southeast and looks […]
RichC | March 31, 2020
Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain and largest volcano on any planet in the solar system. It is about the size of France (or the U.S. state of Arizona) and is a shield volcano 624 km (374 mi) in diameter, 25 km (16 mi) high, and is rimmed by a 6 km (4 mi) high […]
RichC | January 31, 2020
A wide-angle view of the solar surface from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is the highest-resolution image of the Sun ever taken, showing details as small as 30 km wide. Seen here are granules, the tops of giant convection cells. Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA Whether it is gazing at the millions of stars night sky (the […]
RichC | June 14, 2019
With the colder weather and clear sky over Cincinnati late Thursday evening and Friday morning this week, I took my Lumix GX-8 camera and 100-300mm lens out in the backyard to see what I could photograph. Not much as expected from Jupiter, but I think I could make out a couple moons in the pixelated […]
RichC | June 12, 2019
Just north of Cincinnati the sky was perfect for viewing the rise of Jupiter as the sky darkened about 9:30PM. The bright dot (photo below from my iPhone) rose in the SE sky and arched slowly until reaching its highest point due south at about 12:30AM and then moved lower well after I was in […]
RichC | October 20, 2018
Earlier in October, as well as mid summer, I’ve been trying to get a better nighttime view of the International Space Station (ISS) passing over our house. It has been tracking overhead for the last few weeks an hour or so after the the sun set. The angle was such that our sky was completely […]
RichC | July 23, 2018
The moon and Jupiter circled from my iPhone on Sunday night July 22, 2018 I have fond memories of sitting out with Katelyn when she would get out her telescope and was learning astronomy … but I do also still enjoy special nights like last night to "try" to capture the amazingly bright and large […]
RichC | July 14, 2018
It was a great week of skywatching in our backyard in Cincinnati this week. The sun magnificently lit up planets, especially Saturn and Jupiter while Mars, Venus (the brightest) and Mercury (doubtful) remained a bit low in the sky while I was out viewing. I was purposely out for Mars, but it will have to […]
RichC | June 20, 2018
Here are a couple dots from an evening of star-gazing; the photo on the left is Saturn and the one on the right is Jupiter — wouldn’t it be nice to have a telescope (hint – to my spacecamp daughter!) Actually I was attempting to get a glimpse of the asteroid 4 Vesta, which is […]
RichC | January 31, 2018
A Supermoon chat with John Rowe & Mike Hasking – 1/31/2018 Tonight is your last chance to witness a once in a lifetime lunar event. A super blue blood moon will be visible in the night’s sky for just over an hour, from 11.50 tonight. It’s the third in a trilogy of large, red […]
RichC | December 3, 2017
Sadly trying to capture the moon with a smartphone is not so smart … but hopefully those who wanted to see it found the time, and a clear sky, to enjoy the large early evening Supermoon. Besides looking up, we enjoyed looking at our granddaughter at 9-months. So great to see Annalyn smiling so big […]
RichC | November 16, 2016
The autumn Supermoon of 2016 has certainly been a beautiful sight in the night sky these past few days. The last couple of evening I’ve enjoyed the view and "attempting" to capture the using only my iPhone 5s since my son has my DSLR for an upcoming trip to Hawaii; I’m hoping he will practiced […]
RichC | September 28, 2015
A few of my photos on Sunday night of the Super Moon Solar Eclipse in the sky over Cincinnati, Ohio. Very cool. Graphic from skyandtelescope.com and usatoday.com below.
RichC | August 11, 2014
A plane flies in front of a supermoon above Westminster in central London en route to Heathrow airport on August 10, 2014. The full moon is positioned closest to the earth on its orbit in over 20 years. It is 50,000 kilometers closer than normal and 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. The scientific […]
RichC | October 9, 2013
The U.K.’s Royal Observatory Greenwich and National Maritime Museum awarded Mark Gee’s photos showing the Milky Way galaxy as it lights the sky at Cape Palliser, New Zealand lighthouse this year. The photo (click for VERY large) was made by stitching together 20 individual images to create this panoramic photo which as the Space.com article […]
RichC | March 15, 2012
This month Venus and Jupiter are putting on a great show and stand out in the evening sky. The warm temperatures and clear atmosphere gave me an excuse to sit outside and take a couple photos. (a few facts)
