Time Lapse astronomy series

This is probably the last attempt, still with hiccups though Background music: Time Lapses (from imovies of MacOS)

Second attempt with a closer look. Somewhere in the middle the picture went out of focus. I couldn't remember if I accidentally touched the lens at that point. Anyway. Background music: Mozart Piano Sonata No.11 in A major, K331

First attempt using wide angle. Famous objects in this captured part of Milky Way from west to east: Orion - Canis Major - Canopus - False Cross - Centaurus and Crux - Scorpius. "When Orion sets in the west, his nemesis the Scorpion rises in the east." Background music: Mozart Piano Sonata No 18 in F major K53

The Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack offers a brand new experience in my shootings. I'm enjoying it though still have to learn more tricks in accurate polar alignment. Do you notice the difference of this from my earlier videos? 1) Now I can label the stars throughout the video. 2) Now I can extend the exposure of each frame from 6 to 20 seconds (I'll push further next time).

Two annoying and big gum trees obstructed my view to the comet from the backyard. So I went to the seaside and I got it ! (only via a lens of 62mm diameter, focal length 18mm at F4.5). It was windy and very cool (13 deg C, in summer!) and I had to hide in my car hoping the camera and tripod do not fall over. My tripod is acting up and will refuse to support the weight of a zoom lens plus a camera, so I am not able to take a closer look yet. Background music: Beethoven Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op 2/1 - 1. Allegro (by Pollini, https://archive.org)

It only needs slightly over 4 minutes for the Moon (or any heavenly bodies) to drift out of sight at this magnification. Taken with a Sun zoom lens at f300 with a 2x teleconverter, F22, the video was processed at 4x speed. After days of next-to-zero upload speed, I can resume uploading my videos - returned to the norm (slow). Background music - Distant Ocean (Video Editor, Win10)

Venus is about to reach its brightest next week. Saturn is now roughly in the middle between the two brighter planets - Venus (bottom left near Sagittarius) and Jupiter (upper right in Capricornus).

I wanted to see if I can view the famous Andromeda Galaxy (M31) from this far south. In theory yes. In fact it is luckily just above the roof of a neighbouring house north of my backyard. I miss the place where I saw them passing right on top of the sky. Imagine a horse (Pegasus) jumping (if not flying) over a hurdle, heading west.

Another celestial object coming near to Venus in the coming month. Comet Leonard, named after its discoverer earlier this year, is expected to be nearest to the Sun and brightest at magnitude 4 (visible to naked eyes!) roughly in the same period. I am choosing the same spooky background music because this is on top of my earlier findings in: https://rumble.com/vm1463-september-3-2021.html Mercury come close to Pluto and Venus towards the end of the month. Background music - Spooky Story (Video Editor, Win10)

Among the cloudy and rainy days I finally have a glimpse again. Venus is now clearly in the "Tea Pot", extremely close to one of the three stars of the lid. Sagittarius, yes, is the destination of this round of East elongation. Having past her greatest elongation on 30 October (the Sun is now catching up with her) Venus has slowed and will finally turn around in mid December. However, then comes her big moments - a staggering greatest brightness of magnitude -4.7 on 8 December.

Let's treat this as a better version of 16. Again a short reunion time for Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

I can only see the thorny tail of the "Scorpion" now as its heart, Antares, almost set when I start the time lapse. It's a bit hard to tell if Venus has already entered Sagittarius. Worthwhile to note that we can see Jupiter and Saturn in Capricornus entering the view. However their retrograde movements ended in October and have started towards Aquarius (east) again. It feels like Jupiter and Saturn decided not to meet up with Venus this time round. She will also turn back (west) in December. For details see the simulation - https://rumble.com/vm1463-september-3-2021.html Apology again, a bit out of focus.

Even a crescent moon will overwhelm the pictures if I use a wide angle, so I decided to take a close-up with a zoom lens.

Finally Venus enters the magnificent constellation, obviously challenging the brightness of Antares (the red heart of the Scorpion) while she is near the front claws currently. Venus will pass by Antares around 15/16 October.

Today is Mercury's maximum east elongation (farthest from the Sun as viewed from the Earth) - well that's usually the best he can do as he is the inner most planet of the family. At a brightness of magnitude 0.1, he can be spotted easily. It only takes 88 days for Mercury to go around the Sun once, so we don't get a lot of chance to see him either shortly after sunset or before sunrise.

Fortunately, the weather was accommodating. And this is the nearest point Venus passes by Spica (leading star of Virgo). Then she'll get even brighter as she moves on to Libra, Scorpius and finally Sagittarius where she turns back.

By accident I discovered a coincident when preparing this simulation on in-the-sky.org Venus will have a conjunction with Pluto before her elongation ends! The date of conjunction of will be 22-12-2021. Remember the last Jupiter and Saturn grand conjunction was on 21-12-2020. However this time taking a good look or shot will be tricky 1. Venus will be so bright (-4.6) while Pluto so dim (15). 2. They are both near to the Sun so the window of seeing them after sunset but before they set will also be short. Might as well look up the astrological implication of this conjunction. More astronomical information here: https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20211222_20_100 Background music: Spooky Story (Video Editor of Windows 10)

Long after Venus left Leo and entered Virgo, she is now near Spica, the leading star of Virgo. They will be nearest by Sep 4 - hope the weather will be okay. Venus is now so bright - of apparent magnitude minus 4.0 Mercury appears briefly near the horizon at the beginning of the video. Towards the end we see Scorpius appearing from the top (azimuth).

I have used itop screen camera to capture my simulations of their retrograde movements on in.the.sky.org Hope this helps you visualize better. I wish I could do a time-lapse with my camera. Background music: Reflecting Pool (Video Editor, Windows 10)

Remember eight months ago they were in conjunction? They are still not far away from one another while roughly on the opposite side of the Sun. Furthermore Saturn is still in Capricornus while Jupiter has moved to Aquarius. Saturn takes 30 years to visit all the zodiac signs, Jupiter 12, while the Sun (the Earth, depending on you believe which goes round the other) takes only one year. That's why every time when the Earth is between them and the Sun, they (and in fact all outer planets) will appear to go backward (retrograde) for a while (up to a few months). Again the in.the.sky.org web page offers a good tool to animate their movements in the sky.

There are more bright stars in the Southern Hemisphere. Adding to Scorpius, the Pointers (to the), Southern Cross and False Cross are also spectacular along the Milky Way.

We have a beautiful day among weeks of wet weather. I am sure you notice the brightness of Venus has further increased. She is now of magnitude minus 3.9 (the lower the brighter). The bright star appearing towards the end of the video is not Spica of Virgo, but Arcturus of Bootes. I find the following web site pretty handy to help track stars and planets. You can change the viewing location and time easily to see what's in your sky. https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php

No luck with the weather for a few days. Venus has gone past Regulus further into Leo. An accident cut short this capture. When I was away the intervalometer was blown to the ground by a strong gust and it stopped. Luckily it wasn't damaged and... Why was I away? Temperature outside was about 11 deg C but it feels like 1 deg C with the showers and strong winds. Soon after I took my camera indoors, the rain came pouring again. Sorry if you find it too short. There's a better one coming.

Now Venus proceeds further. She will be nearest to Regulus (the Lion's heart) between 21st and 22nd July. Weather on 21st did not permit any view. 22nd was even worse, raining all day. I'll treat this as a preview. Compare Venus' positions relative to Mars and Regulus of today with that on 14th July (see 2021-07-14 Venus Elongation 03) and you see how much she moved.

The day was fine but it turned cloudy quickly when the Sun goes down. I am still grateful with the sneak peeks the clouds offered - and I slowed down a few frames for the viewers. Hope the labelling helps. Yes, Venus came closest to Mars (as viewed from Earth of course) that day. It must mean something, at least to astrologers - please comment. Anyway, today should be a sad day, and I should have gone to the sea side. Yes, it is four years already. Time really flies. At the end of the video, it started to rain.