Category Archives: Amateur

Podcast in FBI radio: The Milky Way is missing

Posted on October 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Some few months ago I was interviewed by Zacha Rosen in the FBi’s Not What You Think radio show. I was talking about what a galaxy is, the feeling of seeing the center of the Milky Way close to the zenith for the first time, and the problem of the light pollution.

The show was broadcasted on FBI 94.5 FM at 10:30am Saturday October 22nd, Sydney time. It is also available as podcast from the Not What You Think webpage or using iTunes.

You can also listen to the 18 minutes interview here:

Thanks Zacha for this wonderful experience I hope to repeat in the future!

Perseids 2016 over Teide Observatory

Perseids 2016 over the Teide Observatory. Combination of 25 meteors from the Perseids meteor shower detected in 24 frames. All frames were taken with a CANON EOS 5D Mark III with a Samyang 14mm lens, 30 seconds exposure at f/2.8 and ISO 800. Frames were taken between 0:00 and 2:30 UTC 12 August 2016 from the Teide Observatory (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain). The central dome is the Carlos Sánchez Telescope (TCS). The building at the right is the Quijote Experiment. The towers at the left belongs to the Solar Telescopes at site. The dome of the MONS Telescope is seen with some orange light.

The frame taken at 0:36 UTC was used for showing the landscape and the star field. The Moon was up, its light painted the landscape and buildings. In the background some light pollution from Santa Cruz de Tenerife and La Laguna can be seen (orange colours). The light pollution was enhanced because of the existence of dust in the atmosphere.

The estimated ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) using these images is ZHR = 31 meteors/hour.

More info and high resolution images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrls/27722628870

Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO/MQU)

2 Comments

Posted on August 14, 2016 in Amateur, Astrophotography, Observation, Observatories, Optical, Solar System

Tagged 2016, astronomy, Meteors, Perseids, Teide Observatory

Image

Milky Way over the GTC and the TNG

Milky Way over the 10.4m Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) and the 3.6m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.

Single frame, 15 seconds exposure at 1600 ISO over CANON EOS 5D Mark III, F=33mm and f/2.8. Taken on Wed 3 Aug 2016, 20:35 UTC.

More info and high resolution images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrls/27722628870

Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO/MQU)

Vertical Milky Way over the AAT

Vertical Milky Way over the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Image obtained on 30th June 2016 at 22:04 AEST (14:04 UTC) using a CANON 5D Mark III with a 14mm f2.8 wide lens. Single 30 seconds exposure at 3200 ISO. Besides the conversion from RAW to JPEG, no further image process was applied. The famous dark constellation “Emu in the Sky” seen by Australian Aboriginals, planets Mars and Saturn, bright star Antares in Scorpio, and nebulae such as Carina, Lagoon, and Trifid, are easily recognized in the image.

More info and high resolution images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrls/27722628870

Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO/MQU)

1 Comment

Posted on July 2, 2016 in Amateur, Astrophotography, Observation, Observatories

Tagged 2016, AAT, astronomy, astrophotography, Milky Way

Video: Space is just totally big and amazing

Posted on February 5, 2016 | Leave a comment

Last November some friends of the new Sydney on-line magazine A-star, Ryan Wittingslow and Harry Simpson, visited Siding Spring Observatory (Coonabarabran, NSW) to prepare a documentary about Astronomy and the telescopes at site. This is the nice video they have released, entitled Space is just totally big and amazing:

Documentary Space is just totally big and amazing prepared by A-star after their visit to the telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory. Credit: A-star.

As it happened while I was supporting astronomical observations at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), I was interviewed as part of the video. Although I talked about some few things (my research, my job at the AAO and my times as a young amateur astronomer in Spain), they only used my comments about astrophotography. Indeed, they asked me to include some scenes of my astronomical time-lapses on the documentary, and I think the result is great. I really love to see my astro photos and videos so well used. Thanks Ryan and Harry for this report!