NGC 6229 - Herschel 400 (320)

NGC 6229 is a small, bright globular cluster, magnitude 9,4 and located near Herculis 52. The object is listed as object 320 in Herschel's 400 Observing Guide.

Seeing conditions were very good. Relative humidity 85%, temperature 4°C and no moonlight.
Visual observation done with Orion XT12" - 9mm Scientific Explorer. Drawing made by Guido Gubbels.

Chriet Titulaer Overleden

Voor diegene die de jaren '80 nog hebben meegemaakt, kent zeker Chriet Titulaer. Als wetenschapper en sterrenkundige presenteerde hij op Nederlandse TV o.a Wondere Wereld. Een programma over PC's en ruimtevaart en dat mij zeker heeft beïnvloed in datgene wat me vandaag nog altijd boeit.
Chriet Titulaer overleed vandaag op een leeftijd van 73 jaar.

Exhibition Solarsystem in Herentals by Polaris

Yesterday I visited the exhibtion of the solarsystem in Herentals.
Yesterday and also today, ASH Polaris organises an exhibition of the latest evolutions of our solarsystem. An overview of the history of our solarsystem from ancient Greek till today is presented aswell as an update and latest news on dwarf planet Pluto. Beside this, also Jupiter, Mars and Mission Rosetta are covered. But most I liked the presentation of the observations done by the members of Polaris themselves. This presentation showed multiple observations of the sun and all of the (dwarf) planets of our solarsystem. It's impressive that amateur astronomers can see all aspects of the solarsystem from their backyard.

An immediate eyecatcher is located at the center of the exhibition where you can find an impressive model (scale 1:4) of ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

VVS Annual Meeting

Bruparck in Brussels was choosen to host the annual meeting of the VVS. Beside the mandatory aspects of an annual meeting, two things to mention.

First, Claude Doom presented two new booklets. Twaalf Maanden Sterren Kijken and VVS Sterrenbeelden Atlas. Two nice editions for amateur astronomers. For sure the first book "Twaalf Maanden Sterren Kijken" I would recommend.

Second, Jan Janssens gave a great presentation on the latest insight of Space Weather. As a member of the Royal Observatory of Belgium and working at the SIDS, he is on top of this interesting subject.

Jan Janssens - SIDC

Active Sun

After two weeks hiding, the active sunspot region is showing up again.

Time Lapse Video

How to share big files like documents or videos using Blogger. The easiest way is using Google Drive. In order to try this out a made a short Time Lapse Video this cloudy afternoon.

See the result on this link "Time Lapse Video".

Nikon D60 Shutter Count

Using software Opanda IExif 2.3 it's possible to track shutter counts. To date my Nikon D60 has 46514 shutter releases. 

Different databases show an average shutter lifespan for a Nikon D60 around 49500 counts based on consumer data entry inputs. Nikon guarentees a 50000 shutter count for the Nikon D60.