The weather-based long range plans for your astronomical expedition

Cloud fraction global map NASA

If you are an astronomer, astrophotographer, or even amateur tourist, you have some dreams about long-haul trips for sure.  Quite often these trips are such long-range plans, because of our financial situation or spare time available in the foreseeable future.  In astronomy or astrophotography, these plans are mostly determined by rare celestial events, which often … Read more

Photography of the Sun through a natural filters

Sun through fog

Gazing at the Sun with the naked eye is dangerous. Much more dangerous is watching the Sun through instruments like binoculars or telescopes without a filter! It causes serious eye damage, which is a retina burn and blindness for the rest of your life. Basically, there are two types of solar filters: white light and … Read more

Horizontal visibility as the main factor of long-distance observations, part 1 – weather, astronomical and optical elements

Navajo Mt Horizontal visibility

This article is sort of a continuation of issues related to light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere as well as haze presence. These subjects are closely associated with each other, so some stuff presented here can be pretty much similar and it will be developed on the grounds of my previous articles. This 2-partial article … Read more

Light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere part 3 – clouds, haze and surface

Light scattering on clouds

Previously I have described the light scattering mechanism on the smallest particles of the Earth’s atmosphere, where mainly the Rayleigh Scattering plays a role. Now is the time to round off this whole article and say something more about a different group of elements, that also contributes to the light scattering process. There are bigger … Read more

Remote observation of the total lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse 2018

Since I bought the DSLR camera I dreamt about the total lunar eclipse observation. I wanted to repeat my observation scheme on different, much better equipment. Recently I observed the total lunar eclipse in 2015 with a compact camera only. Therefore the total lunar eclipse occurring on Friday evening 27th of July 2018 was a … Read more

Tenerife and the night sky

Tenerife astronomical observatory

Visiting Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands was one of the best adventures. After several days, when I could scout this picturesque place I spent one night above the unique low-level clouds. It was a fantastic experience because I have not seen that pristine sky before. The day, when I set my observation place … Read more

First trip to Scotland

Uruquart Castle and Loch Ness

I visited the most beautiful area in Britain just after I came to live in this country. It happens due to an almost total solar eclipse, which I was keen on watching. Read about this more in this article. We set in the late afternoon from Cambridge, our living and working place. The fast Great … Read more

How to capture a landscape from the middle of the plane?

Capturing image from the middle of the plane

Nowadays lots of people around the world have the opportunity to travel by plane. Someone who wants to seat just close to the window usually picks the proper place with an additional fee during the boarding pass. Some people may receive this place randomly, without an additional fee. Unfortunately, many people who fly quite often … Read more