ISS transit across the Sun & Moon

ISS and Atlantis shuttle on solar disk

The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. This is the largest human-made body in low Earth orbit. The width of ISS is 108.5 m and its length is 72.8 m. It orbits about 400 kilometers above the planet so it can often be seen with the naked eye … Read more

Watching the sky with Krosno branch of Polish Society of Amateur Astronomers (PTMA)

PTMA stare logo

In this article, I would like to describe my a few years of adventures in the Krosno branch of the Polish Society of Amateur Astronomers, where I could develop my noble hobby. Except for my activities, I want to show the best and the most unique observations made by members of this society in the … Read more

What is the colour of Martian sky?

Martian sky NASA jpl

The Mars Exploration Program has been launching for around 20 years since the first probe Mars Pathfinder done by NASA landed on the Red’s Planet surface. For this time another four rovers touched down on the Martian ground: Spirit & Opportunity (2004), Phoenix  (2008), and Curiosity (2012). All of those missions beamed many photos of … Read more

Total solar eclipse vizualisation on Google Earth, part 2

Solar eclipse visualization Google Earth

<<< Read the 1st part of The solar eclipse visualization on Google Earth In the 1st part of this article, I showed you how to create the “umbra” in Scribble Maps and use it in Google Earth as a .kml file. Here I would like to demonstrate step by step how to create a pretty … Read more

Transit of Venus – have you seen this celestial event?

Venus transit 2012

13 and 5 years ago we could witness an unusual occurrence when an inferior planet crossed the solar disk. The transit of Venus is a very rare celestial phenomenon, which occurs usually twice in the span of a little bit more than 1 century.  I said twice because between first and second transit is approximately … Read more

Deep partial solar eclipse in Scotland

Scotland Highlands partial solar eclipse 2015

On 20th March 2015, we could witness one of the most spectacular phenomena in the Solar System, the total solar eclipse. The track of totality passed across the North Atlantic and next headed into the Arctic Ocean. This eclipse used to be a logistical nightmare to observe because the only populated places from which the … Read more

The remote observation of partial solar eclipse

Partial solar eclipse Argentina

I would like to show my observation output. The last solar eclipse was visible throughout the southern part of South America in the morning and next in the western part of Africa during the evening. This eclipse was annular, so Moon’s disk was too small to fully cover the Sun. Eventually, the observer could see … Read more

African “Ring of fire” on the live stream and web cameras

Annular solar eclipse 2016

One week ago African dwellers experienced the annular solar eclipse, which occurred throughout Central Africa, Madagascar, and the Reunion. A spectacular “ring of fire” solar eclipse darkened skies over Africa from early morning to early afternoon. The annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun’s, blocking most of the … Read more