Near-Earth asteroid 2003 DZ15 getting closer: 23 July 2013
The 160 meters large near-Earth asteroid 2003 DZ15 continues to approach us, waiting to touch the minimum distance of 3.5 millions of km next 30 July. Of course, it is a very safe close...
The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 Blog
Earth-Moon image by Cassini, from Saturn
The image above was taken on July 19, 2013 and received on Earth July 20, 2013. The camera was pointing toward EARTH at approximately 898,410,414 miles (1,445,851,410 kilometers) away, and the image...
Near-Earth asteroid 2003 DZ recovered: an image
Near-Earth asteroid 2003 DZ15 was expected to return close the to the Earth next 29 July. This prevision was based on its last observation, dated March 2003. Since then the object was no...
The Day The Earth Smiled: images
Here there are a few images of Saturn automatically taken by the Celestron C14 robotic unit while the Cassini spacecraft was going to take an image of the ringed planet with our planet...
The Day The Earth Smiled: Cassini images our planet from Saturn, we spy Saturn from the Earth
On July 19, 2013, the Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit around Saturn, will be turned to image that planet and its entire ring system during an eclipse of the sun, as it has...
Big Dipper to Southern Cross: 27 July and 3 August 2013
*** Enter the Live Event Here! *** Many of us never get a chance to observe the night sky from our opposite hemisphere. Now Astronomers Without Borders and its partners, the Virtual Telescope...
PSN J10015683+5541440 in NGC 3079: confirmation image and spectroscopy
On 15 July 2013 the Virtual Telescope’s 17-inches main robotic unit was remotely slewed to confirm a supernova candidate, PSN J10015683+5541440, reported by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. It was a difficult target, as...
M 2 – Aqr
Messier 2 is one of the deep sky wonders of Aquarius. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 and its stars were firstly recognized by William Herschel in 1783. M 2 is located at about 37.000...
M 15 – Peg
Globular clusters are famous for their high concentration of stars: think of the cosmic void, then meet these regions with up to a million of stars so closely packed together by gravity and you...
The amazing region of Messier 16, the “Eagle Nebula”
Recently, the Virtual Telescope visited those rich skyscapes of the Milky Way where Scorpius, Sagittarius and friends are offering us some of the most beautiful cosmic jewels. For sure, one of the best sights...
M 57, the “Ring Nebula”: a new color view
After some time of stop, we took a new color image with our Celestron C14 robotic unit, to test the Baader Planetarium RGB filters we installed on the telescope, upgrading from the previous...
M 56 – Lyr
In the small constellation of Lyra, the one hosting the bright star Vega, there is the interesting and somewhat neglected globular cluster Messier 56. Apparently close to M 57, this little gem was discovered...
Supernova SN 2013df in NGC 4414: spectrum (4 July 2013)
At Virtual Telescope we observed supernova SN 2013df last 8 June 2013. At the discovery time, while it was still waiting for a spectroscopic confirmation, we tried to grab one of them, but the...
M 20, the “Trifid Nebula” – Sgr
Undoubtedly among the most beautiful diffuse nebulae in the sky, Messier 20 is a remarkable deep sky object, with a breathtaking color combination, ranging from blue to deep red and purple: this is...
