Shall we trust Stellarium Web or Stellarium App?

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

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

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

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

The Astropixels.com ephemeris data extractor

Astropixels.com ephemeris data extractor

I would like to introduce the new tool, whose goal is to extract the ephemeris data from the Astropixels.com service.  Before I start to describe the major features of my program I would express a big thanks to Fred Espenak the author of this platform. Fred Espenak is already a retired American astrophysicist, whom we … Read more

Astrophotography with Sigma 150-600mm DG OS Contemporary and dedicated teleconverters

Moon Sigma 150-600 Contemporary Nikon

The summary of my amateur test with a Sigma 150-600mm DG OS Contemporary lens and two teleconverters TC-1401 and TC-2001 includes the astrophotography section. I wanted to check this lens in terms of its ability to capture celestial objects. The fundamental difference between celestial objects and terrestrial objects is, that these first are in motion, … Read more

H-Alpha filter in an exceptional observations of solar phenomena

Mercury in H alpha near Sun

In this short post, I would like to share with you my ideas, on how can we use the Hydrogen-alpha filter for solar observations during exceptional situations. The situations, that I am going to take into account are mostly solar eclipses, but also internal planet transits.  We have less than 2 months to Mercury transit … Read more

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