Moonsets over Honolulu - 2nd try

Moonsets over Honolulu - 2nd try, originally uploaded by art y fotos.

Duel

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Moon Over Kazakhstan

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Moon Base

Designed by Architects and Vision, MoonBaseTwo is a semi-permanent moon base which allows up to 4 astronauts to live there for 6 months. MoonBaseTwo is designed to be transported by the Ares V rocket. The base automatically deploys after landing and ready to accommodate astronauts.

Moon Base Two

photo: Mare Imbrium and Copernicus crater by the Apollo 17 Mission

PS: November 15, 2008 - At 8:34 pm Indian time Friday night (1504 UTC), India became the fourth country to land its flag on the Moon. The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 (meaning 'Moon craft' in Sanskrit) ejected its Moon Impact Probe, which hurtled across the surface of the Moon at 1.5 kilometres per second (3000 miles per hour), and successfully crash landed near the Moon's south pole. Besides carrying three important scientific instruments, the lunar probe also carried the image of the Indian national flag, painted on all sides.

Smile

Appulse is an astronomical term that refers to the very near approach of one celestial object to another, as seen from a third body. Usually it refers to the close approach of two planets together in the sky, or of the Moon to a star or planet as the Moon follows its monthly orbit around Earth, as seen by an observer located on Earth. An "appulse" can also be referred to as a conjunction.
future conjunctions

photo credits
Jamie Russell
Rhoderic Lourens
Dave Jurasevich

moon vs sun

CMCP

The Crew Mobility Chassis Prototype is NASA's new concept for a lunar truck. Researchers are trying it out at Moses Lake, Wash., this week as part of a series of tests of lunar surface concepts. One feature is its high mobility. Each set of wheels can pivot individually in any direction, giving the vehicle the ability to drive sideways, forward, backward and any direction in between -- important if the truck becomes mired in lunar dust, needs to zigzag down a steep crater wall or parallel park at its docking station. NASA currently is building the spacecraft and systems to return to the moon by 2020.

Image Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

somewhat peculiar

Orion

moon

photo credit: maximo ruiz (+)

the red friend

Tonight after dark celebrate Astronomy Day by seeing how good your eyes are at telling colors of stars. Look in the west and find the crescent moon.

The first reddish object to the lower right of the moon is the planet Mars. A little further out from Mars towards the horizon is the star Pollux in the constellation Gemini. The moon and Mars however are in the constellation Cancer. The moon is great to look at in this phase with binoculars or telescopes because it has a lot of cool shadows cast by the mountains. You can also see other cool little craters.

In parts of Africa, Europe and Asia, the moon and Mars will appear so close together as seen from Earth that the moon will pass in front of Mars. This is called occultation of Mars by the moon. Some of the mountains and other features were first mapped during an occultation. In 2001, while astronomers were observing a lunar occultation, a meteor struck the moon. For those that are in the viewing area of the occultation find out more here.

In February 2009, you will be able to see two NASA probes crash into Earth’s moon. You will need a telescope to see this, but as the date approaches there will be lots of astronomy clubs/observatories having viewing parties.

If you have those binoculars still handy, you may be noticing a fuzzy patch near the moon. This is the open cluster known as The Beehive. An open cluster is a group of stars that form out of the same stellar cloud. Directly below the moon is a bluish white star that may be catching your eye as well. This is Procyon in the constellation Canis Minor.

photo credit: Doug Zubenel

all line up

Last week, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon all appeared close together in Earth's sky. This picturesque conjunction was caught on camera behind elements of the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) near the town of Narrabri in rural New South Wales. The ATCA consists of six radio telescopes in total, each one larger than a house. Together they form one of the highest resolution measurement devices in the world. Impressive planetary conjunctions occur every few years. Involving the brightest objects in the night sky, this alignment was easy to spot just before sunrise. In the picture, taken on the morning of March 6, Mercury is the highest of the three bright celestial beacons.


Credit & Copyright: Graeme L. White & Glen Cozens

intimate moon

sorce: photonhunter

the lights of our nights

Credit & Copyright: Tyler Westcott

This spectacular sky is mostly human-made. Once a year, the Light Station at Pigeon Point near San Francisco, California, USA is lit as it was over 100 years ago. During this time, light generated by five kerosene lamps pours through 24 rotating Fresnel lenses, warning approaching ships to stay away. Early last week, light emanating from the Pigeon Point Lighthouse was particularly picturesque because of a thin fog, also blurring the distant Moon. During the latter 1970s, the lighthouse was guarded by an 800 pound pig named Lester. In modern times, the light house is still active but has been supplied with a more efficient flashing aerobeacon.

ying and yang moon

credit: josé luis and vicent peris

erupting Io

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft snapped this image of Jupiter's moon Io in February as it passed within 1.4 million miles of the planet. The smoky cap hovering over Io is one of its volcanic plumes, the gas from which extends as high as 330 kilometers (200 miles) above its surface. Io is the most geologically active body in the solar system.

fly me to the moon

This photo shows a U. S. Airways airliner, with attending twin contrails, appearing to pass in front of the first quarter Moon. In my experience this type of occultation occurs more often than people might think. In Albany, Missouri, from where this picture was snapped, commercial jets tend to follow "preferred" routes across the sky, and when the Moon happens to be in the vicinity of such a fly-over route, then a composition like the one above is possible. As an observer and photographer, you just have to be mindful, patient and prepared.

Photo details: taken with a 6" f/12 Maksutov Cassegrain telescope using a Nikon 995 digital camera. Photo captured on June 2, 2006.

copyright: Dan Bush, Missouri Skies

Hyperion

Despite its bathtub-ready appearance, Hyperion—Saturn's largest irregularly shaped moon—is anything but spongy.
High-resolution images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft—including the picture above taken in 2005—suggest the satellite's cuplike craters are reservoirs for hydrocarbons. The finding could mean that the ingredients needed for life as we know it may be more common in our solar system than previously thought, according to NASA.
Dark material spotted at the bottoms of some of the moon's craters has the same chemical signature as hydrocarbons, NASA scientists said. These organic molecules—made of hydrogen and carbon—are also found in comets, meteorites, and galactic dust.

1919 negative eclipse

1919 eclipse (negative version)

From the report of Sir Arthur Eddington on the expedition to verify Albert Einstein's prediction of the bending of light around the sun.

In Plate 1 is given a half-tone reproduction of one of the negatives taken with the 4-inch lens at Sobral. This shows the position of the stars, and, as far as possible in a reproduction of this kind, the character of the images, as there has been no retouching. A number of photographic prints have been made and applications for these from astronomers, who wish to assure themselves of the quality of the photographs, will be considered as as far as possible acceded to.

Source: F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson, "A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919"

ps: the positive/normal version can be seen here.

great mountain moonrise

Great Mountain Moonrise

Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel

On May 31st, a gorgeous Full Moon rose over Uludag Mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey. This alluring telephoto view of the twilight scene is a composite of images taken roughly every two minutes beginning shortly after Sunset, following the rising Moon as it moves up and to the right. Of course, as the Moon rises it gets brighter and changes color, becoming less reddened as the sight-line through the dense atmosphere is steadily reduced. Each of the final two exposures also captured a rising planet Jupiter. Like the Full Moon, the bright, wandering planet is nearly opposite the Sun in Earth's sky and was caught on the lefthand side of the picture in two places, just above a small peak in the mountain side. Intriguingly, some considered this Full Moon a Blue Moon.

eclipse

Credit: Mir 27 Crew; Copyright: CNES

Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon. This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station. The two bright spots that appear on the upper left are possibly Jupiter and Saturn, although this has yet to be proven. Mir was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001.

(from: Astronomy picture of the day)