Hi all

My annual Year in Review post is a little late - I usually wrap up the year before xmas but we had such a busy December that I've only now had the time to reflect on what a great year 2011 was.

So what were the highlights for IceInSpace in 2011?

As with every year, showcase astronomical events always bring the most visitors to IceInSpace - particularly the general public, and especially if the media grabs hold of it and reports about it on the various media outlets.

The four most popular astronomical events in 2011 were:

• Total Lunar Eclipse, December 10th
• Kreitz Sungrazer Lovejoy in late December 
• Total Lunar Eclipse, June 6th 
• Conjunction of four Planets and Moon in late April/May

Some of the most popular topics and threads on the IceInSpace Forum in 2011 were:

• Kreitz Sungrazer Lovejoy
• Total Lunar Eclipse, December 10th
• Anyone heard of PMX shipments yet?
• Base Load power
• 2011 David Malin Awards Submissions
• Taking Delivery of GSO RC12
• TC Yasi

During 2011, we passed some significant milestones, including:

• Passing 9,000 registered members in April, and 10,000 in December!
• Passing 2,000 Likes on the IceInSpace Facebook page in December 
• Turning 7 years old in September
• Passing 80,000 threads and almost 800,000 posts!
• Holding our 6th IceInSpace AstroCamp (IISAC2011)

Some other interesting IceInSpace statistics for 2011 include:

• Over 1,500 new member registrations (same as 2010)
• Over 133,000 new posts (a little more than 2010)
• Over 9,000,000 page views (almost 10% more than 2010)
• Almost 2,100 sets of items have been bought and sold through the IceTrade Classifieds. Slightly less than 2010 but only just.
• 35% of people are still browsing IceInSpace using Internet Explorer, but it's only #1 by a small margin (41% last year). 2nd is Firefox with 33% (37% last year). Safari is third with 15% (10% last year) and Chrome has a nice increase to 13% (8% last year). Safari's increase is mostly thanks to the iPad and iPhone no doubt.

I'm really looking forward to what 2012 will bring, for astronomy and for IceInSpace. We've got some major astronomical events coming up, including:

• Venus Transiting Across the Sun in June
• Total Solar Eclipse in November

Both of these will generate huge interest in astronomy, including from the mainstream media. I'm hoping IceInSpace can again play a crucial role in providing information and updates to people wanting to find out about these events.

On behalf of IceInspace, Terry and I would like to thank everyone for being part of a fantastic year and a fantastic community.

All the best to you and your families.

Breaking News! Comet Lovejoy is now visible in the pre-dawn Eastern sky!

The image above by Colin Legg from Western Australia was captured this morning, 21st December and shows the tail of Comet Lovejoy rising in the East near Antares/Scorpius.

Colin has also posted a timelapse, which you can see on Vimeo.

To try and have a look yourself, look towards the East from 3:30am AEDST until the sky gets too bright. It may only be visible for a few more days - noone knows for sure yet.

In the last news post I mentioned the comet discovery made by Terry Lovejoy. Well it's turned out to be a massive event of its own and has had the attention of science-based media and starting to filter into mainstream media. The encounter between the comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) and the Sun was captured by space-based observatories and we've been able to watch in real-time as the comet headed towards the Sun and come out the other side in-tact, when it was expected to meet an untimely end and burn up.

There's a great wrap up of the imagery and videos here on YouTube.

Keep an eye on this IceInSpace thread for updates, including how and where you might be able to see the comet. Also keep an eye out here on our home page, or on our Facebook page for timely updates.

Total Lunar Eclipse Wrap Up

Wow, well what a night last Saturday night was. Predictions of terrible weather were cast across most of Australia, but for the fortunate ones it cleared right on command and many parts of the country were able to see the spectacular event.

The event received loads of media attention in the few days leading up to the Eclipse, and on the night of the eclipse itself the sheer number of visitors looking for information about the eclipse and reading the article on IceInSpace crushed our server and IceInSpace was struggling under the load. In the end, over 60,000 people read the article - and the vast majority of those were on Saturday itself before the eclipse!

Luckily, Facebook is designed to handle millions more visitors so I was able to share a stream of photos as the eclipse progressed into totality. If you're on Facebook, make sure you LIKE the IceInSpace page, so you can receive live updates if IceInSpace ever does have problems under severe load :)

There's loads more eclipse images posted on the IceInSpace Solar System forum, head on over and check them out.

Countdown almost over! Total Lunar Eclipse on the 10th December 2011

After all the anticipation and the countdowns, the Total Lunar Eclipse is almost here. It's happening on Saturday night, starting before midnight AEDST on Saturday and going into Sunday 11th.  If you don't live on the East Coast of Australia, don't forget to adjust for your time zone. Check the article here on IceInSpace for more information and local times for you

The event is getting a bit of media interest over the last week, and if your family and friends know you're into astronomy or the night sky, they'll probably ask you about it. So brush up on your knowledge using the article above, and be able to explain to them what a Total Lunar Eclipse is, how and why it's safe to observe and how to photograph it. You can even send them the link to share it with them :)

The weather reports are looking pretty bad for most parts of Australia, but I'm still hoping for some sucker holes to be able to get a view of this great event.

Some resources for you:

• IceInSpace Article about the Eclipse
• IceInSpace Discussion Thread
• IceInSpace Facebook Page

Good luck, we'd love to see your reports and images!

Amazing Amateur Discoveries by IceInSpace members

I'm continually amazed by the dedication and talent of the IceInSpace Community. It's been a busy few weeks with some new amazing discoveries by amateur astronomers.

Stu Parker from New Zealand has racked up his 22nd supernova discovery (SN 2011iv) as part of the prolific BOSS supernova searching team. It's a bright mag 12 type 1A supernova in NGC1404. Read more about Stu's discovery in this thread.

Terry Lovejoy from Queensland has discovered his 3rd comet - a sungrazing comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), which is due to smash into the Sun around December 15. What makes it even more special, is that it's extremely rare for sungrazing comets to be discovered from ground-based telescopes! Congrats Terry!

• Here's the IceInSpace thread discussing it.
• And here's an interview I did with Terry back in 2007 after he discovered his first comet
• And a thread discussing the impact with the Sun next week and how you may be able to watch it via the SOHO solar observatory:

Rolf Olsen from New Zealand has always captured unique and interesting photos with his 10" telescope and ToUcam webcam, but he went one step further this time - being the first person to capture a direct photograph of the protoplanetary disc surrounding the star Beta Pictoris.

His discovery and photograh has been around the world on every news stream - I've even had work colleagues mention it to me, and then I tell them "we saw it on IceInSpace first" :)

• Check it out for yourself here and read how he did it:
• He's also posted a new and improved image with further analysis.

My hearty congratulations to these three amazing amateur astronomers, who continue to inspire me with their commitment, dedication and passion for what they do - pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible.

What's Hot This Week

Each newsletter I thought I'd include some links to a selection of threads on IceInSpace and other sites which I like, and that you might find interesting too.

• Stunning timelapse preview by Tom Lowe for his upcoming feature length movie, Timescapes 4K.
• Beautiful timelapse by Alex Cherney taken around Lake Tekapo in New Zealand
• Bad Astronomers' 2011 Top 16 Photos from Space
• Martin Pugh's stunning image of Melotte 15 which is this weeks Image of the Week
• A nice sharp Jupiter image by Ray
• One of Damian Peach's best Jupiter images for 2011
• A great image showing the evolution of Earth compared to a 12 month calendar
• IceInSpace on Facebook, approaching 2000 Likes :)
  

Last Minute Xmas Gift - Special 30% Discount!

I'm out of Astronomy 2012 Yearbooks now, but we can still help you with that last minute stocking filler with a xmas special discount.

The Astronomy and Australian Sky 2012 Calendars are still available and are a perfect gift - affordable, informative, beautiful and useful.

For a single calendar, it's $19 delivered to your door (within Australia). However as a xmas special, if you order 2 or more calendars in the same order, you'll receive a massive 30% discount. Check them out here and click the big blue button to order online:

Buy Astronomy and Australian Sky 2012 Calendars Online

Thanks for reading! Please share with your friends.