Mars over Kreischer Quadrangle and a crazy bright moon

After driving around town for about 10 minutes, I found a nice dark spot in the very center of the intramural fields next to this huge tree. I did some shooting after I got bored waiting for my star circle photos. Lots of great practice playing with different exposures and ISO settings!

This first one gives you an idea of how bright the moon was tonight. Of course, after I left I read on my phone that there is a "supermoon" this weekend. I felt like I was sitting under a spotlight. This first image was shot with 2 sec exposure at ISO 400, no flash, and no post production tweaks. 

This next one makes the tree look very spooky and almost ominous with the orange lights in the background. I used a flash on this one at a low ISO and longer exposure.

Finally, I wanted to snap a quick picture of Mars on my way to the car. I also love how these lights look like alien spaceships. This was taken facing west above Kreischer Quadrangle on Mercer Rd. I didn't know it at the time, but it looks like I got all of Leo in this picture as well!

Point and shoot star trails at BGSU intramural fields

Check out my latest star trail image, this time with more interesting foreground. I made this using a stack of 81 photos from May 5, 2012 between midnight at 1am at the intramural fields overlooking the stadium at Bowling Green State University. 15 sec exposure each at ISO 400.

Facing northeast, the brightest star leaving the top of the frame is Vega.

Double star in the Big Dipper handle with labels

It's supposed to rain for the next 5 days here in Bowling Green, but I feel the need to blog! Blogging is a great way to learn, because to make sure I don't just talk out my ass I have to actually look things up to write about them. I bet to real amateur astronomers this is just silly, but I'm a noob and having a blast teaching myself what I can!

Tonight I decided to pull up a 15 sec exposure of the northern sky from Sunday night when I made my star circle image. I remember Dale Smith from the BGSU Planetarium asking if we could spot the double star in the handle of the Big Dipper (apparently a Native American test of good eyesight). I was able to just barely make out the double star with the naked eye, but I'm pleased that they are visible even with this quick snapshot. 

For some reason, the stars near the edge seem to smear more during a 15 sec exposure than the ones in the middle. 

The stars are called Mizar (the larger one) and Alcor (the smaller one). Mizar is actually a double star itself, making this "star" in the handle of the Big Dipper an interesting combination of three. For much better images and explanations, head over to AstroPix.com. But wait! The images by Jerry Lodriguss show that this small point in the sky actually has 4 stars with the addition of the very faint Sidus Ludoviciana. It's as if somebody bejeweled rhinestones to the handle of our celestial saucepan! 

Finally, you'll notice that Polaris is easy to locate by drawing an imaginary line through Merak and Dubhe at the large end of the dipper bowl. They don't exactly line up, but in the open sky it's a very hard to miss the obvious Polaris (48th brightest star in the sky). 

Another mediocre evening sky time lapse fade out

These overcast skies are getting annoying! Oh well, the least I can do is make mediocre time lapse films on my iPhone. Meh. 

Transit of Venus event at BGSU Observatory

Photo by Bart Benjamin

A paper insert in my latest BGSU Planetarium program included information about the upcoming transit of Venus on June 5, 2012 at 18:04:13 (ingress exterior) local time.

Because people are finding my blog with keywords for the Bowling Green State University Transit of Venus event, I decided to post the contents of the written flyer in its entirety to make sure the information gets out there!

A sky event is coming in June that won't happen again this century - a transit of Venus. During transit, Venus can be seen as a small dot moving across the face of the Sun.  

Transits are rare and they happen in pairs. The 2012 transit follows one in 2004. The next pair won't come for a hundred years - until 2117 and 2125.  

We'll be running a planetarium show about the transit. Transit of Venus will tell you why transits happen, the colorful stories of astronomers who have studied past transits and what they learned, and the circumstances of the 2004 transit. You'll be surprised how much there is to an event you've probably never heard of before.  

The Transit of Venus planetarium program will run at 8 p.m. on Friday May 18, Friday May 25, and Friday June 1, as well as at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday June 3.  

The transit is on Tuesday, June 5. Weather permitting, we'll have the BGSU Observatory open from 6 p.m. to sunset so you can see this rare event through our telescopes. We can't promise a spectacular sight - you'll just see a black dot in front of the sun - but it's the rarity of the event that makes it special. There's about a 50% chance of clear skies in BG at the time of the transit. Come to the Planetarium lobby and we'll escort you to the rooftop Observatory.  

The Observatory open house will be held only if the sky is clear. You can call 419-372-8831 beginning at 4 p.m. on June 5 for a recorded message giving the status of the open house.

Update: A live webcast of the transit will be shown in the Planetarium theater rain or shine, but a rooftop viewing will only happen if the sky is at least partially clear.

Update: I added a post with photos from the transit event.

Other great transit resources:
- TransitofVenus.org
- NASA 2012 Transit of Venus
- Transit of Venus 2012, Wikipedia
- TransitofVenus.nl
- Twitter #tov2012