Solar eclipse below the horizon – the observation guideline

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

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

Long distance observations – definition & types

Long Distance Observations definitions types

This article is about the general definition of the realm, which has been described occasionally on this website since 2017. Therefore I guess I should have done it much earlier, however better late than never. Anyhow today I would like to focus exactly on both the primary definition as well as the basic divisions of … Read more

Is the selenelion lunar eclipse really rare event?

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

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

Total solar eclipse 2020 – remote chasing the umbra and a brief explanation how do the webcams work

Total solar eclipse below the horizon Namibia 2020

The total solar eclipse on December 14, 2020, was the last one in the 2nd decade and obviously the first “Twenty Years Solar Eclipse Path Tables”  of the XXI century. Most people call this eclipse the COVID eclipse, due to omnipresent travel restrictions, which kept a lot of eclipse chasers in their homes. They could … Read more

The visibility of Venus before the 2020 inferior conjunction

Inferior Venus conjunstion 2020

The inferior conjunction of Venus with the Sun happens almost every year.  Almost, because in about the 8-year cycle of our neighbor planet she passes the Sun-Earth line 5 times (the synodic cycle counts 854 days exactly), making a peculiar pentagram, comprised of 5 petals.  Every petal corresponds to the individual character of the inferior … Read more

Solar eclipse below the horizon 2019 – the World’s first webcam observation

Pinamar total solar eclipse below the horizon 2019

My third remote observation of the solar eclipse was aimed at the fleeting lunar shadow when the Sun was already below the horizon. Previously I hadn’t had occasion to see a similar effect, as I watched the partial phases only. This observation was spectacular, because of the circumstances. I know only a few publications presenting … Read more

The aspect of light reflection in the long-distance observations

Northern Ireland seen from Helvellyn

This article presents the result of the longest distance observation in my life. Because it was an effect of the light phenomenon, not widely discussed by myself so far I decided to develop this topic, because of its influence on the far realing views during some specified conditions (tick haze trapped in low-level of the […]

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

What is a light transition? What examples of it can we see?

Starburst effect light transition

Light is omnipresent in the Universe and the environment. This is electromagnetic radiation, that can be detected by the human eye. I have written more about the light and the ways of measurement in this article. Now I would like to describe a very common process, occurring both in the Universe and in Earth’s atmosphere, which … 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

Light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere part 2 – why is the sky blue and how the sky colour change?

Light scattering in the atmosphere

When we ask ourselves why the sky is blue we can think about the most important type of light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is Rayleigh scattering. I was writing about this type of light scattering on some occasions, like watching the solar eclipse through the webcams or wondering about the Martian sky. Today … 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

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

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