Coldest night so far

With -8,6 C the coldest night so far this year @ Averbode

Falcon Heavy Launch

Wow, what an amazing launch test yesterday of the Space x F9H. On Tuesday, Feb. 6th at 9:45 PM, Falcon Heavy successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two, with the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons. To give you an idea : the rocket realized the speed of sound 1 minuut after lift off ... 

But for me the most impressive moment was for sure the landing of the two boosters, simultaneously, only 8 minutes after lift off. 

As I watched the launch together with 20 other classmates on a big screen in Antwerp, I realized everbody was clapping their hands once the boosters touched ground. So I was not the only one being impressed :)

Workshop Nightscapes

The next three weeks I will be attending the Workshop Nightscapes. This 3-day workshop is organized by Urania in Hove (Antwerp). The whole idea is to explain how to make astropictures using a DSLR camera with only use of a tripod. This interactive and practical workshop hopefully will provide some tips and tricks to make nice and easy nightscapes.

Lights-out picture during classroom training

As a start focus was given on the concepts of ISO, Diaphragm (Aperture) and Shuttertime. At the end of the workshop a real hometask was given ... :)

Interesting fact.... for every Nikon camera.. 3 Canon camera's.

The Orion Nebula M42

Picture of The Orion Nebula M42 taken with Nikon D7500 and Refractor TS TLAPO80/480 f/6 ISO1600 single shot of 30s. Limited editing using CS4.

The Pleiades - M45

Clear sky and temperature around -1°C. Ideal to observe the Pleiades (Messier M45) high in the sky. Picture taken with Nikon D7500 and Refractor TS TLAPO 80/480 f/6 and editing using CS4.

Weatherforecast Clear Sky

It seems that from Monday to Tuesday it will be a clear sky with negative temperatures and a relative humidity below 100%. See also MeteoBlue.com

Presentation of The Unity of the Universe available now

The presentation by Prof. Ed van den Heuvel (see previous on my blog Here) on the Unity of the Universe in available now. This presentation was given as part of the Studium Generale Lecture Series at the University of Maastricht. 

Download the presentation Here.