Something lovely happens in the skies today... Venus is a strangely errant planet, having the most complicated orbit when observed from Earth. We are lucky to observe this transit (basically the "Venus eclipse of the Sun") in our lifetime. The next one going to occur only in 2117. Here is the NASA image captured June 6, 2012 (SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit - 171 Angstrom):




(images credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video)

Gives you the proper sense of scale, doesn't it? Incredible detail revealed in this NASA/JAXA (Japanese space agency) spacecraft Hinode's photo:



(images via)

"Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. They occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years. A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon. While the diameter of Venus is more than 3 times that of the Moon, Venus appears smaller, and travels more slowly across the face of the Sun, because it is much farther away from Earth."

This is how it was illustrated by Nitzschke (see quite large collection of historical Transit of Venus illustrations here):



An glorious depiction of the Transit of Venus June 6th, 1761, conjoined Mercury, by Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr. First published in Atlas von hundert Charten 1712 & reprinted in Grossen Atlas 1716:



"Crabtree watching the Transit of Venus A.D. 1639" by Ford Madox Brown, a mural at Manchester Town Hall:


(image via)

Also check out this fabulous plate from observations in Guadalajara, Mexico, courtesy of Durruty Jesus de Alba Martinez:


(image via)

This year it will only visible in some parts of the globe, and in North America the transit has already occurred during sunset, June 5th... "Timing the transit from two widely separated places on the Earth’s surface allows you to work out the distance to Venus and hence the size of the solar system":



Planes seem to position themselves strategically over this unique event:


(images via)

"This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117." Here is a 2004 vs. 2012 passes comparison:


(image via)

Of course, you would need special solar filters to observe this event, and preferably, a telescope. However, I am sure that after-the-fact you can find plenty of images and videos on Google Images and Google Play, so don't worry if cloudy skies thwart your mission to see this today...

And to finish, here's another spectacular image: "Two Crescents", Venus and the Moon! -

for the twinkling of a tiny galaxy." (Wislawa Szymborska)


(Carina Nebula - image: NASA, via)

The sharpest view of the Orion Nebula that the Hubble telescope has ever provided, will make you pause in wonder, or even take a deep breath:


(image via)

Carina Nebula's region around the unusually hot massive young star WR 22, a member of the rare class of Wolf–Rayet stars:


(image via)

Another "small" but incredibly complex part of the spectacular Carina Nebula:


(image via)

Stellar gas makes incredible color display: clouds of glowing hydrogen inside the active star forming region IC 1396 -


(image via)

An interesting part of Carina Nebula looks like a wise old sage with a pointing finger... and the other part, namely Keyhole Nebula, shows a "hand with a finger" (sometimes called the "Finger of God"):




(image via)

Even more complex shapes can be found within Carina nebula, forming a sort of a cosmic "landscape" amid multitude of stars:



This apocalyptic image is the Hubble telescope's photo of the super massive star Eta Carinae. The spectacular expanding globular gas outburst around it is called the Homunculus (little man in Latin):


(image via)

The beautiful medusa-like remnant of a supernova E0102:


(Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/D.Dewey et al. and NASA/CXC/SAO/ J.DePasquale; Optical: NASA/STScI)

When galaxies "hubble", er... huddle together, they sometimes produce curious formations, like this Stephan's Quintet - more info. These five galaxies are in a violent collision, "and are involved in a cosmic dance that most likely will end with the galaxies merging." -


(images via)

This cataclysmic "dance" or collision of galaxies also sends the shockwave bigger than our Milky Way across cosmos!


(image via)

Another awesome concentration of galaxies is the Hickson 44 (about 60 million light-years away toward the constellation of Leo):


(image via)

Glorious "cosmic halo" galaxy, or rather Sombrero Galaxy... its brim is the inimitable dark dust lane around the central large bulge (probably concealing the supermassive black hole):



Soap Bubble Nebula! This is one huge bubble... as large as our Solar System - more info:



Here is a classic image of a spectacular NGC 6217 spiral galaxy:



Some sort of a "cosmic ghost flying away" from a stellar coast of iridescent gas (the Omega Nebula):


(image via)

And we are going to finish today with a truly colossal and cataclysmic image: two super massive black holes spiraling toward collision!:

(photos by Andreas Feininger and others, via)

If you want to see how it all started, click to enlarge this N.Y. skyline from 1908 on Shorpy site:


(image via Shorpy)


(1932 skyline, click to enlarge on Shorpy)




(1931 Gotham City skyline, click to enlarge on Shorpy, photo by Samuel Gottscho)

Thanks to the wonderful Lileks site, many old postcards have been preserved and proudly displayed with fascinating history attached. One thing to notice, is that the wonderful structures of that era seem to benefit from the open and uncluttered urban landscape of the time (less build-up, more parking lots, more empty space), easily commanding the attention they justly deserve.


The Lincoln Building


500 - Fifth Avenue


Rockefeller Center


(images credit: vintagephoto)


(image via, click to enlarge)


(for larger versions visit Shorpy - click here and here)

Good old traffic on Fifth Avenue, 1913 (fragment):


(image via, click to enlarge)


(images credit: vintagephoto)


The Building that stood before the World Trade Center:

Hudson Terminal Building covered two full square blocks and was every bit as massive as the World Trade Center towers built on the same space later. It was truly one of the largest office building in the world... Looks very imposing, almost on the verge of being oppressive:



Here it is again, with the surroundings:



(image via, click to enlarge - also see this)

100-year old skyscrapers: "still standing, and taller than anything in most towns":


Addams Express Building, 1914

This medium-sized (!) hotel "Edison" would've been perfect setting for Spiderman's climbing exercises:


(images courtesy: Lileks.com)

Now add some color!

Found through Skyscraper City display of the vintage color photographs of American cities, the exceptional Charles W. Cushman Collection shows New York in 1941 and 1960 - and it looks great, even with its gaudy "pulp-ish" color scheme.

It is also fascinating to compare the skylines of yesteryear with modern "commercial jungle" landscape:





(all photos via Charles W. Cushman Collection)

New York's Magic Today

Bright & often glamorous:


(images credit: Nicola Praderio)