Comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto: an image (13 Feb. 2019)
On the night of its closest approach to the Earth, we managed to observe comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto again, under good sky conditions. We detected its faint ion tail. Here it is our image...
The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 Blog
Mars and Uranus: 12 Feb. 2019 conjunction – an image
On 12-13 Feb. 2019, planets Mars and Uranus had a nice conjunction. While Mars is visible by naked eye, Uranus requires a small binocular to be seen. Here it is an image we captured...
(6478) Gault, the tailed asteroid: a new image – 7 Feb. 2019
We observed (6478) Gault again, the asteroid now showing a narrow, dusty tail. We see that not only the tail is still there, but we confirm a second, short structure recently reported, pointing to...
Comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto meets the spiral galaxy NGC 2903: online event – 13 Feb. 2019
Next 13 Feb., comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto will apparently meet in the sky with the stunning spiral galaxy NGC 2903. Of course, it will be a mere question of perspective, but the sight will be...
Comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto: an image (7 Feb. 2019)
Comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto reached its perihelion (minimum distance from the Sun), on 6 Feb. and tomorrow will have its fly-by with the Earth, coming as close as 45 millions of km. Here it is...
SuperMoon 2019: the largest Full Moon of the year – online observation – 19 Feb. 2019
Next 19 Feb. the SuperMoon will be back. We will have the largest full Moon of 2019, the year celebrating the 50th Anniversary from the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. At Virtual Telescope...
A very young Moon shines above St. Peter’s dome in Rome – 6 Feb. 2019
Looking at a very young Moon at twilight is always a wonderful experience. The light and colors all around and the typical lunar earthshine make the experience unique and Rome adds its celebrated skyline...
The Moon, Venus and Jupiter put a stunning show above the Colosseum and Roman Forum: some unique images (31 Jan. 2019)
In its endless generosity, the sky is always ready to impress us with something unique. Yesterday morning, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter had a conjunction up there at dawn, offering a stunning sight. We...
21 Jan. 2019 SuperMoon Total Eclipse – live event, online!
*** Join it LIVE here! *** *** Join it LIVE here! *** * NB: versione in Italiano qui * Next 21 Jan. 2019, the Moon will offer an amazing total eclipse, well visible from Europe and Americas. As in...
Asteroid (6478) Gault turns into a comet? – 11 and 12 Jan. 2019
On 9 Jan. 2019, the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams issued an electronic telegram reporting that the inner main belt asteroid (6478) Gault had a tail. This made the object a very important target to...
Comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels: an image (4 Jan. 2019)
We did some follow-up observations of comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels, after the sudden changes in its inner coma, which we could confirm yesterday. Here we present our results. The image above comes from the median combination of 39,...
Comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels: an image (3 Jan. 2019)
On 2 Jan. 2019, a couple of observers reported that comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels showed a sudden change in its inner coma. The day before, our images showed nothing strange, so we scheduled some follow-up observations...
Comet 123P/West-Hartley: an image (2 Jan. 2019)
We observed comet 123P/West-Hartley again, while it approaches the Sun (perihelion: next 5 Feb.). Here it is our latest image. The image above comes from the average of three, 300-seconds exposures, unfiltered, remotely collected with the...
Comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels: an image (1 Jan. 2019)
We started the new year under a truly excellent sky, imaging comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels. Here we share what we saw. The image above comes from the average of six, 300-seconds exposures, unfiltered, remotely collected with the...
Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma: an image (1 Jan. 2019)
We managed to see comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma again, on its way back to the outer Solar System. It was a rewarding sight, as you can see from this image. The image above comes from the sigma...
