Virtual Star Party – September 29, 2013: Amazing Sun and Live Star Trails

Star Trails by Cory Schmitz

This week the Virtual Star Party crossed off one of the items on my bucket list: star trails. During the star party, Cory Schmitz kept the shutter going on his Canon 5D and took a series of images of the stars turning around the celestial North Pole. Once the timelapse was complete, we had a beautiful set of star trails, showing how much the Earth rotates during an hour.

The Upside Down Astronomer Paul Stewart jumped in with an amazing view of the Sun from New Zealand. We could see prominences and granules on the surface of the Sun, especially when he zoomed in.

And while all this was going on, we also got a chance to see beautiful clusters, nebulae and galaxies.

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Astronomers: Cory Schmitz, Gary Gonella, Roy Salisbury, Paul Stewart, Stuart Forman, and Michael Phillips

Hosts: Fraser Cain, Scott Lewis

We hold the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google+ Hangout on Air. You can find out more information from the Virtual Star Party. We start when it gets dark on the West Coast of North America.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.