Thursday, January 29, 2015

New moon setting timelapse

One of my hobbies is to spot the new moon as early as possible. Seeing the moon and setting the months in accordance to the new moon setting has an important role in the old Hebrew calendar. The current Hebrew calendar is based on calculations so the beginning of a new month can drift a day or two from the actual day that the new moon is seen from Israel.
This month, the new moon was at 21/1/2015. I was able to see the moon about 15 minutes after sunset. It depends on the moon age (26 hours in this case) and its location and of course the observer location. The moon was about 5 degrees north of the ecliptic which means that it could be seen in the sky more than a hour after sunset. this was an easy moon to spot but seeing it while there is still light is still a challenge. Venus however is so bright that it was easy to see it even before sunset. This is no wonder since you can see Venus during the day easily.
So here are just a few pictures before we are going to talk about timelapses.


The first moon is from 17:17 and it may take a while to find the thin crescent of the moon.

The new moon
The new moon (you will see it when you enlarge the photo - just click over it)
After some minutes it is darker and Venus is clearly visible and also Mercury almost at the same line of the moon and to its left.
The new moon Venus and Mercury
The new moon Venus and Mercury

The new moon Venus and Mercury
The new moon Venus and Mercury
If you enlarge the next photo you will see some red light from a passing airplane over the moon.
The new moon Venus and Mercury
The new moon Venus and Mercury

I am getting addicted to timelapses. They are fun to plan, easy to carry out and looks so charming. You don't need fancy equipment. You can do them with your smartphone as well. I am using a Canon700d for the timelapses. I used an intervalometer which enables me to see the number of photos I want and the time between each photo. If you use a smartphone there are bunch of software which will do that for you, but you will probably needs an external power source. also a tripod adapter is necessary for best results (You can buy them for few bucks in china, the intervalometer as well). I will write a longer article about timelapses in the future.


This time I thought that a photo every 2 seconds will be OK. I changed the photo resolution to a moderate size (there is no need for 24M files for an HD video), and let it work for 80 minutes. I had 2400 photos and used the freeware "virtual dub" to create the following timelapse. make sure to watch it on a full screen and in HD resolution (you might need to open it in YouTube site  for it)


The video starts from the first time I saw the moon until Venus sets. As it gets darker more stars become visible.
So what's next? Next month 19-22 February, Venus and Mars will be very close in the sky. In the 20th, the new moon will also be there for US observers (I will miss that :-( ), so check up your gear, see if you need a larger memory card, get your intervalometer or suitable APP, do some tests and try to take your own great timelapse.


Sunday, January 11, 2015

Venus and Mercury Conjunction

Venus and Mercury are in conjunction and it is easy to see the pair at southwest just after sunset. Bright Venus is visible immediately but it will take some 20 minutes to see Mercury. Their closet distance was during 9-11/01/2015 at about half a degree (just like the full moon), but they will be close together during the following few days.

Lets start with the better video from 2015-01-12 and thew whole story just after
As always better to watch on you-tube site with 1080hd resolution!

The first photos are from 11-Jan-2015. My point of view was quite good, as the pictures include the Israeli International airport (TLV), so you can see airplanes takeoff (In a curved S shape) and land.

As I tried to photograph, a bunch of very young curios kids got around me asking so many questions and bumping the tripod from time to time which of course damaged the video since it changed the composition and I have to throw away blurry photos. However they were so cute and asked so many questions - What is a star? How big it is? What is its name (4 times, I hope they got it finally). What is this star (Orion constellation at the east)? Where is the polar star? and so on... You simply can't be crossed at such nice kids!
Here are some photos and the video. The camera is Canon 700d with 18-250 Sigma lens.


Venus Mercury and an airplane landing
Venus Mercury and an airplane landing (bottom right

Venus, Mercury and an airplane taking off
Venus, Mercury and an airplane taking off
The video is a composition of about 200 photos taken during 50 minutes period Until Venus dropped behind the clouds (make sure to watch on HD 720 at least)! Don't miss the airplanes! They add a lot to the video.




I wanted to try again so I went today (12-Jan-2015) to a different place with a friend and tried a different approach, which basically is to photograph much more frames. I came out with around 1400 frames. Toward the end of the timelapse you will be able to see Mars as well at the top left - 3 planets and even four if you count Earth,
Few photos:
Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12
Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12

Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12
Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12

Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12
Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12

Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12
Venus and Mercury - 2015-01-12
And the video from January 12th 2015


Related articles:
Venus and Jupiter conjunction
Venus and the Pleiades