Ask an Astronomer: Artemis II images, understanding telescopes and more!

April’s episode of Ask an Astronomer recaps the success of the Artemis II mission and find out what telescopes are best for beginners

The Artemis II Astronauts are back on Earth after a whirlwind 10-day journey that took them around the moon and the farthest any humans have ever gone into deep space.

One of the countless unique moments from this mission was the ability to see photos of our Earth and Moon shared by NASA in nearly real time.

A picture that captured a lot of attention online was the photo of our planet take by Artemis compared to the ‘Blue Marble’ photograph captured during the last 1972 Apollo mission.

Some commented on the color difference of the Earth between the two photos, which were taken more than 50 years apart.

“When you look at the one taken by Artemis it’s the night time side of the Earth,” explained Dr. Stephen Jeans, PhD in space and Earth science.

“So there are sensitive cameras (NASA) is using right now.... so the camera itself was able to pick up the night time side and make it bright enough so that it looks like daytime.”

Artemis II has no doubt inspired more people to take up astronomy, but the world of telescopes can initially be a little overwhelming.

In this episode, Robyn Foret with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Calgary-Centre shows the wide-array of options out there for star-gazers of all experience levels.

There are now even ‘smart’ telescopes where you don’t even need to leave the city!

Here’s a breakdown of what’s covered in April’s episode by timecode:

• 03:24 - Artemis II Mission and Photos
• 06:33 - Different types of telescopes
• 15:47 - Comparing Nasa pictures of the Earth 1972 vs 2026
• 18:20 - “Dark side of the Moon” misnomer
• 21:25 - How can the Moon be so bright at night?
• 24:25 - Green object captured in viewer photo

If you have a question you would like to ask an astronomer you can email us at [e-mail], text us at 10-400 or leave a question in the comment section on YouTube.

You can also watch full episodes of Ask an Astronomer on our CTV Calgary website and on our CTV News YouTube page.