Shooting the Blood Moon
In this episode of Starcast, hosts Jay Shaffer and Mike Lewinski discuss current space weather, NASA’s strategic pivot for the Artemis program, and technical strategies for photographing the upcoming total lunar eclipse on March 3rd.
Episode Links:
Planning & Ephemeris Apps
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The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE): Used for calculating the exact light direction, sun/moon rise and set times, and celestial alignments.
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PhotoPills: An all-in-one planner for sun, moon, and Milky Way photography, including a 3D Augmented Reality (AR) mode.
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Stellarium: A free, open-source planetarium that allows you to simulate the night sky at any point in time (past or future).
Sky Maps & Guides
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SkySafari: A powerful professional telescope control and planetarium app used by Jay for spotting specific targets like the moon.
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Star Walk 2: An interactive sky map that identifies stars, constellations, and satellites in real-time as you point your phone at the sky.
Citizen Science
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Zooniverse: The platform Mike mentioned where anyone can help professional astronomers classify data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and other major projects.