I recently discovered a beautiful site. Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis www.perseus.gr
It’s got a great collection of celestial objects captured in stunning detail; nebula, galaxies, star clusters, comets, plus images from our solar system. The author also talks in great detail about astrophotography and offers tips and advice for the best imaging.
www.perseus.gr
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The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) officially ends on January 10th.
The closing ceremony will be held in the Aula Magna of the University of Padova, where Galileo taught astronomy and physics, in Padova, Italy. It’s the final event of a year long global celebration of astronomy and its contribution to society and culture.
Official Website: www.astronomy2009.org/
IYA YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/astronomy2009
Follow Live Streaming Video on www.beyond2009.org
The past decade has been pretty exciting in the realm of space exploration. Here’s my look at NASA’s milestones in the past ten years.
October 2009: water discovered on the moon by the LCROSS mission.
July 2009: 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing
May 2009: Hubble Space Telescope upgraded and repaired. Space walking astronauts from the Atlantis space shuttle gave the aging space telescope several new updated systems. Two new instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3 and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph were installed, while repairs were made to the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph systems. Stunning new images start streaming in.
2008: NASA marks 50th Anniversary.
International Space Station (ISS) celebrates 10th year in space.
Phoenix Lander arrives on Mars.
January 2004: Mars Rover mission lands with planetary rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Initially the rovers mission was three months, but both robotic explorers surprised the scientific community by lasting six Earth years on the Martian surface.
February 1, 2003: In memory of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. All seven crew members aboard STS-107 were lost.
Commander: Rick D. Husband, U.S. Air Force colonel and mechanical engineer
Pilot: William C. McCool, U.S. Navy commander
Payload Commander: Michael P. Anderson, U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and physicist
Payload Specialist: Ilan Ramon, colonel in the Israeli Air Force and the first Israeli astronaut
Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla, aerospace engineer from India on her second space mission
Mission Specialist: David M. Brown, U.S. Navy captain and flight surgeon
Mission Specialist: Laurel Clark, U.S. Navy captain and flight surgeon
October 2000: The first crew, Expedition One inhabits the International Space Station for 136 days.
Did you see the recent “blue moon?” The story was all over the news, but the term “blue moon” is actually misunderstood.
www.skyandtelescope.com/ offers an insightful and in depth definition of a blue moon.
The website for Astronomy Picture of the Day has a striking composite picture of the new year’s blue moon and a partial lunar eclipse.