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As part of the "Reserva no Outono" initiative, the Municipality of Barreiro is hosting an Astronomy Night (Noite de Astronomia) at the Mata Nacional da Machada. ​This stargazing session offers a great opportunity to explore the night sky and bring astronomy closer to the local community in a natural setting. ​Date & Time: Saturday, September 26, starting at 21:00 ​Location: Mata Nacional da Machada (Meeting point: Environmental Education Center / CEA) ​Target Audience: Ages 10 and above ​Admission: Free (advance registration required via Linha Verde: 800 912 070) Source: Câmara Municipal do Barreiro

In August, the night sky gifted us another unforgettable moment: a partial lunar eclipse that painted our natural satellite in dark, reddish tones. At the AOSR, we closely followed this cosmic dance between the Sun, Earth, and Moon, and we're sharing the "scientific breakdown" of this phenomenon. What Happened in the Sky? A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Earth aligns directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow across the lunar surface. During the recent event: Penumbra and Umbra: The Moon passed through the darkest part of Earth’s shadow (the umbra ), where direct sunlight is completely blocked. The "Blood Moon": The reddish-copper hue we observed is caused by Rayleigh scattering . Earth's atmosphere acts like a lens, filtering out shorter blue wavelengths of sunlight and allowing only longer red wavelengths to pass through and bend toward the Moon. The Value of Astronomical Observation One of the greate...

As an astronomer, I love dedicated astrophotography kit, but sometimes the best camera is the one in your pocket! Yesterday, I managed a quick capture of the solar eclipse using my OPPO Find N2 Flip shot through a Shade 12 welding glass filter. ​The vivid green hue is the natural signature of the welding glass, which cuts down the intense sunlight to safe levels for the phone’s sensor. The result? A crisp, clear crescent Sun. ​Proof that you don't always need a high-end rig to appreciate celestial mechanic, just a bit of curiosity and the right glass to hand. ;-)

Messier 44, popularly known as the Beehive Cluster (or Praesepe), is one of the nearest open clusters to Earth. It’s a fantastic target for fine-tuning your setup because it offers a dense field of stars with varying magnitudes, perfect for checking focus, star shape, and field flatness.

  The Veil Nebula (also known as NGC 6992 / NGC 6995 for its eastern part, and NGC 6960 for its western part, in the NGC catalog) is a large and striking cloud of glowing gas in the constellation Cygnus. It is the remnant of a supernova explosion the death of a very massive star that occurred about 8,000 years ago. Through a telescope, it appears as delicate, colorful filaments spread across the sky, almost like a cosmic veil of light. These filaments are made of hot gases still expanding from the explosion, glowing as they interact with the surrounding space. Although it is about 1,500 light-years away, the Veil Nebula covers a large area of the sky, much bigger than the Moon, making it one of the most beautiful and photographed deep-sky objects, even for beginners in astronomy. Observed and imaged by Nuno at the AOSR Observatory . Integration: 87*300 in Ha 69*300 in OIII

Automated Detection of Supernovae in Astronomical Images Automated detection of supernovae is an emerging field in observational astronomy, enabling the efficient and large-scale identification of new stellar explosions. This article presents an algorithm developed by us( AOSR ) to compare astronomical images and identify potential supernovae. After generating a comprehensive list of possible supernova candidates, the algorithm is automatically applied to each candidate for further analysis and verification. This ensures that each potential supernova is meticulously examined, increasing the accuracy and reliability of the detection process. Algorithm Workflow Loading and Normalizing Images : Initially, astronomical images are loaded from FITS files. To ensure comparability, the images are normalized to a common scale. Image Alignment : Using feature detection and description techniques, the images are aligned to correct for any shifts and distortions between them. Difference Calculatio...