skysurfer
31-12-2017, 06:06 AM
It is less than 24 hours before 2017 ends now, so I want to kick off my highlights of 2017 and outlook 2018.
2017: First my New Zealand trip in February. After one week of clouds and rain, I have seen some marvelous skies in Whakatane (dark there as it is just a small town) and Gisborne. I have timelapsed and taken astrophotos which was a success. Number of cloud free nights is not as good as Western Cape, South Africa, but much better than Holland.
Furthermore, due to cloudy or hazy skies not many highlights in Holland. December was terrible, almost permanent cloud cover, even more than average. One highlight: the inferior conjuction of Venus on Saturday 25 March in daylight. Even my humble tabletop 80mm achromat provided excellent view of the thin crescent of Venus and even the 16x56 binos showed it.
Video: https://www.skysurfer.eu/jwplayer/video.php?v=L1ZpZGVvcy9za3kvMjAxNzA zMjUtVmVudXMtaW5mZXJpb3ItY29uanVjdG lvbi5tcDQ6Ojo2MDA=
And a very few astrophotos, two of the Cygnus constellation one of my favorite six constellations with a C (Cygnus, Cepheus, Casssiopeia, Crux, Carina, Centaurus), here two of them, one with Halpha and the other with UHC.
And one Crux 33x1min with the 85mm and Tarantula 25x2min with the ED110.
Outlook 2018: My Australia trip next Feb.
I'll take girlfriend + ED110 + eyepieces + AP gear.
I booked a few days too late so I miss the lunar eclipse of 31 Jan, but hope to see dark skies. Highlights I'll probably do: Blue Mountains and other NSW locations, maybe Coonabarabran, Queensland.
2017: First my New Zealand trip in February. After one week of clouds and rain, I have seen some marvelous skies in Whakatane (dark there as it is just a small town) and Gisborne. I have timelapsed and taken astrophotos which was a success. Number of cloud free nights is not as good as Western Cape, South Africa, but much better than Holland.
Furthermore, due to cloudy or hazy skies not many highlights in Holland. December was terrible, almost permanent cloud cover, even more than average. One highlight: the inferior conjuction of Venus on Saturday 25 March in daylight. Even my humble tabletop 80mm achromat provided excellent view of the thin crescent of Venus and even the 16x56 binos showed it.
Video: https://www.skysurfer.eu/jwplayer/video.php?v=L1ZpZGVvcy9za3kvMjAxNzA zMjUtVmVudXMtaW5mZXJpb3ItY29uanVjdG lvbi5tcDQ6Ojo2MDA=
And a very few astrophotos, two of the Cygnus constellation one of my favorite six constellations with a C (Cygnus, Cepheus, Casssiopeia, Crux, Carina, Centaurus), here two of them, one with Halpha and the other with UHC.
And one Crux 33x1min with the 85mm and Tarantula 25x2min with the ED110.
Outlook 2018: My Australia trip next Feb.
I'll take girlfriend + ED110 + eyepieces + AP gear.
I booked a few days too late so I miss the lunar eclipse of 31 Jan, but hope to see dark skies. Highlights I'll probably do: Blue Mountains and other NSW locations, maybe Coonabarabran, Queensland.