Marco Meniero is an Italian astrophotographer, scientific sky photographer, and science communicator. Active since the 1990s, he is recognized as a leading expert and specialist in the observation, photographic documentation, classification, and physical explanation of atmospheric optics and photometeors.
Marco Meniero is an Italian astrophotographer, scientific sky photographer, and science communicator. Active since the 1990s, he is recognized as a leading expert and specialist in the observation, photographic documentation, classification, and physical explanation of atmospheric optics and photometeors.
www.meniero.it @ All Rights Reserved 2021 - Website created by Flazio Experience
www.meniero.it @ All Rights Reserved 2021 - Website created by Flazio Experience
MY BOOKS
Discover all my publications and my books
Lights and Colors of the Sky
Revised and Expanded Edition (2025)
Lights and Colors of the Sky (2025)
With the release of the second volume of “Lights and Colors of the Sky”, Ronca Editore. Compared to the first volume, the pages have increased from 145 to 240 and the format is larger, so it can be consulted like a photographic atlas. With “Lights and Colors of the Sky”, the reader dives into the world of photometeors and rare phenomena that can be seen in the atmosphere and are hard to identify. We are talking about rainbows, mirages, the green flash, halo phenomena, auroras…
This work is the result of years of research and observations that I decided to collect and share, providing useful information both for professionals and for non-experts. The book offers valuable tips on how to recognize, observe and photograph atmospheric phenomena and is accompanied by a gallery of spectacular images. Compared to the first edition, the photos have increased from 150 to 280 (!!!) and explanatory drawings and charts by illustrator Mauro Balloni have also been added. In addition, numerous images taken from the GrAG’s Optic Picture of the Day column are included, featuring the best photos from around the world. Sections on photometeors in the history of art have also been introduced (with the collaboration of Giulia LOMBI), and QR codes are provided to easily view museum archives. The volume is presented as a new and even more complete tool than the first edition. If the first edition was a handbook for quick identification of phenomena, the second volume is intended as a definitive photographic atlas, with comprehensive text and many further in-depth insights.
Lights and Colors of the Sky (2021)
Text authors: Marco Meniero and Andreina Ricco
“The author of the work "Lights and colors of the sky", Dr. Marco Meniero, had asked me to write the Preface to his Book, which I gladly did because the work deserves to be read and …seen.”
These are the words of Col. Giuliacci used in presenting the book published by Ronca Editore.
How many of you have seen a mirage, a green flash, sun dogs, the Brocken spectre, iridescent clouds, a parhelion, a glory, a sun pillar, an omega-shaped sun at sunset? I think few, or very few. At night there are other luminous phenomena linked to the interaction of the atmosphere with the atmosphere’s electric field, such as lightning, and with the Earth’s magnetic field, such as sprites, blue jets and auroras. In short, in the atmosphere there is a multitude of wonderful “lights and colors” that often escape our notice. This publication is a collection of beautiful images of all the photometeors you might happen to see in the sky, from the common ones to the rarer and more fleeting. This work is the result of years of personal research and of observations gathered and shared, seeking to provide useful information both to professionals and to non-experts.
The text is accompanied by a gallery of beautiful images of these special sky phenomena; you can admire and understand how these celestial events appear, from the most common to the rarest and most fleeting.
The book is divided into 10 chapters: Photometeors, Green Ray: unveiling the mystery, The optical illusion of mirages, Astronomical mirages: gravitational lenses, Physiological and cerebral optical illusions, Polar auroras, STEVE light, Mysterious luminous phenomena (UFOs, Hassdalen lights, red sprites, blue jets, elves), Classification of atmospheric motions that impair night observations, Light pollution.
Thanks for the text contributions to Col. Mario Giuliacci, meteorologist Paolo Sottocorona, Andreina Ricco, Alessandro Ghelardi and Piergiovanni Salimbeni.
Lights of the Atmosphere
Text authors:
Marco Meniero and Andreina Ricco
Luci dell’Atmosfera is a 2003 guide published by the magazine l’Astronomia: it is a 50-page A3 booklet illustrating the main photometeors. The publication aims to help you learn about and photograph the following phenomena: Rainbows, Green Flash, Polar Auroras, Coronas, Iridescence, Halos, Sundogs, Sun Pillar, Subsun, Brocken Spectre, Crepuscular Rays, Optical Illusions, Mirages, Omega Sun, Fata Morgana, Novaya Zemlya, Atmospheric Refraction and Black Drop. The publication is out of print.
NEWSLETTER
Lalla’s Moon
Author: Giulia Lombi Meniero and Marco Meniero
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In the heart of every child lives a world of wonder and curiosity. For little Lalla, this world lights up each evening when her father tells her a special story: the adventures of Selene, the moon princess. Through these tales, Lalla not only travels with her imagination, but also discovers a universe of emotions. Fear of the unknown turns into exploring courage, loneliness into a longing for friendship, and curiosity into a thirst for knowledge. Each story is like a hug that reassures and, at the same time, urges her to dream bigger. Dad’s stories spark in Lalla questions about the world around her. The moon, from a simple night light, becomes a mysterious realm to explore with the eyes of fantasy and science. Its changing shapes are no longer just magic, but a phenomenon to understand, nurturing in the child the desire to learn. "Lalla’s Moon" is more than a book: it is an emotional journey that guides young readers in discovering themselves and the world. It offers children the chance to identify with Lalla, to feel the thrill of discovery and the warmth of family affection.
