Posts Tagged ‘advent calendar’

Older Entries »
h1

Astronomy Advent Calendar – 24th December

December 24, 2011

by yaska77

Well here we are! Our final astronomy advent calendar image for 2011 is here, and we’re just one sleep away from Santa’s visit…

It seemed appropriate therefore that the Christmas Eve image be one with a certain magical, mystical quality, and few come more striking than this!

Day 24

Astronomy Advent Calendar 24th December - Close Encounters of the Milky Way Kind (click to enlarge, opens flickr image) - Image Copyright: Eric Hines Photography

Scan your channel guide over the holiday season and it’s likely that somewhere, on some channel, they’ll be showing Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg.

The familiar outline of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming appeared many times throughout the film, in shaving foam, mashed potato and even a huge scale model built by Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) in his lounge!

Captured in the summer by amateur photographer Eric Hines of Valparaiso, Indiana, his image is truly out of this world! I almost wish there was an alien ship streaking across the sky!

You can view more of Eric’s photos or follow him on Twitter here:
Eric Hines Photography on Flicker
Follow: @EricHinesPhotos on Twitter

View yesterday’s image

All of us at Sky-Watching wish our visitors and kind commenters throughout 2011 a very Happy Christmas and a great New Year. Thank you for sharing our interest and enthusiasm and keeping this blog far busier than we could have believed!

Posted in Astronomy, Galaxy, Stars, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

Astronomy Advent Calendar – 23rd December

December 23, 2011

by yaska77

Well here we are, our penultimate astronomy advent calendar image for 2011 already. It seems to have passed in a blur!

This year saw the end of something that I’ve been aware of for pretty much my entire life. A regular memory throughout my childhood was the thrill of seeing one of NASA’s space shuttles launch, and many around the world share the same emotional attachment to what is still one of mankind’s most fantastic achievements.

Day 23

Astronomy Advent Calendar 23rd December - The iconic shuttle Atlantis spears skyward, and into history (click to enlarge, it's big!) - Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The last ever launch of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) blasted into orbit on 8th July 2011.

The 135th and final space shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center (on a 13 day mission delivering supplies to the ISS) with thousands of spectators lining the roads and beaches nearby.

2011 saw all three functional orbiters (Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis) retired as the 30 year shuttle program was brought to a close. The shuttles have spearheaded our reach out into space, having been a major tool used in the construction of the ISS to carrying incredible satellites and space telescopes into orbit.

But the awesome sight of a shuttle launch will never be seen live again.

As an extra treat for those shuttle enthusiasts among you, here’s a link to a special feature length NASA Shuttle Documentary, narrated by none other than Captain Kirk himself, Bill Shatner :)

Maybe watch it while waiting to finish your day at work. No one else is doing anything, so it’s fine!

Christmas Eve tomorrow, and our last advent calendar image for this holiday season (and it’s a cracker!) :)

View yesterday’s image

Posted in Astronomy, NASA, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Astronomy Advent Calendar – 22nd December

December 22, 2011

by yaska77

The holidays are so close now I can almost smell ‘em :) Today’s astronomy advent calendar image is another of ours taken this year.

Stacking images is a great way of improving the clarity of individual photos, bringing out far more detail than the individual shots alone could capture.

Day 22

Andromeda (M31) the spiral galaxy

Astronomy Advent Calendar 22nd December - 60 individual photos of Andromeda stacked into one image (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from the Earth, in the constellation Andromeda. It’s also known as Messier 31 (M31) or NGC 224.

Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, but is not the closest galaxy overall, that accolade goes to the Canis Major dwarf galaxy.

60 stacked images created the final result above, taken using a Sky-Watcher Explorer 200P EQ5 PRO SynScan 200mm Newtonian Reflector Telescope and an un-modified Canon EOS 550D. To compare a single photo with the stacked image above have a look here.

Yeah, we’re pretty chuffed with our first use of DeepSkyStacker :)

View yesterday’s image

Posted in Astronomy, Galaxy, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Astronomy Advent Calendar – 21st December

December 21, 2011

by yaska77

Really into the home stretch now, so here is today’s astro advent calendar image with only a few more to come!

If you have ever stood in your garden and watched the ISS pass overhead (a bright, relatively quick moving light across the sky) you’ve probably wondered just what sights they see from up there. Well, here’s a great example :)

Day 21

Astronomy Advent Calendar 21st December - The Moon and the Earth's Atmosphere (click to enlarge) - Credit: ISS Crew Earth Observations Experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory/Johnson Space Center

On 31 July this year Astronauts working onboard the International Space Station took this beautiful image. The layers of the Earth’s atmosphere are nicely highlighted!

Lying closest to the Earth’s surface is the orange-red troposphere, the brown transitional layer marks the tropopause (the upper edge of the troposphere) with the white/grey layer resting above it being the stratosphere (the layer that contains noctilucent clouds). The upper atmosphere composed of the mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere fades from blue to the blackness of space.

Brave, adventurous and lucky astronauts, how we envy and admire you! :)

View yesterday’s image

Posted in Astronomy, Earth, ISS, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Astronomy Advent Calendar – 20th December

December 20, 2011

by yaska77

Keeping it seasonal, today’s astro advent calendar image bears more than a passing resemblance to a Xmas time favourite.

It’s a bit of a break from featuring images we’ve posted throughout the year too (as this is brand new) but the great thing about space being so vast is we keep being brought more jaw-dropping images! :)

Day 20

Hubble's Snow Angel

Astronomy Advent Calendar 20th December - Hubble brings you a celestial snow angel! (click to enlarge) - Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope presents a festive holiday greeting that’s out of this world. The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106 (nearly 2,000 light-years away) looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. The “wings” of the nebula detail the contrast of heat and motion against the backdrop of a colder medium.

A ring of dust and gas orbiting the star acts like a belt, cinching the expanding nebula into an “hourglass” shape. Hubble’s sharp resolution reveals ripples and ridges in the gas as it interacts with the cooler interstellar surrounding.

Detailed studies have also uncovered several hundred brown dwarfs. At purely infrared wavelengths, more than 600 of these sub-stellar objects appear, “failed” stars weighing less than a tenth of our Sun.

The Hubble images were taken in February 2011 with the Wide Field Camera 3 and released on 15th December.

More info from Hubblesite here.

A space snow angel, awesome :)

View yesterday’s image

Posted in Astronomy, Hubble, Nebula, Night sky, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Older Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,861 other followers

%d bloggers like this: