Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

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Regular stargazing and astronomy reports e-petition

December 9, 2011

by tte-77

Sign thr e-petition!

Make astronomy weather reports a regular feature on weather broadcasts

If you follow the popular @sky_watching Twitter feed then you would have noticed the recent re-tweet from @UKAstroPetition about the campaign to make Astronomy Weather Reports a regular feature on UK News. There is an e-petition requesting The Met Office to produce regular stargazing and astronomy related weather information and that it be shown as part of broadcasted weather reports via the BBC.

What is the most frustrating part of being an amateur astronomer? The bloody weather.

Not to be selfish though, not only would success with the e-petition be of great benefit to amateur astronomers, it would also help boost public awareness of the study of the sky and stars, which in turn encourages the study of science for future generations.

Join us and support the e-petition! Visit the official Directgov ‘Regular Stargazing/Astronomy reports’ e-petition here.

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Close Encounters of the Milky Way kind

July 4, 2011

by yaska77

There are some movie scenes that seem to etch an image in your mind. In the case of Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg, one such image is that of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.

This familiar outline 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 recently by a 20 year old amateur photographer, the incredibly talented Eric Hines of Valparaiso, Indiana, the image below is truly out of this world! As impressive as the movie was, this image and those following it are both beautiful and amazing in equal measures.

Milky Way Over Devil's Tower (click to enlarge, opens in Flickr) - Image Copyright: Eric Hines Photography

Awesome isn’t it? Now imagine that scene towards the end of Close Encounters with the sky looking like this. That’s not all though, there’s more…

Portrait with the Stars - Image Credit: Eric Hines Photography

Portrait with the Stars (click to enlarge, opens in Flickr) - Image Copyright: Eric Hines Photography

Wyoming certainly seems to give a grand view of the Milky Way, and Eric has captured some absolutely beautiful images.

Wyoming Dirt Road Milky Way (click to enlarge, opens in Flickr) - Image Copyright: Eric Hines Photography

Lone Tree Milky Way (click to enlarge, opens in Flickr) - Image Copyright: Eric Hines Photography

Unless you’ve already clicked on the images here Eric has a Flickr portfolio featuring some staggering photos, and you can also follow Eric on Twitter, through which he graciously allowed us to highlight his fantastic eye for beauty.

Stunning.

Eric Hines Photography on Flicker
Follow: @EricHinesPhotos on Twitter

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The Arctic Light by Terje Sorgjerd

June 2, 2011

by yaska77

Hot on the heels of “The Aurora” and “The Mountain“, Terje Sorgjerd has been out capturing and creating more jaw-dropping time-lapse images.  This time on an archipelago in Norway, where the light and colours seem otherworldly!

The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

The Arctic Light
by Terje Sorgjerd

About this video:

This was filmed between 29th April and 10th May 2011 in the Arctic, on
the archipelago Lofoten in Norway.

My favorite natural phenomenon is one I do not even know the name of, even after talking to meteorologists and astrophysicists I am none the wiser. What I am talking about I have decided to call The Arctic Light and it is a natural phenomenon occurring 2-4 weeks before you can see the Midnight Sun.

The Sunset and Sunrise are connected in one magnificent show of color and light lasting from 8 to 12 hours. The sun is barely going below the horizon before coming up again. This is the most colorful light that I know, and the main reason I have been going up there for the last 4 years, at the exact same time of year, to photograph. Based on previous experience, I knew this was going to be a very difficult trip. Having lost a couple of cameras and some other equipment up there before, it was crucial to bring an extra set of everything.

I also made sure I had plenty of time in case something went wrong. If you can imagine roping down mountain cliffs, or jumping around on slippery rocks covered in seaweed with 2 tripods, a rail, a controller, camera, lenses, filters and rigging for 4-5 hour long sequences at a time, and then having to calculate the rise and fall of the tides in order to capture the essence – it all proved bit of a challenge.

And almost as if planned, the trip would turn out to become very difficult indeed. I had numerous setbacks including: airline lost my luggage, struggling to swim ashore after falling into the Arctic sea: twice, breaking lenses, filters, tripod, computer, losing the whole dolly rig and controller into the sea, and even falling off a rather tall rock and ending up in the hospital. As much as I wanted to give up, the best way out is always “Through”. I am glad I stuck it through though because there were some amazing sunrises waiting.

At 1:06 you see a single scene from day to night to day.

I asked the very talented Marika Takeuchi to specifically compose and perform a song for this movie, and what she came up with is absolutely remarkable. Thank you very much Marika!

Follow TSOPhotography on Twitter and Facebook!

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Double take… oh, it’s NGC 6744

June 1, 2011

by tte-77

NGC 6744. Image Credit: ESO

Astronomers say that this faraway galaxy – NGC 6744 – is a twin to our own Milky Way galaxy.

The image shown is said to be the best image yet of NGC 6744, released recently by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.

Astronomers took images of NGC 6744 with the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, Chile. The images have been created by using the exposures taken through four different filters that passed blue, yellow-green and red light and the glow coming from hydrogen gas.

Similar to the Milky Way, NGC 6744 has satellite galaxies too. You can see one of them — NGC 6744A – as a smudge to the lower right of NGC 6744.

NGC 6744 in a widefield view. Image Credit: ESO

NGC 6744 is located around 30 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation of Pavo, The Peacock, which is a southern hemisphere constellation.

Astronomers say that one difference between NGC 6744 and the Milky Way is their size. While our galaxy is roughly 100,000 light-years across – NGC 6744 is twice as big. It extends to almost 200,000 light-years! While it is almost twice as large, NGC 6744 exhibits the same sharply defined spiral arms and stretched central region as the Milky Way.

Source: EarthSky

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Watch Endeavour dock with ISS Live

May 18, 2011

by yaska77

NASA space shuttle Endeavour STS-134 will dock with the ISS today, an event that will be covered live on NASA TV.


Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

Look out for the famous shuttle “back-flip” at around 05:15 ET (09:15 GMT/10:15 BST), with the actual docking due to occur at 06:16 ET (10:16 GMT/11:16 BST). The 360 degree back-flip is done so station astronauts can take high resolution pictures of Endeavour’s heat shield to check for damage.

Hatch opening (after leak tests) should occur at around 07:36 ET (11:36 GMT/12:36 BST), after which time various air and pressure tests will be performed before the crew leave the orbiter and board the station, ready for the official welcoming ceremony around an hour later.

NASA TV will then be showing highlights, and the moving of AMS-02 from the orbiter cargo bay to the ISS ready for installation tomorrow.

Watch above or view externally on NASA TV
To follow Endeavour through Google Earth click here

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