Astronomy






Pictures of the 20 Feb 2008 Total Lunar Eclipse!


A tombstone epitaph I thought was really cool:

The stars have been my friends -- how shall I then fear the night?



(See my page on All Through the Night for more on the romanticism of stars.)



A time exposure (10 min) taken at midnight under a full moon. You can make out the constellation of Lyra at top left. (Vega is the bright star.)


In 1985, while looking forward to Halley's Comet, I built a large box-like contraption that would let me take time exposures of constellations. It's basically a platform with a crank in it that I can turn manually while guiding on a star through a spotting scope. Exposures are limited to about three minutes, because my hand starts shaking after that! All in all, though, my constellation portraits aren't bad. I've had quite a few of them published in Astronomy magazine. Here are a couple for you to look at:

Orion

Leo (my sign!)

Comet Hyakutake

Crux, the Coal Sack, and Eta Carinae from Central Australia. You cannot possibly believe the number of stars you see from the outback!

© 1998 Dan McGlaun