The Hidden Face of Beautiful Pakistan

[Cheers]

@ Ducati: Thank you.

@ Daniyal: Yes dear, we went to Sonmiani on a small-scale test event last Saturday (3rd Jamadi-ul-Awwal / 17-18 April). We had a new 10" telescope as well as some fresh gear with us. I'll be posting shots as soon as I get some time. Thanks for your interest.

[Cheers]

Zain Bhai Can You Give Me The High Resoution Shot Of the Very First Picture Of Your Thread
any link ? you can mail me you can post it here anything will do brother loving your thread
Read All 6 Pages at Once

Thanks Irteza. And here you go: link.

Credits:
Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition
Lowell Observatory
USNO Flagstaff Station
Dan & Cindy Duriscoe

[Blackeye117]

Thank You Very Very Very Much Brother

[Cheers]

Thank You Very Very Very Much Brother

My pleasure. Irteza, try searching "Messier 64" on Google or elsewhere. You might stumble across some stunning images for you avatar - M64 is known as "The Black Eye Galaxy".

[Cheers]

Folks, before I post pictures of the Sonmiani Rutjuga, let me put up details of a visible pass of the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow (27/04/10). It is expected to be clear here in Karachi Insha Allah. The ISS will rise from the south-east and pass almost directly overhead (see details below). To get pass details for your location, you can either manually enter your co-ordinates or log-in (free) at heavens-above.com. For a given location, the ISS makes visible passes many times each month. And you do not need a telescope or binocular to see it.

Pass Details
<table> <tbody><tr><td>Date: </td><td> Tuesday, 27 April, 2010 </td></tr> <tr><td>Satellite: </td> <td>ISS</td></tr> <tr><td>Observer's Location: </td><td>Karachi ( 24.8670°N, 67.0500°E)</td> </tr> <tr><td>Local Time: </td><td> Universal Coordinated Time -5 (GMT + 5 : 00) </td> </tr> <tr><td>Orbit: </td> <td> 343 x 356 km, 51.6° (Epoch 26 Apr)</td></tr> <tr><td>Sun altitude at time of
maximum pass altitude: </td><td> -16.7°</td></tr> </tbody></table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="5"><tbody><tr><th>Event</th><th>Time</th><th> Altitude </th><th> Azimuth </th><th>Distance (km)</th></tr> <tr><td>Rises above horizon</td> <td>20 : o9 : 04</td> <td>-0°</td> <td>219° (SW )</td> <td>2,149</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Reaches 10° altitude</td> <td>20 : 11 : 04</td> <td>10°</td> <td>219° (SW )</td> <td>1,314</td> </tr> <tr><td>Maximum altitude</td> <td>20 : 14 : 01</td> <td>85°</td> <td>112° (ESE)</td> <td>356</td> </tr> <tr><td>Enters shadow</td> <td>20 : 15 : 23</td> <td>28°</td> <td>43° (NE )</td> <td>699</td> </tr></tbody></table>
Obviously you cannot see the huge satellite's shape with the unaided eye. The view through a telescope, however, is a different case. Here the ISS is seen transiting the Moon (composite image courtesy of Ed Morana):

<big><big></big></big>

So friends in Karachi, don't forget to look skywards after Maghrib tomorrow Insha Allah at 08 : o9 pm. And friends in other places, don't forget to check out visible pass and Iridium flare details for your locations. Clear skies.

[lovebikes]

Waiting for the pics of ur latest rutjuga.

[Cheers]

Our team had decided that we'd have our next dark sky event two months after the Kalri Rutjuga in February. April 17/18 was the due date. Due to some unexpected commitments, we had to initially plan for Kalri, but a friendly person in Sonmiani offered his assistance and we finalized the plan just around twenty four hours before the departure time.

We were seven guys and three rides. We assembled and started on our journey by around 04 : 30pm.

[lovebikes]

Keep posting. Waiting for the sky pics.

[ahsanzs]

You are going on really cool. Keep it up.

[Cheers]

You might have noted that when Allah Pak makes the late afternoon sky appear a crisp blue, He usually makes the night time sky highly transparent (with no haze etc. and lots of stars visible). Add to it the absence of clouds, and you're all set for a Rutjuga. So we were naturally excited and thankful when we looked skywards as we neared our destination:

[Cheers]

Keep posting. Waiting for the sky pics.

You can find them here.

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After savouring refreshments at our destination, we opened the treasure chest . . .

. . . and began to set up the telescope.

This 10" scope (LX200R SCT) is owned by Naveed sahab. This astronomy gadget arrived on the country's soil about two weeks ago.

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Here I'm having my first look through the telescope:

Too dark for your display? Try viewing the full size image here:
First Light on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The three day old Moon, the Pleiades star cluster (aka the Seven Sisters and Thuraiyya or Parveen in Urdu) and the planet Venus shine in the background to my right.

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The Milky Way (our home galaxy) was much more prominent than what was captured in this 30 second exposure at ISO 400.

On Black: Sagittarius Milky Way by Sky Spice [Large]

Can you make out the Teapot shape formed by the seven bright stars in the center-left? That's part of the Sagittarius constellation.

Many of our folks here must have seen the Milky Way. It is a broad swath of misty light that rural people link to a path or roadway. City dwellers often mistake it for clouds when they see it the first time.

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Caution: Consuming too much starlight can cause overnight obesity in urban astronomers.

On Black: Overnight Obesity by Sky Spice [Large]

In the large sized image, can you see the closely spaced stars at the top-right of the fat astronomer? The asterism is called the Coat Hanger. Here's a close-up shot (courtesy David Ratledge):

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The first thing we observed with the telescope was, naturally, Saturn and five or six of its moons:

(Image credit: Christopher Go)

Note that stacked video images like these show more detail than the eye itself can see with the same telescopic setup. Moreover, atmospheric conditions normally do not allow magnification to be beefed up so high so as to make the planet's disk appear as big as in the above shots. Nevertheless, seeing the Lord of the Rings in reality with your living eyes for the first time is an unforgettable experience. Our host actually exclaimed when he looked into the eyepiece: "Yeh toa mein kabhi nahi bhuloonga!"

Did you note the egg-like shape of the gas giant? That's due to the planet's rapid rotation. A day on Saturn lasts a little more than ten hours.

[fomalhaut]

salam.
@cheers whats up bro.
awesome pics u got there.which camera are u using.last month i was out of city and took some pics.

[fomalhaut]

[daniyalahmad]

^ Nice addition of pictures from you
I like them

[daniyalahmad]

Our team had decided that we'd have our next dark sky event two months after the Kalri Rutjuga in February. April 17/18 was the due date. Due to some unexpected commitments, we had to initially plan for Kalri, but a friendly person in Sonmiani offered his assistance and we finalized the plan just around twenty four hours before the departure time.

We were seven guys and three rides. We assembled and started on our journey by around 04 : 30pm.

Loving that Caprice :*