During the evening of March 23, 2023, I started seeing a lot of chatter on Twitter about a northern lights show over Europe. Once it got dark here in Ontario, I saw a post from someone reporting aurora from Muskoka, Ontario. Muskoka is at a similar latitude to my location outside Ottawa, so I hopped […]| Canadian Astronomy
When I was starting out in backyard astronomy, I learned so much by watching, listening to, and reading the work of Canada’s own Terence Dickinson, who passed away this week. He was a frequent guest on Canadian Discovery Channel programs and CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks and launched the fantastic magazine “Sky News.” He also […]| Canadian Astronomy
In 2014, I compared a photo I’d taken of the Orion Nebula with my iPhone to the first-ever photograph of the nebula (taken by Henry Draper in 1880) and noted how similar they looked. I’ve continued to photograph the nebula through my telescope with a smartphone since then and noticed that my latest photo matches […]| Canadian Astronomy
On June 10, 2021, Ottawa Canada woke up to an annular solar eclipse. I wasn’t sure that I’d even be able to view it given that it would be so low on the horizon and the day was forecast to be party cloudy. Happily, the clouds were thin and actually made the eclipse even more […]| Canadian Astronomy
We had fantastic weather here in Ottawa on August 21, 2017, and I was able to photograph my first solar eclipse! We saw 71% of the sun covered here in Ottawa and I took a boatload of photos and video. The View Through the Telescope Here are some of my best shots. All images and […]| Canadian Astronomy
If you want to take a photo of a solar eclipse but don’t have a solar filter for your DSLR camera or a solar-filtered telescope, there is a simple option: take a photo with your smartphone through eclipse glasses! Before the eclipse, find a pair of solar eclipse glasses (also called eclipse shades). These can […]| Canadian Astronomy
Here is the view through my Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope from Saturday, June 3, 2017. Over the course of about two hours I captured the shadows of the moons Ganymede (top) and Io (bottom) as they crossed Jupiter’s disk. These images were taken with my iPhone 6 using this method. You can also see the […]| Canadian Astronomy
I’ve been photographing the night sky through my telescope with my iPhone since 2011, but two objects have eluded me: Uranus and Neptune. Finally, in early 2017, I was able to capture them both. As a result, I’ve been able to assemble my first complete iPhone astrophotography solar system collage! All planets in the above image were […]| Canadian Astronomy
On Monday night, I captured my first-ever photo of Neptune using my iPhone and 8″ telescope. This is a single, unedited 6 second exposure using the NightCap Pro app for iPhone. It may not lo…| Canadian Astronomy
Heading Out The morning of April 8, 2024, I had a decision to make. I needed to travel to a nearby city to witness a total solar eclipse – one of the few major astronomical events I had never…| Canadian Astronomy