High in the northern sky this week we find the constellation Cassiopeia. As the sky darkens, look for something resembling a letter ‘M’ too weak to push itself fully upright. Ancient stories liken the star pattern to a royal throne. Roman mathematician and astronomer, Ptolemy included it in his charts, but Cassiopeia’s origins date back to earlier times.
At 1:17AM on Tuesday December 21st, the Moon will reach the midpoint of the first total lunar eclipse visible from North America in nearly three years. The last one happened on February 20th, 2008. Unfortunately, the view above my home in Santa Fe was blocked by clouds. Hopefully this time I’ll have better conditions or it will be a long wait until the next total lunar eclipse on April 15th, 2014.
Rising above the eastern horizon, a couple of hours after nightfall, is a constellation familiar to both casual and devoted stargazers – Orion, the hunter. During the winter months it is well placed in the southern sky giving us a chance to explore its celestial bounty.
Orion’s position on the Celestial Equator makes its prominent hourglass pattern of stars visible from most parts of the world. Many cultures created stories about this conspicuous constellation.
During this month’s lunar dark time, I got the imaging gear out to work the sky again and attempt to capture some new pictures. Before going out, I spent some time going through my boxes of adapters, connecting rings and focal reducers. I managed to get a set together that now allows me to image targets with my Celestron 11″ SCT at shorter focal lengths than I used to get my image of the Dumbbell nebula. Shorter focal lengths give me a wider field of view and collect more light in the equivalent exposure times. That means I can go for bigger targets and get more detail during my imaging sessions.
