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A Matter of Perspective
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: Second place winner in the 2023 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category of Still images of phases of Venus.
This exquisite series of images, captured from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, between 17 December 2019 and 25 May 2020, shows the phases of Venus as seen from Earth. As Venus and Earth orbit the Sun, we observe different portions of Venus’s sunlit half, similar to the Moon’s phases. The sequence clearly shows Venus as distant, small, bright and gibbous in the lower frames, and ends with Venus reaching the biggest apparent size of all planets (upper frames), very close to the Sun with a small elongation, and appearing as a thin crescent. In the last frame, only 2.8% of the planet’s surface is illuminated.
Credit: Christofer Baez/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Glosar de termeni:
Phase , Venus
Categories:
Solar System
Tags:
astrophotography
License: Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( image 339.56 kB)
Venus and Mercury Trails
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: Honorable mention in the 2023 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category of Still images of phases of Venus.
In this composite image, both Mercury (left) and Venus (right) can be seen heading into the sunset. The phases of each are beautifully captured as they descend. Not all planets or moons in the Solar System show phases as viewed from Earth. This phenomenon occurs because the orbits of Venus and Mercury are positioned between Earth’s orbit and the Sun, sometimes allowing us to see only part of the illuminated portion of each planet. These phases are similar to the phases we see of our own Moon.
Credit: Marcella Giulia Pace (CC BY 4.0)
Glosar de termeni:
Mercury , Phase , Venus
Categories:
Solar System
Tags:
astrophotography
License: Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( image 4.86 MB)
Phases of Venus
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: First place winner in the 2023 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category of Still images of phases of Venus.
This is a mesmerising series of images of Venus captured from Surgères, Charente-Maritime, France, over a period of six months in 2015. The phases appear similar to the phases we see of our own Moon and occur for similar reasons. Only half of Venus is illuminated by the Sun and, from Earth, we can sometimes only see part of that illuminated half, depending on the relative positions of the Sun, Earth and Venus. Both Mercury and Venus exhibit phases because their orbit is between the Sun and the orbit of Earth. Depending on the position of Venus relative to the Sun and Earth, Venus goes through its phases over a period of time. This sequence of images beautifully showcases the transition from the ‘gibbous’ to the slender crescents. The use of infrared filters helped to capture Venus's dense perpetual cloud cover during daylight in sharp detail, providing a glimpse into the mysterious nature of the planet’s atmosphere.
Credit: Stephane Gonzales/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Glosar de termeni:
Phase , Venus
Categories:
Solar System
Tags:
astrophotography
License: Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( image 1.43 MB)
Jupiter, Io and its shadow, by Ralf Burkart, Germany
video
Created for the OAE
Caption: First place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Galilean moons.
This time-lapse of Jupiter taken in 2017 from Germany beautifully illustrates the transit of one of the Galilean moons, Io, in front of Jupiter. As this is simply a moon casting a shadow on a planet it is equivalent to a lunar eclipse on Earth observed from further away. While the shadow of the moon is clearly visible from the beginning, it might be difficult to spot the moon itself against the background of the beautiful atmospheric bands of Jupiter the first time the video is seen. Watching it repeatedly allows appreciating the rapid motion and rotation in this fantastic observation.
Credit: Ralf Burkart/IAU OAE
Glosar de termeni:
Galilean Satellites , Gas Giant , Io , Jupiter , Moons , Orbit , Outer Planets , Planet , Transit
Categories:
Solar System
License: Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( video 12.64 MB)
Jupiter Moons Movie2, by Nicolas Hurez, Paul-Antoine Matrangolo, and Carl Pennypacker, United States of America
video
Created for the OAE
Caption: Second place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Galilean moons.
This sequence shows the orbit of the four Galilean moons around the planet Jupiter. Almost two entire orbits of the innermost moon, Io, can be seen, with the other moons (Europa and Ganymede, but in particular Callisto) being further away, orbiting noticeably slower. The images were obtained in 2018 with the Las Cumbres Global Observatory at different locations on Earth, allowing a continuous sequence of images over approximately half a week without gaps during the day. With clear skies and over the course of several nights, the motion of the Galilean moons can also be observed with binoculars (ideally steady your elbows on a surface).
Credit: Nicolas Hurez, Paul-Antoine Matrangolo and Carl Pennypacker/IAU OAE
Glosar de termeni:
Galilean Satellites , Gas Giant , Io , Jupiter , Moons , Orbit , Outer Planets , Planet
Categories:
Solar System
License: Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Atribuire 4.0 Internațional (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( video 890.47 kB)
