Happy 30th birthday to the Observatory

Looking at the surface of the sun inside the giant kaleidoscope, IAC exhibition, Santa Cruz de La Palma
September 20, 2015

  Happy 30th birthday to the Observatory at the Roque de Los Muchachos! The official inauguration was in 1985, attended by the royalty from Denmark, Holland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and heads of state of Germany and Ireland. At that time there were only six telescopes on La Palma; now there are 17 of them. To celebrate, the Canarian Astrophysics Institute has a free exhibition in Santa Cruz…

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The science of eclipses

The Moon blood red because it's completely inside the Earth's shadow.
September 13, 2015

In the early hours of September 28th there will be a particularly spectacular lunar eclipse when the moon will be 10% closer to the Earth and larger than usual – a super moon, in fact. A lunar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in a straight line, so that the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. If you were standing on the moon when this happened, you’d…

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How to photograph meteors, including the Perseids on August 14th

A Geminid meteor over the Caldera de Taburiente, captured by Christoph Marlin
August 9, 2015

The Perseid meteor shower is already here, and it will reach its peak on August 12th as the Earth passes through the dust left by comet. If you want to photograph shooting stars, use a wide angle lens with a large aperture, set the ISO to 800 or higher, and use a tripod. It’s no good chasing meteors around the sky – chose one spot and stick to it. It…

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