Renowned astroimager Adam Block of the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter presented a pair of workshops at the 2009 Advanced Imaging Conference. Michael E. Bakich photo As part of my duties as photo editor for the world’s most popular astronomy publication, I attended the sixth annual Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) October 30 through November 1 at the San Jose, California, Doubletree Hotel. If you’re one of our many readers who love the “eye candy” that top...

Lunar and planetary imager Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York, just sent me a terrific animation he made of Saturn. And it took him a while to do it. Friedman combined 6 years of Saturn observations to create the animation. It shows how the plane of the planet’s ring system has changed during that time as viewed from Earth. The animation’s final frame is not an image Friedman captured at the telescope. He assembled that frame from earlier 2009 observations...

In my newest video, I give you an overview of dark matter , that mysterious stuff that makes up some 90 percent of the universe’s mass. During the last few decades, astronomers have gained convincing evidence that stars, gas, and dust aren’t all there is to the universe. Most of it is “dark” — both dark matter and dark energy. This video focuses on dark matter, and it’s the second video in a series called “Cosmology 101.” Also check out the video...

Longtime Astronomy contributor John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, sent us a video we had to share with you. It shows 3 nights of Perseid meteor activity beginning with the evening of August 11 and continuing through the morning hours of August 14. During that time, Chumack recorded more than 240 meteors. He condensed the videos into a movie that runs just under 1 minute. During that minute, you’ll see the stars advance as Earth rotates. The Moon rises...

Astronomy contributor John Chumack was finally able to capture the Jupiter impact site with his 10-inch telescope from his backyard in Dayton, Ohio. And he was nice enough to share an image and a Jupiter rotation movie with us. Below is how he put the video together: There was an incredible amount of work that went into this movie. I captured more than 51,820 useable frames, and each full color RGB set had at least 3,900 frames. Running through all...

Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher and Senior Editors Rich Talcott and Michael Bakich are in China to witness the eclipse. They will send back live reports via the magazine's Twitter page at http://Twitter.com/AstronomyMag . Not a fan of Twitter? No problem, just go to Astronomy.com's solar eclipse page to follow along. Also, here are three sites that will stream live video of the total solar eclipse: Live Webcast (CHINA) - U. of North...

In my newest video, I give you an overview of the Big Bang Theory (the cosmology theory, not the television show), and help clear up a few common misconceptions. Hopefully the crazy world of cosmology will make a bit more sense after you’ve watched the production. This clip is the first in a series called Cosmology 101. Over the next few months, you’re invited to tune in to watch me discuss additional cosmology topics. Watch the video, Cosmology 101...

I just received a link to a video of lunar images put together by British amateur astronomer Bruce A. Kingsley. He serves as the Lunar Photographic section coordinator for the British Astronomical Association. The video contains no narration, only a small bit of text, and lots of images. I enjoyed it, so I thought I’d share it here. About the video, Kingsley says, “It is artistic as much as scientific but has recently been used as part of my local...

Check out this video from Astronomy reader Robert Massey of Fort Worth, Texas. Look to the top left of the grouping of four bright stars, at about the 11 o’clock position. A blob appears to move to the left. The video shows an object — a satellite or perhaps an asteroid? — tumbling through the field of view of Massey’s Meade 12-inch LX200 telescope. At the time he was observing M42, the Orion Nebula. In his own words: “I have been behind a telescope...

Several weeks ago, Astronomy ’s editors posted a video about Galileo and his remarkable first observations, “ The Day Galileo Changed the Universe, Part One ,” in which I discussed Galileo’s telescope and how it came to be. Now we’ve produced and posted part two of the series, and there will be a third part coming down the road. We’re happy to be a part of the worldwide celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, and I’ll be honored in a couple...