Astronomy

The elevation trick in Stellarium

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Stellarium elevation horizon projection

The Stellarium software offers a bunch of useful options for rendering the sky view in light of different cultures. The best ground-breaking option introduced a while ago is the ShowMySky mode for rendering the true atmosphere, about which I wrote in this article. It’s not everything! As I came to another function, an inherent rendering … Read more

Great American Eclipse visible from Europe

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Solar eclipse 2024 below the horizon in Spain, panoramic view

This is another lengthy text summarizing the solar eclipse from a scientific perspective. This time, it’s focused on the visibility of the Great American Eclipse in Europe. By understanding the Great American Eclipse, we mean the totality visible from North America on April 8, 2024. Notwithstanding the partial phase, which could be, at least theoretically, observed … Read more

The 4 years of solar eclipses (2019-2022) – summary

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Partial solar eclipse of October 25, 2022

As an eclipse chaser, I try to conduct as many professional observations as possible from every eclipse. Practically, I miss some of them because of a lack of funds or, at the very least, decent webcams in the areas where they occur. Last, my scientific conundrum isn’t covered by anyone who attends on-site. Therefore, the … Read more

Scientific report of March 29, 2025 partial solar eclipse

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Spectacle projection Jasło partial solar eclipse 2025 3

We are over a month ahead of the last partial solar eclipse on Saturday, March 29, 2025. It wasn’t a big eclipse in most European countries. Because of the largest magnitude of 0.9376, this eclipse was classified as a deep partial. Considering the Gamma factor 1.0405, the totality was visible about 210 km above the … Read more

The quickest decimal to DMS convertion in Excel

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Coordinates DMS to decimal and decimal to DMS one cell only Excel

Suppose you work on geographical or astronomical projects requiring transformation between the decimal and degree-minute-second pattern. You probably want to have everything converted as quickly as possible. On the web, some tutorials explain that the most common solution is using the Data -> Text to Columns with the main ribbon. Another way presented in the … Read more

Major lunar standstill and moonrise/moonset azimuth fluctuations

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Polichna Udeuschle Moonset

The text explains the rare phenomenon, in which the azimuths of moonrise and moonset are more extreme. This situation allows us to see distant landscape features with the lunar disk beyond. Learn more about the lunar standstill and its frequency across the centuries. The changes in moonrise/moonset azimuths can give you a clue of how some Megalithic constructions have been set and how the Moon’s path across the sky would have looked like thousands of years before. Moreover, the declination of the Moon isn’t the same. It changes significantly because of the parallax.

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Solar eclipse below the horizon – the observation guideline

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Solar eclipse below the horizon observation pattern

The 2024 total solar eclipse is coming. Anyone interested will be in North America. We cannot forget about the people, who live or will temporarily stay in Western Europe on the day when the event occurs. Therefore I decided to prepare the text, which presents the guideline for this specific kind of observation. The guideline … Read more

12P/Pons Brooks comet during 2024 total solar eclipse

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12 Pons Brooks 2024 total solar eclipse

This text shows some guidelines for the brief moment of the total solar eclipse 2024 occurrence at twilight, which presumably will allow for a fantastic view of the 12P/Pons-Brooks comet being close to its perihelion point.           1. 12P/PONS – BROOKS COMET – GENERAL INFORMATION 12P/Pons-Brooks is a periodic, Halley-type comet, … Read more

Is the selenelion lunar eclipse really rare event?

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Earth umbra pattern

In this text, I would like somewhat to continue the thread from the previous one, which has described briefly my observation of the “just” partial lunar eclipse on Monday morning of May 16th. As I mentioned there, there is a thing, which requires an explanation. The question has been asked in the title and my … Read more

Just partial lunar eclipse of May 16th 2022

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Partial lunar eclipse 2022 Zimna Woda

I had a good occasion to watch just a partial lunar eclipse from southeastern Poland  – my homeland, this time. The event, although very short, will be remembered probably forever. Before I will get to this point, I must start from the beginning and describe the overall total lunar eclipse of May 16th, 2022 circumstances … Read more

Lunar occultations of the brightest stars in the 2021-2040 period

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Lunar occultations of stars Meeus 1997

The last piece of the topic about the most interesting celestial events in the period of 2021 – 2040 covers lunar occultations of stars. I haven’t described it before, because in my point of view, they are not as spectacular as they could be. In fact, this is only my point of view, therefore this … Read more

The 49 brightest stars in the night sky – when and where can we see them?

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25 brightest stars in the sky NASA

Since this amazing image (at the top) has been published, the articles about the 25 brightest stars in the night sky grew like weeds. Despite a multitude of similar texts presenting a brief description of the brightest stars, which can be seen in the night sky there is no complete information. I do not mean … Read more

Shall we trust Stellarium Web or Stellarium App?

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Mercury and Saturn occultation 2037

Stellarium is a free open-source planetarium, which can be used in different ways. The primary software is dedicated to your computer, but you can still work with Stellarium by using it both via a web application (Stellarium-web.org) as well as an Android application (Stellarium Mobile). Within this second one, there are also another two ways … Read more

Top 100 the most beautiful places from where you could observe annular or total solar eclipses in the 2021-2040 period

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Eclipses and tourist places Top 100 2021-2040

This article is probably a compression of the ebook, which I would like to release in the nearest future about the 500 spots, from where you could observe both annular and total solar eclipses worldwide in the 2021-2040 period. I have inspiration from the Sky and Telescope magazine, which has prepared recently a similar list … Read more

10 the most spectacular celestial events to watch in 2021-2040

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Top 10 celestial events up to 2040

This text is somewhat the continuation of the previous one, tailored for the most unique celestial events or group of celestial events, which will occur in the 2021-2030 decade. This time you will read about 10 of the best occurrences in the sky within the next 20 years. Some of the astronomical events described in … Read more

The most unique astronomical events you shouldn’t miss in the 2021-2030 decade

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Moon Venus Mars and Milky Way 2029

Recently we have entered the new decade 2021-2030. This is a good time to take a look at what major astronomical events will occur throughout this time. I don’t mean typical celestial events, as known from a vast majority of astronomical calendars issued usually on a yearly basis. I would like to take a deep … Read more