Podcaster: Exodus Chun-Long Sit
Title: ASTROMAN: Observing the Beauty of the Night Sky With Stargazing Manner
Organization: IAU NAEC & Co-NOC Hong Kong, China
Link: https://exodussit.wordpress.com/english
Description: Join us as we explore the essentials of stargazing and astrophotography, including choosing the right location, best observation practices, and tips for capturing stunning night sky images. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced stargazer, this episode will help you make the most of your time under the stars!
“ASTROMAN: the Dark Sky Guardian” is a podcast channel that aims to explore popular science in multiple disciplines and research on interdisciplinary approaches, such as sustainability, dark-sky protection, astrophotography, space exploration, astronomy innovation, inclusive science communication, and STEAM Education by integrating science and arts.
Bio: Exodus CL Sit, also known as the ASTROMAN, is a transmedia astronomy educator, popular science author, STEAM educator, and science communicator in Hong Kong. He is recently the National Astronomy Education Coordinator (Chair of Hong Kong, China) of the International Astronomical Union and President of Starrix. He was also an International Committee Member of the Dark Sky International, regularly organizing public lectures at the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Hong Kong Science Museum. He was also the author of a popular science book “Decoding the Starry Night: A Guide to Stargazing and Astrophotography”.
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Transcript:
I am Excellus Chan-Long Sit, IAU National Astronomy Education Coordinator and also the Co-National Outreach Coordinator of Hong Kong, China. And today the sharing will be related to some introductions of stargazing and astrophotography. Stargazing is actually a really great experience to connect us with the vast universe.
It allows us to observe the celestial bodies, understanding their movements and appreciate the beauty of the night sky. And this podcast will allow us to explore the essentials of stargazing and provide valuable tips for astrophotography, ensuring you make the most of your astronomical observations. To start with the preparation of stargazing, it’s really important that the first point is to choose the right location.
The first step in successful stargazing is selecting an appropriate location, which is a site away from the city lights, which also known as the dark sky area, is ideal for observing the celestial objects. Because the light pollution can hinder our visibility, so it’s really important that we aim for a higher elevations or remote areas with minimal artificial lights. Another one is about the timing of your observations.
So, timing plays a crucial role in stargazing. The best conditions occur on Tyranids with little to no moon nights. As the bright moon can wash out flint-tolled stars and celestial phenomena, always remember to check the weather forecast and lunar phase before planning your outing.
More importantly, it’s really important to gathering to preparing all your required equipments. Whilst stargazing can be enjoyed with the naked eye, but if you have some tools that can enhance your experience, for example, the telescope and binoculars, these instruments allow with detailed views of celestial objects and ensure they are set up properly before your observation section begins. Besides, you can consider bringing some star charts or some mobile apps to allow you to identify different constellations and planets, and these resources can help you to navigate the night sky effectively.
And besides, you can also consider to bring a notebook to keep a journal of your observations can enrich your understanding and appreciation of what you can see. And you can also record the days, times, weather conditions, and also with some notes taken about the constellations that you can see in that night time in particular moments. What about the best practice of stargazing?
In order to allow you before you’re starting the observations, you should allow your eyes to adjust to the dark, and this process might take 20 minutes or 30 minutes, and will enhance your ability to see some dim stars. And remember to avoid looking at some bright screens during this time. Besides that, astronomy always requires patience.
Sometimes celestial objects might take some time to refuel themselves and always stay focused and enjoy the process of discovery. Success comes with patience, persistence. Besides that, I can share some tips for astrophotography, allowing you to capture some great images of celestial objects.
For the first thing, remember to prepare a stable tripod, which is important to minimize the camera shake during the long exposure and getting a look at your image of stars and other celestial objects. Remember to select the right camera setting with manual mode, long exposure around 10 to 30 seconds to capture some distant stars. And you might also consider with some high ISO, even though it might introduce some background noise into your image, but it can make your camera more sensitive to light and capturing some dark image.
Besides that, you can also focus on bright objects first in order to allow you make it easier to achieve some proper focus and exposure settings. And you can also try to experiment with some different lenses that allow you to, for example, you can try some wide-angle lens or some telephoto lens to have some comparison of capturing some different specific celestial objects. And finally, more importantly, you can consider some post-processing techniques.
You can utilize some photo editing software to enhance your actual photos by adjusting the contrast, brightness, and also some color balance can significantly improve the final results of your image. And finally, thirdly, not just about the observation, but also connecting us with the universe. It’s really important that to have a better preparation with some best practice during the observations and mastering with some astrophotography techniques that can enhance your experience under the stars.
Always remember that each stargazing session is unique and precious that embrace the journey of exploring the discovery of the wonders of the astronomy. And always remember, no matter whether you are an experienced astronomer, every moment spent under the night time contribute to a deeper understanding of our cosmos. And thank you everyone for listening to today’s sharing about the dark sky and the astroman, the dark sky guardians, and really looking forward to sharing with more experience with you in the next episodes.
Thank you everyone. I’m Exodus. You are listening to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Planetary Science Institute. Audio post production by me, Richard Drumm, project management by Avivah Yamani, and hosting donated by libsyn.com. This content is released under a creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. Please share what you love but don’t sell what’s free.
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As we wrap up today’s episode, we are looking forward to unravel more stories from the Universe. With every new discovery from ground-based and space-based observatories, and each milestone in space exploration, we come closer to understanding the cosmos and our place within it.
Until next time let the stars guide your curiosity!