Category Archives: APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Dec 30 2011

Birthday’s NASA APOD

Yesterday NASA gave me a great present for my birthday: my 4th Astronomy Picture of the Day :-) The featured image is a shot of the day after Christmas Moon-Venus conjunction I took few days ago at the Viverone Lake. It is also a splendid way to conclude a very productive, under an astrophotography prospective, year 2011 that recently brought another APOD: “September’s Harvest Moon“.

In particular, I wanted to thank:

  • Jerry Bonnell @NASA for having picked my image up and made my birthday so special;
  • Ann that posted a spectacular long comment on my image on the APOD forum;
  • All those that supported and gave great feedback to my work through e-mails, social networks and forums.

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Ieri la NASA mi ha fatto un bellissimo regalo per il mio compleanno: il mio 4° Astronomy Picture of the Day :-) L’ immagine pubblicata è quella della congiunzione Luna-Venere scattata pochi giorni fa al lago di Viverone. Ho chiuso così in bellezza un 2011 molto produttivo dal punto di vista astrofotografico che di recente ha portato un altro APOD: “September’s Harvest Moon“.

Links to previous NASA APOD’s are below:

Thanks again for looking and for you support ;-)

Sep 17 2011

NASA – APOD for my image of “Harvest Moon and the Basilica of Superga”

Wow! ieri la mia immagine della Harvest Moon e la  Basilica di Superga è stata pubblicata sul famoso sito della NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day, generando numerosissime visite al mio sito e facendo il giro del web. Negli ultimi due anni ho scattato un numero indefinito di foto con la Basilica di Superga e finalmente il mio target favorito è apparso sul sito della NASA!

La foto ha richiesto una pianificazione meticolosa, con visite sul posto nei giorni precedenti; un grazie particolare va sicuramente al volatile che è entrato in scena con perfetto tempismo! Questo è il mio 3° APOD, gli altri due sono ai seguent link:

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Wow! yesterday my image of the Harvest Moon and the Basilica of Superga has been featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day on the famous NASA’s website, generating a big number of visitors to the site and great reception and interest around the word!  During the last two years I made countless shots to the Basilica of Superga and I am so happy that my favourite target finally got the publication :-) .

It requested a carefull planning with visits at the shooting site and it was blessed by the bird (what type of bird?) entering the scene with a perfect timing. This makes my 3rd image published on APOD — you can see the previous two here:

Many thanks all for your support! Please find below a selection of my pictures including the Basilica of Superga:

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Nov 12 2010

NASA – APOD for my “Two crescents” photo

Yesterday I had the honour to have one of my last images featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day on the famous NASA‘s web site. This is my second APOD, after the “Not a Blue Moon“ publication on the 1st of January 2010, and excitement in receiving the “heads up” e-mail from Jerry Bonnell was extremely high as the first time!

Yesterday’s picture shows the 5 November close conjunction between two crescents: the Moon and Venus (full story here), and has been proposed together with a similar image taken by Babak Tafreshi, founder of TWAN: same Moon, same planet, two different views from two different places on planet Earth ;-)  

Finally, a big thank goes to my friend Ferdinando for his very useful advices on the location!

Related links:

Jan 2 2010

NASA – APOD for my “Not a Blue Moon” photo

The New Year could not have started in a better way as my photo of the Blue Moon (full story here) has been chosen as the first Astronomy Picture of the Day of 2010! I was preparing New Year’s Eve celebrations with my family and friends when at 11.23 p.m. I received a note from Jerry Bonnell at NASA confirming the publication! And this comes after that the same image was featured few days ago on the Science@NASA article dedicated to the 31st of December Blue Moon.

The APOD publication arrives after a 2009 when I really enjoyed taking pictures around northen Italy and the South of France, being also enough fotunate to have several of them published on astronomy web sites and magazines. This appreciation, together with the positive feedback received from other amateurs astronomers, deeply encourages me in keeping on hunting for night sky wonders during 2010.  

Thanks to the APOD huge popularity, in just two days since the publication BecausetheNight site got more than 1.000 visits and counting!  The APOD link was also submitted to Digg where it became “popular” totalising over 300 diggs and a lot of comments (many thanks for them!). Moreover, a significant number of other sites have been featuring my picture; here there is a selection:

The Blue Moon has been celebrated also with wonderful songs such as this tune performed by Chris Isaak & The Scotty Moore Band: sit back and listen……and HAPPY NEW YEAR!