I mentioned a cool use of FlickR the other day here. I forgot all about it this weekend but had the day off today to tinker around so I broke out the tripod, set the camera on it with the widest aperture and the slowest shutter speed, went outside and snapped three pictures. I uploaded to FlickR as per instructions and then went about my business.
CrabAppleLane Night Sky - February 24, 2009
Less than 15 minutes later, I got a response on this one that reads:
astrometry.net says:
Hello, this is the blind astrometry solver. Your results are:
(RA, Dec) center:(92.3657322745, 31.5703696947) degrees
(RA, Dec) center (H:M:S, D:M:S):(06:09:27.776, +31:34:13.331)
Orientation:72.57 deg E of N
Pixel scale:75.80 arcsec/pixel
Parity:Reverse ("Left-handed")
Field size :68.72 x 51.54 degrees
Your field contains:
The star Capella (αAur)
The star Betelgeuse (αOri)
The star Pollux (βGem)
The star Bellatrix (γOri)
The star Elnath / El Nath (βTau)
The star Alnilam (εOri)
The star Menkalinan (βAur)
The star Alhena (γGem)
The star Castor (αGem)
The star Alnitak (ζOri)
NGC 1499 / California nebula
View in World Wide Telescope (Requires install)
If you go to my FlickR site (Just click on the picture), my image will have little squares all over it identifying the objects listed. Coolness times 1000.
CrabAppleLane Night Sky - February 24, 2009 - 2nd upload
This one took a little longer but here it is:
astrometry.net says:
Hello, this is the blind astrometry solver. Your results are:
(RA, Dec) center:(92.1846782404, 31.5523572596) degrees
(RA, Dec) center (H:M:S, D:M:S):(06:08:44.323, +31:33:8.486)
Orientation:71.47 deg E of N
Pixel scale:75.52 arcsec/pixel
Parity:Reverse ("Left-handed")
Field size :68.47 x 51.35 degrees
Your field contains:
The star Capella (αAur)
The star Betelgeuse (αOri)
The star Pollux (βGem)
The star Bellatrix (γOri)
The star Elnath / El Nath (βTau)
The star Mirfak (αPer)
The star Alnilam (εOri)
The star Menkalinan (βAur)
The star Alhena (γGem)
The star Castor (αGem)
NGC 1499 / California nebula
View in World Wide Telescope (Requires install)
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If you would like to have other images solved, please submit them to the astrometry group.
Didn't you dedicate or name a star for Patsy a long time ago? Search it out, why doncha? This was really something -- to think these obscure stars all have names, not just the ones everyone knows about and recognizes.
No, I have not done that. Don't remember ever considering it. I think Patsy would rather have a card.
The stars identified and named in that comment ARE only the famous ones. Castor and Pollux are the Gemini twins, Betelgeuse is the red super giant in Orion, Bellatrix is also a famous star in Orion, also a character in the Harry Potter books/movies, and Capella is one of the brightest stars in the sky. Those are the ones I'm familiar with but real astronomers know all of them. The more obscure ones that no one knows are not labelled.