• Your views and videos of Venus

    Three-minute video shows the transit of Venus, as seen in multiple wavelengths on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Red, golden and magenta views are in ultraviolet wavelengths (304, 171 and 1700 angstrom, respectively), while the orange sun is filtered visible light.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News


    The transit of Venus may be finished until 2117, but videos and pictures of the phenomenon are continuing to gush all over the Internet. If you missed Tuesday's nearly seven-hour astronomical spectacle, you can get up to speed with a 39-second video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. If you've got a little more time, sit back and watch the three-minute version with a soaring soundtrack.

    Another time-lapse video from the SDO team lasts just 12 seconds — but it shows one of the most scientifically significant phenomena surrounding the transit: the "Arc of Venus," an interval during which sunlight is refracted around Venus' disk, creating a "ring of fire." Close analysis of the refracted light can provide insights into the dynamics of Venus' mysterious atmosphere.

    The video also gives you a taste of the optical "black drop effect" that occurs when Venus crosses the edge of the sun's disk:

     

    Close-up of the Venus transit ingress as seen by the Solar Dynamic Observatory's HMI instrument. Credit: NASA / SDO / HMI / Stanford University / Jesper Schou

    Here's a jaw-dropping view of Venus crossing the edge of the sun's disk from Japan's Hinode sun-watching satellite. You can make out the thin arc of sunlight refracted by the planet's atmosphere:

    JASA / NASA / Lockheed Martin

    The Hinode sun-observing satellite captured this stunning view of the planet Venus crossing the edge of the sun's disk.

    Over the past couple of days, we've run lots of pictures of Venus crossing over the sun's disk, but I can't pass up the opportunity to share some of the transit pictures that were shared by Cosmic Log correspondents. Here's a selection:

    Jerry Horn

    Photographer Jerry Horn took this picture of his son pointing to Venus crossing the face of the sun at sunset, west of Tucson, Ariz. Technical details: Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF f/4 300mm IS with a 1.4x Extender and B+W 1000x neutral density filter.

    Submitted by Vik Sridharan / UGC

    A pelican and a planet cross the sun in a picture taken by Vik Sridharan in Redondo Beach, Calif. Here are the technical specs: Canon 50D + 70-200 F4L + 1.4TC; UV, Polarizer, and ND400 filters.

    Submitted by David Fuller / UGC

    David Fuller says this is his "sun-kissed photo of Venus on the limb of the sun, with sunspots visible in the image." The picture was taken from the Chicago area at 5:22 p.m. CT through a six-inch, f/5 reflector with a white-light solar filter and a smartphone camera, using afocal photography.

    David A. Harvey

    David A. Harvey made careful plans for this picture of the transit. "I was able to compute the place where the sun would set behind the McMath Solar Telescope atop Kitt Peak National Observatory while Venus was still in transit," he writes. Check out Harvey's website for more of his work.

    Submitted by John Bonnell / UGC

    Geese fly in a line over the sun, seemingly dodging the round dot of Venus' disk, in this picture from John Bonnell.

    Submitted by Harish Khandrika / UGC

    Harish Khandrika captured the Venus transit at sunset with a helicopter flying across the sun's disk, at the Torrey Pines Glider Port in La Jolla, Calif.

    Submitted by Elizabeth Ahlborn / UGC

    The amazing thing about this photo is that Elizabeth Ahlborn of Fond du Lac, Wis., used a pair of binoculars to project an image of the sun onto a white piece of paper. Then she took a photograph of the projection, which shows the black dot of Venus toward the bottom of the sun's disk, as well as sunspots.

    Thanks to everyone who submitted pictures, including Brian Helm, Adam Rybczynski, Jim Belfiore, Jacqueline Croasdale, Tommy Fortunato, Gary Brandon, Robert Schmidt, Steve Siedentop, Justin Van Hassel, Amy LeBaron, Xihui Zhang, Christopher Klug, David Hall, Jim Walsh, Bruce Korsmeyer (from Venus, Texas!), Steve Moulding, Kevin Palmer, Don Heaton, Brian Sinofsky, Tom Rejzek, Dave Holbrook, Sean Kinslow, Ameer Hassoun, John Melson, Veronica Hernandez, Jarra McGrath, Jason Heinitz, Howard Chan, Sam Stouffer, Eric Steele, Tim Baker, Dinar Dalvi, James Owen and Andrew Lee.

    We won't have to wait until 2117 for the next astronomical photo op: Keep an eye out for coming attractions, highlighted by the Delta Aquarid and Perseid meteor showers of late July and mid-August.

    More views of the Venus transit:

    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

  • Your views of the supermoon

    Skywatchers were treated to a "supermoon" on Saturday night. NBC's Charles Hadlock reports.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News




    The supermoon of 2012 is over, but the joys of moongazing are not. Even though Saturday night's lunar showing was the biggest and brightest of the year, the views are nearly as good anytime around the full moon — tonight, for example.

    Photographs of the supermoon sight streamed out over online channels, including Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, blog postings and slick slideshows (such as our own roundup). They also streamed into msnbc.com's FirstPerson in-box. I've put together a selection of 10 submissions here.

    The kind of supermoon we saw last night isn't exactly a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. The phenomenon, also known as a perigee moon, can be seen whenever the full moon occurs while it's near the closest point of its elliptical orbit around Earth. Last night, the moon was just 221,802 miles away from Earth, or about 15,000 miles closer than average. The moon's angular size was 14 percent wider than it is at maximum distance, and it was 30 percent brighter than minimum moonshine.

    If we define a supermoon as the biggest, brightest full moon of a given year, next year's supermoon will be almost as good as this year's, on June 23, 2013. The supermoon of 2014 will be brighter, and the 2016 supermoon will outdo last year's, which got the moongazing fad started. EarthSky News has the schedule for the next few years. Some rightly note that the moon is worth watching on every night of the year, and that the full moon isn't necessarily the best time to see all the detail the lunar disk can offer. But there's nothing wrong in having an annual holiday devoted to moongazing, is there?

    The next big sky event is coming up on May 20, when the new moon blots out most of the sun to create an annular solar eclipse. A wide swath of the Asia-Pacific region and North America will see a partial eclipse, while folks situated along a narrow track of territory extending from China across to the Oregon-California coast and down to Texas can witness a "Ring of Fire," in which the moon's disk covers all but the thin rim of the sun's disk. That'll be an amazing thing to see, but make sure you use proper eye protection. You can get the details from my eclipse viewing guide, and learn more about the appeal of an annular eclipse.

    There's an astronomical connection between this weekend's supermoon and this month's "Ring of Fire": Because the moon was nearly as close as it can come for the full-moon phase, it's nearly as far out as it can go for the new-moon phase. Thus, the moon's apparent size is significantly smaller than usual when it tries to covers up the sun — and that's why we have a ring of fire rather than the fully blacked-out sun of a total eclipse. For that, we'll have to wait until November. Stay tuned in the weeks and months ahead for more about all these astronomical phenomena, plus June's last-in-a-lifetime transit of Venus.

    Submitted by Isaiah Blount / Smooth Images / UGC

    Florida photographer Isaiah Blount of Smooth Images submitted this picture of an airplane crossing the disk of the supermoon on Saturday night.

    Submitted by Penny Wainwright / UGC

    The supermoon looms in the skies of Louisiana, outside Farmerville.

    Submitted by Campbell McCubbin / UGC

    Campbell McCubbin says this is the "first glimpse of the 'supermoon' from my deck overlooking Semiahmoo Bay, White Rock, B.C., Canada."

    Submitted by Prashanti Pasupuleti / UGC

    Prashanti Pasupuleti of New Delhi, India, says the supermoon is "within my reach."

    Submitted by Angie Lucero / UGC

    Wisps of clouds waft over the supermoon in this view from Albuquerque, N.M.

    Submitted by Maria Johnson / UGC

    Maria Johnson took this picture of the moon around 1 a.m. ET on Sunday in Sarasota, Fla.

    Submitted by Larry Shiflett / UGC

    The supermoon rises over a sailboat in the waters near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

    Submitted by Bianca Fister / UGC

    Spring flowers are silhouetted against the supermoon in this picture from Bianca Fister of Hilton, N.Y.

    Submitted by Joe Leonard / UGC

    The supermoon peeks over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in a picture from Joe Leonard of Taos, N.M..

    Submitted by Justine Daniel / UGC

    The supermoon is partly hidden by clouds in the skies above St. Augustine on the island of Trinidad.

    More about the supermoon:

    Many thanks to all our FirstPerson photographers, including Lynn Schneider, John McNamara, Josh Warner and Mitzi Easley.

    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

  • Your views of the lunar eclipse

    Copyright John Harrison Photography

    Photographer John Harrison captured this view of the Dec. 10 total solar eclipse above San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. "I went out at sunrise this morning not sure what to expect," he wrote. "What an awesome sight! The blue skies at sunrise with the red moon overhead were just a sight to watch. It was worth the 3 a.m. start to our fun shooting." See more of his portfolio at the John Harrison Photography website.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    Millions of people witnessed today's total lunar eclipse, and that means there were plenty of cameras snapping in the darkness. We've put together this sampling from the photos submitted via FirstPerson, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

    This was the last total solar eclipse until 2014, but there'll be plenty of other sky phenomena between now and then — including an unusual "diamond ring" annular solar eclipse next May, a Venus transit in June, a total solar eclipse in November, and meteor showers galore. Please keep us in mind whenever you've got a cool picture of the cosmos, and thanks for passing along slick eclipse pics like these:

    Humza Mehbub

    Humza Mehbub sent this composite image of the lunar eclipse from Lahore, Pakistan. The multiple exposures show Earth's shadow creeping across the moon's disk from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Lahore, when the eclipse hit its peak.

    Anthony Citrano

    Anthony Citrano, a fashion photographer from Venice, Calif., captured this pre-dawn view of the eclipse as seen over Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains. "Before going to bed at 1 a.m. ... I considered setting my alarm to get up and shoot the eclipse," Citrano wrote. "I was feeling quite tired - and lazily decided not to set the alarm. But my subconscious mind was determined, because I nevertheless awoke four hours later. I got out of bed, looked out the window, and it was just starting to go into shadow. I shot a few hand-held shots from my home in Venice - and then hopped in the car and drove the mile or two to the Santa Monica bluffs. This shot is the result. ... Running out the door I didn't notice I was traveling with a nearly-dead battery - and no spares - and this lens is really hard on power. I ran out of juice just after this shot, so I'm glad I got it." To learn more about Citrano's day job, check out his portfolio at Zigzag Lens.

    Daniel Fischer

    German science writer Daniel Fischer captured this picture of the total eclipse during a trip to Ranihet, India. "Took a lot of pictures with different settings, as a guide for the next total lunar eclipse - which, unfortunately, is now 3 years away." For more, check out Fischer's Twitpic gallery and his Cosmic Mirror website.

    Michael Zeiler

    Cartographer Michael Zeiler sent in this composite photo that captures the last partial stages of the lunar eclipse as seen from Los Alamos, N.M. "Total lunar eclipse began two minutes after sunrise where I live," Zeiler wrote. "I tried to capture a photograph of the selenelion, but missed it by a couple of minutes." Zeiler's website is the aptly named Eclipse-Maps.com, and he has produced charts for the May annular solar eclipse as well as the November total solar eclipse. "My map of the transit of Venus is on page 70 of the January 2012 Sky and Telescope," he says.

    Jim Werle

    The lunar eclipse competes with the bright lights of Las Vegas in this photo from Jim Werle.

    JoAnne and Michael Schnyder

    JoAnne and Michael Schnyder sent this picture of the partial eclipse from Cape Verde, Ariz. This was the view at 6:45 a.m. MT, at a stage when Earth's shadow hadn't yet completely covered the moon's disk but you could already make out the reddish eclipse glow.

    Adam Gray

    For some observers in the western U.S., the eclipse provided the seemingly impossible opportunity to catch the sunrise and the moonset simultaneously - a phenomenon known as "selenelion." Adam Gray sent in these two photos that show the brightening sunrise sky in the east and the darkening moon in the west. "The marine layer started to roll in right at about the time of totality," Gray wrote.

    This eclipse preview story provides further explanation of the "impossible" selenelion phenomenon (alternate spelling is "selenehelion"). While we're on the subject of selenelion, toy inventor Mark Burginger sent in a couple of photos from the parking lot at Tetherow Golf Course in Bend, Ore., that shows the eastward sunrise view as well as the westward lunar eclipse view.

    Follow the links below to see eclipse photos from:

    Thanks again to these photographers as well as others who submitted eclipse pics. For still more about today's event and other eclipses, check out these links:

    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.