Have you been watching the sweet movements of Mars as it cruises across the starry nights? Perhaps, like many of us, you're snowed in right now and could use a little mental and visual inspiration. If so, then step inside and let's take a look at what it's like to enjoy clear, dark skies while riding on the ecliptic plane… Read more…
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Friday's close conjunction of the full Moon and Mars was spectacular… "if" you weren't surrounded by clouds! Did you get a chance to see it – or better yet take a photo? Then why not share… Read more…
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Twitpic of Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA from the ISS on Jan 30, 2010. Credit Astronaut Soichi Noguchi
“Golden Gate Bridge, San Fransisco, CA. Beautiful shadow 
,” tweeted Astronaut Soichi Noguchi along with a live image he shot from space from inside the International Space Station.
The 5 man crew comprising Expedition 22 aboard the ISS now have the capability to transmit live, unfiltered views and comments from space. And whats more is that starting on Feb. 1 they’ll be streaming live video from the outpost, orbiting some 220 miles above the earth while speeding along at 17,500 MPH. Read more…
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Away in Pegasus and 225 million light years from Earth, a barred spiral galaxy designated as NGC 7771 spans across 164,000 light years of space. It is a part of a small galaxy group consisting of lenticular galaxy NGC 7770 to the south and edge-on NGC 7771A to the west connected to magnificent spiral NGC 7769. But horsefeathers doesn't mean this little clump of galactic partners is nonsense… Horsefeathers are what we need to make an intergalactic duster just to see them! Read more…
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Caption: Annular solar eclipse on January 15, 2009. Courtesy Daniel Fischer, "cosmos4u" on Twitter.
The first of two solar eclipses to occur in 2010 took place Friday, January 15. This was an annular eclipse, which means the Sun was not totally covered by the Moon, creating a "ring of fire." The eclipse was visible from a 300-km-wide track that passed over central Africa, across the Indian Ocean, over the southern tip of India and the northern end of Sri Lanka, and then across parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar. At the center of the track, the eclipse endured for 11 minutes and eight seconds, setting a record that won't be beaten until December 23, 3043. Weather cooperated in many regions, allowing good viewing conditions. Here are a few images and videos from Daniel Fischer, who was in Varkala, India, and another group who calls themselves Eclipse Hunt 2010 crew were in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The image above is from Fischer, who said via Twitter that his travels to view the eclipse was a total success. "Deep blue sky, not a single cloud all day, photo plans worked."
Read more…
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Although there has been plenty of moonlight to go around and frigid temperatures in many parts of the world, that's not going to stop what's happening in the sky. Not only is Mars back on the observing scene, but it's also getting close enough that details are becoming more and more clear. Would a little frost have stopped Percival Lowell? Darn right it wouldn't…. And it hasn't stopped John Chumack either. Read more…
Filed under: Astrophotos, Mars, Observing | 4 Comments »
Christmas Tree and Cones - JP Metsavainio
If you're celebrating your Christmas Eve with clear skies and new optics, then why not have a little seasonal fun? Let's begin before the Moon sets… Read more…
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Only one more day left until Christmas Eve, and astronomers have just discovered a unique feature on the lunar surface. Although accepted for many years to be a natural feature of selenography, modern astrophotography coupled with today’s high-powered telescopes have discovered an area near the lunar North Pole that’s apparently being used as a runway by a man in a red suit piloting an unusual spacecraft… Read more…
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This image is dedicated to our late friend Danny Marquardt.
No. This polar ring isn't a phone call from Santa, but an unusual interacting galaxy designated as NGC 660. Located over 20 million light-years away, this member of the M74 group located in the constellation of Pisces is rare breed – a "polar ring" galaxy – a bizarre configuration of stars, gas, and dust orbiting in ring formations nearly perpendicular to the plane of a flat galactic disk. What caused it? Read on… Read more…
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Ralf Vandebergh's detail of an image he took on March 21, 2009 showing astronauts working outside the ISS. Credit: Ralf Vandebergh
Remember when it was a big deal when amateur astronomers starting imaging the International Space Station as seen from Earth, showing individual modules and other parts of the space station? One of the most proficient astrophotographers in that department has now just upped the game: Ralf Vandebergh has captured images of astronauts working outside the ISS during an EVA. Vandebergh, who lives in The Netherlands, used his 10-inch Newtonian backyard telescope to capture an image of STS-119 astronauts Joe Acaba and Steve Swanson working outside the ISS to install equipment on one of the trusses during the second EVA of the mission on March 21, 2009. Vandebergh told me he has been trying to image astronauts working outside the ISS since 2007, but hasn't been successful until now. "In all opportunities I had until now, the astronauts were not on a visible part of the station," he said "or they were in shadow or the pass or the seeing was simply not favourable."
Below, enjoy the video Vandebergh created about his extreme zoom-in handiwork, and his explanation of how he was able to take the images.
Nice job Ralf! Check out his website of other telescopic spacecraft image here.
Read more…
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This is way cooler than those chocolate filled advent calendars that you can buy at the grocery store (although arguably less yummy): The Big Picture over at The Boston Globe is doing an advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas, only instead of opening a little door to nuggets of chocolate each day, you get huge chunks of Hubble eye candy!
Each day until Christmas you can feast your eyes on a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope like today's shown above. Hubble has produced enough images over its lifetime to fill a few thousand advent calendars. If you happened to be worried about your waistline this holiday season, forget buying a calorie-bloated advent calendar and head on over to The Big Picture for the next 24 images, which are sure to be stunning.
Little cycling cap tip to The Bad Astronomer
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What accretes quietly in the night and can be a blast to observe? Try a FUor… These high accretion, high luminosity phase pre-main sequence stars may only last a few decades – but display an extreme change in magnitude and spectral type in a very short period of time. While FU Orionis may be the prototype you know about, there's a lot more to learn and even more to observe! Step outside in the dark with me and let's take a look… Read more…
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"Looking up in the sky is one of the greatest things a human being can do. Going out to a silent and dark site, enjoying the beauty of the Universe with friends. You will forget all the problems here on Earth, because you realize that we are only a little funny thing on this ball we call Earth, flying through our galaxy we call Milky Way. There is more out there that wants to be discovered. Sit back and take a journey through our real home and through space and time." And remember Daniel Marquardt… Read more…
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Even though most of us have been suffering from poor seeing conditions due to both hemisphere's seasonal climate changes, the changes we're experiencing look like nothing compared to what's happening on Jupiter. If you think we've got turbulent atmosphere and more than our fair share of clouds – then check out what John Chumack's been watching! Read more…
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The Milky Way. Credit: Axel Mellinger
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