Moon viewing, and blog app?

[skyoyster (Alexandra)]

Last night was the first time the moon's been up since I set up my 'scope, and it was awesome! Fortunately Melbourne played ball and I got to view again tonight, and again it was just glorious, just through my 10mm eyepiece. I think the moon and I are going to become awfully good friends...

Anyway, I've started a blog to keep a record of my observations, and I've noticed on some other astro blogs that people have an app that keeps track of the phases of the moon. I know IceInSpace has one in the lefthand margin, but I wondered if anyone could point me in the direction of one that I could upload to my own blog? and heck, if there's a Jupiter app as well, I'm equally enamoured of it...

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It's not an app for your blog page but this little program is fantastic for keeping track of what's happening on Jupiter.

Jupiter 2

[skyoyster (Alexandra)]

Oh - that's very nice - thanks for the tip!! I've wanted to keep track of when I might see transits etc.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Then you'll definitely need Jupiter 2. Many planetarium programs do it as well but this is a top little stand alone prog. If you want one for the moon as well try Virtual Moon Atlas.

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

......... Many planetarium programs do it as well.....

Unless I'm missing something, Stellarium doesn't show shadow transits, just the moon movements and Jupiter rotation. You need Jupiter2 to see more detail.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Starry night does and from memory Star Atlas pro may as well. The Sky 6 doesn't and I can't remember if Cartes de Ciel does or not.

Another program you might want to look at Alexandra is Celestia.

[skyoyster (Alexandra)]

I have Stellarium, and am enjoying that, but will certainly look into your other suggestions. Thanks again!

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Starry night does and from memory Star Atlas pro may as well. The Sky 6 doesn't and I can't remember if Cartes de Ciel does or not.

Another program you might want to look at Alexandra is Celestia.

Cartes du Ciel and Celestia both show transits. Celestia has the better eye candy.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Thanks Andrew. Just downloaded Cartes to check (its been a while), though it doesn't do shadow transits by the looks of it.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Virtual Moon Atlas is another goody to have on hand.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Hi Alexandra,

With the moon widget displayed here, that is a simple code which you need to add to a widget for your blog. It will depend on what sort of blog you are running. I have used this successfully in Wordpress and in my own website. For what it's worth here is the code for a Moon and Sun widget. don't know if you know how to create a custom widget in your proposed blog, or how familiar you are with using this code, so just copy, paste and save it for now and get some help later...

Moon:

<center><div style="width:150px"><div style="padding:0px;background-color:#000000;border: 0px solid #000000"><div style="padding:15.8px;padding-bottom:6px;padding-top:6px;border: 1px solid #AFB2D8" align="center"><div style="color:#FFFFFF;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Current Moon Phase<br/><br type="_moz"/></div><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">var ccm_cfg = { pth:"http://www.moonmodule.com/cs/", fn:"ccm_v1.swf", lg:"en", hs:2, tf:"24hr", scs:1, df:"std", dfd:0, tc:"FFFFFF", bgc:"000000", mc:"000000", fw:110.3, fh:162.6, js:0, msp:0, u:"cc" }</script><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://www.moonmodule.com/cs/ccm_fl.js"></script></div></div></div><br/></center><center>
<div style="width:150px">
<div style="padding:0px;background-color:#000000;border: 0px solid #000000">
<div style="padding:15.8px;padding-bottom:7px;padding-top:7px;border: 1px solid #AFB2D8" align="center">

Here is a widget for the Sun:

<div style="padding-bottom:7px;color:#FFFFFF;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Current Sun Image<br/><br/></div>

<a target="_blank" href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/">
<img class="alignnone" src="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mdi_igr/1024/latest.jpg" height="95" width="95"/>
</a>

<div style="padding-bottom:7px;color:#FFFFFF;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12.1px;">Courtesy NASA SOHO Observatory</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</center>
<p><!-- End SOHO Continuum Data --></p>

As Paul said, get Jupiter 2 and virtual Moon Atlas. I can vouch for these 100%. And you have Stellarium. They are my three observing applications I think are a must for anyone starting out.

Stephen.

[skyoyster (Alexandra)]

Thanks Stephen - just what I wanted!

[erick (Eric)]

I see your blog has Moon!

Interesting reading, thanks.

What about coming down to the Snake Valley camp in Oct - maybe just for Sat night?

[skyoyster (Alexandra)]

The widget is great... and the sketch is no credit to me...

My husband is doing the Bay in a Day ride on the Sunday, but I might try and convince him that the Friday night would be a good idea...

[erick (Eric)]

Sounds good!

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Thanks Andrew. Just downloaded Cartes to check (its been a while), though it doesn't do shadow transits by the looks of it.

I was just fiddling with CdC config options and noticed a setting for xplanet in the solar system setup. For the Windoze users there is a prebuild binary. I've just compiled xplanet and told CdC to call it to draw planets.

CdC now shows transit shadows. It is has Io with a shadow starting around 18:30 AEST and ending around 20:40 AEST tonight.

And the planets look much better on screen. Screenshot below.

If you have the disk space for all the catalogs and images (5.5GB so far) this program is awesome.