Art Lovers discussion

Maybe this is a good place to post some of my favorite star pics ;-)

Ever since i was a young boy i loved watching the stars and the last couple of decades with the arrival of the Hubble telescope the pictures we have of the universe are sometimes breathtaking:





Since june 16 1995 Nasa is posting a picture every day:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix...

Sure! This is as good a place as any, I would think....
astronomy is science and pictures are art, so why not? I like looking at stars! Thank you, Dirk.

I've seen the top photo in several places and yes, it is a fantastic picture deservedly reproduced many times. These, despite their lack of artistic intent, rival some of the photos of Ansel Adams

Beautiful photos, Dirk. I clicked on some of the other photos on the NASA link too.

More than 8000 photos!
I cannot say I have seen them all, maybe half or so...
I have a selection of these that I use as screensaver ;-)

Beautiful. My late husband was an ardent amateur astronomer. He had a 10” telescope and spent many an evening photographing the stars, until we moved where there’s too much ambient light and and he became too old to carry the telescope around and set it up. I’m sure he must have known about this site, but if I knew I’d forgotten. Thanks for posting about it.

Wow, I never had a telescope, binoculars yes...
But I do have a handy program on my Mac that's called " Starry Night Backyard". It comes in very handy when someone asks: "what is that bright star next to the moon?"
I just start the program, give in the date and location and I get a simulation of a bright night sky without clouds and I just go over the star on the screen with my mouse and voila: "Jupiter" it says.
You can zoom in on the planet till it fills the screen, pretty cool.
My software is a little outdated but recent versions are as powerful as the Hubble telescope.
Still doesn't beat the real thing though ;-)

Leif’s last telescope had a built in computer to help him zero in on what he wanted to see. I used to call it the Dial a Star.

Ruth wrote: "Leif’s last telescope had a built in computer to help him zero in on what he wanted to see. I used to call it the Dial a Star."
Cool! i can imagine that saved him a lot of time!

Short video of recent star photography by the Very Large Telescope ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 on Paranal,
Zooming in on the planetary nebula NGC 2899:

https://youtu.be/pZD8XQyuBCY