Blogs
Blog Archive
Asteroid Telescope First Light
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/08/16 03:04 CDT | 4 comments
Using a Shoemaker NEO Grant a new telescope is operating in Illinois to do asteroid tracking.
Comet ISON lives on! (we think...)
Posted by Karl Battams on 2013/08/13 01:31 CDT | 1 comments
For several weeks now, ground-based observers have been blind to Comet ISON as our local star was sitting directly between us and the comet. I am delighted to share two pieces of good news: first, that ISON is still alive and well, and secondly that it has been recovered.
Astrophotographer captures 'Heavenly Palace' transiting the Sun
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/24 10:56 CDT | 1 comments
Astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured a striking image set of Chinese spacecraft Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 10 transiting the Sun.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/19 01:33 CDT | 1 comments
From far away, or from so near you could almost touch it, the moon is beautiful.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/03/12 01:57 CDT | 2 comments
We don't have any spacecraft at Jupiter right now, which is a pity. Until we do, we have to rely upon Earth-based astronomers to monitor the changing face of the largest planet.
Saturn's Hexagon Viewed from the Ground
Posted by Leigh Fletcher on 2013/02/01 05:49 CST | 2 comments
For the first time, amateur astronomers are capturing spectacular images of Saturn's bizarre north polar hexagon.
Astrophotos making the web - the good, the bad and the ugly ...
Posted by Daniel Fischer on 2012/10/10 04:18 CDT | 2 comments
Space blogger Daniel Fischer writes about the problem of composited astrophotos being distributed through social media channels by people unaware that they are artworks, not documentary photographs.
Adventures in urban astrophotography
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/02/20 01:55 CST
Just because you live in an urban area with skyglow doesn't mean you can't have fun with astrophotography. How to capture the planets, constellations and the ISS.
Checking up on Jupiter and Saturn
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/02/10 01:51 CST
It's amateur astronomers, not professionals, who are shouldering the burden of constant monitoring of the weather on Jupiter and Saturn. What's going on these days in the outer solar system?�
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/12/27 10:34 CST
Just a few of the amazing photos of Comet Lovejoy that have been taken from the southern hemisphere over the last few days. Comet Lovejoy is the first Kreutz sungrazer to have been discovered from the ground in 40 years, and after its surprising survival of its passage close to the Sun, it has been putting on a spectacular show in southern skies.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/08/12 12:52 CDT
Amateur astronomer Patrick Wiggins sent me this neat little animation of comet Garradd moving against background stars through an hour's worth of observing. I'm not any kind of astronomer but if I were I think I would get a kick out of looking at things that appear to move within one night of watching -- asteroids, comets, Jupiter's spots. I'm impatient that way.
Jupiter's southern belt is coming back
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/08/01 09:34 CDT
In a story that I've been following for quite a while, Jupiter's southern equatorial belt, having faded to white in 2009, is now well on its way back to its former red glory.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/04/01 03:08 CDT
Here's a photo worthy of hanging on the wall: a gorgeous, 4000-pixel-square portrait of the full Moon captured by Rolf Hempel from Germany on the night of the "Supermoon."
Checking in on Jupiter: the belt is coming back
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/03/25 03:46 CDT
Since it's been several months since I last took a look at Jupiter, I thought it was time to see what's up with the South Equatorial Belt.
Some recent pictures of Saturn's northern storm
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/02/07 04:35 CST
There is a huge storm that's spreading across so much of Saturn that it's been readily visible even from Earth-based telescopes. Over the past couple of days a couple of new images of Saturn have appeared that show just how enormous the storm is today.
Jupiter's outbreak is spreading
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/11/22 11:03 CST
Jupiter, always a pretty sight in the sky, is now worth visiting every day; the "outbreak" that heralds the return of Jupiter's formerly red, now fadedsouth equatorial belt is expanding and multiplying.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/11/11 10:48 CST
Jupiter's faded belt may be coming back.
The August 20, 2010 Jupiter fireball -- and the March 5, 1979 one
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/08/24 11:36 CDT
Following up on the story I first posted on August 22, the Jupiter impact fireball first noticed by Japanese amateur astronomer Masayuki Tachikawa has been independently confirmed by two other Japanese astronomers.
Yet another Jupiter impact!? August 20, seen from Japan
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/08/22 05:03 CDT
Yet another Jupiter impact!? August 20, seen from Japan
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/05/10 05:22 CDT
Via Daniel Fischer's Tweet about a blog entry by Astro BobI learned of something which should be obvious to anyone who has trained even a rather small telescope on Jupiter over the past few weeks: one of its iconic stripes is just plain gone.
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