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.

Coldest place on earth

Check out this awesome image from Astronomy Picture of the Day!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap131211.html

Happy anniversary!!

I'm am one year in the air with this blog. More than 1600 people visited my blog this year from all over the world. Nice to see how I can touch people's life!!!
I will keep posting my findings and learnings next year.

Solargraph installed

Today I installed my cans "solargraphs". Always an exciting moment not knowing what the end results will be after 6 months. One of the locations is our local Abbey of Averbode. The can was put at a certain height so people will not touch it by getting curious ... hopefully. The other location is againt my garden house, the same as last year.

Solargraphs (2)

I'm ready with my two cans! Both openings are sealed and will be opened in dec 21 after the cans are put in position.

Solargraph (1)

We are heading december 21, so I'm preparing my cans with photo paper. Thuis year I will install two solargraphs.

ISON or ISOFF

Today the comet ISON was moving towards it's closest distance to the sun, perihelion. Less then 5MM km from the sun and with a speed of more than 300km/s the comet should pass by and show up as the spectacle of the year. Listening live to NASA hangout and looking at SOHO and SDO pictures it's probably clear the comet evaporated. So no ISON but rather ISOF. It was a nice learning the past months and for that see also my tweets with nice linkages on pictures and websites.