Special

23 OCT 2017 – Detail of the D and R of the positive occultation of (154) Bertha.


31 OCT 2014 – Negative occultation of 4UC 370-007833 by (148) Gallia.

2014_OCT_31_Gallia


Wandering Pole

The position of the celestial North Pole has changed in 6 years! The left column shows the pictures of the stars near the North Pole in the year 2000. The right column in the year 2006. The change in the location of the celestial pole is evident.

In the first row the two star fields near the pole in 2000 and 2006.
In the second row I superposed a long-pose stellar field rotation to show evidence of the rotating point.
In the third row the two stellar fields rotations of 2000 and 2006.
The change in the two pole positions (centers of the two star rotations) is about 2 arcminutes.

The left pictures were taken the February 17-18 2000 with a 200 mm schmidt-cassegrain at f/10. The right ones were taken the February 6-7 2006 with a 400 mm newtonian at f/4.
All images were taken with fixed telescopes (mounting motors off).