Author: Michael

The Night Sky! April, May, June 2021: Lyrid Meteor Shower, Lunar/Solar Eclipse, Planets, Deep Sky Objects & More

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April, May and June of 2021 have a lot to offer in amateur astronomy. From meteor showers, a lunar eclipse, the planets of our solar system and deep sky objects, regardless of what equipment you own or your level of experience, I’ll walk you through the best things to view in the night sky this Spring. If you enjoy this article please like it and subscribe to this channel, but most importantly, let me know what you’ve been able to observe or image in the comment section below. Now, let’s get started by talking about one of the most relaxing things in astronomy that you don’t need any equipment to see and enjoy, meteor showers.

The Best Meteor Showers for April, May & June 2021

The Spring sky has two main showers to mention with April hosting the Lyrids Meteor Shower which peaks on the night of April 21st into the early morning of April 22nd. To view it, go out after midnight, face towards the East and look for the bright star, Vega. In between Vega and the Hercules Constellation will be the point of the sky where the Lyrids will appear to be emanating from. These meteors are from the dust of comet Thatcher and streak through the sky as the Earth moves through their path every year around this time. While this isn’t the most spectacular shower of the year it is a reliable one and can provide views of 10 to 20 meteors per hour, however the Moon being out this year will wash out a few more of the fainter ones. Another shower this Spring comes from the material left over from Haley’s Comet. The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower is a difficult one to see from my Northern Latitude but can put on a nice show particularly for those living in the Southern Hemisphere. Go out around just before Sunrise on the morning of May 5th and face towards the East. To the left of Jupiter and the Moon, you will find meteors appearing to come from the constellation Aquarius. Expect 5 to 10 meteors per hour from this shower in the Northern hemisphere, especially with the moon positioned near them this year but the farther south you live, the more meteors you will see, with numbers possibly reaching 20 to 30 meteors per hour. There are three things I would suggest when viewing a meteor shower to enhance your experience and those are location, comfort, and patience. First, if you are able, try to get away from large sources of light pollution, this will greatly increase the number of faint meteors you are able to see. Second, take a lounge chair or blanket so that you can lay out on the ground to enjoy the show. Binoculars and telescopes are not needed because you will want to view as much of the sky as possible. Lastly, give yourself at least one to two hours of observing time to relax and enjoy the show.

The Best Views of the Moon for April, May & June 2021

April, May and June offer some wonderful opportunities to view our closest neighbor, the Moon, including an impressive Lunar Eclipse for some of us. But before we get to that, let’s look at the phases of the Moon and the best times to observe it. April starts off with its new Moon on the 11th and Full Moon on the 26th. For May, the new Moon will be on the 11th and Full Moon on the 26th. June sees its new Moon on the 10th and Full Moon on the 24th. Try to go out to view the Moon after sunset with a pair of binoculars or telescope in between its new moon and first quarter phases. This is when the surface will look the most dynamic with long shadows stretching over its surface along with craters and mountain ranges showing great depth and detail. The best dates to view the Moon under these conditions will be April 14th through the 19th, May 14th through the 19th and June 12th through the 17th. Use this time to study and learn the surface of the Moon. To image the moon, I like to use my cell phone and an adapter that connects to my eyepieces. After adjusting the focus and settings, you can get some great video and pictures of the Moon to share with your friends and family during any of its phases. The highlight of the Moon this Spring is the total lunar eclipse which falls on the early morning of May 26th. From where I live on the east coast of the United States there won’t be much of a show to see sadly, but for those of you that live on the West Coast North America, central and South America along with many regions in the Pacific it will be quite a site. Be sure to check your local time, but in the early morning of May 26th go outside and watch as the Moon slowly becomes enveloped by the shadow of our own planet as it moves between it and the Sun. The last one I saw a few years ago had the Moon turn almost blood red. It’s a slow process but well worth your time to check out if you live in a region that will be able to see it. While we are on the topic of the Sun, Moon and Earth, I wanted to briefly mention that a Partial Solar Eclipse will occur right after sunset on June 10 as the Moon clips part of the Sun just as it is rising above the horizon. Certain areas of Canada, Greenland and Russia will be treated to a “ring of fire” eclipse where the Moon doesn’t completely cover the surface of the Sun. But most of us will miss out on that spectacular site. As always, please remember to only view any type of solar eclipse with properly certified solar glasses or a certified solar telescope.

The Best Views of the Planets for April, May & June 2021

As we move farther out into our solar system we focus on the best views of the planets. Let’s begin with the closest planet to our sun, Mercury. Mercury is not the easiest planet to catch because of how low it always is to the horizon but a nice opportunity to glimpse it will be around May 17th as it reaches its highest point in the western sky right after the sun sets. You’ll notice Venus just below, Mercury on this night and if we move ahead to May 28th, we will find Mercury and Venus just 0.5 degrees away from each other on this night. Through my telescope, I’ll be able to get each planet in the same field of view at 100x magnification which is a unique sight. Throughout the rest of May and June, Venus will continue to rise higher in the early evening sky.  Although Mars continues to move away from us and is not at optimal viewing, there are still some nice opportunities to view it such as when it passes by M35 on April 26th and even more impressively when it passes right through M44 the Beehive cluster on June 23rd. Unfortunately, the best views of Jupiter and Saturn this Spring will have to be done in the early morning sky a few hours before sunrise. Of particular interest are the dates of April 6th and 7th when the Moon will pass underneath Saturn and Jupiter. Uranus and Neptune are also not in opportune positions to easily view this Spring with Uranus being quite close to the horizon for most of the Spring and Neptune only being visible in early morning sky just like Saturn and Jupiter.

The Best Views of Deep Sky Objects for April, May & June 2021

The theme of the Spring is galaxy season and we’re going to start our list off with 2 of my favorites, Bode’s Nebula, M81 and M82. These two galaxies that will show up in the same field of view of your telescope show off the beautiful difference between what we call a spiral and starburst galaxy. At +6.7 and +8 magnitude, these are two of the best galaxies to start with for those with smaller telescopes. I’ve spent hours observing and imaging these two and never get tired of seeing them through my telescope. From Bode’s Nebula we move on to M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy and M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. These are two nice spiral galaxies as well but can get washed out more easily if you live in an area with moderate to heavy light pollution. Finally, we move over to the Southern part of the sky to check out M104, The Sombrero Galaxy and then the most impressive collection of galaxies in our night sky, the Virgo Cluster. This large collection of galaxies found within the constellation Virgo is a great test for your telescope and eye to see just how many you can make out from your own backyard. Some of the most prominent galaxies that will show up in the Virgo Cluster make up what we call Mark’s Chain and include the galaxies M84 and M86. Larger scopes and darker skies will be key to getting the most out of this dense region of galaxies. I was able to get my first image of this last year and hope to return to it soon under darker skies.

I hope you’ve found this Night Sky Guide helpful! Let me know of anything I may have missed and if you’ve been out to observe or image anything mentioned here please be sure to tell me about it in the comment section below. Thank you all so much for your support and clear skies from Late Night Astronomy.

How to Find Comet Leonard | The Best Comet of 2021?

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Later this year, Comet Leonard has the potential to be one of the greatest sites in astronomy. In this video, I’ll show you what parts of the sky Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) will be traveling through as it makes it’s closest approach to Earth on December 12, 2021. Be sure to let me know of your experiences viewing comets and hunting for Comet Leonard in the comment section below.

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How to use a DSLR for Astrophotography: The Best Camera Settings & More

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DSLR’s are wonderful to use for astrophotography. Whether you’re just getting into imaging by shooting star trails on a tripod or you’ve begun taking breathtaking pictures of deep sky objects with a tracking mount, DSLR’s are an impressive piece of equipment in amateur astronomy. Today, we’re going to look at the best camera settings that will help you maximize the quality of your nighttime photography with a DSLR

Step 1:
Manual Mode & RAW

I’m currently shooting with is the Canon SL2 and while the menu system will obviously vary between companies and camera models the settings we are going to be discussing today should be fairly universal for most DSLR’s but always be sure to test things out for your camera before you get started with a long late night of imaging deep sky objects. Let’s begin by making sure your DSLR is in Manual Mode. This will give us the most flexibility with altering settings and controlling all aspects of how the camera is capturing our target. Once you’ve done that, go into the menu system and change your image quality to RAW. This is by far the most important setting in your menu to double check before each imaging session. RAW is such an important setting because of the amount of data it saves of the photons hitting your sensor. It’s sometimes referred to as a digital negative due to the large amount of data it saves. Increased information for variances in brightness, color and dynamic range will lead to more flexibility down the road for stacking and post processing when you are attempting to bring out the great dynamic range of a nebula like Orion or the subtle faint blue details surrounding the Pleiades Star Cluster.

Step 2:
Various Menu Settings

Next, let’s go and change some other settings in our menu system and we’ll continue by setting our Picture Style to Neutral and White Balance to “Daylight”. These two settings won’t have an impact on the actual files being saved since we are shooting in RAW but they can have an impact on the histogram you will be analyzing when you are finalizing how to image your target when we get to that portion in a few minutes. We will also change our High ISO Speed to off. Since I plan to shoot dark frames later in the night, this feature is not needed. Another setting I like to disable is sensor cleaning. You will want the light, dark, flat and bias frames you will be capturing later in the night to be consistent and if your camera were to turn off and do a self-cleaning of the image sensor that could change any imperfections on the sensor from one shot to another. This will allow us to clean up those imperfections more easily with post processing. I’ve also found it good practice to have image review set to off and drive mode set to single shooting. Be sure to switch your camera’s lens to Manual Focus as well so you can fine tune the focus using the naked eye or something like a Bahtinov mask to assist you when imaging your target. Again, be sure to test these camera settings out because they can vary between brands and although things like shooting in RAW and using Manual Mode are universal practices other things may slightly vary in name or function but for my DSLR these settings have worked very well for me over the years!

Step 3:
F-number

The final three settings we’re going to look at are the critical final steps before you begin capturing large amounts of data throughout the night for your target and they also vary greatly depending on your specific camera and lens. Let’s look at what you should consider when determining your DSLR’s F-number, ISO and Shutter Speed for deep sky astrophotography. Your options for F number will depend upon what lens you are using. The lower the F-Number the more light it will let in. More light is obviously good for capturing the night sky, but it may be a good idea to stop your lens down from let’s say f/2 to f/2.8 to sharpen the image a bit. Sometimes stopping down the F number can even be an artistic choice. Even though my Samyang 135mm F/2 can get sharp stars fully open at F2, I will often choose to stop it down to f2.8 because I like the spikes that come off bright stars from the blades of the aperture at that f number. I would suggest starting with your lens fully open and then do some test shots to check the focus from edge to edge of your frame and consider stopping down if you aren’t pleased with the initial results.

Step 4:
ISO

Next, we need to figure out the ISO to use for our DSLR. Now, how to exactly describe what the ISO does to the sensor of a DSLR is a complicated topic that I would like you all to help me with in the comment section below. I’ve always thought of changing the ISO as adjusting the sensitivity of the sensor. This doesn’t magically allow your camera to collect more light and increasing the ISO too much can negatively impact the dynamic range of your final RAW image. Also, ISO settings affect DSLR sensors differently, so this isn’t a one size fits all setting. Simply put, I have experimented with my camera’s ISO settings ranging from 100 to 1600 ISO imaging a wide variety of deep sky targets and have found my cameras sweet spot to be ISO 400. Anything higher and I tend to lose too much dynamic range when I go to processing and anything less can leave streaks and banding effects from the sensor itself. Experiment with this and do some additional research for your specific DSLR to find out if others have discovered what works best for your sensor.

Step 5:
Shutter Speed

Lastly, we need to figure out what to set our shutter speed at so photons can fill up our sensor and create beautiful images of the nighttime sky. This will depend partially on what additional equipment you own. Are you shooting on a tripod, a smaller mount like the Sky Guider Pro or have you invested in a couple thousand dollar tracking mount? For the benefit of this video, let’s assume you are testing the waters of astrophotography and have a tripod or entry level mount like the Sky Guider Pro I own. For a tripod, go out and shoot some beautiful star trails. Point to a part of the sky, adjust your focus and experiment with how long you can keep your sensor open to get different effects from the star trails. Play around with what your camera can do and try to find Polaris to see how much it does or doesn’t move compared to the other stars in the sky. A nice tool to mention real quick that doesn’t cost that much money is a remote shutter release trigger. The one I own allows me to set the shutter speed of the camera and how many pictures I want it to take. Connect it to the wire remote port on your DSLR type in your settings and you can head back inside for a bit while the camera works its magic imaging the night sky. For those of you with a polar aligned tracking mount the decision of shutter speed becomes more exact. With your F-number already set on your lens go outside and do some test images at various shutter speeds and ISO’s if you haven’t determined if your camera has an ISO sweet spot. For this example, I’ve adjusted my camera to every menu setting mentioned in this video, set my lens to F2.8, ISO to 400 and have taken 15 second, 30 second, 45 second, and 1 minute exposures. To determine what exposure works best, I’m going to press the info button to see the difference in the histogram for each image. The trick is to get a histogram that is about 3/4 of the way over to the left. Too far to left and you don’t have enough difference between your object and the background of space, too far to the right and you may lose some of the brightest details of your object from the data getting clipped off. This again, will be something you will need to experiment with depending on your lens, ISO and the maximum practical exposure length that your tracking mount is capable of. Most of the image I shoot on my Sky guider Pro, with a 135mm Samyang lens at F2.8 and ISO 400 have an exposure length between 30 and 90 seconds depending on what I’m imaging, the light pollution of my area and what the histogram is telling me about the data I’m collecting for future stacking and post processing.

What DSLR settings work best for your camera for astrophotography? Please be sure to help each other out with questions and suggestions regarding all your different types of imaging equipment in the comment section below. Thank you all so much for your support and clear skies from late night astronomy.

How to get Perfect Focus with a Bahtinov Mask for Astrophotography

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Getting sharp focus is a critical and sometimes frustrating part of astrophotography. Even when everything is setup correctly, your equipment has cooled and the skies are steady, it can still be hard to tell if the stars in your frame are sharp or just little a bit off; and the last thing you want is to be disappointed with hours of imaging due to poor focus. Today, we’re going to look at a simple and affordable solution that takes the guess work out of focusing your telescope and lens. This miracle product, that almost feels like it should have its own infomercial, is called a Bahtinov Mask. Invented by Pavel Bahtinov back in 2005 this impressive device has helped me get sharp focus time after time.

Before buying the mask be sure to measure the diameter of your telescope or lens opening to make sure you get the right size. The mask that I bought is adjustable for an outer diameter between 65 and 100 mm which fits the lens hood of my Samyang lens. This specific Bahtinov lens only cost me about 12 dollars.

To get sharp focus with the Bahtinov mask, start by finding a bright star in the night sky, the brighter the star the better. Once you’ve settled on a star, place the mask over the aperture of your telescope or lens. When the mask is properly positioned on your equipment the bright star may appear as the outline of the mask if it is greatly out of focus. As you slowly begin to adjust focus, the three grid patterns that make up the mask will slowly form into a star with three diffraction spikes shooting out of it. Sharp focus has been achieved when the middle spike is perfectly centered between the other two spikes. I’ve found that the 10x digital zoom of my DSLR helps me to determine the positions of the diffraction spikes much easier.

I recently used this mask before imaging the Pleiades star cluster and it helped me to achieve sharp images of the seven sisters and the faint blue reflection nebula surrounding it. An important thing to remember is that even once you’ve achieved perfect focus early on, be sure to recheck it a few times throughout your imaging session as temperatures change during the night. Also, don’t forget to take the mask off before you begin you begin imaging. I may or may not have left it on once which led to some beautifully sharp stars with three spikes shooting through them. It was quite a unique picture, but not exactly what I was going for.

If you’ve used or are looking to buy a Bahtinov mask, please let me know how this brilliantly simple invention has worked for you or any questions you may have about it in the comment section below. Thank you all so much for your support and clear skies from Late Night Astronomy.

Samyang/Rokinon 135mm F2 for Astrophotography: Review & Imaging Tests

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Let’s unbox, review and test this lens to find out why it is one of the best bang for your buck deals in astrophotography! I’ll walk you through all this incredible lens has to offer as we go outside to test it with some deep sky imaging. If you own the Samyang or Rokinon version of this lens please let me know about your experience using it and what your imaging in the comment section below.

One important thing to mention off the bat regards the confusion over any differences between Samyang and Rokinon lenses.  From what I’ve read, the 135mm f2 versions of each lens are identical. The difference in their names simply comes down to a marketing decision. If both are available to buy where you live, do what I did and go with the cheaper one, that ended up saving me about 20 dollars for this the Samyang model.

When researching what lens to buy for astrophotography, there were several things that led me to this Samyang Lens. One of which was its low F number. At F/2, this has a very large aperture which lets in a tremendous amount of light, leading to fainter objects showing up under ideal imaging conditions and shorter individual exposure times needed to collect light for stacking and post processing. The true beauty of this lens comes from the fact that even shooting at F2, you can still get incredibly sharp images across the entire field of view and that’s not always the case for lenses.

The second thing that sold me on this lens was the fixed 135mm focal length. Prime lenses that don’t zoom often lead to sharper results for astrophotography due to the design of the lens. 135mm is also a nice sweet spot for my current tracking mount. At a little less than 2 pounds, its light enough for my Skyguider Pro and the amount of sky that it can image will reveal faint details of impressive deep sky objects but also doesn’t push the limits of what my tracking mount is capable of in terms of its tracking accuracy at long exposure times.

Few things test a lens like imaging the nighttime sky with its pinpoint stars and faint deep sky objects, so let’s put this lens to the test and see if it’s impressive claims match up to the real-world rigor of astrophotography by imaging the Constellation Orion. Now the detail of your images will vary from mine due to things like light pollution, exposure times and post processing but the thing I really want to point out is the sharpness of this lens, fully open at F2. From the Flame and Horsehead nebulas near the bright star Altinak, to the Orion Nebula with its nursery of dynamic gas clouds creating stars all the way over the extreme edge of the image where faint stars shine bright, this lens remain as sharp as the center of the image across the entire field of view. The Samyang 135mm F/2 easily lives up to its hype and should be near the top of your list of purchases if you are new or experienced in the field of astrophotography.

If you’re using or are looking to buy the Samyang or Rokinon 135mm F/2, please let me know what you’re imaging with it or any questions you may have in the comment section below. Thank you all so much for your support and clear skies from Late Night Astronomy.

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The Night Sky! January, February, March 2021 | Best Astronomy Views | The Orion Nebula & More

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I’ll walk you through the best views of the Moon, Planets and Deep Sky objects like the Orion Nebula this winter. Regardless of your equipment or experience, we’ve got something here for you to see in the night sky. Please let me know what you’ve gone out see this winter with your telescope, binoculars or just the naked eye in the comment section below.

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I Took a Picture of the Christmas Tree Star Cluster. Where is it in the Night Sky?

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I’ll show you how find the Christmas Tree Star Cluster in the night sky. Made up of over 80 stars, it lights up the sky all winter long and is a treat to see through the telescope or image with a tracking mount.

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How to See The Geminid Meteor Shower: The Greatest Shower of 2020

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Don’t miss the greatest meteor shower of 2020! In this video, I’ll show you how to see the Geminids and give some tips on ways to increase the number of meteors you can see! Be sure to let me know about your experience with the Geminid Meteor Shower in the comment section below. Clear skies everyone!

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