Sunday, December 22, 2013

2013 Astronomical Highlights

For different reasons 2013 was a exciting astronomical year with many ups and some downs.
On Feb 15 a meteor exploded above Chelyabinsk showing the power and energy from out of space and how mankind could dissapear within a second. On March 14, the CERN finally reported the existance of the Higgsboson. Later the year, Francois Englert received the first physics Nobel Prize for Belgium.
Also in March, I tried to find the comet Panstarr at the evening sky. The sky was beautiful but I could not find the comet.





My first solargraph was a fact with a nice result as well.



One of my cloudpictures was published in the newspaper with a shelfcloud.



This summer it was time to experiment making pictures from Iridium flares and startrails with beautiful results.




Comet ISON would be the event of the year but after watching NASA live the comet dissolved completely. An exciting and learning time following this sungrazer comet.
In Utrecht I visited the NASA's exhibition A Human Adventure telling the history of the space journey.