Depending where you live, or how much you're willing to travel, there will be quite to bit to see in the night sky in 2021.
Venus and Jupiter conjunction: Feb. 11
Quadruple conjunction: March 9 and 10
First of four supermoons: March 28
Total lunar eclipse: May 26
Annular solar eclipse: June 10
Venus and Mars conjunction: July 12
Perseid meteor shower: Aug. 11-12
Partial lunar eclipse: Nov. 19
Total solar eclipse: Dec. 4
Geminid meteor shower: Dec. 13-14
Thanks fort posting the list.
Hello Jerryc41: I have suffered from Covid boredom for too long. I am looking forward to doing some astrophotography. Can you recommend any books, video and gear?
I loved the connection on December 23 but couldn’t get a decent photo worth sharing.
Wow! I am at the edge of my seat waiting... boring.
And a newly discovered comet, Comet Leonard.
May be visible in Dec 2021. Emphasis on MAY.
Julian wrote:
Wow! I am at the edge of my seat waiting... boring.
Not boring to me. Thanks for posting, Jerry!
Strongly recommend Michael Shaw. Check out his website and his books.
Thanks for posting this list, I have printed it out.
jerryc41 wrote:
First of four supermoons: March 28
There is nothing special about photographing a "supermoon" as opposed to photographing any full moon. Astronomers don't use the term and are annoyed by the hype the media stirs up regarding the perigee full moon which is the term they use. There is no clear definition of a "supermoon" whose name comes from astrology and is of recent origin (the 1970s, see Wikipedia) Such a moon is at most 7% bigger than the average full moon. Don't limit yourself to the perigee full moons and instead put all the full moons on your calendar.
For landscape scenes with a moon, the day before full moon is often a better time to work. On that day the moon has already risen but is low in the sky when the sun sets, so there is twilight illuminating the landscape. And on the morning after full moon, the morning twilight has a nearly full moon low in the sky just before sunrise. So, if you want to photograph a scene with a "full" moon, there are 3 days every month around any full moon when you can work. In addition there 4-6 days a month when the crescent moon puts on a show either in the morning sky in the days before new moon or in the evening after new moon.
Thanks Jerry
I’ll be setting up my camera for some these, especially for some of the meter showers. I’m new to astrophotography and not ready to spend thousands on a goto mount, apo refractor telescope, guide scope and guide camera etc. So I built a barn door tracker and bought a intervalometer. My setup can’t get the awesome results that they get with thousands of dollars but I didn’t kill my retirement accounts and I have fun.
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