Namibia offers clear Southern Skies for Imaging – Here is some Proof
We have been touting the benefits of a visit to Chile, in past articles on this blog, as a place to sample the joys of sky viewing in the Southern Hemisphere. Amateur astronomy is well established there, and European astronomical initiatives have established quite a footprint in the incredibly clear skies of the Atacama.
But we do not want to give the impression that it trumps other great locations south of the equator. So, we trolled the internet looking for another example. Our search had just one caveat: As this is an SBIG blog, we had to find an SBIG angle.
The Tivoli Southern Sky Guest House in the deserts of Namibia was happy to provide that angle! They had two images in their slide show taken with an STL -11000M. The first is of M83, taken by Eduard von Bergen. The second, of Centaurus A, is by von Bergen and Hansjörg Wälchli. Both men hail from Switzerland, and it is clear from Eduard’s site that he has led expeditions to Namibia multiple times.
Click on the image below to open a new window and start the show.
When you have a chance, if you live south of the equator, recommend to our community where excellent viewing can be found. Many of us travel, and make sky viewing opportunities a key factor in deciding where to go. Thank you!
Have you been to this guest farm? Would you be willing to share a few images that you took there? Let us know!
A selection of images taken at Namibia's Tivoli Southern Sky Guest Farm
Remember, we are happy to share an image of yours here on this blog. Click here for instructions.
SBIG Image Sharing: Kevin Marcus and a “Quick Snap” of the Horsehead in Hydrogen Alpha
SBIG is happy to share images that have interesting stories behind them, because many times how an astrophotographer captured the image in question is as interesting as (dare we say “more interesting than?”) the image itself.
In this case, we see a nice combination of image and story, notably with the short imaging time Kevin reports. (See details below image.)
See and judge for yourself. We hope you share your thoughts here in the comments section! Kevin and we look forward to seeing what you have to say.
ic434-driz. Image by Kevin Marcus. Used with permission.
Adding Rogelio Andreo to our Website Hall of Fame
2011 SBIG Hall of Fame Member Rogelio Andreo
We have been remiss in posting the news that Rogelio Andreo now has his own page within our Hall of Fame on the SBIG website.
Please visit it to see all the amazing accolades Rogelio has received for his work in astrophotography.
And in case you missed it, one of his images appears in the 2011 Astronomer of the Year competition run by the UK’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich, although not as the top winner. Scroll down the page to find Rogelio’s image of Orion, and his description of the project.
The BBC made a video slide show of the winning entries, with a narrative by the judges that is worth viewing. You will have to be attentive to see Rogelio’s image as it goes by. Click to open the “Captions” text boxes in the lower right corner of the presentation.
To view Rogelio’s own image catalogue, visit his Deep Sky Colors site.
Andreo prefers taking his equipment on the road to a fixed observatory. This image is from his own site.