Category: Astronomy

Saturn – Sixth Planet From The Sun

Solar System

Saturn – Sixth Planet From The Sun

 


Planet Saturn, Photo by PH Morton

 

I photographed Saturn from nearly one billion miles from our back garden (and Earth!) in the early hours of 3rd September 2023.

I used the near full zoom on my brilliant Nikon P1000 camera.  Image taken unguided on a reasonably steady tripod. I used manual exposure etc. settings as easier to focus. No special astrophotography software was used. A very unseasonable warm evening with haze and air currents prevents better clarity. I was pleased with this effort with minimal accessories.

Saturn is 75 thousand miles (120,000 km) in diameter. Saturn is 9.5 times bigger than Earth & 764 Earths could fit inside Saturn. It is mainly made of hydrogen and helium gases. The centre of Saturn is a dense core of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky material and other compounds solidified by intense pressure and heat. It takes 29 years to complete an orbit around the sun.

Blue & Super Moon from N. W. London. Aug 30th 2023

Heavenly Bodies

30 August 2023


 

Here it is 🙂

The ‘Blue Moon’ and full moon photo was from our garden in N.W. London.

Tonight sees the moon is closest in orbit to Earth, this phenomena is called  a perigee.

The moon is rather special this evening because we are having a ‘Blue moon’.  The moon has not actually turned blue, it was just one of the many names given to the many phases and condition of this lunar satellite.

Anyway, It is called a blue moon because as it is rare to have two full moons in one month.  So rare that an idiom was coined from it – once in a blue moon.

Take time to look at the night sky tonight for the Blue as we are not likely to seen another ‘Super Blue’ moon until 2037.

Blue & Super Moon Aug 2023 (photo by Peter Morton)

Museum of the Moon @ Natural History Museum

Museum

Museum of the Moon @ Natural History Museum

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The Museum of the Moon is located within the ĺNatual History Museum, ground floor near the Dinosaurs.

It is free to enter if you can find it. There is a map of the whole museum costing £1.00 to help you navigate the roomy museum.

When you’ve found the location, the moon sculpture will certainly take your breath away.

It is huge and so near, I reckon a tall NBA player would be able to reach it quite easily.

The lighting is in muted blue highlighting the spectacular moon just above you.

Because of its size and location, it was easy to take your photo/selfie with the Moon in the background.

This work of art by a British artist, Luke Jerram,  was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

You can visit this Museum of the Moon at the Natural History Museum until 5 January 2020. It would then be on tour.

The Moon

Astronomy

The Moon

Supermoon by PH Morton

Of all the heavenly bodies, the moon is on the top of the list that had become a good source of superstitions, inspirations, songs & music and it had become also an agony aunt for many broken-hearted, especially lovers.

What is it about the moon?!!!

Did you know?

 

  • The Moon is written with a capital letter because it is a proper noun.  It is Earth’s satellite which was named Moon.
  • The Moon with the Earth is known as the double planet.  It is so large in relation to the Earth compared to other satellites with their parent planets in the Solar System.
  • The Moon has no atmosphere.

 

What is a Harvest Moon?

Harvest Moon, Photo by PH Morton

What is a Harvest Moon?

Harvest moon is a full moon.

It heralds the coming of autumn when farmers are believed to take in their harvests from the field before the frost gets to them.

What makes a harvest moon more special than being just a full moon is that it appears larger and orange and it occurs in September during the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.

That is the autumnal equinox?

It is that time when the earth’s equator is directly in line with the center of the sun.

As the Northern hemisphere has its autumn equinox, the Southern Hemisphere is starting its Spring equinox.

 

25 September 2018 – Harvest Moon