TWR 360 Update

Many of the radio programs that we have on the air here at TWR Bonaire can also be found online at TWR360.  There is audio and video content in 42 languages and from 133 ministries and churches.  The International Bible Church of Bonaire is on TWR360 now as well.

New improved TWR360 apps for iPhone and Android will be unveiled in June.  Most visitors currently use Web browsers though.

In April there were almost 600,000 visits to TWR360 using a browser.  The top five countries in descending order were:  Brazil, India, Indonesia, Ukraine, and USA.  There were about 10,000 visits to TWR360 using Apps last month. 

There are also almost 7,000 TWR360 followers on Facebook, and a little over 1,000 users coming from Roku, as well.

Southern Cross and Red Slave

I took a LOT of pictures both Thursday and Friday nights and then combined them into a five rows by three columns panorama.  I could have imaged the whole thing with a wide angle lens, but I wanted to catch as much detail as possible.

I used an 85mm lens on a Canon T1i (500D) crop sensor camera that has a modified IR filter.  This allows as more of the red nebula color to reach the imaging sensor.

If I were to print the original image at 300dpi, it would be around 25inches by 30 inches.  (63x76cm)
Here is a downsized version.  I'm still thinking of making a copy with the various clusters and nebulae labeled, but I won't get to it today.

Starry Nights

It has been very cloudy and hazy lately, which is great for bike riding and for working outdoors, but not good for stargazing.  Last night was quite clear.
I'm working on a picture similar to my recent Large Magellanic Cloud over the slave huts picture.  This new one will have the Southern Cross and Eta Carina Nebula over the slave huts.
The LMC picture was a single image.  This one will be a three row by three column panorama, which I hope I can print big.  I've got the top row stitched together, but haven't yet worked on the middle row or the bottom row.  So I still don't know if this is going to work or not.

The original pano is 8500 x 3500 pixels in size.  This image has been downsized to 1024 by 400-ish.  The Southern Cross is on the left side of the image.  It looks like a diamond shaped kite.  The bottom three stars are bluish and the one at the tip of the kite is yellowish.
The Eta Carina nebula is the large reddish blob towards the right side of the picture.  There are quite a few other nebulae and clusters visible in the image as well.
For example, IC2602, the open cluster at the bottom edge of the image, below the Eta Carina nebula, is commonly known as the Southern Pleiades.  There are also nice clusters to the upper left and lower right of the Eta Carina nebula.  There are a few small clusters in and around the Southern Cross.  And then there is the "Coal Sack" dark nebula to the lower left of the Southern Cross.