http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/categories/astronomy/ en Emmanuele Sordini Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:33:00 GMT Pebble (http://pebble.sourceforge.net) http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/07/12/1310491980000.html <div align="center"><iframe width="640" height="427" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3K74SHn07uA?hl=it&amp;fs=1" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <br /> </div> <br /> Here's one of my first attemps at assembling time-lapse movies of the nightsky. Though there's still much room for improvement, I think the overall result is pleasing.<strong> Use of full-screen mode (by clicking on the four diverging arrow) is highly recommended.</strong><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/07/12/1310491980000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/07/12/1310491980000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/07/12/1310491980000.html Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:33:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/06/29/1309356845513.html <div align="center"><img src="http://www.bloomingstars.com/images/lunar_eclipse_2011/2110_8s_blog.jpg" alt="" /></div> <br /> On June 15th, 2011, a total lunar eclipse took place over most of Asia and Europe. Here is the full report of the event, with pictures and much more.<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=35"><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REPORT (IN ENGLISH) &lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;<br /> </strong></a> <div align="justify"><br /> Il 15 di giugno 2011 si &egrave; verificata un'eclisse totale di Luna visibile dalla maggior parte dell'Asia e dall'Europa. Ecco il resoconto completo dell'evento, con numerose foto e molto altro.<br /> <div align="center"><br /> <div align="center"><a href="/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=34"><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; CLICCARE QUI PER IL RESOCONTO COMPLETO (IN ITALIANO) &lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;</strong></a></div> </div> </div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/06/29/1309356845513.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy Hot News http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/06/29/1309356845513.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/06/29/1309356845513.html Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:14:05 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/03/28/1301303400000.html <div align="center"><img alt="" src="/images/sat_20110324/SatMain.jpg" /></div> <br /> Between March 20 and March 25, 2011 a high pressure system was lingering over Central Europe and Northern Italy. Although the area where I reside is certainly not renowned for its seeing conditions, on March 24 I managed to pull off a resonably decent image of Saturn. Click on the &quot;Read more...&quot; link below for the full story!<br /> <br /> Alla fine di marzo 2011 un'area di alta pressione ha interessato l'Europa Centrale e il Nord Italia. Sebbene l'area dove abito non sia particolarmente rinomata per le condizioni del seeing, il 24 marzo sono comunque riuscito a strappare un'immagine decente. Cliccate sul link qua sotto (&quot;Read more...&quot;) per il resoconto completo!<p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/03/28/1301303400000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/03/28/1301303400000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2011/03/28/1301303400000.html Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:10:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/21/1290378840000.html <div align="center"><img src="/images/hartley2/HartleyCrop640.jpg" alt="Comet 103/P Hartley 2" /><br /> <br /> <div align="justify">In October 2010 the periodic comet 103/P Hartley 2 put up a nice show during its most favorable comeback since its discovery back in the mid 1980s, passing at around 0.1 AU from the Earth. <br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=33"><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; Please click here to read the full report! &lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;</strong></a></div> </div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/21/1290378840000.html">Read more...</a></p> Hot News Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/21/1290378840000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/21/1290378840000.html Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:34:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290274920000.html <div align="center"><img src="http://www.bloomingstars.com/images/s_and_t/SkyTelAndAstronomy.jpg" alt="Sky And Telescope and Astronomy magazine covers" /></div> <br /> After being an Astronomy and Sky &amp; Telescope reader for almost two decades, most likely I won&rsquo;t renew my three-year subscription to Sky &amp; Telescope which is due to expire in March 2011. <br /> <br /> Click on the link below for the full story!<p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290274920000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290274920000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290274920000.html Sat, 20 Nov 2010 17:42:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290261420000.html <div align="center"><img src="http://www.bloomingstars.com/images/s_and_t/SkyTelAndAstronomy.jpg" alt="Sky &amp; Telescope and Astronomy covers" /></div> <br /> <div align="justify">Dopo esser stato abbonato ad Astronomy and Sky &amp; Telescope per quasi vent&rsquo;anni, ho deciso che molto probabilmente rinnover&ograve; l&rsquo;abbonamento triennale a Sky and Telescope che scadr&agrave; a marzo del 2011. Cliccate sul link qua sotto per saperne di pi&ugrave;! <br /> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290261420000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290261420000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2010/11/20/1290261420000.html Sat, 20 Nov 2010 13:57:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/09/24/1253826480000.html <div align="center"><img alt="" src="/images/tse2009_preview/MosaicIntro_640.jpg" /><br /> <br /> <div align="justify">Finalmente, sono riuscito a rendere disponibile online il resoconto dettagliato della mia avventura alla rincorsa dell'eclisse totale di Sole pi&ugrave; lunga del XXI secolo. Una cronaca quasi &quot;minuto per minuto&quot;, ricca di immagini, filmati e molto altro!<br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=31"><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt; CLICCARE QUI PER LA VERSIONE ITALIANA &lt;&lt;&lt;&nbsp; </strong></a><br /> </div> <br /> </div> <div align="justify">A detailed report of my last adventure to observe the longest total solar eclipse of XXI century is finally available online. Almost a &quot;real-time&quot; logbook with many pictures, movies and much more!<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=32"><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt; CLICK HERE FOR ENGLISH VERSION &lt;&lt;&lt;&nbsp; </strong></a></div> </div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/09/24/1253826480000.html">Read more...</a></p> Website Updates Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/09/24/1253826480000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/09/24/1253826480000.html Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:08:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/07/31/1249065000000.html <div align="center"><img src="/images/tse2009_preview/Totality_tutte_el10_elab_1024_cop.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <em>Digital composite </em><em>of solar eclipse at totality </em><em>(from 28 frames with different exposure times; 600-mm refractor). Pictures by Emmanuele Sordini, processing by Lorenzo Comolli<br /> <br /> </em> <div align="justify"> <div align="justify">Knowing how to anticipate and outsmart the weather and its vagaries. That's what chasing solar eclipses is often all about. The Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) of July 22, 2009, will probably be long remembered more for the views of clouds and thunderstorms than of a dazzling corona eclipses can often treat us with.<br /> </div> <div align="justify"> Nevertheless, I managed to pull off some rather decent shots, of which this post is just a very short preview. So, click on the &quot;Read more&quot; link below for some more pictures, but check back often because I will soon be posting a complete report of my adventure!</div> </div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/07/31/1249065000000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/07/31/1249065000000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/07/31/1249065000000.html Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:30:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/04/03/1238745240000.html <div align="center"><img height="426" width="640" alt="Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin" src="/images/lulin/LulinComposite640.jpg" /><br /> <br /> <div align="justify">Nel febbraio del 2009, la cometa C/2007 N3 Lulin e' passata vicino alla Terra, offrendoci un bello spettacolo con un'anticoda mutevole ed appariscente.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=29"><strong> &gt;&gt;&gt; Cliccare qui per il resoconto completo in italiano! &lt;&lt;&lt;</strong></a><br /> <br /> In February 2009, comet C/2007 N3 Lulin zipped past our planet Earth, putting on quite a bit of a show and sporting a bright and ever-changing anti-tail. <a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=30"><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt; Click here for a complete report in English! &lt;&lt;&lt;</strong></a><br /> </div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/04/03/1238745240000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/04/03/1238745240000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/04/03/1238745240000.html Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:54:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/02/16/1234824300000.html <div align="center"> <img src="/images/iya_2009/iya_all.jpg" alt="IYA 2009" /><br /> <br /> <div align="justify">2009 is the International Year of Astronomy.&nbsp; Finally an unmissable, long-awaited opportunity has come: that of sharing the knowledge and passion for the wonders of the Universe with the general public. I am a not a professional astronomer, but as a long-time amateur, I am really excited about it. For this reason, I will strive to give my small - yet passionate - contribution to this big collective effort!<br /> <br /> Il 2009 &egrave; l'Anno Internazionale dell'Astronomia. Finalmente questa imperdibile opportunit&agrave; a lungo attesa: condividere la conoscenza e la passione per le meraviglie dell'Universo con il pubblico. Non sono un astronomo professionista, ma in quanto astrofilo di vecchia data non posso che esserne contento. Per tale ragione, far&ograve; il possibile per dare il mio piccolo - ma appassionato - contributo a questo grande sforzo collettivo!</div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/02/16/1234824300000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/02/16/1234824300000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/02/16/1234824300000.html Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:45:00 GMT m1 astronomy astro-photography deep-sky <div align="justify">On December 21, 2008, I went on a short observing session, which was hautned by several problems with my setup. However, I did manage to pull off a picture of M1, aka the Crab Nebula, with my Vixen refractor and my Canon EOS 350D digital reflex. This object is just a smudge of light of about 7 x 5 arcminutes across, so it's really small compared with the whole frame, which I had to heavily crop. Here is the result:<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><img alt="" src="/images/m1_081221/1_final2.jpg" /></div> <br /> Some info on the picture: Vixen ED103 SWT refractor, Canon EOS 350D DSLR, 11 x 10-minute individual exposures, 3 dark frames, autoguiding with the MagZero MZ-5m and an 80-mm guide scope. Processing done with DeepSkyStacker and Adobe Photoshop CS3. Zenital sky brightness measured with SQM-L: 20.60.<br /> This shot is plagued by quite a few defects (namely, bad focusing and tracking), but it can make do as my first attempt at shooting M1. More (and hopefully better ones) will come!</div><p><a href="m1 astronomy astro-photography deep-sky">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2009/01/22/1232661540000.html#comments m1 astronomy astro-photography deep-sky Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:59:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/10/28/1225204680000.html <div align="center"> <div align="left"> </div> <div align="center"><img alt="" src="/images/m31_m45/M31-m45.jpg" /></div> </div> <br /> <div align="justify"> The last weekend of September, I took part in the first edition of the <a href="javascript:void(0);/*1225204988530*/">Caprauna Star Party</a>, which took place in the Ligurian Alps, the initial stretch of the Alpine range which is also the lowest and closest to the seaside. <br /> <br /> The nice venue and the top-notch organization of the star party more than made up for the not so exceptional weather. As for my &ldquo;imaging loot&rdquo;, since I had joined in at the very last moment, I hadn&rsquo;t had enough time to better plan my session, so I improvised and went with two deep-sky classics: M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) and M45 (the Pleiades Cluster). Click on the link below for more details and high-resolution pictures!<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"></span></div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/10/28/1225204680000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/10/28/1225204680000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/10/28/1225204680000.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:38:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/09/24/1222290240000.html <div align="center"><img height="430" width="640" alt="" src="/images/siberian_eclipse/008_res_640.jpg" /><br /> <br /> <div align="justify">Uno, due, tre... e quattro! Come il numero di eclissi che ho osservato nella mia vita: questa volta &egrave; stato il turno della Siberia. Come vedrete, &egrave; stato tutt'altro che facile, ma alla fine quello che conta &egrave; avercela fatta ed aver inanellato un successo il cui ricordo rimarr&agrave; a lungo. <strong>&gt;&gt;&gt;<a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=27"> Cliccate qui per il resoconto completo in Italiano!</a></strong> <strong>&lt;&lt;&lt;</strong><br /> <br /> One, two, three... and four! Four as the number of eclipses I've observed so far in my life: this one took place in Siberia. As you'll see, it's been no easy task, but at the end of the day what really counts is that it turned out to be a great success, whose memories will last for a long time. <strong>&gt;&gt;&gt; <a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=28">Click here for the full report in English!</a></strong> <strong>&lt;&lt;&lt;</strong></div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/09/24/1222290240000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy Hot News http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/09/24/1222290240000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/09/24/1222290240000.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:04:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/28/1211926020000.html <div align="center"><img alt="" src="/images/saturn-080501/saturn-080501.jpg" /><br /> <br /> <div align="justify">On May 1st, 2008, I managed to take this shot of Saturn, most likely the last of this season (which has been haunted by really bad seeing conditions) until the Ringed Planet emerges back from sunlight next winter. All data are on the picture itself.<br /> <br /> Il 1&deg; maggio 2008 sono riuscito a realizzare questa immagine di Saturno, molto probabilmente l'ultima di questa stagione (che &egrave; stata contraddistinta da condizioni di seeing veramente scarso) fino al prossimo inverno, quando il &quot;pianeta dagli anelli&quot; riemerger&agrave; dal bagliore della luce solare. Tutti i dati di ripresa sono contenuti nell'immagine stessa.</div> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/28/1211926020000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/28/1211926020000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/28/1211926020000.html Tue, 27 May 2008 22:07:00 GMT http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/25/1211747700000.html <br /> <div align="center"><img alt="" src="/images/gladius_cf_315/GladiusMosaic.jpg" /></div> <div align="justify">I've recently had the opportunity to have a very close look at Lazzarotti Optics' Gladius CF 315 telescope, and to actively put it through its paces, and the result was very promising.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=26"><strong>&gt;&gt;Click&nbsp; here for the complete review in English!&lt;&lt;</strong></a><br /> <br /> Ho recentemente avuto l'opportunit&agrave; di utilizzare personalmente il telescopio Gladius CF 315 della Lazzarotti Optics, e di metterlo alla prova sul campo in una sessione osservativa. <strong><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com/bloomingstars/jsp/go.jsp?id=25">&gt;&gt;Cliccate qui per la completa recensione in italiano!&lt;&lt;</a></strong><br /> </div><p><a href="http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/25/1211747700000.html">Read more...</a></p> Astronomy http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/25/1211747700000.html#comments http://www.bloomingstars.com:80/2008/05/25/1211747700000.html Sun, 25 May 2008 20:35:00 GMT