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A1 Leonard
Press, Tips & News, Travel journal
30/11/20210

Top Astronomy Events for December 2021

What are the top astronomy events you can observe in December 2021? December sees Comet A1 Leonard at dawn, and  the promise of the bright winter hexagon rising at dusk.

Comet A1 Leonard

Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard passing the galaxy NGC 4631 on November 25th. Image credit: Michael Jäger.

The month of December 2021 brings us home, in more ways than one. Yes, it’s the end of the calendar year. It’s also time for the southward solstice, marking the beginning of astronomical winter in the northern hemisphere, and summer in the southern. But it also marks the return of the Winter Hexagon asterism to the evening sky. So let’s dive into the topic and let’s check out what the top astronomy events for December 2021 are!

The December Sky

Going clockwise from the top, the members of the Winter Hexagon are: Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, and the twins Pollux and Castor. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and sits due south at midnight on New Year’s Eve. You can tell the twins apart by remembering ‘P’ollux is on the same side as ‘P’rocyon, and ‘C’astor is on the same side as Capella. Betelgeuse tops of the scene, near the center of the hexagon.

Dec 25th

The dusk sky on Xmas eve, December 25th looking west. Credit: Stellarium.

There’s a reason that so many bright stars dominate the December sky. That’s because you’re looking outward from the core of our Milky Way Galaxy towards the Orion Spur, passing through the constellation of the same name. Our Sun is embedded in the Orion Spur, along with the bright December stars in the same direction. In fact, the Galactic Anti-Center is off in the direction of Gemini, very near the open star cluster Messier 35.

In the southern hemisphere, the evening sky in December sees the parade of nearby bright stars continue through Canopus, Achernar and the famous ‘Southern Cross’ Crux riding high to the north near midnight. To some, just spotting the swayback cross of the Crux is the highlight of their astronomical life-list on a journey to the southern hemisphere.

Fun fact: The International Space Station has an orbital inclination of 52.5 degrees meaning that near either solstice, it can enter a period of full illumination, making for multiple bright passes a night worldwide. December favors the southern hemisphere, and in 2021, we enter a six day span of full illumination for the station starting on December 11th.

The Moon in December 2021: The Moon reaches New phase (witha total solar eclipse passing over Antarctica) on December 4th, and reaches Full on December 19th. This is also the most distant or smallest Full Moon of the year (a MiniMoon), and the Long Night’s Moon closest to the December Solstice.

Eclipse

The December 4th total solar eclipse. Credit: NASA/GSFC/AT Sinclair

The planetary rundown in December 2021: Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are lined up at dusk, with lonely Mars reemerging low at dawn, and Mercury near the Sun emerging at dusk in the last week of 2021.

The waxing crescent Moon pairs with Venus on December 7th, marking the start of a great series of passes as it slides by Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter over the course of the week.

December meteors: The December Andromedids—once a great shower in the 19th century that fell into obscurity—may be making a comeback in 2021. Certainly, it’s worth watching for the elusive shower, with the Moon near New in the first week of the month. December is also time for the dependable Geminids, which peak with an expected Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of ~150 for 2021, on the night of December 13th/14th, five days prior to Full Moon. Finally, watch for the 2021 Ursid meteors on the night of December 22nd, with an expected ZHR of 10-20, three days after the Full Moon, and just three days before Christmas.

Comet Leonard

The dawn path of Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard as seen from latitude 30 degrees north looking eastward at 6AM local, from December 1st to the 11th. Credit: Starry Night.

Comets: The first week of December is a great time to nab comet C/2021 A1 Leonard as it begins its plunge sunward. As of writing this, the comet is shining at magnitude +7.5, placed high in the dawn. The comet passes 0.233 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Earth on December 12th and reaches perihelion 0.62 AU from the Sun on January 3rd 2022, exactly one year after discovery. Follow the comet on the morning of December 3rd, when it makes a fine pass near the globular cluster Messier 3 just 12’ apart. The comet might top out at magnitude +4 or so, before we lose it in the dawn by mid-month.

Deep Sky highlight (northern hemisphere) Exploring the Orion Nebula Complex – The Pommel of the sword of Orion just below the belt contains one of the very few nebulae just visible to the naked eye. This is Messier 42, the amazing Orion Nebula. Even in the low power field of view of binoculars or a small telescope, M42 is a fine object, looking like a paper lantern lit from within. This metaphor is apt, because M42 is actually a stellar nursery containing massive stars just starting to shine, blowing back curtains of gas and dust in the process. Crank up the magnification, and you can see a grouping of these young stars near the center of M42, known as the Trapezium. M42 is actually the closest stellar nursery to our solar system, at ~1,300 light-years distant.

M42

The glorious Orion nebula complex. Credit: Dave Dickinson

Deep Sky highlight (southern hemisphere) – The Winter Albireo: everyone knows the northern colored double star Cygnus in the tail of Cygnus the Swan… but did you know that there’s a lesser known southern counterpart? Herschel 3945 is in the constellation Canis Major, and possesses two +5th magnitude stars, one blue and one orange-gold. It actually forms an equilateral triangle with Omicron Canis Majoris 2 and Delta Canis Majoris (Wesen), and really pops out in a binocular field of view. The pair are 27” apart, and about 1,400 light-years distant.

Winter Albireo

Finding the ‘Winter Albireo’. Credit: Stellarium.

Challenge object (northern hemisphere) – One of the brightest stars of the December sky is also and amazing multiple system. Castor is an easy split of two +3rd magnitude stars, 5.3” apart. I’ve heard folks at star parties say that Castor looks like a far-off set of car headlights in the telescope. Now, see a +9th magnitude star, 72” away? That’s a red dwarf system, physically related to the central pair… but each of these three stars are actually spectroscopic binaries (resolvable via the intertwined spectra of the stars), for a total of six stars in the sextuplet system.

Challenge Object (Southern Hemisphere) Can you spy Sirius B? Ever seen a white dwarf? The brightest star in the sky Sirius possesses one, though its a bashful find. Shining at magnitude +8.7, Sirius B wouldn’t be a tough find… were it not for the dazzling nearby primary, about 10,000 times brighter. On a 50 year orbit, 2021-2022 is a great time to try and spy this elusive white dwarf as it just reached apastron in 2019 at 11” arcseconds distant from its primary. The maximum apparent separation as seen from the Earth is 11.3” in 2023. good luck!

Sirius B

The orbit of Sirius b through mid-century. Credit: Dave Dickinson

Top Astronomy Events for December 2021

1-Andromedid meteors?

1/14-Comet 2021 A1 Leonard best at dawn

4-Moon occults Mars for NE Asia (1% illuminated waning crescent Moon)

4-New Moon+Total Solar Eclipse for Antarctica

4-Moon occults Mercury for S. America+Africa in the daytime(1% illuminated waxing crescent Moon)

11-Venus passes just 3’ from 14th magnitude Pluto

14-Geminids peak

19-Full Moon (smallest of the year)

21-Southward Solstice

22-Ursid meteors peak

31-Moon occults Mars for SE Asia (6% illuminated, waning crescent Moon).

We hope that this top astronomy events for December 2021 will bring many enjoyable observing times for you. Clear skies.

Tips & News, Travel journal
29/11/20210

Maintenance tips for your observation station

Stellina and Vespera are robust telescopes designed to be used as often as possible and to be taken with you to your favorite observing sites or even when traveling. They are also optical and mechanical instruments of great precision. Some handling and maintenance precautions are necessary to maintain performance over time.

 

1. The advantages of the Stellina and Vespera design

Vaonis observation stations are closed-tube instruments unlike conventional main mirror telescopes with open tubes. This makes them less fragile and easier to maintain. There is less risk of dust getting into the tube, the optical system is better protected and the mirror does not need to be aligned regularly to maintain performance, even after being moved.

2. Tips for transporting your observation station

Two accessories are available for transporting your Stellina:

  • The backpack allows you to protect the observation station when transporting it over short distances or when walking to an observation site not accessible by vehicle.
    > See the backpack
  • The carrying case further protects Stellina for transport in a vehicle and even on planes as hold luggage. If you do transport your instrument as hold luggage, inform the staff at check-in and ask them to put a “FRAGILE” sticker on the case.
    > See the transport box

 

Backpack and fly case for Stellina

Backpack and transport box of your Stellina observation station.

 

  • Thanks to its compact design, Vespera can be adapted to many models of travel or sports bags.
  • In all cases, during transport, be sure to keep the telescope in its protective case to limit micro-scratches on the shell.

3. Tips for using your observation station

  • Stellina and Vespera have been designed to operate optimally at between 0° and 40° Celcius.
  • Stellina has a humidity sensor. If it rains, the optical arm closes automatically. However, the observation station is not designed to withstand heavy rain. Therefore, if the weather is uncertain, do not leave your telescope outside unattended if it is not sheltered.
  • When it is windy, do not install Stellina – Vespera near sandy or dusty areas to avoid sand grains being blown onto the optics and the shell, or dust being deposited on the lens.
  • Avoid exposing the instrument to the sun for too long to prevent the shell from yellowing.
  • Before folding the Gitzo tripod at the end of your observation, dust the retractable parts of the legs to prevent sand grains from entering the legs, scratching them or jamming the mechanism.

4. Tips for cleaning your observation station

Optical system.

Ideally, the front lens should be cleaned as little as possible. It is sometimes preferable to leave some dust or very light traces rather than risk a hazardous manipulation which could damage it. Avoid contact with fingers to avoid leaving greasy marks and with abrasive objects to avoid scratching. It is possible that some dust may be present inside the optical tube. This does not affect the performance of the observation station.
If, despite your precautions, dust or greasy marks become a nuisance, here’s how to proceed:

  • Make sure there is no moisture on the lens.
  • Start by removing the dust with a feather brush or a blower (available at photo supply stores).
    Never wipe the lens while there are dust particles on its surface. You could scratch it.
  • If dust remains stuck on the lens, you can try to put a few drops of non-calcareous water on it (prefer distilled water to avoid additional deposits).
  • Once the lens is free of dust, you can use an optical wipe to remove greasy deposits and other marks. Proceed gently without putting too much pressure on the lens.
  • Start by removing the dust with a feather brush or a blower (available at photo supply stores).

Shell and tripod.

  • The shell of your observation station can be cleaned with a microfiber cloth and an acetone-free household cleaner (window cleaner, multi-surface cleaner, white vinegar).
  • Check the mounting base to make sure nothing will interfere with its proper placement on the tripod.
  • You can grease the legs of the Gitzo tripod to make them slide perfectly by using the Gitzo tripod grease provided.
    > Order tripod grease

5. Tips for storing your observation station

  • If moisture is present on the telescope, let it dry in a ventilated area before storing. If you notice moisture on the lens, you can leave the device with its anti-fog system on for half an hour to an hour after your observation.
  • If you have to transport it in a crate or bag from your observation site to your home, take it out of the transport crate for a few moments when you get home.
  • Following observation in very low temperatures, avoid storing the observation station immediately in a heated area to limit thermal shock and moisture condensation. Leave it for a few moments in a sheltered, unheated and ventilated place.
  • When storing the instrument, close the optical arm and the battery compartment and use the cover to limit dust deposits on the lens, the connectors and the interior of the telescope.

6. About the battery pack

  • Even if you aren’t going to use the battery for a long period of time (several months) it is still advisable to recharge it from time to time to avoid premature aging and discharge.
  • The battery contains lithium. It should be stored in a dry place at room temperature.
  • Do not use damaged USB cables.
  • If you plan to transport your observation station by plane, keep in mind that batteries are not allowed in the hold and must be taken with you as carry-on luggage.

What to do if you have a problem with your observation station

If your telescope is no longer working properly, if it has been damaged or has defects, you can contact our customer service department by phone at +1 855-399-0947 or with WhatsApp at +33 6 70 34 09 03 from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm (French time). We will do our best to provide you with a solution so that you can use your observation station normally again.

Reminder about the warranty

Stellina and Vespera are precision assembled and should not be disassembled or modified. Any opening of the shell or modification of the mechanical and optical system will void the warranty. To find out the full warranty terms for your product, click here.

exoplanet
Press, Tips & News, Travel journal
23/11/20210

SISTINE Suborbital Launch Aids the Hunt for Habitable Exoplanets

A low-cost project named SISTINE could create a baseline index in the search for life on other worlds.

exoplanet

An artist’s conception of a distant exoplanet. Credit: NASA

In astronomy, small missions can have a huge impact. And while huge projects such as the James Webb Space Telescope launching next month took over a decade to get to the launch pad and cost tens of billions of dollars, balloon-based or sub-orbital rockets offer a quick low-cost alternative to get telescopes up over the murk of the lower atmosphere.

Just such a mission launched early this month, from White Sands New Mexico. SISTINE-2 (the Sub-orbital Imaging Spectrograph for Transition region Irradiance from Nearby Exoplanets) launched on November 8th on a Black Brant IX rocket. During its 15 minute flight, the project reached an apogee of 160 miles, successfully collected data, and was later recovered.

SISTINE looks at celestial targets in the ultraviolet (UV) at the 100 to 160 nanometer wavelengths. On the ground, most UV at this wavelength is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. Some of the very first ‘space telescopes’ were carried aloft by sub-orbital rockets, starting with UV views of the Sun using a captured German V-2 rocket in 1946. The first SISTINE launch occurred in 2019.

SISTINE uses a unique lithium fluoride coating to make its mirrors sensitive at UV wavelengths. These UV wavelengths are key in seeing the breakdown of carbon dioxide molecules into free oxygen. On Earth, life has reworked to atmosphere, and the presence of molecular oxygen or ozone elsewhere could be a strong indicator of life. Stars, however, may also shed energy at the same wavelengths, resulting in the same sort of breakdown and confounding the search with spurious signals.

What the SISTINE project hopes to do is it create an index catalog for main sequence stars in the Morgan-Keenan classification scheme, as a way to sort out bio-signatures versus baseline signals.

Star types

Star types along the Main Sequence. Credit: NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center

“The interplay between the planet’s atmosphere and ultraviolet light from the host star determines which gases serve as the best biomarkers,” says Principal Mission Investigator Kevin France (University of Colorado) in a recent press release. “Knowing the ultraviolet spectra of these stars will help us find the most promising star-planet environments with future NASA observatories.”

The recent target for the SISTINE-2 launch was Procyon A, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor, 11.5 light-years distant. Though Procyon A is an F-type star slightly hotter than our Sun and hosts a white dwarf companion, it does not possess any known exoplanets.

Procyon

Procyon (in the center of the field of view). Credit: Stellarium.

The findings for the SISTINE project could go a long ways towards the ultimate goal of finding an exoplanet that has life. Next summer, the team plans to carry out a third launch from the Arnhem Space Center in Nhulunbuy, Australia. The southern hemisphere vantage point with afford the SISTINE detector views of the Alpha Centauri system with G- and K-type stars primary stars, as well as the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, known to possess the closest known exoplanet.

Exoplanet science could get interesting in the next decade. The recent Decadal Survey for Astronomy and Astrophysics announced plans for a 6-meter space telescope as the next true successor to Hubble, a sort of compromise between the proposed LUVIOR (the Large Ultra-Violet Infrared Optical Surveyor) and HabEx (search for Habitable Exoplanets) telescopes. Such an instrument could do an unprecedented survey of the sky at UV wavelengths, to include stars with known exoplanets and perhaps, life.

White Sands Launch

A rocket launch (white vertical streak, center of frame) seen from the White Sands Visitor center. Credit: Dave Dickinson

We could be on the brink of the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe in coming decades, and SISTINE could help pave the way.

Press, Tips & News, Travel journal
18/11/20210

Japans Phobos Mission May Bring Back First Mars Sample

An ambitious mission to the Martian moon Phobos may also snag samples from the Red Planet.

An artist’s conception of MMX approaching Phobos. JAXA

The race is on, in the coming decade, to bring back samples of the planet Mars to Earth for study. And while China has its Zhurong rover exploring the Martian surface and NASA’s Perseverance rover is actively collecting samples in Jezero crater for a sample return mission sometime in the 2030s, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Mars Moon eXploration (MMX) may actually beat them all to the punch.Read more

Press, Tips & News, Travel journal
10/11/20210

First Possible “Extra-Galactic Exoplanet” Discovered

A novel twist on a proven method to find exoplanets yields a distant and strange world.

M51 Exoplanet

The location of the exoplanet source in the study (inset, left) along with an artist’s concept of the system (right). Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/R. Di Stephano et al. Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/Grendler/Illustration NASA/CXC/M. Weiss

We live in a golden age of exoplanet discovery. In just under three short decades, we’ve gone from an era where no planets were known of beyond our solar system, to a wonderfully strange menagerie of 4,868 known worlds and counting. Now, to this list of ‘hottest, fastest, densest, etc,’ we might just be able to add another first, with the discovery of the first world known to exist beyond our galaxy.

The detection came from a tried and true method, employed in a unique fashion. Missions such as NASA’s Kepler and TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) use what’s known as the transit method. This is done by looking to detect an unseen planet as it passes in front of its host star, slightly dimming its light output in a predictable fashion. Of course, most orbits aren’t aligned to our line of sight, meaning that the transit method preferentially detects ‘hot Jupiters’ on fast orbits close to the target host star.

Astronomers realized that the transit method could also be used on distant targets, were the compact illumination source was sending out a large amount of x-rays. Such a system would host either a black hole or pulsar in a tight orbit around a massive star, drawing away material and emitting copious amounts of x-rays.

In the study, astronomers used the Chandra X-ray observatory to look at 55 systems in  the M51 galaxy, 64 systems in M101, and 119 systems in M104. They hit pay dirt with a brief x-ray transit in the Whirlpool galaxy Messier 51 (Messier 51).

“We are trying to open up a whole new arena for finding other worlds by searching for planetary candidates at x-ray wavelengths,” says Rosanne Di Stefano (Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian) in a recent press release, adding that the “strategy… makes it possible to discover them in other galaxies.”

The bizarre world, known as M51-ULS-1, seems to be a Saturn-sized planet, orbiting a binary pair consisting of either a black hole or a pulsar in a tight orbit around a main sequence star, 20 times as massive as our Sun. Not only must the world host a strange-looking sky, but it must have had a tumultuous past, as the survivor of a cataclysmic supernova that spawned the black hole or pulsar near the system’s center.

The sad fact is though, the system may never be confirmed, or at very least, confirmation may be a long time coming: M51-ULS-1 is on a projected 70 year orbit, meaning we may not see the planet transit in front of the system’s x-ray jet until the end of this century.

“Unfortunately, to confirm that we’re seeing a planet we would likely have to wait decades to see another transit,” Nia Imara (University of California at Santa Cruz) said in a recent press release. “Because of the uncertainties about how long it takes to orbit, we wouldn’t know exactly when to look.”

Spotting Messier 51

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy captured with #myStellina

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy captured with #myStellina

You can see M51 for yourself: the +8.4 magnitude galaxy is a fine deep-sky object. Though I always know to look for it just below the end of the handle of the Big Dipper asterism, it actually lies just across the border of Ursa Major, in the constellation of Canes Venatici. The Earl of Rosse first noted the ‘nebula’s’ spiral structure in 1845, using the massive 72-inch (1.8-metre) Leviathan of Parsonstown telescope in Ireland, then the largest telescope in the world. Messier 51 is 31 million light-years distant.

The discovery, though a fleeting a tantalizing one, shows that such an exotic method for remote exoplanet detection is possible. Chandra and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray mission have produced a treasure trove map of the x-ray sky, a database that may well contain more transiting exoplanets… and last week, the Decadal Survey for Astronomy and Astrophysics announced that one of its smaller explorer missions on the community’s wish list is Lynx, a more powerful successor to Chandra.

One thing’s for sure: it’s a big Universe. What other exoplanets are out there in the data, awaiting discovery?

Singularity
Tips & News, Travel journal
27/10/20210

Singularity, the new companion app of your observation station

One star fades. Another one ignites. With the arrival of Vespera, the application used to pilot Stellina has handed over to a new generation. This evolution brings with it new features to further improve your user experience. Singularity helps you to prepare and plan your observation evenings, stay connected to sky and space news, and discover tips and tricks to get the most out of your observation station. Advanced users will enjoy new experiences via the Expert Mode.

 

Installing Singularity

Singularity is not just a name change but an entirely new application. You can download it to your smartphone or tablet from the App Store or Play Store. The first time you launch Singularity you will need to create a new user account. The first time you connect to your observation station with Singularity, you will also need to update your instrument.
After this you will no longer be able to control your observation station with Stellinapp, so you can delete the old application from your devices. Browse the Singularity FAQ on our support website here.

 

 

1. The Space Center: your new gateway to the stars

The application’s home screen has been completely redesigned. There are many features in addition to the controls of your telescope.The space center

Weather conditions

Watch how the weather should evolve over the next few hours and days, directly from Singularity. You can also consult information on sunrise and sunset times and moon phases. This offers the essential elements for finding the best time for observation, all at a glance.The weather screen

Tip

Under the weather summary, tap the arrow to access more detailed information and the sunrise and sunset times.

weather details screen

Almanacs and astronomical news

To make sure you don’t miss any important astronomical events, Singularity presents a summary of upcoming phenomena to observe. You can also access a complete article on the sky for the current month. Singularity also offers articles on astronomy or space exploration news.

Tip

In the almanac section, tap “Add to Calendar” under an astronomical event you are interested in to share it on your smartphone or tablet calendar. This will allow you to set reminders.

Practical advice, guides and tutorials

From Singularity, you can access articles published on the Vaonis website which offer you tips on how to get the most out of your observation station, tutorials on image processing, and much more besides.

2. Introduction of a new concept: observatories

Stellina and Vespera are designed to accompany you on your favorite observation sites, from a weekend in the country away from light pollution to clear summer nights on vacation.

Singularity can save all your favorite observation sites for faster initialization of your observation station, showing you the prevailing conditions at each of them.
The first time you launch the application you must create at least one observatory. If you have registered several observation sites, to initialize your telescope simply choose the corresponding observatory and tap the “Initialize” button.
If you use multiple devices to connect to your observing station, your observatories will be shared among all your devices.observatories

Important

Before initializing Stellina / Vespera, make sure that the correct observatory is selected. If you initialize the telescope with an observatory that does not correspond to your location, it may not work properly (a notification will be sent).

When choosing your observatory, you will also be able to use the new “Plan my night” feature according to the visible stars (see below for information on this module).

Tip

Even if you have a tablet without built-in GPS, the location of your observatory is recorded in Singularity so you can still initialize without having to enter the geographic coordinates manually.

3. Control everything that happens on your observation station at a glance

What is the temperature of my instrument? How much space is left on my USB key? What files are saved on it? Who are the other users connected to my telescope? All these questions are answered in a new screen that shows the status of your observation station. You may also use this screen to put your instrument to sleep when you have finished your observations or, for experts, access commands to capture calibration images (see below for more details).status screen

Tip

To access the “Expert” features from this screen, please activate the Expert Mode: go to the “Profile” screen, tap the menu icon at the top right, choose “Settings” and then “Activate expert mode”.

4. An improved explorer to help you find your next target more easily

The explorer now offers a section to regroup your favorite stars, that you observe frequently. This enables you to have them immediately at your fingertips.favorites screen

A new section also allows you to store manual targets that you can point to by entering their coordinates.

Use this section to capture images of the stars using custom camera settings. Your settings are saved with the object. You can easily restart a capture session with the same settings (Expert Mode must be enabled, see below).

Various interface improvements have been made to facilitate exploration of the celestial object library. You can now consult at a glance the position in the sky of the objects directly from the catalog and do a search by constellation name.

Tip

To view the position information of objects, go to the “Profile” screen, tap the menu icon at the top right, choose “Settings” and then “Display objects position”.

5. Expert Mode: control camera settings and capture calibration images

Eagerly awaited by advanced users, Singularity offers the full power of the “Expert Mode”.
To activate this mode, go to the “Profile” screen, then in the menu at the top right, choose “Settings” then “Activate expert mode”.

Capture images of the stars with custom camera settings

When the Expert Mode is activated, you can capture images of the stars by adjusting the unit exposure time and the camera gain. The exposure time can vary between 5 and 20 seconds and the gain between 0 and 27dB (default values are 10 seconds and 20 dB).capture custom parameters

Keep in mind that the default exposure time and gain values were established after extensive testing to achieve optimal performance in most situations.
However, there are some cases where you might want to change the default settings: for very faint objects if you observe under a sky of particularly good quality, for stars with strong contrasts in brightness (for example the Orion nebula), for very bright objects such as star clusters…

You can experiment with the optimal settings for you!

Tip

To capture an object with custom camera settings, you must add it as a manual target.

Capture calibration images

When you activate the recording of raw images (FITS format) on the USB key in order to perform manual stacking for image processing, we recommended also capturing calibration images (“darks” and “flats”) which allow you to “subtract” any defects inherent in the sensor and optics from the image of the object.

Singularity now officially supports this feature: from the status screen of your observation station, by tapping the “Expert Mode” button you can launch image acquisition while the optical tube is obstructed. You can define the camera settings and the number of images you want to capture and then let Stellina / Vespera do the work.

calibration image capture screen

Tip

For an effective use of the darks, they must be captured with the same camera parameters (gain and exposure time) as those used to capture the images of the star on which they will be applied, and also at the same temperature.

6. Plan my Night: schedule your observation sessions and let your station take care of the rest

 

This feature is currently only available on iOS. It will be available by the end of the year for Android devices.

With “Plan My Night” you can take advantage of all the nights that are suitable for observation until daybreak without having to stay up behind the screen of your smartphone.
You can prepare your observations in advance if, for example, you are receiving friends or in the framework of an association’s activities. If your goal is to accumulate many captures of certain objects for image processing, you can let your observation station work while you sleep.plan my night

From a date and an observatory, create a program with a list of objects to observe. Set the dedicated observation time for each object. Activate the program on your observation station and Stellina / Vespera will start the sequence at the scheduled time following the instructions you set.

You can always follow the progress of your observation program in Singularity and interrupt it if you want to take over.

Singularity offers different filters to find the objects to include in your observation program: height on the horizon, duration of visibility, type of object…

Tip

Once you have completed your observing program, log in to your observing station to save the images you wish to keep. When a new program is started, the images from the previous program will be deleted from the internal memory. If you have plugged a USB stick into your device, the images will be saved on it according to the settings defined in the “status” screen of the telescope.

7. To discover also…

Synchronizing saved images.

Save your photos in your Singularity gallery and now find them on both your tablet and smartphone. Photo storage in the app is now synchronized across all your devices.

Random observations (only available on iOS).

If you’re stuck for inspiration on what to target, want to be guided, or perhaps discover items you didn’t know, start a random observation from the home screen.

Press, Tips & News, Travel journal
18/10/20210

Spitzer Spies Break in Milky Way Arm

A new study shows evidence for a previously unseen structure in our own Milky Way galactic neighborhood.

Milky Way Break

A break seen in the Milky Way’s inner arm. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sometimes, it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. This is just the situation we’re in when we try to discern just what our Milky Way Galaxy might look like from the outside. Now, a new study looking at galactic structure noticed a gap in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way that went previously unnoticed.Read more

Tips & News, Travel journal
30/09/20210

Top Astronomy Events for October 2021

October sees a parade of planets, meteor showers and more.

Dusk at the Nebraska 75th Annual Star Party in 2018. Credit: Dave Dickinson

October is one of my favorite months for astronomy. Not only are temperatures cooler in the northern hemisphere, but nights are getting longer: no waiting until past 10 PM for dark skies.Read more

Tips & News, Travel journal
20/09/20210

Spire Satellites Ready for Solar Cycle 25

Spire

A unique constellation of nanosatellites provides real-time space weather data.

In space, sometimes looking down is the best way to look up. This is especially true of the interactive space weather environment, as our planet interacts with our often tempestuous host star. Our global modern technological society is increasingly vulnerable to space weather activity, and this is even more so as we head into active solar cycle #25.

Enter Spire

One effort to model and understand what’s happening worldwide is thanks to Spire Global Inc. And their constellation of Lemur satellites. Located in Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, the first batch of Lemur satellite was launched on a Russian Dnepr rocket in 2014. Now boasting 110 satellites in LEO, Spire’s constellation is second in number only to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.

How SPIRE works: Spire’s dataset is touted as ‘space-to-cloud’ offering a rich resource of weather patterns for maritime, aviation and other assets. Crucially when it comes to space weather, Spire can even model the upper ionosphere by means of over the horizon radio occultations. Often, turbulence (known as scintillation) can offset or knock out GPS capability entirely, especially during times of high solar activity.

And what’s more Spire Analytics is open to users. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently awarded a contract to Spiral Global to provide daily radio occultation data in an effort to improve the accuracy of global weather forecasts worldwide. This is the largest purchase of commercial weather data by the NOAA to date.

This cloud computing weather capability will be key, as the current solar cycle number 25 gets underway in earnest. Our Sun goes through an 11-year cycle of sunspot activity (flipping its magnetic polarity in what’s known as the 22-year Hale Cycle). We had a breather with the last lackluster cycle 24. If early 2021 and recent sunspot activity is any indication, however, Solar Cycle 25 may be a powerful one as it heads towards its peak in 2025. Already this week, multiple large sunspot groups can be seen currently turned Earthward, the most in years.

Space Weather and the next ‘bad day’: A battery of space weather satellites and observatories worldwide monitor the Sun around the clock, but knowing what’s going on in the upper ionosphere is also crucial. An Earthward coronal mass ejection in the X-flare category can blind satellites, and force the crew on the International Space Station to shelter in the dense core of the ISS. On Earth, a massive solar storm can push aurora away from the poles, and wreak havoc with communications and transmission lines. The Great Solar Storm of 1859 set telegraph offices afire, and sparked aurorae seen as far south as the Caribbean. It goes without saying that today, a similar storm would be a very bad day for our technology dependent society.

Monitoring the space weather environment is crucial, and Spire’s innovative constellation of nano-satellites fills in a crucial gap in our holistic understanding of the local space weather environment.

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