astrophotography
Below are the episodes of the Jodcast (or segments) which match the keyword astrophotography. You can continue searching by going back to the tag cloud.
- The night sky for May 2008 - May 2008 (MP3)
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky from northern latitudes during May 2008. As the Sun sets, the constellations of Taurus and Gemini are setting towards the west. Leo is high in the south west and to the lower left of Leo is Virgo. Telescopes show a wonderful number of galaxies forming the Virgo cluster stretching from Denebola to Spica. Above Leo is Ursa Major - the Great Bear - with lots of interesting things to look at. It is not a bad month for planets. Mercury reaches greatest elongation - greatest angle from the Sun - around the middle of the month. On 6th May we could have a wonderful skyscape; very low to the north west after sunset will be the Pleiades star cluster, a very thin crescent Moon and above that to the left will be Mercury. Remember that looking directly at the Sun can be dangerous so make sure that you wait until after the Sun has set. Saturn is visible fairly high in south west after sunset in the constellation of Leo. It starts the month two degrees to the east of Leo's brightest star Regulus. With a small telescope you should be able to see Saturn's largest moon Titan. By the end of May Jupiter rises just before midnight. Mars is in the constellation of Gemini. On May 5th it moves into the constellation of Cancer and will form a line with the stars Castor and Pollux. Venus is very low above the horizon so is almost impossible to observe due to the glare of the Sun. Ian also answers a listener question about good beginner telescopes that can be used to take astronomical photographs.
