Mobile vs CCD

  Sorry for not making the next post early. This is not going to be a new one, but a continuation to my earlier posts. Remember the time I posted Photographic Records. You will know what I mean.

The last time I shot pictures of the moon via telescope and mobile wasn't appealing due to the poor mobile camera. So I have stopped it. However, I have started  it again. This time I am doing it with my new mobile which has better resolution and sharpness. Not so appealing, but  better than the images I had taken in the past. This time I am targeting on Saturn and Jupiter using this technique. Currently I am unable get a better picture of Saturn. But I will continue to try.

  The technique may sound easy as it looks. However it takes a lot of sweat, trail  error and the right posture depending on the telescope. The posture plays an important role in reducing the difficulty faced while capturing. If your telescope does not have a strong altitude mount, you will need to make a tripod stand for your mobile phone. Secondly adjust the mobile phone as well as camera brightness to the lowest to avoid unnecessary light. A good start will be the moon as it is the most easiest to target. Full move would not reveal much details as it shines very brightly. Best time for lunar details will be from gibbous to quarter. If you are comfortable with the moon you can try it on brighter planets. 

Capturing sky objects through mobile phone from telescope isn't a great form of Astrophotography. I am doing this for the liking for the night sky and the records I store for each gaze. If you are into capturing details of planets and deep sky objects, you should by a CCD. A CCD  has a highly accurate mounting system and its ability to integrate with computers makes capturing easy.  But all goes to the saying no price, no gain.

Over the weeks I will try uploading images of moon and bright planets taken by this method. Whether appealing or not they all come from effort.

UFOs real or fiction

  Over the years there have been rumours that people have seen  strange flying objects or moving lights in the sky. Such sightings have turned out to be one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th century. UFOs spark a lot of questions regarding extra terrestial intelligence and the most important question, Are we alone?

  No one exactly knows when the first UFO was sighted. From past astronomical records UFOs may have been sighted way before 19th century.  However not all strange sightings can be regarded as UFOs. Some could have been bolites, meteoroids which burst on the lower parts of the Earths atmosphere producing a glow.

  Certain types of aircraft, especially military ones and satellites are sometimes mistaken for UFOs. So how does a real UFO look like? The most famous shape would be the disc or saucer  shape or in layman terms a flying saucer. Some UFOs are polyhedral in shape, which is an almost round shape made of polygons. These polygons are usually hexagons and pentagons.  There are other unusual shapes of UFOs that look like a beam with a head. These UFOs were classified as Big UFOs or star ships.

  Star ships are different from the ones sighted in the sky.These were sighted by telescopes pointing towards various star systems. Astoundingly a strange glowing matter was spotted moving at a few light years per second. This video by Josh Escamilla shows interesting stuffs about star ships. Is there anything out there that can travel faster than light or is it a calculation error of its location. This doubts me a lot as looking at object offsetting lights speed would mean resulting in several images to the observer. What is even astounding is that what is the big matter doing out there. For now this is not yet proven.

  What is the behavior of UFOs on Earth. Most witness claims that they hardly remain for a few minutes. They just appear and disappear in a flash. What about the Aliens? Unfortunately the aliens taken from some UFO crash sites were all hoax. So no one knows how a real alien looks like. This is an example of an dead alien recently found in a UFO crash site near Russia. It is unknown whether it is genuine or another hoax.

   Are UFOs evidence of extra terestial life or are they just illusions created by God. After all God created the Universe. No one knows what other mysteries that lie waiting to be discovered.

Video by Josh Escamilla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnMvITk5D6c&feature=related
Alien recently found in UFO crash site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-5sZ852VYU&feature=relmfu

Its never too late to Start. But its too late to completely stop.

 Interestingly this is the first post for the year or may I say after such a long time. Reason being is that I was starting to lose interest in Astronomy ever since I have decided something promising. Ambitions do change over time but interest will remain deep inside ourselves if not disturbed by unforeseen circumstances. What made me not post anything? Simply because it is difficult  to come up with something new. Now that I have finally got back much of my liking, I will continue my Astronomical journey at times when I am free.

 Two things made me replenish my interest. The first thing was the discovery of the new solar system known as Kepler-11. It is found among the ten thousand stars between the constellation Cygnus and Lyra. A system of six major planets in which five of them lie very close to the star. What kind of atmosphere would you expect in such planets. How high will temperatures be in such a small distance away from the star. Do all solar type stars contain solar systems like ours. With such a discovery we think of plethora of questions.

 The second thing that struck me was on March 19, where moon appeared to be larger compared to its actual size when viewed from Earth. It was the day where the distance between Earth and Moon was the least after hundreds of years. I spent my night out starring at the moon. I thought of taking pictures but my camera had a poor zooming power and did not get an ideal location. Instead i am glad I saw how large the moon was than its actual size.

 Did just two things started to spin my wheel? The two events struck me the most while there are other things that brought back interest on the way.  If I was losing interest all I needed to do is to think back. The potential in us keeps getting better making it invaluable. But losing that potential may cause your hobby to be slowly forgotten. So hopefully I will come up with more new ideas on the way. Sadly there won't be much changes to the web except for facts and posts.

A Tight Start

It has been about 2 months since I have updated. This is because there have a lot of things I had to do. At present I am researching on how to build my dobsonian telescope. Telescope building was common 40-50 years ago. With commercialisation telescope prices have become cheaper and more user friendly. Building a telescope may seem easy, but there are a lot of challenges that have to be faced during the building process. Firstly it is difficult to get some of the materials, especially the lens and mirrors, depending on the type of telescope. For a normal refractor, the most troublesome material to get is the primary mirror. Most optic/camera stores do not sell them. On the other hand the primary mirror is the difficult item to obtain if you are building a dobsonian telescope.

Until now, I am still searching for a suitable mirror. I awkwardly thought of using a hand mirror which won't work at all. If you are good at wood work you can use wood to build most of the parts. If not, it would be better to use some recycled cardboard materials. A hollow tube can be cut out from a snack box. The type of box used depends on the aperture of the choice and focal length. Sometimes there is a need to connect two tubes. But it is important to ensure that the aperture is large enough for comfortable views.

How to tackle the problem of getting a primary mirror? The only way to solve this problem is to get it from a telescope store or order from online. The second method is better as you can specify your size and focal length. Even with the mirror there are other problems like where to place the secondary mirror. This part involves some mathematical calculations, unless you are using exactly the same materials as the guide. The important thing needed to build a telescope is patience. Your first attempt may not be successful but you will still need to be contented with your attempt.

There is sometime important that I have to announce. This year is going to be a tight year for me. So there would not be any frequent updates on Astronomy. But Fact section will at least be updated once a month. This year I have decided to feature the Pleiades, M45 and Saturn. Hope I will spot it with Titan. If there are any other messier objects, I will also include them. It would be things like Orion Nebula M42 & 43 and Paraesepe, M44. Since I am not an expert in Astrophotography, I have decided to draw my findings. It may sound unusual but that is the only choice I have, if I were to update the site with pictures.

Secondly about the Owlestial shows I told last year. Unfortunately it will be delayed to 2011 or 2012. This is because I am not ready yet with the props. But I can give some of the outlines of the show. It will feature things like building a sun box for viewing the sun or eclipse and getting an ideal place which is good for stargazing. By the way, I will be updating with pictures of my findings.

If you are interested in building a telescope visit, http://pages.sbcglobal.net/raycash/manualv2.pdf

Knowledge Goes A Long Way

It has been a long time since I have updated. I was very busy for about 2-3 months and not able to do some Astronomy. I finally have some break. Again I am going on a journey to see more celestial bodies to a place where there are more starry nights. So there will be no posts until January, 2010. Instead of writing about something related to Astronomy and Space, I have decided to write about the value of knowledge.


Knowledge is something that can always be treasured. Knowledge can make someone special and wise enough to give advice. Some of us see knowledge as a form of sharpening our skills. Our world does run on knowledge. When we are equipped with vast knowledge, we would have a better knowledge. This may not always be true as knowledge is not the only thing that drives the world. Being knowledgeable need not always relate to high position. Some of our famous ancestors weren't that knowledgeable but possessed good leadership qualities.


Doing something unique unlike others makes me feel that I am highly centred in it as compared to the. At the same time I feel isolated when no one takes interest on my special activity. But that does not bother me as taking interest in my hobby brings me to a totally different world. I tend to imagine the processes that happen in cosmos while reading some of the famous books composed by Hawking and S.Chandra. There is a big world outside our world. I even ask big questions like, is it possible to split space and time? I even wonder would there be a time where we could visit other planetary systems. If that happens, visiting the moon would be equivalent to leaving your home and travelling to Titan would be like a bus ride.


Knowledge can bring us a long way. As I started from the basic solar system to the more complex cosmic activities which takes place hundreds or thousands of light years away. The concept of anti-matter is still put to doubt. But I still understand that there are limitations to certain things which science cannot explain. Only an almighty would create these energies in space. God shows us nearly everything around us in a form of science. So how does knowledge about space and cosmos help us? It helps us in certain ways like the technology to detect incoming meteors can prevent from a major disaster like the one which occurred 65 million years ago. But the knowledge about the behavior of comets can further prevent such a disaster as acting after detection would be too late. We would also need to protect the other animals and plants from danger.


Other than the disaster which took place 65 million years ago, there was even a more catastrophic disaster which took place at the end of Paleozoic era. About 90% of the species were wiped off. This was due to many reasons. One of these reasons was that large amount of radiation emitted by a near by supernova caused plants and animal species to be badly affected. I do not mean that we have to be extra prepared for a supernova explosion. We just need to ensure that we have enough protection against such radiation. Just reduce carbon emissions and stop depleting the ozone layer. The extinction which marked the end of Paleozoic era was caused by coincidental events which could only be created by God.


Lastly, knowledge can be a form of medicine, not in the way we mean. I meant that a knowledgeable and wise person would find proper solutions to problems. This knowledge cannot be acquired from books and only be obtained from lifetime experience. This is why most people seek advice from the wise and old in the olden days. So acquire the right knowledge and put it to use in a proper way.

Days Go By

It has been a very long time since I have posted. This could be my last few posts for this year. I am very busy these days and I finally have some break. During this period I had hardly any time for Astronomy. I could not find time to read some of the books by Stephen Hawking. All I could do was to watch videos about him. We know that most of us tend to build up their knowledge faster through videos than through books.

I managed to watch one complete video about Hawking's research about the origin of our Universe. He is trying to find out how the Universe was formed and how species came into existence. He is trying to find out what happened before the big bang. But I believe that the Big Bang is actually created by an Almighty; God. When I was doing research I manage to Science and religion in some ways. For instance, the judgement day would take place in many forms in which one could be Supernova of our which will occur billions of years later. Hence, I do not completely believe on some of Hawking's theories.

For me the Universe is created by God 15 billion years ago. God creates species and has control over their living and evolution. God had wiped out the dinosaurs by a large meteoroid 65 million years ago, or else humans may not have lived peacefully as they would have fallen in pray of Terapods. Now that humans rule the Earth I feel that there is a need to appreciate both Science and Religion.

Hawking tries to find answer to his two questions looking into several theories like string theory, super symmetry and 11 dimensions. The theory about 11 dimensions seems unusual and makes little sense as we are surrounded by only and absolutely 4 dimensions. What could the other 8 dimensions be? The theory of Super Symmetry contradicts the fact that gravity is the weakest force in our Universe. These theories are only in paper and not well recognised by most physicists.

According to laws of Physics and Maths the energy released during the big bang is still being conserved in many ways. Therefore, I feel that the theories used to propose the origin of our Universe should not contradict basic laws of Maths and Physics. The theory of 11 dimensions is confusing and highly contradicting.

In conclusion, there are a lot of limitations on trying hard to find out what was before the big bang. For me I strongly fell that the Big Bang is created by God and he controls the Universe in an indirect way. The natural disasters occurring in our planet are indirect forms of Gods wrath.






Want to take an Astronomy quiz to test your level of knowledge on Astronomy? Go to http://www.gotoquiz.com/astronomy_level_quiz_1

Going Into Space In Future

Our Earth has limited resources and we do not know how long our planet will sustain the Environmental degradation. Scientists predict that the ice caps may vanish by the end of this century if emissions continue at the current rate. We may also running out of fossil fuels after 200 years. Will our planet take the human population size after 300 years? Hence, it is better to go into space and discover the infinite possibilities.

At present, there are limitations in moving to space. The current technology requires too much money and fuel to set up a space centre. Secondly, a space centre may not solve the problem of depleting resources. The artificial environment has to be monitored carefully and it should be built in a way to prevent the extreme radiation. The main problem arises when people have to adapt to changes like low gravity, wearing protective suits and living without natural environment. We have to wait for a time when it is cheaper to go into space and when technology is able to create a space centre which is able to meet the needs of our present lifestyle.

Upon creating a space centre, we can look onto the possibilities on residing on other planets. Upon research our Moon, Mars and Titan may be the suitable places to reside on. However, there limitations to these places. The Moon lacks the essential resources needed to support our life, the temperatures in Mars tend to fluctuate and Titan is too far and too cold. Most scientists feel that Mars could be a suitable planet to reside on in future. The search for water and life in Mars still continues. Before thinking of residing, a few people have to be sent to Mars and find out how well can they adapt to the new environment. By then it would be 200 to 300 years passed. What about Titan? At present, the geological and mineralogical features of Titan is still being researched. Probably humans may reside in Titan after 500 years.

Some science fiction stories tend to map out future. Though it's fiction, that does not mean it is not likely to occur. Did anyone thought of a submarine when Jules Verne wrote the novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea? A similar spacecraft like the one in Star Trek would probably be invented in future. Although there is no clear evidence for Extraterrestrial life and intelligence, there could be some form of basic life (eg: Bacteria) in Mars or even Titan. If the future technology enables us to detect a suitable planets on other planetary systems, we would be accessing multiple worlds.

Before I exaggerate further, it is important to protect our Earth from further deterioration. Currently, I am reading more on the Theory of Everything which talks about strengths and limitations of different theories. If the theory of relativity is fully understood time travel could be possible. This will contradict many Philosophers as most of them believe in time can only pass and cannot be controlled. I believe in the theory of relativity but testing it on normal objects would be impossible as it requires extremely heavy conditions. I am also reading on some of the other ideas proposed by Stephen Hawking to understand more about the Universe.