Astro 9A/B/C - Fall 2023
Class Schedule and Photo Opportunities This Semester
Thursdays 7-10pm in 705 or Cabrillo Observatory
Passages of the International Space Station - here and lunar phases
Photography of the Milky Way , Videos for the Aldebaren Graze of Oct 18, 2016, including mine
I'll update this page as necessary. Good idea to check it regularly for last second info, e.g. weather, darksky trip. The schedule below tells you what the moon is doing on each class night - it is the single biggest factor in determining what we can/cannot do. I've also got tentative lecture topics for cloudy night, but since cloudy nights are not predictable, consider this a listing of things to focus on and not so much on the exact date I'll be doing it in the classroom.
Aug 31: Opening class. Get oriented, materials.
Lecture on using C2A for selecting projects. Full moon... bad for photography anyway
In class:
Basic photography principles PowerPoint. Directions to the observatory, which is where you'll show up if clear next week.
Clear: Moon pictures perhaps. Some dark sky before moonrise but not much.
Cloudy: Help with using C2A to find photo targets.
What we Did:
Clear: deep sky astrophotography with the 12" and 8" scopes. Good night for deep sky targets with all scopes, including wide field shots on your tripods..
Cloudy:Digital cameras lecture; how they work, and quiz
What we Did:
Clear: OK night for deep sky targets with all scopes, including wide field shots on your tripods.
Cloudy: Lecture: Lowering noise in digital images. Thermal, flat fielding, help with processing your first images.
What we Did:
Sept 28: Full moon - photography of anything will be tough. Maybe wide angle moon pictures?
Clear: Bad night for deep sky targets with all scopes, including wide field shots on your tripods. Jupiter and Saturn in evening sky are OK subjects through 8SE scopes.
Cloudy:
What we Did:
Clear: deep sky astrophotography with the 12" and 8" scopes. Good night for deep sky targets with all scopes, including wide field shots on your tripods..
Cloudy: Lecture: Astronomy Tools software for use in Photoshop
What we Did:
Oct 19: 30% waxing crescent moon in sky
Clear: Good night for moon photography
Cloudy: processing your photos in Photoshop
What we Did: Cloudy! here's a good 28min video on
Oct 26: Full moon.
Clear: No deep sky and DSLR projects possible. Jupiter and Saturn possible
Cloudy: Polishing your photos
What we Did:
Clear:deep sky astrophotography with the 12" and 8" scopes. Good night for deep sky targets with all scopes, including wide field shots on your tripods..
Cloudy: help with processing.
What we Did:
Nov 9: new moon - deep sky shots possible
Cloudy: more Photoshop techniques, ideas for getting prints done
What we Did:
Clear: Get your astrophotos done; this is our last dark night. Next week is Thanksgiving vacation
Cloudy: more Photoshop techniques, ideas for getting prints done
What we Did:
Nov 30: waning gibbous moon, but I always leave this night for our final computer work indoors. Only if that's not necessary will be go to the observatory to shoot.
Clear: lunar photography possible, or we may just stay indoors if people need time to finish computer processing
Cloudy: Polishing your photos, with my help, from indoors.
End-of-Semester
final exam and party in the 705. We’ll put up our photos around the room and critique
them, and you can describe your techniques. Bring pot-luck goodies to share!