Galileo's Camera

About a week back, the NexStar 4SE that I ordered arrived. I've been quite eager to test it out in the field but however so far been unsuccessful due to bad weather. But the first impressions so far have been good. Here's a short review on the 4SE compared to the 114EQ. Out of the box: Everything was neatly packed in one single box. Assembling the telescope was very easy, the entire set was only four pieces or so. There is no way you could get it wrong. The batteries for the controller of the telescope are not included (8 AA batteries). The battery for the spotting scope (CR2032) was included, but had already drained. Tripod Assembly: The tripod mount of the 4SE is made out of steel. This is not a major change from the tripod of the 114EQ, but does differ in one aspect. The feet/base of the tripod of the 4SE consists of rubber bushes instead of the plastic base of 114EQ. This somewhat absorbs vibrations and would allow a better photographic experience. The plastic moun...

This year is what probably you should call the Year of Astronomy. We are going to have three lunar eclipses, two solar eclipses (and one of them being a hybrid solar eclipse; an eclipse that appears as a total eclipse to some areas and an annular eclipse to other areas), three comets and Saturn at the closest to Earth. If you live in the right location, you are in for a treat! Unfortunately for me, two of the comets ( comet PANSTAARS and comet Lemmon ) escaped viewing due to bad weather. And yes, I missed them when they became visible back in April again. The first astronomical event I was able to photograph was the partial lunar eclipse on the 25th April 2013. I'm quite glad that I travelled to a reasonably remote location to view this, but well, the clouds were still a bother. All is not lost though: Partial Lunar Eclipse - 25th April 2013 The montage above is not a true multi-exposure shot. It is mostly "photoshopped" and you can see the cloud cover in the...

Probably about an year or so back, I tried to capture Saturn. It didn't work out well because there was a collimation error in the telescope; Saturn turned out like two saucers placed face to face. Last week, when I visited a national park, I decided to try it once more, this time with the Samyang 500mm Mirror Lens. This also being around the time of the Saturn opposition (Saturn being on the opposite side of the Sun and being closest to Earth), I thought it would make a good target. Only two problems: Cloud cover and the Full Moon. Anyway, I did manage to capture a reasonably okish amateur shot of Saturn. I just wish I had my telescope with me. Saturn - Samyang Mirror Lens, Canon 550D with 800 ISO 1/50 shutter speed. I did try to take another shot with the 2x converter attached to the mirror lens, but it seems like the vibration of the shutter is too much for the whole apparatus. The photos taken with the converter turned out to be just elongated bright blobs of light. ...

Today is the first day of the new year according to the traditions in Sri Lanka (or rather the traditions of Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka). I personally find the traditional new year in SL interesting as unlike many traditions around the world where the new year begins with a new day, it begins at a particular time of the day marked by the movement of the Sun from Pisces to Aries. The traditional new year also carries along with a lot of "traditions", astrological and otherwise. There are specific times defined by astrologers ("nakath") which denote the beginning of the new year, the beginning of Sun's transition in to the new year and the times defined as "auspicious" for various tasks (starting your profession for the new year, first meal of the new year etc.). As mentioned in the earlier post, the objective of this attempt is not to find scientific proof of the astrology, but to analyse the mathematical basis of astrology. In this one...

Whenever I tell that I am interested in astronomy, there are some who come back with "Oh god! Don't tell me you don't believe in all that crap?". Sometimes I answer with a very serious "Well those are true!". The reality is that while there is a reasonable number of people who don't distinguish between astronomy and astrology, there is an even larger number of people who dismiss astrology as complete fallacy and non-scientific for the wrong reason. Given that the traditional new year of the Sri Lankan Buddhists and the Hindus which is  based completely on astrology, is around the corner, I thought it would be the right time to start off an article about the mathematical basis of astrology. Astrology consist of studying the movement of celestial bodies and predicting the future (or largely the future of individuals) based on that movement. The predictions made based on astrology have been challenged over and over and have failed to be proven on a ra...

Jupiter and Galilean Moons - From top to bottom: Europa, Io, Callisto and Ganymede I am not some one who is very sentimental, but I can't stop going back to the times that I was about 13-14 years old when I look at this picture. Back in around 1994-95 I constructed a telescope using nothing more than a lens of dad's old spectacles, an eye piece from a toy binocular and PVC tubes. It was a very crude construction but worked pretty well. If I could remember it had a magnification factor of about 20x. The first celestial object I pointed it at was the Moon and I was pretty overwhelmed to see the craters of the moon. That was the first time I saw them "for real". I am pretty sure I would've pointed it at a few other objects, probably at the Orion Nebula as well, but what I can distinctly remember is seeing the moons of Jupiter. For the past month or two, Jupiter has been high in the sky during the evenings and being quite a bright object, have been a goo...

While trying to find a possible location to spot the comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4), an interesting question came up. Would we actually get a better (and by better I mean practically better) chance of viewing if we were on a rooftop? Given that the comet is between 5-10 degrees above the Sun, there is only a small viewing window. How much better would this get if you were on a rooftop? The question actually converted into something else, how far can you see and how much better does it get if you climb up high? The calculation is pretty simple if you assume the Earth to be a perfect sphere. Although it is an ellipsoid, let's just assume it to be a sphere for the sake of calculation. In the diagram above, r is the radius of the earth h is the height of the observer (or height to eye level) d is the direct distance from eye of the observer to the horizon and  D is the actual distance (i.e. on the surface of earth) Since the line with the distance d is a tangent to the spher...