Major lunar standstill and moonrise/moonset azimuth fluctuations

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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Just partial lunar eclipse of May 16th 2022

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

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

Rendering the Heywhatsthat.com horizon in Stellarium

Rendering Heywhatsthat.com horizon in Stellarium

I am very excited to announce to you a brand new tool, which has been developed just after the newest Stellarium edition was released. I mean the Stellarium version 0.2 onwards, which is the reach of new features. One of them is the possibility of loading the polygonal type of horizon, known by many of … 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

Astrophotography with the Peakfinder.org, part 2 – solar & lunar eclipses

Peakfinder mtBlanc

In the 2nd part of this short guide on the Peakfinder.org panorama generator, I would like to focus on another kind of observation, that we can enjoy. There are solar & lunar eclipses. Those celestial events are quite rare (especially solar eclipses) so this is the prime reason, that we should prepare as best as … Read more

Astrophotography with the Peakfinder.org, part 1 – Sun & Moon

Peakfinder Teide sunset

Taking a picture of mountains with sunset or moonrise in the background is a nice experience. Some of the photographers used to do this accidentally when travelling. People, who know the area better usually can predict exactly what time the Sun or Moon will rise & set above the outlined mountain communities or closer peaks. … Read more

Using Heywhatsthat.com to generate a multiple summit-perspective views in Google Earth – part 2

Heywhatsthat multi-summit panorama2

In this part of the article, I would like to say more about multiple summit-perspective views in Google Earth. First of all, previously I have described largely how to manage the heywhatsthat.com panoramas in Google Earth. Now you will see how to put a few summits into your Google software and manage them correctly. Let’s … Read more

Using Heywhatsthat.com to generate a multiple summit-perspective views in Google Earth – part 1

Heywhatsthat multi-summit panorama

Google Earth has been widely used in geography and GIS. Previously I showed you how to simulate a flood and total solar eclipse path in this tool. There are not only things, that I am going to show you over the forthcoming months. First of all, Google Earth is one of the programs, that I … Read more