Venus, The Moon and Jupiter - triple conjunction time

Although I went for an evening walk about one day late for the actual alignment of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter, it still looked pretty spectacular. I've put together some footage I captured on my walk. You'll see the Sun sets before I turn to the Moon and planets. Venus below and Jupiter above the crescent Moon.



Since this recording the Moon has 'departed' from the scene leaving Venus and Jupiter shine alone. Well, there's alway all the rest of the Universe present of course. :-) If you want to know what else to expect from the skies this month you should check out Our Night Sky by Carolyn Collins Peterson over at Astrocast.TV.


Here you see Venus and Jupiter early evening this week-end. Photo: Bente Lilja Bye


You hear Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No 2 played by my niece the violinist Sarah-Erin Bye with David Meier, Germany on piano. See and hear the entire concerto here.

Moon Map

Moon Map



a rough version

Lunar Eclipse 2010

Lunar Eclipse on Canary Islands



Credit: Itahisa N. González

Still compensating for the overcast that arrived exactly when the lunar eclipse started... :-)

Lunar Eclipse 2010

Lunar Eclipse 2010



On the darkest of nights (day before winter solstice) it became even darker. A lunar eclipse took place and I am bitter and grumpy and angry at the weather Gods who decided to throw a few clouds over Norway just before the eclipse started.

Plenty of pictures comfort me a little bit...

Fly Me To The Moon

Fly Me To The Moon



Or at least close by...:-)

The Moon Over Blue

The Moon Over Blue



Credit: NASA

I just adore these images of the Moon above our blue planet.

Craters

Mother of All Craters



In connection with Women's Day 8th March I believe it is relevant to show the Mother of All Craters on the Moon. Recently discovered by scientists at NASA....

It appears that women still are being underestimated (read comments here). In other words - nothing new under the Sun! :-)

The moon

The Moon




Credit: NASA

Eclipsed Blue Moon

Eclipsed Blue Moon



Gianluca Masi took this magnificent picture of the Blue Moon December 2009. I had the pleasure of meeting Gianluca in Rome this summer. He has done a massive effort to promote astronomy during the International Year of Astronomy 2009. What a grand finale this eclipse from his Virtual Telescope was!

The Moon

The Moon



Glorious Moon!

Tethy

Snow Ball in Space



Tethy is it's name - and it is a moon, silly. ;-)

Water on The Moon?

Water?



On the Moon. Where else? We'll see....after analyses of todays double collisions in a crater.

Water&Moon II

Moon Mineralogy



...and YES, the blue do represent WATER! Go figure! :-)

Water&Moon I

Water on Our Moon



A joint effort by NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Agency) has resulted in new molecular findings on the Moon. Awesome.

Apollo 11 launch pad

Apollo 11 Launch Pad



Credit: NASA

Looks nice from the sky...:-)

On The Moon

On The Moon!




Credit: NASA

Apollo 11 landed 40 years ago - on the Moon.

Nebra Disk Blues & Bugs

Santa Barbara Bugging Me Blues



Nebra Disk

Astrophysicists know plenty about bugs. Proof below.



Credit: Mike Salway

All the same, Stellare welcomes advise from this particular [Santa] Barbarian on any topic anytime! :-)

Gratulerer med dagen, 17. mai. Hurra! Hurra! Hurra! Xineann!

Chang'e-1 encounter lunar surface

Chang'e-1 Hits The Moon



So far, so good for China's Lunar mission. Yes, it was a planned crash landing on the lunar surface. :-)

Far Side of The Moon

The Far Side of The Moon



Credit: JAXA
Gravity






Credit: JAXA
Topography


Figures: The topography maps and free-air gravity maps of the global Moon obtained by JAXA's KAGUYA spacecraft. The far-side is on the left and the near-side is on the right.


"Previous models of far-side gravity of the Moon were not accurate, since from the Earth we cannot track directly the spacecraft over the far-side. KAGUYA has a subsatellite OKINA which can relay the radiowave between the ground and the main satellite, thus establishing a link between the ground station and the main satellite while it is over the far side of the Moon. The orbital tracking of KAGUYA using OKINA produced the first accurate lunar gravity map including the far-side. The lunar far-side impact structures show a lack of strongly extended density anomalies which are observed beneath some impact basins in the near-side. The result suggests that far-side crust was cooler and harder than that of the nearside."

An Eclipse of The Earth

Earth Eclipse



That Even Comes with A Diamond!

The Japanese spacecraft Kaguya has captured the Moon eclipsing planet Earth for the first time. We've had several stunning eclipses lately, and we expect another fabulous solar eclipse in China this July. But we see all those eclipses from planet Earth. Kaguya has seen 'an inverse' Moon eclipse - an eclipse of Earth seen from the Moon. And it comes with a diamond. :-)





Here is a schematic description of an Earth eclipse as seen from the Moon:








You go directly to the JAXA source by clicking on the images (as usual) and here is a couple of other perspectives on the event:

Nancy Atkinson's in Universe Today: Kaguya captures eclipse - from the Moon
Phil Plait's in Bad Astronomy: What does a lunar eclipse look like from the Moon