So today, I’m going to concentrate on things captured by amateur Sky Candy fans.
But first, our theme music:
Which is better: the meteor or the smile on her face?
this diva who caught the meteor falling over her head is truly the video of the year😭 pic.twitter.com/h7U4d8efJR
— 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆🫧💚 (@beyoncegarden) December 17, 2024
One of the things that I don’t think most people understand is just how much of an improvement modern optics and digital receptors have made in the 50 years since I was a member of the Astronomy Club at Southern Colorado State College in Pueblo, Colorado. (It’s gone through several name changes, and I think it’s now Colorado State University — Pueblo.)
We would be out in the prairie, fretting about reciprocity failure in our black-and-white film — that is, the film becomes less sensitive as the exposure creases — and building all kinds of creative hacks, like cooling the film with dry ice to allow longer exposures.
Color? Kodachrome wasn’t up to it.
NGC2264 Cone and Christmas tree nebula by 📷 Tony Hallas. pic.twitter.com/Wa34OIMKuG
— Julio Maiz (@maiz_julio) December 16, 2024
Look, up in he sky!
From October 10th as the auroral display was punching through the moonlight and trying to dish a red picket fence over the bright, flickering green below. 16mm full frame, wide as I can go and still filled the sky.
— Jeremy Perez (@jperez1690) December 19, 2024
Ash Fork, Arizona — 7:34PM Oct 10/0134Z Oct 11 pic.twitter.com/I8PyPkfHys
It wasn’t long ago that shots like these could only be taken with big professional scopes.
Rho Ophiuchi © Blake Estes https://t.co/bpxNPReOfO pic.twitter.com/sHgnGMQGdQ
— Julio Maiz (@maiz_julio) December 19, 2024
Now, they’re available to hobbyists.
First light with my new askar 103APO [by brownieboy2222]
— Astrophotography rocks ! (@AstrophotoRocks) December 19, 2024
#astronomy #astrophotography pic.twitter.com/ZM3S4h4MCB
More aurora, which really are almost always amateur photographers.
Quand le ciel explose littéralement au-dessus de ta tête... J'ai pu vivre des aurores boréales dinguissime en Norvège le mois dernier 😍 pic.twitter.com/vyHoqLqNtm
— Louis Leroux | Astrophotographe 💫 (@KriekCherry) December 17, 2024
Look up.
Sometimes, people are just looking for art. I’m sure this is enhanced, but I don’t care.
A dream come true ✨ under the NAMIBIAN dark sky pic.twitter.com/lLWDIez3yp
— Aleix Roig (@astrocatinfo) December 18, 2024
If you look at the constellation Orion, below the belt is a line of stars that my father assured me was Orion’s sword (heh heh heh). In the middle of the sword is a sort of fuzzy-looking star — which is really the Great Orion Nebula.
M42 Great Orion nebula by 📷 Alistair Scoby. pic.twitter.com/BeaQHWHhL3
— Julio Maiz (@maiz_julio) December 19, 2024
A lot of times, the common names of nebulae are kind of fanciful, but seriously, doesn’t this look like a dolphin’s head?
Dolphin head nebula by Terricolaxu (astroBin) https://t.co/NAkU65niFK pic.twitter.com/Ta02vJLYdz
— Alienigena11 (@Madriles6211) December 19, 2024
Do you find yourself wondering if they are going to run out of names?
The Pacman Nebula 📷
— 🔭AstroBackyard (@AstroBackyard) December 19, 2024
My latest image of the 'Pacman Nebula' was taken this fall using my most-used astro-camera of 2024 from my light-polluted backyard.
I used a dual-narrowband filter to isolate this dynamic nebula from a washed-out city sky (Bortle 6). While I shoot mono… pic.twitter.com/43Sx93iDwB
There are a lot of nebulae out there, and every one has something to teach us. In this, there are new stars being built as we look.
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "Chamaeleon Molecular Cloud" by shinobuhttps://t.co/6zgqoLQu7v#astrophotography #astronomy #astrobin #imageoftheday pic.twitter.com/Vy6g2tUB0Z
— AstroBin.com (@AstroBin_com) December 19, 2024
