My Stardust Observatory
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • Astro Blog
  • Education
    • NASA's Saturn Observation Campaign
    • Stardust Astronomy Club
  • Astro Links
  • Astro Events
  • Contact Me

LEGO sets 'Women of NASA' & 'NASA Apollo Saturn V' Rocket…Wow!

2/1/2019

0 Comments

 
I visited the Lego store at Dreamworld here on the Gold Coast and look what I found on special for only $39.00, a Lego set on the ‘Women of NASA’…WooHoo!
 
It’s been many years since I built any Lego so I was really excited to sit down and make this wonderful set up… please see some pictures below :-)
Also, inside the box was a booklet that gave information about the NASA ladies featured, which were Sally Ride, Mae Jemison, Margaret Hamilton and Nancy G Roman, which I found very interesting. Just like the guys us ladies are very smart too and NASA really did lead the way eventually in recognising the female roles in the space program.
If you have not seen the movie ‘Hidden Figures’ about the early years of NASA and the Apollo program then you must…it’s a revelation in what the human mind can accomplish no matter what nationality you are or whether you are a man or a woman.
 
~ We are all one race here on planet Earth and that is the human race ~
 
Footnote: Lego set NASA Apollo Saturn V Rocket
Look what else I have found at the Lego store…. Wow, I can’t wait to make up this incredible model of the Apollo Saturn V Rocket!!!
Picture
Wow....look at this amazing Lego Apollo Saturn V rocket!
To find out more about the Lego these NASA sets please go to the LEGO website at:
https://shop.lego.com/en-AU/product/Women-of-NASA-21312
https://shop.lego.com/en-AU/product/LEGO-NASA-Apollo-Saturn-V-21309

YouTube video from Lego making and launching Apollo Saturn V 

0 Comments

January 29th, 2019

1/29/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​Sunspot AR2733 is now degrading after it unleashed a C5 class solar flare on the 26th January, it’s now heading toward the western limb of the Sun. Perhaps we may see a lovely prominence on the solar edge as it rotates out of view…now that would be nice to see if the weather is fine :-)
 
Images taken with a 127mm refractor telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2X Barlow lens attached, 5 images stacked in RegiStak6 and processed in PS CS4. Exposures were 1/250th second and ISO200.

(Right) I used my 127mm refractor with an Orion glass solar filter attached for safe viewing and taking pictures of the solar surface.
 
(DANGER…NEVER look at the Sun without proper solar filters on your camera lenses and telescopes)
 
Please see below a small movie of the explosion from AR2733 taken on the 26th January from
NASA’s SDO observatory.

0 Comments

~ Eleven day old Waxing Gibbous Moon on the 18th January 2019 ~

1/18/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
PictureTelescope setup with Moon in the eastern sky
At last, a lovely clear evening to take some pictures of the Moon, this time I’ve set up my 127mm (5 inch) refractor telescope and HEQ5 Pro mount. I’ve found that this telescope is just exceptional to use for lunar photography.
 
It was a very hot evening at 28 degrees Celsius and lots of biting mosquitoes but I was determined to get some nice pictures of the Moon and I did :-)
 
I was really happy with capturing a few interesting lunar objects with this phase, the first was the extremely bright crater Aristarchus with the long sinuous Vallis Schroteri in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), which was just off from the terminator line, and in full relief…it looked quite spectacular!
 
The next object was the prominent low walled crater Gassendi that is on the edge of Mare Humorum (Sea of Moisture) and looks just like a diamond ring. And, at this lunar phase you start to see the long ejecta rays from the crater Tycho that is now fully illuminated.
 
The image of the full disc of the Moon was taken with a Canon 70D camera at prime focus, exposure time was 1/500th second and ISO100. Ten images were captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.
 
The higher magnified images were taken with a ZWO ASI 120MC-s camera with a 3x Barlow lens attached and captured AVI movie files, which were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

~ Some images below of my computer & telescope setup for the lunar images ~ 

I don’t have a lot of room here at home for taking images of the night sky, this is because all our trees have grown tall and new houses have been built on either side of us. So for objects coming up in the eastern sky, I have to set up very close to the pool edge.

I just know that one night I’m going to accidently fall in… but what can you do but work with what you have,
​and hope for the best :-)
 
The refractor telescope is a 127mm North Group apochromatic, and the lunar images I’m getting out of it are very crisp, the focal length at prime focus is 760.00 mm. For the full disc of the Moon I use a Canon 70D camera, for the high magnification images I love using the little ZWO ASI 120MC-s camera with a 3x Barlow lens attached, which is shown here attached to the telescope.
 
Don’t forget insect repellent, on this summer time evening I was eaten alive by mosquitoes Ouch!!!
Picture
~ Telescope and laptop setup ~
Picture
~ Telescope with ZWO ASI 120MC-s camera ~
0 Comments

~ Spotless Sun & daytime Moon on the 15th January 2019 ~

1/15/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture~ My Camera setup ~

​I had another peek at the Sun late yesterday afternoon and Yep…it’s spotless again! 
​
When I turned around and looked up to the east I spotted a lovely gibbous Moon in a clear blue sky,
​which looked very pretty :-)
 
Both images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens with a 2x telecoverter making a focal length of 1280mm.

A glass solar filter was attached to the lens for safe viewing and imaging of the Sun.


Picture
0 Comments

~ Images of New Horizons flyby of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule ~

1/15/2019

0 Comments

 
The surface features of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) are coming into focus in these images taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic flyby on Jan. 1, 2019. These images, released Jan. 2, were taken a day earlier from a distance of 18,000 miles (28,000 kilometers) with a scale of 730 feet (140 meters) per pixels.
Picture
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Ultima Thule spins like a propeller in space and looks like a bowling pin or peanut…how awesome is that!
 
News Release January 15, 2019
New Movie Shows Ultima Thule from an Approaching New Horizons
NASA Spacecraft Begins Returning New Images, Other Data from Historic New Year's Flyby
Please go to the link below to see the movie and other information on the mission.
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20190115
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/index.php
https://twitter.com/NASANewHorizons
​
Picture
Credit: James Tuttle Keane/NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
This diagram suggests how the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, could have formed.
0 Comments

~ Pretty colourful cloud iridescence in the sky today ~

1/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
I’m always looking up during the day to see if there are any sky phenomenon associated with the clouds and the Sun. When there are thin cirrus and cirrocumulus clouds about and the Sun is shining brightly close by, there is every chance some iridescence will be on show near the thinner areas surrounding the thicker bands of cloud.
 
This is an optical phenomenon that is caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals scattering the sunlight by diffraction. If the ice crystals are uniformly larger, then that is when you see that different sly phenomenon of a solar halo or a colourful corona…. I’m always on the lookout for them too :-)
 
These colourful clouds are usually soft pastel colours as seen in my photographs today; the images were taken with a Conon G15 camera on manual focus on the 12th January 2019.  Exposure was 1/2000th second and ISO80.

Have a look at one of my other Astro Blogs of another pretty cloud iridescence and solar corona
that I captured back in 2016 at:
http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-colourful-corona-around-the-sun-and-rainbow-iridescent-clouds

0 Comments

Yay! New Sunspot on the Sun for the New Year… 2nd January 2019 ~

1/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Yay! There’s a new sunspot on the Sun today for the New Year and it’s been designated AR2732, it’s quite small and faint but it may turn into something exciting for us solar observers :-)
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm with a 2x teleconverter, a glass solar filter was attached to the lens for safe viewing and imaging of the solar surface. 10 images were stacked in RegiStak6 and lightly processed in PS CS4…Happy New Year to everyone!
0 Comments

~ New Horizons spacecraft flyby’s 'Ultima Thule' on New Year's Day ~

1/1/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Image Credit: NASA

~ Update posted 2nd January 2019 ~
 Woohoo! New Horizons successfully flyby’s Ultima Thule
​Now awaiting for the spectacular images…

Picture
The moment when the message was received that the spacecraft had successfully flown by Ultima Thule!
​Alan Stern with a reporter who is the Principal Investigator for the mission.
(Screenshot image taken during the live broadcast with my mobile phone)
Picture
New Horizons will fly 3,500 kilometres above Ultima Thule. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
NASA does it again another first in the exploration of our Solar System for humankind :-)

On 1st January 2019 NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will flyby Ultima Thule!
 
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is about to make a flyby of the mysterious elongated object nicknamed Ultima Thule (Ultima thoo-lee) that is located at an incredible 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto in the distant Kuiper Belt.
 
At around 3.30pm (AEST) on New Year day, New Horizons will swoop past Ultima Thule three times closer than it buzzed by Pluto in 2015. Because it takes ~6 hours for radio signals from the Kuiper Belt to reach Earth, first images will not be released to the public until Jan. 2nd.
 
The watch the live coverage of the event and find out more about this amazing mission to the outer reaches of our solar system please go to the mission website at:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69

New Horizons - Summiting the Solar System: Part 1

0 Comments

    Author

    I just love being under the heavens, come on a journey with me and I’ll share some of the amazing wonders of the Universe with you. Noeleen :-)

    Picture

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Annular Eclipse
    Astronomy Event
    Canon Camera And Lens
    Comets
    Education
    Equipment
    Moon
    Observatory
    Planets
    Sky Phenomena
    Software
    Solar Filter And Camera Lens
    Solar Telescope
    Sun And Sunspots
    Total Solar Eclipse
    Travel

Picture
For all current observations of the night sky please go to my Astro Blog:
http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog

​
​Copyright information: 

You are welcome to use my images for educational and private use, please credit me.
If you need higher resolution images then please contact me on my contact page, thank you.