Astronomy Images and Video

Beautiful and interesting images and video of the night sky including stars, planets, the Milky Way, and deep-sky objects taken through a camera lens or through a telescope.

Lunar Sunrise, Lunar Sunset

August 24, 2018 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

The folks at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, MD, have put together a glorious video of an accelerated sunrise and sunset on the Moon that will reward you with some of the finest images ever taken of our nearest neighbor, and perhaps inspire you to see some of these features with your own telescope. NASA set this visualization of sunrises and sunsets on the Moon to the strains of Claude Debussy’s most famous work, Clair de Lune. Watch the whole thing. It’s a great way to spend a few minutes.

From NASA’s notes [Read more…] about Lunar Sunrise, Lunar Sunset

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The Outer Rim of the Milky Way

August 23, 2018 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

The outer rim of the Milky Way as seen in late summer towards the constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus.

“Peer at things up close and you may learn their true form
but guessed at from afar, they seem like something else.
Vastness such as this is beyond comprehension:
all I can do is sigh in endless wonder”. – Su Tung-P’o (1060 A.D.)

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Cosmic Shipwreck

July 15, 2018 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

The summer Milky Way and an abandoned sailboat in rural northern Virginia. Click to open in a new window. Image credit: Brian Ventrudo.

An abandoned sailboat in a grassy field in northern Virginia makes for a good, if unexpected, foreground for this image of the summer Milky Way. Mars is at lower left, while Saturn is below center, and just below the airplane trail. The silvery rectangle of stars above the plane trail is the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (Messier 24). Many pink nebulae and silver-gray star clusters fleck the trail of the Milky Way. Look to the upper left of the image to see the little upside-down ‘Coat Hanger’ asterism known as Collinder 399.

Image taken on July 8, 2018 near Warrenton, VA, with a Nikon D750 and Tamron 15-30mm lens at f/2.8, a NiSi natural night filter, ISO 3200, 20 seconds.

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Moon Viewing on the Streets of L.A.

April 13, 2018 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

A New View of the Moon from Alex Gorosh on Vimeo.

Here’s a short video to brighten your day. The writer and film maker Wylie Overstreet took his big 12″ Newtonian telescope into the streets of Los Angeles to show the Moon to passersby. The result? Well, see for yourself. But it’s nice to know that so many overstimulated city dwellers can still enjoy nature at its finest.

You can see a thousand pictures of the Moon, but it’s never the same experience as seeing it for yourself, especially through a good telescope. Even if you don’t know the name of a single crater or sea, the Moon’s stark beauty, the etched features and long shadows and large range of gray scale and brightness, make it one of the most appealing and accessible sights in the sky. And as more experienced stargazers know, you can get the same experience when seeing much fainter objects. With a little practice, of course.

This fine little production is a great reminder that we should look up more often. And when possible, share what you see with those around you.

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Stargazers at Work

March 28, 2018 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

Amateur astronomers set up their telescopes at a public astronomy night in Northern Virginia on March 18, 2018. Click to enlarge.

The winter stars set in the southwestern sky in the mid-evening hours of late winter as seen from Northern Virginia. Here you see the stars of the constellations Canis Major, Monoceros, Orion, and Taurus, among others, as well as the Pleiades star cluster. Outreach events such as these are superb opportunities for newcomers to stargazing to learn and gain inspiration. And they help experienced stargazers hone their craft and reconnect with their passion with for the night sky.

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