Category Archives: Into the Night

Indoors Astronomy Stargazing Outreach

Posted on by March 30, 2025
Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) Strand, South Africa. 2025.01.21
This was my very first indoors astronomy stargazing outreach!
Despite howling winds, obscured western horizon, severe light pollution, window panes in need of cleaning, I managed to show the comet with binoculars. Of course camera live view made things a bit easier.
I cannot emphasise enough how faint this comet is. Luckily I told my audience in advance that what they are seeing on the internet and even on this image is not what we will be seeing in real live conditions. Don’t go rushing to the optometrist
I could spot the comet naked eye but if you do not know where to look you will miss it!
I’ll have to do a bit of window cleaning before tonight.
(The bright star above the comet is the bright star Achernar)

Watching the Terminator on a waning Gibbous Moon

Posted on by March 30, 2025
Inspired by lovely sketches by astronomer Mary McIntyre, I decided to see whether I could also see the movement of the Moon’s terminator over just a few hours.
I set up two waning gibbous moon missions, just over four hours apart on Slooh Australia One.
I had read that “careful observers” would maybe be able to see the 15.4 km per hour (9.6 mph) movement of the terminator (as at the Moon’s equator)
Apparently top class human athletes would be able to keep up with the terminator!
If you look carefully towards the terminator where I have labelled craters, you may also spot the differences as the Moon waned from 14:00 – 18:30utc.