moonchild @insomniacnyctophile - Tumblr Blog

taohun

seeing the photos from Webb up against photos from Hubble just makes me… I don’t even know like, wow! Look at that!

detailedart

Detail: Matlock Tor by Moonlight, 1777-80, by Joseph Wright of Derby.

primulaceas

Mary Oliver, "From The Book of Time." Devotions

svnbabe

viancasoleil via instagram

sunkissedandbronzed

unknown via melissa cartagena

nontemporary

VISUAL SCIENTIST

apod

2020 February 24

Moon Corona, Halo, and Arcs over Manitoba Image Credit & Copyright: Brent Mckean

Explanation: Yes, but could you get to work on time if the Moon looked like this? As the photographer was preparing to drive to work, refraction, reflection, and even diffraction of moonlight from millions of falling ice crystals turned the familiar icon of our Moon into a menagerie of other-worldly halos and arcs. The featured scene was captured with three combined exposures two weeks ago on a cold winter morning in Manitoba, Canada. The colorful rings are a corona caused by quantum diffraction by small drops of water or ice near the direction of the Moon. Outside of that, a 22-degree halo was created by moonlight refracting through six-sided cylindrical ice crystals. To the sides are moon dogs, caused by light refracting through thin, flat, six-sided ice platelets as they flittered toward the ground. Visible at the top and bottom of the 22-degree halo are upper and lower tangent arcs, created by moonlight refracting through nearly horizontal hexagonal ice cylinders. A few minutes later, from a field just off the road to work, the halo and arcs had disappeared, the sky had returned to normal – with the exception of a single faint moon dog.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200224.html

apod

2020 April 4

Venus and the Sisters Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak (Bifrost Astronomical Observatory)

Explanation: After wandering about as far from the Sun on the sky as Venus can get, the brilliant evening star is crossing paths with the sister stars of the Pleiades cluster. Look west after sunset and you can share the ongoing conjunction with skygazers around the world. Taken on April 2, this celestial group photo captures the view from Portal, Arizona, USA. Even bright naked-eye Pleiades stars prove to be much fainter than Venus though. Apparent in deeper telescopic images, the cluster’s dusty surroundings and familiar bluish reflection nebulae aren’t quite visible, while brighter Venus itself is almost overwhelming in the single exposure. And while Venus and the Sisters do look a little star-crossed, their spiky appearance is the diffraction pattern caused by multiple leaves in the aperture of the telephoto lens. The last similar conjunction of Venus and Pleiades occurred nearly 8 years ago.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200404.html

apod

2020 April 15

A Cosmic Triangle Image Credit & Copyright: Scott Aspinall

Explanation: It was an astronomical triple play. Setting on the left, just after sunset near the end of last month, was our Moon – showing a bright crescent phase. Setting on the right was Venus, the brightest planet in the evening sky last month – and this month, too. With a small telescope, you could tell that Venus’ phase was half, meaning that only half of the planet, as visible from Earth, was exposed to direct sunlight and brightly lit. High above and much further in the distance was the Pleiades star cluster. Although the Moon and Venus move with respect to the background stars, the Pleiades do not – because they are background stars. In the beginning of this month, Venus appeared to move right in front of the Pleiades, a rare event that happens only once every eight years. The featured image captured this cosmic triangle with a series of exposures taken from the same camera over 70 minutes near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada. The positions of the celestial objects was predicted. The only thing unpredicted was the existence of the foreground tree – and the astrophotographer is still unsure what type of tree that is.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200415.html