The Moon is preparing for this week end show when it will join Venus and Jupiter. This evening, I wanted to welcome the very young Moon resembling a Cheshire grin as setting over the Italian Alps. At the time of the shot, the Moon was just 19 hours and 7 minutes old that so far it represents my personal record of “Young Moon gazing”!

Photo details: Canon EOS 5D Mk II,; 1/8 second exposure; f/9; 700 mm focal length; ISO 200

…next to the Basilica of Superga

Technical details: Canon Eos 5D Mk II; 150-500mm Sigma lens + 1.4x teleconverter; focal lenght: 700 mm; ISO: 250; Exp: 1 sec; F/9

On the evening of 8 January 2012 I visited the Langhe region to capture the rise on the “Snow Full Moon” next to the Castle of Serralunga d’ Alba.

Tech details: Canon Eos 5D MkII; focal lenght: 21omm; Exp: 1/30 sec; F/7.1; ISO: 200

The first Full Moon of 2012 looked pretty big as rising above a hilltop house in Serralunga d’Alba (some 60 km from Turin, Italy).

Tech det: Canon Eos 5D MkII; 100-5oo Sigma lens @ 500 + 1.4x teleconverter; Exp: 1/20 sec. ; F/9; ISO 100

Blogging

2011 has been the second full year for my blog and I had very good time in sharing my images, thoughts and ideas with people around the world . Here are some stats:

• Visits: the blog was viewed about 46,000 times in 2011 with more than 100,000 visitors since its start;
• In 2011 there were 332 pictures uploaded — That’s about 6 pictures per week.
• The busiest day of the year was September 16th , thanks to my third APOD featured on the NASA web site, with 1,746 views!
• The top referring sites in 2011 were: facebook.com, apod.nasa.gov, us.peeplo.com , in.peeplo.com, twitter.com.
• The most visited pages has been: “MOON” with 2,694 visits, “TORINO“ with 2,113 visits and “BEST OF “with 1,493 visits.
• How to follow the blog – you can subscribe to the site and receive new posts via email by clicking the “Sign me up!” button on the right side bar.

Astrophotography

This year has been very productive and I really enjoyed taking picures of terrestrial and sky wonders   Below are the hilights of my year of astrophotography:

• “Astronomy Picture of the Day” on the NASA web site for my image ”September Harvest Moon”.
•  Astronomy Picture of the Day” on the NASA web site (on my birthday!) for my image “Conjunction at sunset“.
• “Moon and Monviso” image featured in the “Daily Dozen” section of National Geographic International.
• “Reflecting basilica” image published on National Geographic Italy web site.
•  A personal exhibition of my images has been running at the Planetarium of Turin from June to August 2011.
• I got two of my images included on the special issues “Spectacular Universe” of the Astronomy magazine.
• The image of “The Moon rising next the Basilica” has been published on the March issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.
• Several publications on other national and international magazines and websites.

Music

• “I have attended to concerts of my favourite group the Arcade Fire: in Lucca 

I got the occasion to thank all those that supported me during this year and give you my best wishes for a stellar 2012 !!

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:

• NASA APOD 1.1.2010: “Not a Blue Moon”
• NASA APOD 11.11.2010: “Two views, two crescents” 

Thanks again for looking and for you support

This evening the crescent Moon and Venus continued the show in the twilight sky. In the image the pair is shown next to a centenary Cedar of Lebanon located atop a hill in the heart of The Langhe, the region in northwest Italy famous for its wine.

Christmas songs coming from a nearby bar, Moon and Venus decorating the sky over the Viverone Lake: what a perfect atmosphere for a festive season evening!

The pictures show a superthin 21 hours and 45 min. old crescent Moon setting behind the Italian Alps. In the second image on the left is also visible the pyramid-like shape of Monviso (3,841 m – 12,602 ft). What a splendid Christmas present!

This morning Mercury showed up in the twilight colors few degrees above a 4% slender crescent Moon “close” to the Basilica of Superga.

Later on I moved a bit further from the Basilica to capture one of the first sunrises of this winter: