Chilean Nights

vídeo
Criado para o OAE

Legenda: Honourable mention in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Time lapses of celestial patterns.   Shot in December 2020, this time-lapse shows the sky from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, in the southern hemisphere. Right in the first frame we can see our home galaxy, the Milky Way, as well as both the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, two satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. In the bottom of the image the bright stars Rigil Kentaurus and Hadar (also known as Alpha and Beta Centauri) are visible, both in the constellation Centaurus. Just above, we can also see the small constellation Crux, visible from the northern tropical circles southwards. It is important for navigation purposes because its longer axis indicates the direction of the celestial south pole. The bright whitish star in the top of the image and to the right of the Galaxy is Canopus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, located in the constellation Carina. Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky, while Rigil Kentaurus is the third brightest. In some of the next frames, Orion, the great hunter, appears clearly with its bright stars and its characteristic asterism, the belt, composed of three aligned bright stars. Since this video was taken from the southern hemisphere, the Greek hero from the northern hemisphere seems to be performing a headstand. We can also see the planets Jupiter and Saturn in a close conjunction, even finding themselves in the significant beam of Zodiacal light setting down below the horizon. There are also a few meteors blinking in some of the frames, one of them with a long-lasting and developing trail. The very bright object rising from behind the volcanoes of the Andes, creating spectacular shadows and crepuscular rays, is the Moon. In the last frame we see the Moon next to Saturn and Jupiter.
Crédito: Robert Barsa/IAU OAE

Termos do Glossário: Observatório Astronômico , Constelação , Via Láctea , Órion , Grande Nuvem de Magalhães (LMC) , Pequena Nuvem de Magalhães (SMC) , Alpha Centauri
Categorias Galáxias , Via Láctea e Meio Interestelar , Estrelas , Telescópios, Instrumentos e Observatórios

Licença: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) ícones

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Flowing Night Sky

vídeo
Criado para o OAE

Legenda: Honourable mention in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Time lapses of celestial patterns.   This time-lapse was shot from Slovakia in August 2020. By fixing the relative movement of the sky to Earth's rotation in some of the frames, we can experience a different perspective as a viewer. The Milky Way, our home galaxy, is visible throughout the whole video. The bright objects near the Milky Way are Jupiter and Saturn, close together, Jupiter being the brighter one. This video also shows the interaction of amateur astronomers observing the Perseids meteor shower with their telescopes pointed towards the sky. An unfortunate aspect of the art of astronomical observing, clouds can suddenly cover the whole sky. The fog occurs mostly because of the higher humidity after the rain. Most of the light trails in the sky are made by satellites, but some of them, appearing just very briefly and not very noticeably, are meteors, as the video was shot around the peak of Perseids meteor shower.
Crédito: Robert Barsa/IAU OAE

Termos do Glossário: Júpiter , Via Láctea , Saturno , Estrela cadente
Categorias Via Láctea e Meio Interestelar , Astronomia a Olho Nu , Estrelas

Licença: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) ícones

Este arquivo no Zenodo ( vídeo 254.11 MB)

Milky Way over Avenue of Baobabs

imagem
Criado para o OAE

Legenda: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   This image, taken from the Avenue of Baobabs, Morondava, Madagascar, in July 2017, shows the majestic band of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, together with a rich collection of constellations and asterisms: Crux, Centaurus, Scorpius, Sagittarius and the Teapot asterism. Towards the bottom left of the image we can see the Southern Cross and the pointer stars Alpha (the brighter of the two) and Beta Centauri, which help to distinguish it from similar-looking configurations. Some cultures in Africa associate the Southern Cross with a giraffe, while others associate the constellations with a pride of lions or even with the Tree of Life. Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, is the orange-red star straight up from the middle baobab tree. To the Pokomo people from southwestern Kenya, Africa, the Milky Way is associated with the smoke emanating from a campfire lit by ancient people. The various people in South Africa, in contrast, have different star tales; the Khoikhoi from the region around Cape Town explained the colours of the red and white stars as red and white roots that were roasted on a fire and thrown towards the sky together with the ashes of the fire. The Xhosa from further east consider the Milky Way the raised bristle of a huge angry dog, while the Zulu from near Johannesburg interpret it as a stream of spears of their strongest warriors. Polynesian people, who were adept seafarers and navigators, see the constellation Scorpius as a fish hook, and refer to it as the demigod Maui’s Fish Hook. For the Djab Wurrung and the Jardwadjali people, the Southern Cross is part of a Dreamtime Story involving Tchingal, the Bram-bram-bult brothers (the pointer stars), their mother Druk (Delta Crux), and Bunya, the hunter who gets changed into a possum (Gacrux, red star at the top of the Southern Cross). In this image, the planets Saturn (the bright point above Antares) and Jupiter (the bright point at the bottom-right of the image close to the trunk of the baobab tree) are visible. Indigenous cultures have various stories associated with the planets, for example Kamilaroi and Wailan people associate Saturn with wunygal, a small bird. The Boorong people of Western Victoria associate Jupiter with Ginabongbearp, the chief of the old spirits (Nurrumbunguttias), who takes the totemic form of the sulphur-crested white cockatoo.
Crédito: Amirreza Kamkar/IAU OAE

Termos do Glossário: Cor , Poeira , Júpiter , Via Láctea , Saturno , Escorpião , Cruzeiro do Sul , Nuvem de poeira , Extinção interestelar , Alpha Centauri
Categorias Via Láctea e Meio Interestelar , Astronomia a Olho Nu

Licença: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) ícones

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The Callisto satellite

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Legenda: Callisto is the outermost of the four large Galilean moons of Jupiter and the third largest in the whole solar system, falling behind only Ganymede and Saturn's moon Titan. It orbits Jupiter at an average distance of around 1.9 million kilometers, roughly six times the distance between Earth and the Moon. With a diameter of nearly 5,000 kilometers, it is almost as large as Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, but has only a third of its mass as it is composed of approximately equal amounts of rock and ice. Callisto orbits Jupiter in a tidally locked rotation, always showing the same side to Jupiter. In contrast to the other three Galilean satellites – Io, Europa, and Ganymede – it is not in orbital resonance due to its farther outward location and is thus not appreciably tidally heated. It does not show any signs of plate tectonics or volcanic activity. Its lack of geological processes means that surface features like craters remain unchanged for billions of years. It is thought to have evolved predominantly under the influence of impacts, as its surface is the oldest and most heavily cratered object in the solar system. In fact, it is so covered in craters that any new impact will likely erase a former one. Callisto's internal structure is still subject to discussion; it may consist of a deep salty ocean. It is thought to be composed mainly of a mix of ice and rock, which are present in various states throughout the inner layers of the moon. Callisto hosts a very thin atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide and some traces of oxygen. The moon has been studied by numerous space probes, such as the Pioneer and Voyager missions and the Galileo orbiter, and will be subject to further explorations by NASA, ESA, and China’s National Space Administration (CNSA).
Crédito: NASA/JPL/DLR
Link do crédito

Termos do Glossário: Satélites Galileanos , Luas

Licença: Domínio Público Domínio Público ícones

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To guard the Stars and the Sea Together

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Criado para o OAE

Legenda: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns. This image composition is amazing. In the far background of the landscape we see a chain of mountains that seems to mirror the structure of the Milky Way in the sky above. The strong daylight-like colours of the landscape are caused by the Moon, the bright light at the top of the image. Taken in Kinabalu, Malaysia, in February 2019, this image shows the alignment of planets and the Moon, conveying the idea of the ecliptic as the central line of the Zodiac, the plane within which all planets orbit the Sun. The ecliptic is the central line of the Zodiac, so the region of about five to 10 degrees either side of the ecliptic is where the constellations of the Zodiac are located. Starting from the horizon towards the bottom left of the image we can see the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. The planets have different cultural significance for people around the world, and are deeply embedded in social, religious and practical aspects of life. For example, Wardaman traditions of Indigenous Australians associate the planets with ancestor spirits who traverse the Celestial Road (ecliptic). The appearance and disappearance of planets in the sky are associated with various ceremonies. For example, when Venus starts being the “Morning star” after having been the “Evening star”, this marks the Banumbirr ceremony for the Yolnu people of Arnhem Land, in Australia. The image also shows the constellations Scorpius, Aquila, Lupus and Triangulum Australe, the asterism of the Teapot, and the two pointer stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. The constellations, asterisms and individual stars within them have significance in many different cultures. Malaysia, being close to the equator, has had connections to the north as well as to the south and almost the whole sky is visible over the course of the year. The star Antares is seen by the Kokatha people of the Western Desert as Kogolongo, the red tailed black cockatoo, while the Boorong refer to it as Djuit, the red-rumped parrot. The two stars which form the stinger of Scorpius (Shaula and Lesath), are called Karik Karik, the Australian Kestrel.
Crédito: Likai Lin/IAU OAE

Termos do Glossário: Constelação , Júpiter , Lua , Saturno , Escorpião , Vênus , Zodíaco , Asterismo , Alpha Centauri
Categorias Astronomia a Olho Nu

Licença: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) ícones

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