News &
News Feature
Global Astronomy Month is coming up and that means... Astrophotography Contest!
This April, observers everywhere are invited to join Global Astronomy Month 2012, a celebration of astronomy and the night sky. You can participate through MicroObservatory's astrophotography contest!
The goal of GAM2012 is to connect astronomy enthusiasts across the world, sending a reminder that we all share the same sky. Astronomers Without Borders has organized a full month of astronomy activities, programs, and opportunities; MicroObservatory is proud to be a part of this exciting event and invites you to join observers worldwide in celebrating our night sky.
Learn more about Global Astronomy Month 2012 and Astronomers Without Borders at the following website: http://www.gam-awb.org/
Orion Nebula—2011 Astrocreative Winner
Orion Nebula—Spitzer Infrared
Observe with NASA in the annual Astrophotography Contest!
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, NASA, and Astronomers Without Borders invite you to share your views of the universe in this exciting astrophotography contest. The images that YOU take using online robotic telescopes could be featured on the Observing With NASA home page!
Who can participate? Anyone with an email address can use the MicroObservatory robotic telescopes to request electronic images of astronomical objects. If you are 13 or younger, you will need a parent or guardian to enter your photos for you.
What do I do? Take images using the Observing With NASA portal. Process the images with the free MicroObservatoryImage software, available on the OWN website. *
What are we looking for? Since you are Observing With NASA, we invite you to take your own images with the OWN portal, and then submit them along with a NASA image of the same celestial object. For example, if you take and process an image of the Lagoon Nebula using MicroObservatory, include an image of the Lagoon Nebula taken by a NASA telescope. Write a short comparison of the two images. It is okay if your image is very different from the NASA image! The idea is to look at the same object in two different ways, whether it be through different wavelengths of light, or through different creative lenses. We will have one winner for the best technical image, and one winner for the best astrocreative image. For examples, please see the MicroObservatory Facebook page.
Lagoon Nebula—MicroObservatory
Lagoon Nebula—WISE Infrared
Are there resources to help me? Yes! Check out our Tools & Training webpage. There are short video tutorials that cover many topics, including how to make an Advanced RGB image! For finding NASA images, we recommend looking at the Hubble, Chandra, WISE, and Spitzer websites.
How do I share my images? Save your MicroObservatory image as a .GIF and NASA image as a .JPG and send them as an attachment to MicroObservatory@cfa.harvard.edu. Tell us anything you would like about your image and include this template in your email:
- First Name and Last Initial:
- Age (underline one): Under 13 13-18 18-24 25 and up
- Title of your image:
- Name of astronomical object:
- How you made your image:
- Which NASA Great Observatory took the comparison image (Spitzer, Hubble, Chandra, WISE, etc.):
- Comparison of the two images (What kind of light does the NASA telescope detect? What features are different?):
- Anything you would like us to know:
When does the contest end? Enter your images by Monday, April 30th. We will announce the winners mid-May.
What do I get if I win? The two winners will be featured on the Observing With NASA website, along with their images. In addition, the winners will receive a certificate from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and NASA along with a package of Astronomy prizes.
Click here for more details.
Detailed Instructions for the MicroObservatory Astrophotography Contest
STEP 1: Control a Telescope
MicroObservatory is an online network of robotic telescopes that you can control over the Internet from your own computer.
1. Visit the Observing With NASA telescope portal and click on Control Telescope
2. Choose your target(s) and click "OBSERVE" to take an image of that object.
3. Choose your field of view, exposure time, and filters; then click "CONTINUE".
4. Enter your (confidential) information and "SUBMIT" your request to the telescopes.
5. Look for an email the next day containing a link to download your requested image(s).
STEP 2: Create Your Images
MicroObservatoryImage is a free easy-to-use software program that helps you turn your telescope images into cool astrophotographs.
1. Download the image processing software to your computer.
2. Install the software on your machine by extracting the downloaded file and start the program by double clicking on the application icon ("MicroObservatoryImage.app" for Macintosh, "run.bat" for PCs).
3. Download your image(s) by clicking on the link in your email and downloading the FITS file to your computer.
4. Open your image(s) by dragging it into the open software program or opening it using the File menu at the top of the program screen.
5. Use the processing tools in the menus and toolbars to bring out detail and colorize your image(s).
6. Save each image as a GIF file (don't forget to add the .GIF extension!)
NEED MORE INFO? Download the Illustrated Processing Tools Guide (1.5 Mb PDF) from the Tools & Training page to see step-by-step instructions for opening and using the image processing software.
STEP 3: Share Your Images
1. Attach your images to an email to MicroObservatory@cfa.harvard.edu.
2. Include this template:
- First Name and Last Initial:
- Age (underline one): Under 13 13-18 18-24 25 and up
- Title of your image:
- Name of astronomical object:
- How you made your image:
- Which NASA Great Observatory took the comparison image (Spitzer, Hubble, Chandra, WISE, etc.):s
- Comparison of the two images (What kind of light does the NASA telescope detect? What features are different?):
- Anything you would like us to know:
STEP 4: Check Observing With NASA for the winners!
1. Wait to hear from us to see if you've won!
Check back to Observing With NASA at the end of April to see the winning entries!
* Note: Only images taken with the MicroObservatory telescopes and processed with MicroObservatoryImage software will be eligible to win.
News & Views
October 2011
International Observe the Moon Night
International Observe the Moon Night on October 8, 2011 was an opportunity for observers of all ages to focus on the brightest object in the night sky. Across the world, astronomy enthusiasts learned about the history, geography, climate, and orbit of the moon. MicroObservatory users took their own images of the moon.
Summer 2011
Astrophotography Contest Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the first MicroObservatory Astrophotography Contest! Over 90 images were submitted from astrophotographers all over the world. Kevin Manning won the Astrocreative category for his various interpretations of the Orion Nebula. Emma Ramsdell won the youth category for her Astrocreative image of the Sun. Steven N. Maliarakis won the RGB image category for a vibrant image of the Orion Nebula. Marisol Melendez won the youth category for her RGB image of the Whirlpool Galaxy. Thank you to all who submitted images.
April 2011
Astrophotography Contest
In honor of Global Astronomy Month 2011, MicroObservatory held an Astrophotography Contest. Participants used the Observing With NASA portal and MicroObservatoryImage software to create RGB Composite images and Astrocreative images.
Winter 2010-2011
WISE Eyes the Skies
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer observes the "nearby" Pleiades cluster and Andromeda Galaxy. Infrared light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum just below the low-energy red light our eyes can observe, so the WISE images that we see are "representational color." Can you use the color tables in the image-processing software to make your OWN false color images?
Summer 2010
First Light for SDO
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is helping astronomers understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere across many wavelengths, or energies, of the electromagnetic spectrum. SDO is part of NASA's Living with a Star program.
Spring 2010
Global Astronomy Month
During April 2010, MicroObservatory joined Astronomers Without Borders in celebrating Global Astronomy Month, the biggest effort ever to spread remote astronomy around the world. The goal of GAM2010 has been to help people to connect across borders and to feel—even if they are on opposite sides of the world—that they are all sharing the same sky.
Fall 2009
Capture the Colorful Cosmos
During the International Year of Astronomy, visitors to museums, science centers, planetariums, schools, libraries, and nature centers across the country have been Observing With NASA. The "Capture the Colorful Cosmos" astrophotography project has inspired these visitors to create a stunning array of exhibits inspired by their MicroObservatory images.
November 10-30, 2009
New Multi-wavelength View of Milky Way
In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, NASA's Great Observatories—the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-Ray Observatory—collaborated to produce a spectacular multi-wavelength view of the turbulent center of our Milky Way galaxy.
October 2009
LCROSS Impact on Moon
NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon's surface on October 9, 2009 in a search for water ice. Scientists are now analyzing the data from the spacecraft's instruments to assess whether water ice is present. Read more about LCROSS at the following websites:
January-December 2009
International Year of Astronomy 2009
This year, the entire world is celebrating the International Year of Astronomy as it commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope to study the skies, and Kepler's publication of Astronomia Nova. 2009 is also the anniversary of many other historic events in science, including Huygen's 1659 publication of Systema Saturnium. This is modern astronomy's quadricentennial, and the 2009 Year of Astronomy celebrates numerous astronomical and scientific milestones. Events are happening every month. To find out more, visit any of these IYA 2009 websites:
Spread the word: the Universe is yours to discover. Come celebrate in 2009.
May 5, 2009
Smithsonian Photography Initiative celebrates IYA2009
Harvard Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon (1863 - 1941), after whom one of the MicroObservatory telescopes is named. Image from the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
During May and June, the Smithsonian Photography Initiative offers three ways to celebrate both the International Year of Astronomy and the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observation with a telescope by Galileo Galilei.
Call for Entries
The Smithsonian Photography Initiative invites the public to contribute images and stories to "click! photography changes everything" (http://click.si.edu), an online exhibit that explores how photography influences every aspect of people's lives. This month's focus is "Seeing Other Worlds":
- The public may submit their photo and story about how photography influences the ability to see people, places and things "unseen" or "unfamiliar" through the contribute link on the "click!" Web site at http://www.click.si.edu/Contribute.aspx. Contributors may also share their thoughts about photos of the universe from the Chandra X-ray Observatory images available on the Smithsonian Institution's photostream at The Commons on Flickr.
- Selected entries will be added to the "click!" Web site, which features photos and stories from innovators, writers and public figures across multiple disciplines.
- Entries selected for the "click!" Web site will be eligible to receive a copy of the book "At First Sight: Photography and the Smithsonian," an intriguing glimpse into the Smithsonian's more than 700 photographic collections.
Learn more here [pdf]
April 9, 2009
Congratulations to 100 Hours of Astronomy!
Between April 2 and April 4 nearly 1,000,000 people participated in 1500 events in 130 different nations around the globe. These individuals participated in science, making 2.6 million classifications of galaxies at Galaxy Zoo, they followed webcasts through Around the World in 80 Telescopes, and they got involved in remote observing and face to face observing at star parties, real and virtual. Over 1000 guest observers used the MicroObservatory telescopes during 100 Hours of Astronomy!
To all of you who participated: Thanks for joining us in a truly historical event.
