Supermoon Sunday December 3

Sundaynight, December 3th it will be full Moon. And as the Moon is much closer to the Earth then normal average the Moon will be 7% wider and 13% more brighter. This is called Supermoon. Have a look at the sky tomorrow evening and verify yourself :)

The full Moon on March 12th, 2017 was 1,2% smaller then normal average.

Weather Summary November

Average temperature in November is about 2°C below long term avarage. In total 8 air frost days are counted. Rainfall is normal with 60 l/m2 and comparable with previous 3 years.

Part of Winter Hexagon

The area of Gemini and Auriga are part of the winter hexagon and have some interesting open clusters like M35, M36, M37, M38 and M44. The picture is not that good but it gives a nice overview.

Photokina 2018 : Block Your Agenda

Photokina is the world’s leading trade fair for the photo, video and imaging sectors. More extensive than any other event in the world. And you can join next year 2018 from September 26-29 in Cologne (Koln-Germany). 

The year after, in 2019, the trade fair will be again organised. This time in May which will be start of an annual cycle.

Perfect Observation Sites in the BeNeLux

The Deep Sky Group from the VVS provides the best observation locations in the BeNeLux. - see this link.

ATT Essen : Block Your Agenda

ATT Essen (European biggest Astronmy fair) will take place on May 5th, 2018 in Essen - Germany. 

Electromagnetic Spectrum of the Sun : Microwaves Part 1

Can we observe the entire electromagnetic spectrum of the Sun on Earth?  The answer is no. Once the radiation penetrates through Earths atmosphere some are reflected, absorbed or scattered.  This is shown in below graph provide by NASA.

The common electromagnetic radiation from the Sun observed on Earth are visible light, microwaves and radio waves.  Microwaves are defined as waves with wavelenghts between 1m and 1mm and thus a frequency between 300MHz en 300GHz. This is calculated via

wavelength (m) = phase speed (m/s) / frequency (Hz)  (Phase speed in space equals speed of light)


In a next article I will explain the correlation between Sunspot data and microwaves emitted from the Sun.