Celestial Events

JUPITER Will all the recent talk of the planetary alignment, I thought it was about time to capture one of the other worlds with whom we share our solar system. Venus and Saturn are already low in the sky, so Jupiter was the obvious (and largest) target! It's been a while since I attempted any planet photos, and despite the warm, humid conditions I was able to get a good photo of our largest celestial neighbour. I used our Meade 8" SCT and ZWOs 290MC to take a 90 sec video, capturing around 13,000 frames. These were then sorted, aligned and stacked, before the final image was edited. There is some haze around the edges, no doubt caused by the warm atmospherics but I am really happy with the detail! The swirling cloud bands show some nice definition and the Great Red Spot is clearly visible. For some perspective, 11 Earths could fit across Jupiter's face, and the spot is the same size as our planet. It has shrunk considerably over the last 100yrs but is still a sight to behold! I hope you all enjoy some great views of the planets over the coming weeks! #astrophotography #astronomytraining #nightskysafari #astrotourism #space #galaxy #events #education #Jupiter #planet #virtualstargazing #stargazing #meade #zwo

ORION Orion takes centre stage in the southern hemisphere skies over summer. 🌌 Universally known as the great hunter from Greek mythology, its origins stem much further back. In Mesopotamian times, this iconic constellation was seen as the mighty Urak king, Gilgamesh. 🫅 The Egyptians considered it to be Osiris, lord of the afterlife, whilst here in Africa, the belt stars represent 3 warthogs or 3 zebras. 🦓🐷 Orion is the most culturally rich constellation in the sky and contains a multitude of magnificent deep sky objects visible with amateur equipment. Join us on a Night Sky Safari and delve into its fascinating history and mythology. 🔭🔭 Contact us on [email protected] or visit our website at www.celestialeventssa.com for more information! #nightskysafaris #astrophotography #stargazing #astrotourism #astronomytraining #safari #hoedspruit #virtualstargazing #space #orion #astronomy #telescope #starlore #mythology #departmentoftourism

Another great night exploring the cosmos from the sky deck at 7 Star Oase, just outside Hoedspruit. Our guests enjoyed stellar views of Saturn, Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and more through our telescope, and our photographic equipment captured unbelievable detail of nebulae, star clusters and galaxies in realtime! 🌌💫 Contact us to book your own Night Sky Safari 🔭🔭🌠 [email protected] www.celestialeventssa.com #NightSkySafari #astronomytraining #virtualstargazing #astrotourism #stargazing #space #zwo #meade #williamoptics #telescope #hoedspruit #event #orion #stargazing #tourism #southafrica #safari #nightsky

Comet Hunting Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is getting fainter as it continues on its 80,000 year journey around the Sun, and hopefully its higher position in the sky after sunset makes for some better data! After a spectacular sunset, we set up our amazing William Optics GT71 scope along with ZWOs AM5 and 533MC camera to capture this incredibke sight. We were also delighted to share the experience with Mark from Kruger2Canyon news for this once in 3000 lifetimes event! The picture in the reel is a live screenshot of a single 30 second image. Final photo coming soon! #comet #cometatlas #nightphotography #NightSkySafari #astrophotography #astronomytraining #stargazing #virtualstargazing #space #sunset #astrotourism #hoedspruit #events #tourism #darksky #zwo #williamoptics

Our last 2 Night Sky Safaris of the year with the amazing wildlife vet students from Live4Now 🌠 We absolutely loved sharing our passion for the heavens with you 🔭🌌 We hope you enjoyed our evenings under the stars and the cultural tales of the constellations! Here are just some of the live screenshots of the incredible objects we viewed 😍😱 See you next year 🥳 #NightSkySafari #astronomytraining #astrophotography #astrotourism #virtualstargazing #live4now #telescope #starstruck #nightskyphotography

Setting up our kit for another epic Night Sky Safari! This incredible machine is controlled by WiFi and takes colour photos of celestial objects in exquisite detail.📸🔭 Have you ever wanted to witness glowing clouds of dust and gas, glistening, star-studded clusters, and the catastrophic, but beautiful, demise of ancient stars? 😱😍 Book a Night Sky Safari with us and lose yourself in the true nature of the Universe.🌌🌠 www.celestialeventssa.com [email protected] #NightSkySafari #astronomytraining #astrophotography #virtualstargazing #astrotourism #safari #space #events #kruger #darksky #telescope #astronomy

An unexpected, but very welcome prickly visitor joined us during our Night Sky Safari set up at Moholoholo for the latest group of Live4Now wildlife vet students 🔭🌌 Did you know that some ancient Bushmen tribes saw the stars as tiny porcupines. In Zulu, the name for a star in Inkanyezi, which also means firefly 🪲💫 #NightSkySafari #astronomytraining #astrophotography #astrotourism #virtualstargazing #moholoholo #live4now #darksky #space #astronomy #nature #nocturnalanimals #porcupine #events #safari

1 SMALL STEP... The Moon is often overlooked and underappreciated, but it's relentless passage around the Earth has made it a focal point for many cultures for millennia. 🌌 It stabilizes our orbit, controls our tides and may even be one of the catalysts for life's development on our planet. It's ancient surface of giant impact craters and vast lava flows acts a geological time capsule, containing 4 and half billion years of our solar system's turbulent history! 😱🤓 Have you even looked at the Moon through binoculars or a telescope?? 🔭🔭 Join us in a Night Sky Safari and tour the surface of our only natural satellite 🛰 🌕🌜 #nightskysafari #astrophotography #astronomytraining #astrotourism #space #astronomy #education #events #galaxy #nightsky #stargazing #starstruck #moon #zwo #williamoptics

OASIS The Jewel Box cluster glistening within an ocean of countless stars 🌌✨💎 William Optics GT71 and Zwo533MC camera #jewelbox #NightSkySafari #astronomytraining #astronomytraining #space #virtualstargazing #stargazing #telescope #astrotourism #cluster #zwo #williamoptics #darksky #apod #safari #kruger

DREAMSPACE The African bushveld is the ultimate stage from which to lose oneself in the nightly theatre of the Milky Way 🌌 🎭 90 min timelapse taken at Walker's Camp in the Timbavati. Sony A7RIII, 20mm, F1.8 #nightskysafari #astrophotography #astronomytraining #astrotourism #virtualstargazing #nightjartraining #fgasa #safari #space #galaxy #milkyway #timelapse #kruger #sonyalpha

Zooming in on the beautiful spiral galaxy, M83, the Southern Pinwheel 🌌🤩 #m83 #galaxy #celestialeventssa #nightphotography #NightSkySafari #astrophotography #astrotourism #astronomytraining #virtualstargazing #space #apod #nasa #longexposurephotography #williamoptics #zwo

Time lapse of the amazing Aurora Australis witnessed in New Zealand in the night of Dec 1st 😍😱🌌 #aurora #southernlights #solarwind #auroraphotography #astrophotography #NightSkySafari #astronomytraining #astrotourism #nightskyphotography #apod #IDA #sonyalpha #nightphotography #darksky #virtualstargazing #timelapse