Cool astronomy photos

[Anaxagoras]

I'm pretty sure that Saturn isn't as close as that Gif would suggest




must be fake

[Rob Lister]

Saturn as it reappears from behind the moon in 1997 from Whipple Observatory, Arizona. Krzysztof Z. Stanek

[Rob Lister]

An occultation of Saturn as seen from the UK in March 2007. (Source: Damian Peach)

[Rob Lister]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... tation.gif

[Anaxagoras]

Damn.

[Bruce]

You got served, as the kids would say.

[Witness]

I see Rob settled the question.

The occultation I posted has probably been caught on camera by Dave Smith; on the linked page there is also an occultation of Jupiter:



Another one on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/95485029


And here a composite ("fake"!):

The photo sequence shows an occultation of the Moon by Saturn, which occurred on March 2, 2007. Maximum coverage in the U.K. (Selsey, West Sussex), where the photo was captured, was at 02 hours, 52 minutes (Universal Time). The interval positions shown are separated by 90 seconds in time. The difference in brightness of the Moon compared to Saturn was huge at the time, and in order to get both objects imaged simultaneously, one must suffer. In this case, I imaged correctly for Saturn which meant that the Moon's limb was burnt out. A number of shots were taken at 30s intervals (10s movie captures at 60fps, fixed on Saturn) which gave me the positional information I needed to build the composite you see here. The image of Saturn was captured just before the occultation, and the lunar limb just after (this is a three frame mosaic). South is up in the image, and the Moon would be moving towards the upper right.

All components of the composite were taken with a Celestron C-14 at prime focus (f/11) using a Lumenera SKYnyx 2-0 camera (basically an industrial strength webcam capable of 60 frames per second, or more, uncompressed).

https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2007/06/moon ... ation.html

Of course for the observer it's the Moon which moves in front of Saturn. (And it should read "of Saturn by the Moon".)


Jupiter & Mars occultations (wwith instructions for photographers): http://www.ayton.id.au/wiki/doku.php?id ... cultations

An old one from 97:


https://pages.astronomy.ua.edu/keel/tel ... rnocc.html

[Witness]

Recent lunar eclipse (January 21):


https://old.reddit.com/r/SonyAlpha/comm ... ot_of_the/


https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190124.html

[Rob Lister]

our aim is a little off.

[Abdul Alhazred]

From the Northern to the Southern Cross
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190127.html

I won't even try to embed this one.
It must be viewed full screen.

[sparks]

I stand corrected.

And with my thanks to all those who did the homework to make the point.

[Witness]

Fresh crater on Mars' south pole:


https://astronomynow.com/2019/01/27/a-f ... n-ice-cap/

In context:

[Anaxagoras]

Ultima Thule again. Higher res version.

[Witness]

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is orbiting an asteroid closer than any spacecraft has ever orbited a body — and it shows in an incredible pair of photographs that the team released yesterday (Jan. 24).

The spacecraft slipped into orbit around the asteroid, called Bennu, on Dec. 31, after the team carefully mapped the object to design a safe path for the probe. That was a challenge, since Bennu is the smallest space rock that's ever been orbited.

But the dangerous maneuver has paid off. OSIRIS-REx is orbiting just about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) above Bennu's surface, giving its cameras an incredible view of the asteroid's rocky surface. Scientists believe that rugged shape is the result of Bennu having formed from a bunch of rubble loosely clumped together. [The Greatest Asteroid Encounters of All Time!]

The two images shown here were taken by an instrument called NavCam, which is the main camera the team uses to steer the spacecraft.

Another recently released image of the south pole of Bennu, taken while the spacecraft was preparing for orbit, was captured at a distance of about 8 miles (12 km) but still gives scientists a detailed view of the surface topography.

In 2023 a piece will be brought back:

The sampling process won't begin until mid-2020, after the team has had plenty of time to study Bennu from all angles and make an informed decision about where to collect the sample — informed in part by detailed observations of the surface boulders that could interfere with sampling equipment.

https://www.space.com/43129-asteroid-be ... s-rex.html

[Witness]

Slope streaks on Mars (probably wet):


https://www.universetoday.com/141282/pl ... sing-them/

The same, in situ:



And a dusty avalanche started by a small impact:


https://www.space.com/40935-mars-crater ... photo.html

[Witness]

From the recent eclipse, the umbra visualized:

[Witness]

[Witness]

NASA's InSight lander sets up shop on Mars.

(Mouse over if the gif dosen't start.)


Clearly helping aliens out with their UFOs.



In other news, the Chinese thingy on the Moon has successfully come out of hibernation after a two weeks night.

[Witness]

[Witness]

Vela Supernova Remnant Mosaic

The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this complex and beautiful skyscape. Seen toward colorful stars near the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails), the 16 degree wide, 200 frame mosaic is centered on the glowing filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the supernova explosion that created the Vela remnant reached Earth about 11,000 years ago. In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense, rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar. Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely embedded in a larger and older supernova remnant, the Gum Nebula. Objects identified in this broad mosaic include emission and reflection nebulae, star clusters, and the remarkable Pencil Nebula.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190110.html

A map to locate the thing:


http://heritage.stsci.edu/2003/16/supplemental.html