Astronomy Photographer of the Year video

[Muzz]

Hi folks

Winning images submitted from the 2011 Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

Full screen recomended :)

http://www.wimp.com/astronomyphotographer/

http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/Tunc_Tezel_-_Galactic_Paradise_650.jpg

my favourite -

http://timmyatt.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/ox-sun-short.png

[Vitalux]

the second image is a result of photoshop manipulation.
The Earth's Moon does not appear that big naturally from anyplace on this planet.

The image is nice, however the image of the moon has been magnified larger than life.

[Muzz]

Lol the judges missed that too.

[Vitalux]

a good way to learn this is to go out in the early morning and take a piece of paper, or clear plastic in sheet form and trace the size of the moon, or the sun onto the paper or plastic sheet as seen from that perspective.

Go out at various times of the day and hold up the paper, etc, and compare the size of the solar object ( sun, moon) and you will see that from all vantage points across the horizon the size of the image does not change in diameter.

Being a photographer, who also enjoys astronomy I often film or take images of the moon, and sun.
It would be wonderful if the moon was indeed that large as shown in the photograph.
If it was that large, not only would you have been able to see the man on the moon, but you would have been able to read his lips.

[ThePythonicCow]

The image is nice, however the image of the moon has been magnified larger than life.
I'm not sure we can know that ... perhaps that second image was taken with a telephoto lens and a narrow field of view, so that the city in lights is actually farther away than it seems.

The farther you back off from a building with the moon behind it, the smaller the building will appear relative to the moon.

[Lifebringer]

What if it wasn't our Moon?

lol, panic in the streets and making peace with the creator?

hee, hee, light humor.

[Nick Matkin]

Ask anyone: "Approximately how big is the full moon or sun at arms length?" You get anything from 12 inches (30cm) "football", "cricket ball", "golf ball", when in fact it is...

Well, I expect someone on the forum can see the sun right now (PLEASE don't look directly at it!), or the moon in its first quarter, so have a go!

So, when folks report a UFO as being "the size of a football", even if they say "at arms length" it may be wildly inaccurate. After all, something that size is a third to a quarter of the field of view. And that really is huge!

Nick