Showing posts with label star. Show all posts
Showing posts with label star. Show all posts

Friday, June 19, 2015

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon Forming a Triangle

Postcard UA-1182470 from Ukraine shows a space image with stars and planets in a nebula.

If you have looked towards the western sky at dusk today, you would see the pair-up of Jupiter (top left) and Venus (middle right), with the waxing crescent Moon below, forming a distinct triangle.
Venus and Jupiter will be at their closest approach on June 30.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Sterne by Thomas Ruff


Postcard DE-3784060 from Germany shows an image of night sky from the collection Sterne 
(Stars) produced by German photographer Thomas Ruff in 1989. Thomas Ruff acquired a set of 600 negative images "Catalog of the Southern Sky" from the European Southern Observatory in the Andes, Chile. Each of those images was noted for the precise time of day and exact geographic position when the photograph was taken, along with the type of telescopic lens used and length of exposure. Thomas Ruff cropped specific details from those images and enlarged them to a uniform grand scale.

Separately, a pulsar, J1906,  made the news as it has faded from view when it enters a warp in space-time. The observations were made at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Blood Moon in Sky


Postcard US-1651277 to Russia shows various nightlife in Florida under a "blood moon".

In the early morning of April 15, 2014 when a total lunar eclipse occurred, the "blood moon" was visible from most of North and South America, Hawaii and parts of Alaska. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon, the earth, and the sun are in alignment. As a result, the moon is completely covered by the Earth’s shadow. The following photo shows the total eclipse of the moon underway over Las Vegas, Nevada as seen from West Sahara Avenue and South Valley View Boulevard around 12:40 am on April 15, 2014. The bright star on the lower-right corner is Spica from the constellation Virgo, the 15th brightest star in the sky.


The eclipse was the first of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad, on April, 15, 2014, October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015, and September 28 2015.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Bright Summer Night on Braslav


Postcard BY-1162713 from Belarus shows "Bright Summer Night on Braslav", by Minsk photographer and astronomer Viktor Malyschits known for his many beautiful night views of Belarus on the background of sparkling stars. You can learn more about Viktor and his photos from an interview Love the Stars and their Country in Russian at Onliner.