May 14
by Alex Conu in Astrophotography 0 comments tags: beijing, one people, one sky, photo exhibition, planetarium, silk road, twan, twanight

Silk Road at Night photo exhibition

If you happen to be in Beijing, pass by the Planetarium to see the “Silk Road at Night” photo exhibition. It’s a great effort put up by fellow TWANer Dai Jianfeng from China. 37 photographers, 38 countries, 56 photos from all over the world, but only “One People, One Sky.” I have one photo in the exhibition. It’s a shot of the Venus transit in 2012. I took the photo from the shore of the Black Sea through a 1m focal length telescope. A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. The last transit of Venus was on 5 and 6 June 2012, and was the last Venus transit of the 21st century; the prior transit took place on 8 June 2004. I managed to see and photograph that one too. The next transits of Venus will be on 10–11 December 2117, and […]
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Jul 31
by Alex Conu in Astrophotography 0 comments tags: astrophotography, conu, landscape, member, night sky, tafreshi, twan

Member of TWAN – The World at Night

A few weeks ago, I got a pretty unexpected message from Babak Tafreshi, Director of TWAN – The World at Night. He was inviting me to join TWAN. Rubbed my eyes twice, then read again. Whoa! TWAN is a project I’ve been looking upon since it was founded. It’s been a great inspiration to me during the past almost ten years. And it’s actually the project that made me start doing landscape astrophotography again. “The World At Night (TWAN) is a program to create and exhibit a collection of stunning landscape astrophotographs and time-lapse videos of the world’s most beautiful and historic sites against a nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. TWAN is a bridge between art, humanity, and science. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all the landmarks and symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories. Those involved in global programs learn to see humanity as a family living together on a single planet amidst the vast ocean of our Universe. This global perspective motivates us to work for a better, more peaceful planet for all the world’s inhabitants.” […]
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Jun 13
by Alex Conu in Astrophotography, Northern Lights 2 comments tags: astrophotography, aurora borealis, contest, lofoten, northern lights, twan, winner

Winner of The 2016 International Earth & Sky Photo Contest

I am so very stoked to be chosen as the winner of The 2016 International Earth & Sky Photo Contest. My image of the Northern Lights shot last October from the top of Mount Reinebringen, in Lofoten, was selected as the winner in the Against the Lights category and overall contest winner. The image was shot on October the 7th 2015, during one of the most beautiful Aurora displays I have ever witnessed. A big thank you goes to my wife Anca, who joined me for this camping trip up the mountain and who understands all my nocturnal escapades for shooting the night sky. That day, I looked at some satellite data and decided we should go up as something was going to happen. Being an astrophysicist helps a lot when shooting the Northern Lights as it gives you a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and lets you better plan your photo sessions. Went up around 7PM and, as soon as the Sun set, the sky went on fire. Green, purple, pink fire. What an amazing night we had. I started astrophotography a long time ago, when I was 13 years old. Now, I am 32. I’m not doing it for the […]
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TWAN - The World at Night
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