General Astronomy - Astronomy Forum

Planisphere for AL Observing

JayDee — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:08:13 +0000

I was looking for a place to start with really learning and becoming a better observer, which led me to start working on the observing programs offered by the Astronomical League. The very first one that feels introductory requires a planisphere. Does anyone have any good insight for acquiring a planisphere? Yes, it's entirely possible to just plop "planisphere" into a variety of search locations, but it would be nice to have something that is vouched for by people who use it regularly or have used it regularly. Thanks :)

Deep Sky Imax Movie

Al Bott — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 20:27:40 +0000

The wife, grandson (10), and I attended the movie this afternoon. Let me share it brought tears to my eyes a number of times. My grandson was gobsmacked as well. I recommend finding a showing and go watch it. Just amazing.

Custom Landscape images for Stellarium

Tom Taylor — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 15:42:49 +0000

Does anybody have a custom landscape Images for The Swamp and The Fairgrounds that you are willing to share?

Lunar Occultation of Antares - Thu Aug 24

Jack Hewitt — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 14:58:58 +0000

Thursday evening the Moon occults Antares. It will be visible as a grazing occultation from southern St John's county. The Moon will start to pass in front of Antares sometime around 11 PM EST (depending on your location). It will be low in the southwest (15 degrees altitude) and so a bit hard to spot. More info about the occultation can be found on in-the-sky.org and in the attached astronomy lab that Dr. Mike Reynolds wrote for UNF a few decades ago. I imported the visibility map into Google Maps if anyone wants to check on their location.

New Comet Discovered - Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura)

Zach Williams — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:53:46 +0000

Source

It’s currently Mag 10.8 and visible early in the morning in Gemini and will reach Mag 3.2 in Virgo on September 18th at perihelion.

Amazing where some astronomy ideas get introduced

Al Bott — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:38:28 +0000

Yesterday, was reading with my grandson the book The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, published 1943. A cute story overall but here is an excerpt from the story. The dialog is between the Little Prince and a man in the story.

"And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that i cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will be just one of the stars, for you. And so, you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens... they will all be your friends. And, besides, I am going to make you a present.

What are you trying to say? asked the Prince.

All men have the stars, he answered, but not all stars are the same thing for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For farmers the stars are a clock used for scheduling the fields. For others they are no more than little lights up in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman, they are wealth."

A lovely little snippet from a french childs story. A story where the author wove the magic of the stars for a young person to enjoy. Maybe planting a seed that grows into an astronomer. Just wanted to share. Maybe you will add where you saw an unexpected connection between a subject and the stars.