Mayhill, New Mexico 4/12/2010 9:40:54 AM
News / Education

Recording the motions of the stars in the region of Celestial Pole

Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day



I took this long exposure  in the middle of a pine forest, near the Atlantic Ocean, in Fonte-da-Telha, Portugal, facing to North where is situated the region  of Lisbon ( about 20Km away). To record the motion of the stars in the region of Celestial Pole, I registered with my Canon 50D, 180 images, each one of 30 seconds, later I combined them all manually,in Photoshop CS3 to produce a single image with the path of each star, surrounding the Star Pole.The photograph are a total exposure time of 90 minutes, having started at 21:08 and ended at 22:45.

In the image we can enjoy the path of many stars and constellations like Ursa Major ( at right ), Ursa Minor and the Pole Star ( middle of the image ) as well Draco, and partially some constellations like: Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Perseus.The bright star in the left top of the image is the star, Capella. We also can see many pine trees in the field and some clouds in the bottom.




April 2010 is Global Astronomy Month.  Bringing the world together under one sky.
In support of  and Astronomers without borders, Astronomy.FM and Global Rent-a-Scope have teamed up to bring you a free trial account to use on two of their remote-operated observatories.





 Our special trial account will give you 100 points of free access to GRAS's one-click imaging systems on their remote telescopes, G3 (in New Mexico), G13 (in Australia). Registration does not require a credit card or any commitment from you. At the end of your trial, you will be able to upgrade to a full-use GRAS account that will let you access all of their telescopes.

Anyone, with an Internet connected computer, located anywhere on the Earth, will be granted free access to a GRAS remote Telescope. Designed for ease of operation, even a child with little or no previous experience can take command of the controls of this ground-based remote astronomical telescope system


These image where taken with GRAS free trial account.


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