Astrophotos | Universe Today

Clouds got you down? No chance of seeing V2491 Cyg because of the weather? Are you sleeping when Cygnus is up? One of the most beautiful facets of having an astronomer around is being able to share information with other observatories around the world and put them to work. This time the job was handed to our friends in Australia who were able to produce for us an exclusive look at an elusive nova. Read more…

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Just one glimpse at this photo by Don Goldman tells a thousand words. Residing in the southern constellation of Ara, this incredible dust cloud is at home in Ara OB1 association, which covers a full degree of sky. Some 4000 light years away in the disk of our Galaxy, NGC 6188 sprawls across the edge of an expanding bubble of gas that could be as much as 300 light years wide.
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This picture is too gorgeous not to share it. A new Chandra X-ray telescope image shows a beautiful, dense region of massive stars in the Centaurus constellation. It almost appears as though someone threw a handful of colored candies out into space. Known as Westerlund 2, this star cluster has been a mysterious region of our galaxy, filled with dust and gas that have obscured our vision of what lies inside. But new X-ray observations with Chandra have revealed some of the hottest, brightest and most massive known stars, and this is now regarded as one of the most interesting star clusters in the Milky Way galaxy.
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You know I try and feature great amateur astrophotographers here on Universe Today. Wired Magazine tapped into this, and had me write a feature article for their website, highlighting some of my favourite astrophotographers and their impressive gear. The article highlights 11 photographers, gives you a breakdown of the equipment they use, and the results of their work. I had a lot of fun putting it together, and I've got to say, I'm more than a little tempted to join the hobby too.

Click here to read the article. And if you enjoyed it, click here to give it a Digg.

If you've got a website or blog, I'd really appreciate a link to the story. Let's get the word out about this cool hobby.

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Astrophotography is an exhilarating pastime. Thanks to the digital revolution in amateur astronomy, taking deep space images is less of the almost overwhelming challenge it was just a handful of years ago. Today, with a modest telescope and digital camera, thousands of enthusiasts are producing beautiful images of galaxies and nebulas. However, one final hurdle persists- raw images produced through a telescope still require significant enhancement to bring out the secrets hidden within them. This can be a daunting procedure because processing astrophotographs has been, and remains, an essentially self-taught art. However, several imaging experts who have been honing their processing skills for many years have recently begun to reveal their hard learned techniques through books and, in 2006, with DVD tutorials.
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We live in an age filled with robots- both those that respond to commands issued by a person and those that autonomously respond to a program placed within their operating system. Regardless of how they function, and more fundamentally, robots are tools meant to perform tasks that are repetitive or dangerous, often in situations requiring high precision or to serve as human proxy. Interestingly, robots have also been a staple in fiction since antiquity- one of the earliest examples was the bronze giant, Talos, in Homer's IIiad. They have also been used as an elaborate metaphor for humankind's relationship with technology. So, whether the term "robot" conjures up a vision of Frankenstein or Tickle Me Elmo, they no longer are just a figment of fertile imaginations and humankind's reliance is growing exponentially. For example, robots are increasingly playing a significant role in amateur astronomy- the image that accompanies this discussion was produced through robotic assistance.
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Animals have always been important subjects for sculpture. In its earliest representations, the purpose was to gain control over the creature or to confer magical powers- equestrian statues, especially so. Thus, over the ages, the horse became an icon of civilization. Sculptures of horses have meant different things to different cultures- initially as prey then as abundance. During Antiquity the horse was viewed as the embodiment of power and more recently it has been used as a metaphor for freedom, journeys to distant places and the pursuit of personal dreams. To many, the horse has taken on a monumental stature that stirs deep-seated feelings whether it is carved out of rock or composed of ephemeral wisps in the dim reaches of outer space.
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Astronomy has many unfair advantages over the other natural sciences because it captures elements of travel, adventure and discovery. One glimpse through eyepiece filled with thousands of previously unseen stars has lured many casual observers into a head-over-heels love affair with the night sky that remains with them for the rest of their life. The dazzling images reproduced in magazines, books and movies also plant dreams of taking similar images in the minds of more than a few would-be astronomers, too! However, producing astronomical imagery is not for the feint hearted. It involves patience, perseverance and until very recently, a measure of luck. Much of that has changed with the introduction of computerized telescopes and affordable digital cameras. This year has also seen a small explosion of books and DVD tutorials that explain how to transform raw deep space images into picture postcards of the Universe!
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Our lives in the early 21st Century can be characterized by many words and phrases. One of them, surely, is our sense of instantaneousness! For the first time in human history, practically any person on the planet can have a live conversation with anyone else using the now ubiquitous cell phone, as one example. Our voices, text messages, pictures and, increasingly, streaming media bounce effortlessly at the speed of light from hand held devices through ground based repeaters to satellite transponders and vice versa. I suspect, our great grandparents would be stupefied by all of this because we have essentially managed to bring the distance between all points on Earth to a practical zero point. Yet, we are surrounded (no, we are engulfed) by circumstances that are in stark contrast to our modern sense of reality. To understand what I am referencing, look up at the sky or take a peek at the accompanying picture.
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Go to a public place where people gather such as a rush hour sidewalk downtown or a weekend shopping mall and you'll quickly notice that each person is an individual with diverse characteristics based on their height, weight and countenance, for example. Such is also true of the stars that congregate above. Each are distinct by size, shape, age, and color. There's also one other trait that's immediately noticeable at first glance- each star has a unique brilliance.
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Our understanding of the Universe is written in pencil on the pages of a loose-leaf notebook because, like many of the sciences, our knowledge of nature is constantly undergoing revision. For example, during the past few years a quiet revolution has been taking place regarding galaxies, black holes and their increasingly understood symbiotic relationship. Black holes, which were once considered scientific novelties, are now seen as fundamental forces shaping the Universe. Observations obtained since the turn of the 21st century have offered evidence that virtually all galaxies, such as M83 pictured here, harbor a king size black hole at their center- including our Milky Way!
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In June of 1889, about one year before his untimely death, the brilliant Dutch post-impressionist, Vincent Van Gogh, furiously completed The Starry Night while staying at the Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, a mental asylum located in Southern France. The painting depicts a humble village nestled between the blue tranquility of undulating hills and a magical sky filled with comet shaped clouds and cartwheeling stars the size of Ferris wheels. Even though Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, this priceless work of art has become an icon. In it he captured a childlike wonder that adults can recognize for who has not stood outside and been swayed by twinkling stars celebrating overhead. Beautiful deep space images can elicit similar excitement from astronomical enthusiasts. However, the photographers who produce them are more interested in the stars when they are peaceful.
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Since 1989, when the first extra solar planet was detected, 180 planetary systems featuring 210 planets have been identified as of October 19, 2006. Each discovery has been a remarkable achievement. However, not one of these worlds has yet to be observed visually and there is not a shred of evidence that any are capable of harboring life, as we know it. But that has not throttled the creative energy of writers, television producers and movie directors from their unbridled speculation that the Universe is bursting with intelligent beings. In fact, the unprecedented discovery of these planets has seemed somewhat anticlimactic to science fiction fans raised on H.G. Wells, Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas tales. To many sci-fi buffs, science is simply confirming their long held beliefs. For example, according to the Star Trek universe, Rigel, the off camera star which illuminates the accompanying picture, has twelve planets that support Federation colonies.
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On December 2, 1995, the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft was launched aboard an Atlas/Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station on a two-year mission to monitor the sun. Almost eleven years later, the SOHO spacecraft continues to faithfully record solar activity orbiting the Sun about 1.5-million kilometers inward from Earth. NASA and the European Space Agency operate the satellite jointly. Everyday, SOHO transmits pictures that are freely available for viewing on the Internet. These images inform scientists around the world about the Sun's nature and behavior. Its images and data enable them to predict "space weather" events affecting our planet. Earlier in July of this year, someone discovered a new comet in a SOHO picture and now it's gracing our evening skies as seen in this telescopic image.
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Like shards of shattered glass caught in a spotlight, the stars appear deceptively passive in the night sky. Yet, each one is an object of extraordinary ferocity. Stellar surface temperatures can reach 50,000 degrees Celsius- over ten times hotter than our Sun - and on a few it can reach over one million degrees! The heat within a star reaches even higher levels that typically exceed several million degrees - enough to tear apart atomic nuclei and transform them into new types of matter. Our casual glances upward not only fails to reveal these extreme conditions but it only hints at the enormous variety of stars that exist. Stars are arranged in pairs, triplets and quartets. Some are smaller than Earth while others are larger than our entire solar system. However, since even the nearest star is 26 trillion miles distant, almost everything we know about them, including those in the accompanying picture, has been gleaned only from their light.
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If the universe extends forever and if it's full of stars, why is the night sky dark? This is a question that has been asked by philosophers and scientists since Antiquity. Johannes Kepler sought an answer, as did Edmond Haley, many years after him. Just as an observer sees trees in all directions when standing in a forest, every line of sight in an infinite universe should end with the twinkling of a star. The net result should be a sky ablaze with heavenly light. Not only should the night sky be as bright, if not brighter, than during the day but the heat from all those suns should be sufficient to boil the Earth's oceans away! Therefore, the starry scene depicted in the striking picture that accompanies this article, should appear to be missing stars when compared to gazing into the Cosmos above.
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The ability for convex and concave transparent objects to enlarge or reduce had been known since Antiquity and by the end of the thirteenth century; quality glass was relatively inexpensive, particularly in Italy. At the same time, techniques for grinding and polishing had reached a high state of relative precision in Venice. So, handheld magnifying glasses became relatively common. During the fourteenth century, the craftsmen of Venice began producing small double-sided convex glass disks that could be mounted and worn in a frame- the first reading glasses. By the middle of the fifteenth century the Italians were also producing spectacles that corrected for nearsightedness. Therefore, around 1450 the ingredients to produce the first telescope were in place but it would be another 150 years before children would trigger its invention and change everything.
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Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is estimated to have 400 billion stars, give or take 200 billion, but less than 6,000 (also an estimate) are visible from dark locations without telescopic aide- and only part of this number can be seen during any single night. Some are dim but close, others are bright but remote and many are partially hidden behind veils of dust so their splendor only hints at their distance. Therefore, the placement of the stars and their brilliance in the sky creates a completely random distribution of bright pinpoints overhead that people have, nonetheless, grouped into familiar patterns called constellations. This affinity for recognizing or imagining designs also extends to the objects in space that can only be seen through telescopes or in photos with long exposures such as this article's featured picture that, many believe, resembles a flower.
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Prior to 1957, virtually all photographs of the sky were produced as monochrome, black and white images. In that year, Ansco, once the world's largest supplier of professional films, papers, and photo chemicals, introduced Super Anscochrome and over the next twenty-four months, full color images of the heavens were being released by the larger observatories. Over the years technology has improved and the colors captured in astronomical imagery have become more vivid and meaningful. For example, the hues seen in the accompanying picture represent not only this scene's true-to-nature pallet, but it also reveals what you are looking at, too.
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Arc lights had been used in lighthouses for several years when Thomas Edison began seeking a way to improve them. Arc lamps use two rods of carbon arranged so that their tips are almost touching. When sufficient electricity is sent to each, the current jumps between them and causes the carbon to become incandescent. Although carbon burns very slowly, over time the rods erode and have to be replaced. The year was 1881 when Edison embarked on a solution and the result of his success spread around the globe to both light and inadvertently curse the darkness.
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Evidence of Astronomy has been found in most ancient cultures. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Mesopotamians, the Chinese- and in the New World- the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Anasazi all tracked the movement of stars across the heavens. Astronomy has always been a practical endeavor arising from a fundamental need to anticipate the seasons. Astronomy's utility didn't stop there, however. Interpreting the motion of the stars also helped the traveler in ancient and not so ancient societies- particularly those hunting far from familiar landscapes, journeying on long trading missions or sailing out at sea without landmarks. But, in each of these long ago civilizations, what became of the individuals who made the fundamental astronomical discoveries that future generations have taken for granted?
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For many years, there were three popular theories that tried to explain why Earth's satellite hangs in our skies. One postulated that the Moon separated from Earth during our planet's formation, another stated that it was captured when passing close by, and the third held that it formed in place with our planet out of the same material circling the Sun at the solar system's birth. Each of these ideas had their own justifications but none of them provided all of the answers because each of them were well conceived, but, educated guesses.
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Every clear evening, as twilight dissolves into night, untold thousands of telescopes scattered across the globe turn toward the great beyond that lies above. But, increasingly, a camera is replacing the eyepiece as the favorite way to study the heavens. Taking deep space pictures was once the purview of a small, dedicated group of amateur astronomers. The technology available was daunting, expensive and time consuming. Luck was an important factor in producing an image that resembled its subject. But all that has changed in the past few years- producing deep space images, such as the one seen here, while still not a point-and-click exercise, has become much easier.
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Stars arise at the heart of great interstellar clouds that have collapsed under their own weight. These free-floating clouds are comprised principally of hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, plus a smaller amount of dust from previous generations of suns. The size of a typical cloud is so enormous that it takes light many years to travel from one end to the other. The amount of material within an interstellar cloud is also staggering to imagine- so much material is brought together that multiple star births are common. Seen from the outside, a collapsed cloud can appear dark and foreboding. But, inside they are full of light from the hot, newly formed stars that have been incubated. Over time, the cloud will part or dissipate to reveal a new group of stars, similar to the two clusters seen in the accompanying picture.
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Natural disasters are, unfortunately, something that we must contend with. For example, a flash flood can plunge towns into unexpected chaos, a hurricane strike can suddenly devastate an entire region and science has found evidence of an ancient asteroid impact that curtailed the rein of the dinosaurs by affecting climate across our planet. But these kind of events occur on an even greater scale - natural circumstances can lead to catastrophes that engulf whole galaxies such as seen in this picture.
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