Waning Gibbous Moon

Waning Gibbous Moon - Jay Clyburn

Waning?  Waxing? Which is which?  Read on!













This picture was taken by Jason Clyburn last weekend using a DSLR and tripod.  It is in fact a 'Waning Gibbous' moon, meaning it is going away or disappearing a little more every night until it reaches 'New' moon.

Confused about the moon phases?  Let's have a brief overview.  'New' moon is when the moon is between the Sun and Earth and the back side (relative to the Earth) is fully illuminated.   During this phase, we don't see the moon at all because the side facing us is not receiving any sunlight at all.  Only the back side.  This is a great time to stargaze because you don't have any sunlight bouncing off the moon and washing out the sky.

After the New moon phase, it starts to 'wax' a little more every night.  A Waxing moon means that we are able to see a little bit more of it every night as more of the moons surface is illuminated (from our perspective.  Half the moon is always fully lit, we just don't always see it).  I like to think of waxing as adding more moon.  When you wax a car, you add wax to it.  Works for me :)  So the moon gets more full every night until it becomes full.

A full moon occurs when the moon is behind the Earth, relative to the Sun.  The whole lit side comes into our view.   This is a time when you will probably experience the worst viewing of the sky because of how bright the moon becomes.

After a full moon occurs, it begins to wane, or lesson how much of the surface is illuminated.  The moon gets less covered every night until it reaches New moon again, and the cycle starts over.  It takes about 30 days for this cycle to happen.

M5 - Photographed

M5 Globular Cluster

Messier object #5 in the constellation Serpens.  This picture was taken last night with a DSLR through an 8" reflector.  I believe it is at ISO 200 and exposed at 10 seconds.  The telescopes tripod was only minimally aligned so I didn't want to expose for too long.











Another Messier object, M5.  This globular cluster is pretty easy to find.  Just look a degree or so under Virgo's right foot as she comes up in the East.  I was able to see it through my digital camera's viewfinder, which I was not expecting to happen.  I could not see it naked eye though on a really clear suburban night.  The really nice thing about being able to see it through the camera viewfinder is that I could balance the telescope with the camera on it.   Objects that are too dim to see through the viewfinder have to be found using an eyepiece first.  So there is a balance issue when switching form camera to eyepiece on the telescope.  I won't go into that any further now...

M5 isn't quite as impressive to me as M13 (The Great Cluster In Hercules), but it still very nice to see.  The picture above didn't turn out too bad, considering this was first 'serious' solo shoot.  My gear doesn't do the best job of tracking objects, so I can't do any kind of exposure for more than 10 seconds or so.  Honestly I've just been too busy/lazy to master polar alignment of the mount and/or drift alignment :)

M92 - Messier Object Globular Cluster

M92 - A Globular Cluster (Not my pic :))

While trying to find more Messier objects using Stellarium, I came across this globular cluster that I don't recall seeing before.  It is just to the left of the Great Cluster In Hercules, just to the right of Draco's eyes, and just above the star Vega.  In fact, Draco seems to be staring right as it.  I must have seen it before and just have forgotten about it (isn't that what this blog is for? :p).






M92 is similar to M13 (Great Cluster In Hercules) in ease of viewing.  M92 seems a little more tightly packed together and therefore seems a little brighter at its core than M13 does.  But M13 seems to show more individual star detail.

I am a big fan of globular clusters.  They are a collection of possibly thousands of stars gravitationally bound together.  In my 8" reflector, they appear as a faint ball light.  Higher magnification shows a little of the individual stars(specks),  and not to sound stupid, but they kind of remind me of something looking back at me.