03-28-2009, 04:51 AM
Hopefully by Mon-Tues next week I'll have the final piece I need to use my telescope as a prime lens for my DSLR. When I do, I'll be using it for astronomy photography (sometimes called astrophotography) and I hope to get a few decent shots - the Moon, Mars and Juipter if I'm lucky, Venus, etc.
I'll also be working on decent shots of the ISS and such via this site:
SpaceWeather.com
Replace my postal code with your own to see when and where neat stuff in the skies will be visible from your own home and area!
Also, NASA Human Space Flight tracker is a bit more "wordy" and technically involved than the last site. It works great tho. What I like most about the first one is the approximate magnitudes (brightnesses) listed, so you know you're looking at the right object in the night sky.
Heavens Above is another great tracker site.
Finally, Clear Sky Charts is a website I've literally been using for years to get an idea of how the nighttime conditions will be for the next 24-48 hours. This way I can avoid getting my hopes up about catching the next "great" viewing window for a night sky object. I almost forgot - Clear Dark Sky has that wicked pop-up dialog that tells you what each level of measurement means and how it ranks against the best and worst conditions. For example, one row tells you the faintest object (in magnitude) that you would be able to see under ideal conditions, but it also weights it against the other factors for that period of time (cloud cover, transparency of the atmosphere, etc). A wicked, wicked site for those who don't like to waste time.
I'll also be working on decent shots of the ISS and such via this site:
SpaceWeather.com
Replace my postal code with your own to see when and where neat stuff in the skies will be visible from your own home and area!
Also, NASA Human Space Flight tracker is a bit more "wordy" and technically involved than the last site. It works great tho. What I like most about the first one is the approximate magnitudes (brightnesses) listed, so you know you're looking at the right object in the night sky.
Heavens Above is another great tracker site.
Finally, Clear Sky Charts is a website I've literally been using for years to get an idea of how the nighttime conditions will be for the next 24-48 hours. This way I can avoid getting my hopes up about catching the next "great" viewing window for a night sky object. I almost forgot - Clear Dark Sky has that wicked pop-up dialog that tells you what each level of measurement means and how it ranks against the best and worst conditions. For example, one row tells you the faintest object (in magnitude) that you would be able to see under ideal conditions, but it also weights it against the other factors for that period of time (cloud cover, transparency of the atmosphere, etc). A wicked, wicked site for those who don't like to waste time.