astroGC

The Gran Canaria island is said to be a "miniature continent". It has many different landscapes. The weather can also be very different from one point to another. Actually the weather IS usually different in the South, the North, East, West or Center. Having a cloudy sky in Maspalomas area this does not mean the top of the island is cloudy as well. Case A: Trade winds blowing. Very usual during summer time. Case B: Storm entering the island from South-West. This happens more often during winter. Case C: Low clouds (the top of the island is clear). Case D: Calima. This is dust coming from Sahara desert. Yesterday, 29 December 2018 we had a case similar to C. The sky was completely covered in Maspalomas and Puerto Rico area during the evening and at night. It was also covered in the East and North of the island. Nevertheless this were low clouds. The astroGC astronomy excursion took place despite of the weather being a bit uncertain. At astroGC, guests do not ha...

We wish you a merry Christmas and clear skies for 2019 ! Picture of the moon taken yesterday from Presa del Mulato, Gran Canaria.during the astroGC astronomy workshop.

At this time of the year, the earth crosses the orbit of an asteroid called Phaethon. The orbit of the asteroid is quite "dusty".  Debris from Phaethon enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speed (about 10-15 km/s) and produce shooting stars from a radiant point near Castor star in Gemini constellation. This is the annual Geminid meteor shower. This days, at night, mostly after midnight, you should see many shooting stars. Yesterday night with the group we saw quite a few. I decided to use my camera pointing randomly in the sky and take pictures. I was still adjusting the camera to take the first picture when a huge meteor crossed the sky. This one WAS NOT related with Phaethon as it was not crossing the sky from Gemini. I shot and I could immortalize the tail of the "falling star". Here you are.