ajamesmccarthy
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Celestial events in September- and an image Poll
🕑 Added 2020-08-30 21:22:12 +0000 UTCHere's a quick rundown of celestial events happening in September, and a bit of background on what to expect from each. A relatively quiet month from a celestial event happening, so barring a surprise comet or Betelguese going boom I'll be focused on emission nebulae, planets, and the moon mostly this month.
September 2nd- Full Moon
Known as the "Corn Moon" due to timing with the Native American corn harvest, this full moon will rise at sunset and will brightly illuminate the evening sky. The angle of the orbit currently means the moon will be lower in the evening sky for those in the northern hemisphere, so it will be very noticeable all night. Since it is lower in the sky and close to apogee, this moon will appear smaller and dimmer than most full moons, and be harder to capture details when photographing it. It is, however, a great time to capture it against landscape features, because it rises at a shallow angle.
September 9th- e Perseid meteor shower
While not the most dramatic meteor shower of the year, you should still see some nice streaks across the sky if you pay attention. This shower will have about 1 meteor every 10 minutes during it's peak. Great time to set up a camera with a wide angle lens for a time lapse! The moon will rise late in the evening, so the few hours after dusk will be the best time to view.
September 11th- Neptune at opposition
The furthest planet from the sun will be at it's closest to Earth on this day, but of all the planets, this affects the way Neptune appears the least. It will definitely be the brightest it is of the entire year, and will be in the sky all night long, but still just looks like a tiny blue star through a telescope. If seeing conditions cooperate, I may try to capture it.
September 17th- New Moon
This is always the best time of the month to go stargazing. Get out to dark skies, bring some binoculars or a telescope, and view the wonders of the night sky the way our ancestors did before creating cities. Dark skies help you understand your place in the cosmos. These are the nights I will be shooting galaxies.
Poll- What should I shoot during new moon?
New moon offers a limited window for capturing broadband deep space targets. So, weather permitting, I will try and capture something in broadband (true color). This means mainly galaxies, reflection nebulae, and dark nebulae. So, here's a few object I've been thinking about shooting. Let me know what you want me to shoot, and I'll make sure it gets priority!
- Iris Nebula
- Andromeda Galaxy
- Triangulum Galaxy
- Sculptor Galaxy
- Cocoon Nebula
- Other- Use an app like Sky Safari to figure out what is visible in the northern hemisphere this time of year.
Comments
Other - use sky safari to see what you can optimally get! Break the internet with something we’ve never seen before (or something we have, but with your particular brand applied, the twist that makes stuff NUTS)
cocoon nebula
