New Astrophoto

[orogenicman]

I finally got the opportunity to tqake some astrophotos last night at the club observatory. Many amateurs have taken images of Messier 42, the great nebula in Orion. One of the challenges is to image the core and in so doing, image the trapezium stars at the core, which is difficult because they are so bright. I've done so on several occasions, but, despite the poor seeing and resulting soft focus, last night I managed to get a pretty good one. The following image is a stack of 60-10 second images, processed in photoshop.

M42 CORE

[Jackalope]

The one thing I really love about M42 - it's something I can show to non-astronomers where the through-the-eyepiece view actually looks a lot like what you see in a photo. Well, other than the color, of course.

It's one of the few deep-sky objects where the conversation doesn't go like this...

"I can't see it."
"Don't look at it, look to the side."
"Huh?"
"You know, like you're looking at it, but you don't want it to know you're looking at it."
"Oh there it is... wait, it's gone."
"STOP LOOKING AT IT!"
"Oh there it is again. Is that all there is to see?"
(Me rips eyepiece away and shoves a copy of Sky and Telescope into their hands)

Instead - it's more like this...

"Wow, that's cool. How come it's so green?"
"Must be you, dude."

[orogenicman]

I can relate.

[Minimalist]

So there are two bright lights in the Western Sky, one about 30 degrees above the horizon and one a lot higher up. I figure one must be Venus or something. Any idea what the other is?

[orogenicman]

So there are two bright lights in the Western Sky, one about 30 degrees above the horizon and one a lot higher up. I figure one must be Venus or something. Any idea what the other is?

Jupiter.

[Jackalope]

So there are two bright lights in the Western Sky, one about 30 degrees above the horizon and one a lot higher up. I figure one must be Venus or something. Any idea what the other is?

If you could be more vague, it would be helpful.

What time of night and what timezone?

The winter night sky has many of the brightest stars visible from the northern hemisphere. Depending on the time of night, you might be seeing Sirius and Procyon - though they won't be in the west until late in the night. Since you said they're in the west, could very well be Venus and Jupiter - if you're taking about earlier in the night.

Venus will be in the SW sky after sunset, and it will be the brightest starlike object in the evening sky, by far. Jupiter will also be in the SW sky after sunset, and will be the second brightest starlike object in the evening sky, not nearly as bright as Venus, but noticeably brighter than Sirius (the brightest star other than our sun).

It's been fucking cloudy as hell here so I couldn't say for sure without knowing the time and location and throwing up a star map.

---

One hour after sunset, looking SW:

[Minimalist]

I'm in friggin' Arizona and the sky goes on forever. I always notice them when I take my dog out for a walk about 8 PM - ( 10 Eastern.)

From your chart I'd guess Venus and Jupiter.

[Jackalope]

I'm in friggin' Arizona and the sky goes on forever. I always notice them when I take my dog out for a walk about 8 PM - ( 10 Eastern.)

From your chart I'd guess Venus and Jupiter.

For that time of night, yeah, it would have to be. That region of the sky has very few bright stars. Venus and Jupiter are particularly bright right now and they'll really pop out at you.

[Modular Moog V]

So there are two bright lights in the Western Sky, one about 30 degrees above the horizon and one a lot higher up. I figure one must be Venus or something. Any idea what the other is?

Venus is the brighter one, while Jupiter is above her. In the west after sunset.