Sunspot AR2422

Lunar Eclipse Totality

Lunar Eclipse in Europe - Super Blood Moon

When weather allows you will able to observe a total eclipse of the moon. The totallity starts at 4h11 (for Belgium) and will end at 5h23. Before and after the totallity the moon will still be faint as the moon moves into the penumbra shadow. In this region a portion of the sunlight is blocked. In the umbra shadow, the moon is totally blocked from direct sunlight and only reflection through the earth atmosphere can be seen, This causes the "red" color of the moon's surface.

30h before Super Blood Moon Eclipse

Almost full moon and 30h before the super blood moon eclipse. Weather forecast looks good, so are you ready?

How to photograph the Lunar Eclipse

Tomorrow night we can observe a total Lunar Eclipse. If you want to photograph this phenomena make sure you are prepared. A nice overview you can find on this website How to Photograph a Lunar Eclipse

Wetenschap van de kosmos

Attending classes at the university of Leuven on science of cosmos from prof Christoffel Waelkens.

Start of astronomical autumn

At 10h21 equinox (length of day equals night) and thus start of astronomical autumn.

August Weather summary

Pierre Mechain - Metre - Montjuic

When walking in the fortress at Montjuic in Barcelona I found at the wall of the tower a small plaque and a sundial. Reference was made to Pierre Mechain who set out to measure the meridian arc distance between Dunkirk to Barcelona. The fortress was chosen a the reference point. Using this measurement and the latitudes of the two cities he could calculate the distance between the North Pole and the Equator and produce the first prototype "Metre" which was defined as 1/10.000.000 of that distance.

Sundial reference the coordinates.

Fortress on Monjuic in Barcelona

Lightning pictures

On Aug 13, 2015 a thunderstorm hit almost entire Belgium with heavy rain, wind and lighting flashes all around.
I was able to make some pictures trying out different settings. This time is used a very small aperture of f/20 and increased time up to 30s.
Both pictures are edited using photshop CS4.

String Theory Universe

After a stressfull day it's always important to relax. Why not attending a public lecture on the tring theory universe at the university of Leuven. The lecture on tuesday gave a short overview on the string theory and the beginning of the universe. But most relevant discussion was about spacetime and how string theory describes gravity. This was done by holographic principle based on the fact that information not can be lost - even in black holes.