On New Year's Day 2011, Jules set the Zooites a challenge: that every day for a year somebody must post an astrophoto. And we did it. Here's the result.
(Click for larger version.)My camera is pretty hopeless in the dark; the best it'll do of the Moon for example is a bright speck in complete blurry blue or black - or, even better, a wobbly streak where my hand moved. I took some of the pictures of the sun though.
As she says, there were 28 contributors - most of whom were far more assiduous and successful than me! - and a great many types of photo were taken of different types of astronomical phenomena. Which, of course, does include the Sun. Every so often, if the Sun is low on the horizon and possible to look at through mist or clouds (health warning: actually, you are not supposed to do even this - and never look directly at the Sun when it's bright; it can damage your eyes permanently), it strikes me very deeply that here is a star, a star like any one of those glittering lights in the skies above at night. And this Earth is what a Sun like that can support.
When every one of us was experiencing a cloudy night, we'd photograph our astronomy books, magazines, equipment, gadgets, Astrofest tickets (yes, we get very excited about things like that) and so on. That made up just over 10% of our total. Two of my favourites - and quite possibly some more once I've gone through the thread in enough detail - are going to be part of an astronomy slideshow I'm going to be showing prior to any Skeptics in the Pub talk I give. Here they are: Orion through the trees by Bill Keel and a gorgeous shot of the Moon by Infinity. Many thanks both for their permission and for e-mailing me their best sharpened versions of their artwork.
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