Where is comet Ison: October 2013
Since its discovery in Sept. 2012, comet C/2012 S1 Ison attracted a lot of attention. Early evaluations of its orbit showed a great potential for a memorable show, with the most optimistic scenarios reporting...
Author: Gianluca Masi
International Observe the Moon Night 2013: a postcard from the online event
On 12 Oct. 2013, we hosted the online event for the International Observe the Moon Night. Several hundreds of people attended the live session, which resulted in a great success! The sky was clear and...
Application of the Internet in the promotion and popularization of astronomy
Zoran Tomic, Astronomical Society „Eureka“ Krusevac, Mise Mitrovica 3, 37000 Krusevac, Serbia zoranzoca@gmail.com Gianluca Masi, The Virtual Telescope Project, Via Madonna del Loco 47, 03023 Ceccano (FR), Italy gianluca@bellatrixobservatory.org Jovan Aleksic, Astronomical Observatory Belgrade,...
International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN): 12 Oct. 2013, lunar live session
Next 12 Oct. 2013 we will celebrate the annual event “International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN)”. A special night featuring our amazing natural satellite, to discover its craters and countless beautiful landscapes. Many...
Near-Earth asteroid 2013 RS43: an image (13 Sept. 2013)
On Sep 13 2013, at 16:07 UT the near-Earth asteroid 2013 RS43 reached a minimum distance from us of about one millions of km. Of course, no risks for us and this 14...
Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy: an image (14 Sept. 2013)
While waiting for comet Ison, we have another nice comet to observe. It is comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy, discovered by T. Lovejoy early this month. Early in the morning of 14 Sept. 2013,...
Comet 2P/Encke: an image (14 Sept. 2013)
While comet Ison is approaching and comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy was just discovered, we wanted to observe another comet, too: comet 2P/Encke. It is a periodic comet orbiting the Sun once every three years, being...
Comet C/2012 S1 Ison: a new image (14 Sept. 2013)
After a few days of cloudy skies, the weather decided it was time for another clear night at the Virtual Telescope site. Early in the morning of 14 Sept. 2013, the PlaneWave 17″ robotic...
Comet C/2012 S1 Ison: a new image (8 Sept. 2013)
While it approaches the Sun, Virtual Telescope imaged again comet C/2012 S1 Ison. The comet just 18 deg. above the eastern horizon, and the weather was changing, so less than ideal conditions. The PlaneWave 17″...
Comet C/2012 S1 Ison: a new image (5 Sept. 2013)
After the first image of the season, Virtual Telescope imaged again comet C/2012 S1 Ison. The comet just 17 deg. above the eastern horizon, but it looked a less extreme situation than the previous...
Near-Earth asteroid 2013 RZ5: very close approach (4 Sept. 2013)
On 4 Sept. 2013, at 06:59 UT the near-Earth asteroid 2013 RZ5 reached a minimum distance from the Earth of about 440.000 km, about 1.15 times the average distance of the Moon. Few hours...
GRB 130831A: detection of the optical afterglow and follow-up
The night between 31 Aug and 1 Sept. was particularly fruitful for the Virtual Telescope Project. While spectroscopy and photometry of several targets were ongoing, we tried to observe the optical counterpart of GRB...
Comet C/2012 S1 Ison: an image (1 Sept. 2013)
Above is the first image of comet C/2012 S1 Ison taken with the Virtual Telescope after its conjunction with the Sun. It was an hard observation, with the comet just 12 deg. above the...
Supernova PSN J02224207+2816012 in IC 221: image and spectroscopy
As part of its scientific activities, the Virtual Telescope provides follow-up of supernova candidates. On 28 Aug. 2013, the PlaneWave 17″ unit was slewed to IC 221, locating the suspect PSN J02224207+2816012 and confirming it...
