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Articles from Homeboy\'s Astronomy Blog

Contribute to HomeboyAstronomy.Com - Write Your Own Astronomy Articles! 2008-01-07 15:40:56 Would you like to write your own astronomy articles, telescope or book reviews, observation stories, travel stories, news or anything else related to astronomy. Now you can do it with HomeboyAstronomy.Com! We are looking for contributors to enrich our content. We give you the stage and provide you audience. HomeboyAstronomy.Com is a fast growing astronomy blog reaching hundreds of readers every day. If you are interested in writing astronomy articles, we provide you the stage. We are looking for all types of writers, but right now we are especially looking for those who write telescope reviews, observation tips, astronomy photography and observation experiences. In case you are interested in writing with us, please send email to marko.pyhajarvi AT gmail.com, and I will give you further instructions. If you wish, you can also drop your contact information to comments. ... Articles  Astronomy

Sunday Astronomy Video - Tour of the International Space Station 2008-01-06 01:25:36 One of the most interesting things related to astronomy is the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the planet. As one of the most challenging projects in the history of mankind, the International Space Station provides humans a great location to research the universe. For amateurs like me the ISS provides lots of interesting things to read, watch and wonder. It is great to watch shuttle flights to ISS from Nasa TV and see in realtime what is happening in the space station, such as STS crew’s spacewalks. I am very happy that I was born in 70’s because now I can utilize the new technology to study and observe astronomical objects. Internet provides me this great information source of ISS, free realtime video broadcasting and a free communication channel with other amateur astronomers. This humble blog is one of those communication channels. It is Sunday morning here in Finland. Last night was again a great skywatching night, and I spent few ours with Pleiades. Later at ... Astronomy

Finding Pleiades - Tips for Locating Pleiades (M45) 2008-01-05 15:48:01 Pleiades (also called as M45 in Messier’s list) is the brightest open constellation in the night sky. It is located in Taurus constellation, close to Orion constellation. Pleiades is the brightest deep sky object it can easily be spotted without a telescope or binoculars. Because of that Pleiades has “always” been known. The first writings about Pleiades are from about 750 B.C. by Homeros. The Bible refers to Pleiades three times. Pleiades has been recognized as a constellation for long time. John Michel calculated that the probability for Pleiades being randomly formed is 1:496 000. Based on this he assumed that the Pleiades is a real constellation. Later Charles Messier added Pleiades into his list. Because of this Pleiades is also called as M45. Pleiades is known in many cultures, starting from Creek mythology in which Pleiades is understood as Seven Sisters who were chased by Orion. American Indians believed the Pleiades were seven boys who got lost while walking ...

Skywatching with Plain Eyes - Part 1: Starting From Easy Constellations 2008-01-04 15:35:12 It was a great day today when it comes to astronomy. Early in the morning (7:30 am), as I drove to work, I saw the Moon and Venus close to each other in southern sky. They were up there alone, shining bright just before the dawn. They really look awesome together. It is a pity that I had no camera with me. A friend of mine has carried a camera almost every day with him, and the result is that he has a great number of photos of stars and atmospheric phenomena, such as storms. Later in the evening, as I was driving back home, I stopped to watch Orion and Sirius rising. Right now (11 pm) I see those two great objects from my window in Eastern sky. Those I watched today are my favorite objects to observe with plain eyes. That’s why this day was a great day. Based on today’s observations, I decided to start a new article series, called Skywatching with Plain Eyes. The purpose of this article series is to provide beginners basic knowledge of skywatching without a telescope or bin ...

Planets in January 2008 - Which Planets Can be Seen in January 2008 2008-01-03 10:04:41 Have a great new year 2008! It is nice to be back from Christmas holidays to write some astronomy articles. Last night we had a clear sky here in Finland and I went to observe Orion constellation and its stars Betelgeuse and Rigel, as well as M42 the Orion Nebula. It is getting colder here in north (finally!) and one must wear good clothes in order to stay warm outside. It is January now and many interesting planets are up there to observe. In this article I provide you information of which planets can be seen in January in northern hemisphere, just like I did in December (remember my article Planets in December). Unfortunately I do not know well the southern hemisphere, so this time I can only say which planets can be seen in January in northern hemisphere. By the way, did you know that we have up to 16 hours dark time every day in January in northern Finland? There is not much light, but who cares? We have plenty of time to watch the sky above.. In early night you can see Uranus and ...

HomeboyAstronomy.Com and Year 2007 - A Short Summary 2007-12-30 04:00:28 Few hours more and year 2007 is history. A new year is beginning and new challenges are awaiting. Year 2007 was an interesting year because of many reasons. I returned back home from Switzerland after working there two years and I started a new interesting job in Finland. I met a couple of new amateur astronomers, such as Harri at my work, and I have learnt many fascinating things about astronomy in this year. One important reason for year 2007 being interesting is that I launched homeboyastronomy.com in September. Since then I have been writing articles almost daily. My articles have covered topics I am personally interested in, such as locating stars and constellations, as well as teaching astronomy to children. I have seen a great growth in traffic in my blog which is certainly nice. Most if the traffic comes from search engines, so I seem to cover topics people are interested in. The most popular articles in my blog have been: 1. Astronomy Observation Tips - What Constellations Ca ...

Merry Christmas From HomeboyAstronomy.Com 2007-12-24 04:00:47 It has been very busy before my Christmas vacation started a couple of days ago. I have been busy at work, but we have also (traditionally) been hurry with preparing for the Christmas. It is the usual hazzle. Anyhow, now it is over. It is pretty quiet here at my home, all the things are done and we are ready for the Christmas. Santa Claus is coming tonight and my kids are excited. I am going to spend the next two hours in sauna, which is pretty normal for Finns. Sauna is probably the most important room in Finnish houses After sauna we will sit down for Christmas dinner. Later in the evening Santa Claus is coming and we will give and receive presents. During the next few days we will read books, eat much, listen to and play some music, sleep and take it relaxed. It is fantastic. I love Christmas time! It has been my pleasure to provide you this humble astronomy blog and I hope you have liked it. I am charging my batteries now and will continue writing again in January. There are lots ...

Taking It Relaxed - Few Articles from the Past 2007-12-22 03:33:44 I just started my vacation yesterday and it feel good. No need to wake up 6am, jump into a cold car, drive to work.. no, I wake up 9am, make some coffee, read my Finnish astronomy magazines and wonder what would I watch tonight. I am taking it relaxed now, so I am not going to write much articles anymore on this year. As soon as January begins I will be back with some stunning articles. Meanwhile I provide few good articles from the past. Planets are always interesting. Check out here which planets can be seen now in northern hemisphere. Mars is one the most interesting planets. Check out here how to locate Mars. One of the most interesting stars in the nightsky is Sirius, the brightest star. Read here how to locate Sirius. Finally, Andromeda is always an interesting object to observe. Read here how to find Andromeda galaxy. More you can read by surfing around my blog. Have a nice Christmas time and enjoy your vacation if you are having a break. ... Articles

Astronomy Books Review - Three Great Astronomy Books For Beginners 2007-12-20 04:00:38 Just like you cannot learn to play music by reading, you cannot learn sky watching without really watching it one day. You can learn music theories by reading but you will never become a great artists without playing in front of audience. The same applies with astronomy. You need to go out one day, take your binoculars or telescope and start finding the objects, such as M42 or Sirius. Then you really start learning. So it is not good to focus only in reading. You need to do something in practice as well. Anyhow, reading is still needed. You need to understand some basics of astronomy and technical information, and all that you can find from books. The conclusion is that reading should not be all in your astronomy hobby, but it is necessary. So what should you read then? I have gathered here a list of three great books on beginner’s astronomy. If you are new to astronomy and you are looking for good astronomy books, this article is for you! Beginner’s stronomy book #1: Nigh ... Astronomy

Galaxy Black Hole Fires at Neighboring Galaxy 2007-12-19 15:55:31 They have some interesting news in NASA’s website. A powerful jet from a super massive black hole seems to blast a nearby galaxy. According to researchers, this jet might destroy the planets on its way, but it might also speed up the formation process of new stars. This objects is known as 3C321 and it includes two galaxies in orbit around each other. There are two huge blak holes in the middle of both galaxies, but there is a jet from the bigger galaxy towards the smaller one. Jets of black holes include lots of powerful high-energy X- and gamma-rays as well as particles moving with the speed of light. All these together can easily destroy a planet’s ozone layer making life on the planet impossible. What makes this phenomenon interesting, is that in cosmic time scale the phenomenon has just started. It started only one million years ago, which makes this possibility to study black hole’s jets very important and unique. Read more about this interesting phenomenon in N ...

Great Information Sources for Those Travelling to Italy 2007-12-18 15:47:07 I have a friend living in Milan in Italy who is an amateur astronomer as well. Some time ago I asked him if I could visit him and we could watch the night sky on the surrounding mountains. While I was searching for information about Milan and Italy, I stumbled on few great sites full of information on Italy. I wanted to share these with my readers because these might be useful for someone. In case you are travelling to Venice, I recommend you to read articles of Italy’s attractions, such as Venice’s famous monument Sistene chappel. Ther are even more articles on Venice, for example, these about Piazza San Marco, Gondola Ride and St. Mark’s Basilica. My wife got stuck on that site. She really loves Venice, while I am more into Rome. Cheap hotels you can find in CheaperThanHotels.Com. For those travelling to Rome I recommend reading about Rome’s attractions, such as the Colosseum, the Vatican and the Trevi fountain. Because I am heading to Milan, I found informati ...

Christmas Presents for Amateur Astronomers - Three Great DVD’s for Amateur Astronomers 2007-12-17 09:14:47 Yes, Christmas is coming! I cannot wait that I do NOT need to wake up to drive to work. Instead I will sleep late, drink lots of coffee and read books on astronomy. Additionally I will watch some astronomy or space related DVD’s because my secrect intelligence has found out that I will receive a couple of space DVD’s (such as those presenting nebulae) as presents.. I love to watch space DVD’s, they are faboulous. In this short article I have gathered three great space DVD’s that I recommend as presents for amateur astronomers or kids. They provide good information on astronomy and stunning images from the universe. They are really awesome DVD’s! Check them out, you might find them interesting. In case you like them, you can easily order them from the link I have added under the related text. They come from Amazon which is trusted online shop. DVD for Amateur Astronomer #1: Planet Earth One of the best DVD’s I have ever seen is BBC’s Planet Ear ... Dvd

Yes to Astronomy - Why Astronomy is a Good Hobby? 2007-12-15 18:45:01 Yesterday I wrote three reasons why astronomy is not a good hobby and why you should say no to astronomy. The three reasons for astronomy being not a good hobby were that you do not sleep at nights, you loose focus to your work and the equipment is expensive. Well, good reasons may be. Today I define three good reasons why astronomy IS a good hobby and why you should get interested in it. I got interested in astronomy as a kid while watching northern lights and Big Dipper constellation in my hometown in Lapland. I used to wonder how big the universe might be and what the heck there are “behind” the stars. It was fascinating and I was curious. It was around 2000 when I rediscovered astronomy. I found an astronomy magazine in a library and immediately I got hooked on astronomy. I borrowed few books and magazines, I surfed in the net and I started watching the Moon and the planets with binoculars. It was really great. I found out many stunning things, such as the nebulae, the ... Astronomy

No to Astronomy - Why Astronomy is Not a Good Hobby? 2007-12-15 15:54:18 By reading this blog it is easy to figure out that I am interested in astronomy. I am keen on few hobbies, and astronomy is one of those. It is fantastic to watch the stars and wonder how super huge the space is. It feels good to understand many things and phenomena outside of this planet. Shortly said, astronomy is a fantastic hobby. Wait a minute! Why the title of this article is against astronomy? Well, there are pros and cons in astronomy as a hobby, and in this article I present those things that make astronomy as not a good hobby. Do not take this too seriously.. Reason #1: Sleepless nights cause troubles in your life Say, you get interested in observing Saturn (or any other planet you can see). You turn your telescope towards Saturn and watch it the whole night. You write your notes and you read about Saturn on your laptop. You take few dozens of photos and you start photoshopping them already at 4 am. Basically you spend your whole night outside watching the sky. You sleep zero ... Astronomy

How to Find Lyra Constellation - Tips and Tricks for Locating Lyra Constellation in Northern Hemisphere 2007-12-14 15:57:01 One very interesting and easy to locate constellation is Lyra, because it includes the fifth brightest star, Vega. In northern hemisphere Vega is the second brightest star with its 0.03 magnitude, and it is one of the three stars of the Summer Triangle. Lyra includes several double stars, which makes it an interesting target to observe. Additionally there are even two Messier objects, M57 and the Ring Nebula. Anyhow, I will not go into details in this article because the point in this article is to tell how Lyra can be located with binoculars. In order to locate Lyra constellation, take your binoculars and look at the figure on left side. The figure is a screen shot from my Cartes du Ciel sky charts program, which is a free software tool for presenting star charts on a computer. The tool is configured based on my location, which is in Helsinki in Finland. If you are located in central Europe, United States or even on southern hemisphere, you need to take into account that sky looks dif ...