Pic of the Week: Moonrise Perfection over the Dolomites

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): “Moonrise Perfection over the Dolomites” by Fabian Dalpiaz. (Royal Observatory Greenwich)

This week’s image is one of the winning photographs in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 contest. The photograph, ranked as highly commended under Skyscapes, was submitted by Fabian Dalpiaz and is titled “Moonrise Perfection over the Dolomites.” It was taken on November 15, 2024 in Santuario di Pietralba, Deutschnofen, South Tyrol, Italy.

Here is the notation attached to the photo:

This is a perfectly planned shot of the Full Moon rising above the rugged peaks of the Dolomites. With no clouds in sight and in flawless conditions, the golden light of sunset bathes the mountains, creating harmony between Earth and sky. All it takes is being in the right place at the right time and pressing the shutter button.

Pic of the Week: Capture the Dark 2025 Photo Contest

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): “Land of Ice” by Kavan Chay. (darksky.org/)

This week’s image is from the Capture the Dark 2025 contest sponsored by Dark Sky International. The third place winning photo is “Land of Ice” by Kavan Chay. The photo was taken in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, New Zealand.

The 2025 contest had over 2,200 entries from over 22 countries. You can see the other winning images here.

Stay tuned for the 2026 contest, which has yet to be announced.

NSS Space Settlement Contest

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Julius H. from Pixabay

The National Space Society (NSS) has announced its sixth Martine Rothblatt Space Settlement in Our Lifetime competition. To compete you only need to (1) be a student, academician, entrepreneur, or member of the broader space community – which is pretty broad – and (2) develop a business plans that will help to enable space settlement in the coming decades. Award-winning plans can win between $6,000 and $16,000.

Entries are due by February 15, 2026. If you are among the three finalists, you will be invited to the NSS annual International Space Development Conference in McLean, Virginia, which is held from June 4-7, 2026.

Here is some information on the 2025 winners if you need some ideas:

The first place award went to Anjan Balakrishnan and Nicholas Iraj Baumann of Georgetown University for their plan called Radiation Protection Solutions, an advanced, sandwiched design for radiation shielding for deep space missions. Second place went to Dr. Richard Nederlander and his team from Spargo Space Corp., featuring a business plan for orbital propellant depots. Third place went to Trent Tresch for his plan called StratoLabs, a self-contained, high-altitude balloon kit for independent aeronauts and researchers.

For more details on the competition, click here.

Pic of the Week: Student-Designed Artemis II Posters

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Mingyi Gan.

The above image is one of 24 winning posters designed by students at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. The contest, sponsored by SVA and NASA, is called The Artemis II/Earthrise Poster Project.

All of the posters will be on display next month at the SVA Gramercy Gallery located at 209 East 23rd Street, 1st floor, New York, NY 10010.

You can learn more about the event and view more of these creative posters at this link.

2025 International Mars Society Convention

Posted on by onespaceman2000

It is time to mark your calendar for the Mars Society’s 2025 International Mars Society Convention scheduled for October 9–11 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The theme this year is “Mars: The Time Has Come!”

If you want to learn more about past conventions to see if this is something for you, check out this link.

Some of the guests at last year’s convention included:

  • Tiffany M. Morgan, Deputy Director of the Mars Exploration Program in NASA’s Science Directorate, who will give an address about “Exploring Mars Together, DRAFT Plan for a Sustainable Future for Science at Mars.”
  • Howard Hu, the Orion Program Director at NASA, who will give an address about “NASA’s Artemis plans for returning to the Moon and beyond,”
  • Brig. General (Ret.) Dr. S. Pete Worden, Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, who will give an address about “Life in the Universe and Private Sector Space Science Initiatives.”
  • Dr. Alan Stern, a renowned planetary scientist and commercial astronaut, who will give an address about “The Other Red Planet” focusing on Pluto.

If you are interested, you can register for this year’s convention here.

Also, if you have any ideas for the design of this promotional poster for the 2025 convention visit this site for more information.