Universe Today » Astrophotos

Jupiter's Dueling Red Spots

Tammy Plotner — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:56:39 +0000

Even though most of us have been suffering from poor seeing conditions due to both hemisphere's seasonal climate changes, the changes we're experiencing look like nothing compared to what's happening on Jupiter. If you think we've got turbulent atmosphere and more than our fair share of clouds – then check out what John Chumack's been watching! (...)
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1 Milky Way; 3,000 Images

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:32:38 +0000

What a gorgeous and immense image! And it's full of stars! An astronomer from Central Michigan University has put together a new high-resolution panoramic image of the full night sky , with the Milky Way galaxy as its centerpiece. Axel Mellinger stitched together over 3,000 images to create this beautiful image, which also comes in an interactive version, showing stars 1,000 times fainter than the human eye can see, as well as hundreds of galaxies, star clusters and nebulae.
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Supernova 2009js… Another One Bites The Dust!

Tammy Plotner — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:22:26 +0000

SN 2009 JS in NGC 918 by Joe Brimacombe

Far away in the constellation of Aries, in a 14th magnitude barred spiral galaxy designated as NGC 918… a star exploded with enough candlepower to briefly outshine its home. Discovered independently by Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS) and Koichi Itagaki (Japan) on October 11, 2009, this Type II supernova might be hiding in the intergalactic dust, but it isn't hiding from Joe Brimacombe. (...)
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Hot Crescent Rolls… A Bubble?

Tammy Plotner — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:27:24 +0000

The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, is a very well renown and most intriguing object located in the constellation Cygnus in the northern hemisphere. At an apparent size of about 18 by 13 arc-minutes it is a very pale nebula. Even in a moderate amateur telescope you can't quite see this one unless you have absolute dark skies (or narrow band filters) and a decent "light bucket". So how do we get a chance to study it? Photographically, of course… (...)
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Giga Galaxy Zoom Trilogy Now Complete

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:32:43 +0000

"Now the circle is complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, and now…" Oh, sorry, different triology. The third image of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project has just been released online, completing this eye-opening dive into a galaxy not so far away; our own Milky Way. This third installment provides another breathtaking vista of an astronomical object, this time a 370-million-pixel view of the Lagoon Nebula with the quality and depth needed by professional astronomers in their quest to understand our Universe.
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Battlestar Photoshopica: Otto Travels to Pluto

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:41:47 +0000

Otto the Dachshund traveling through the Hubble Deep Field. Created by Ralph Petrozello

Our "Astro Art" feature needs a catchier name, and frankly we need more people to read this feature or it will be toast. So here's the new name: Battlestar Photoshopica, suggested by UT reader Dave Finton. And spread the word about these very cool posts which showcase our readers' prowess with digital image editing software. Here's this week's edition, which is probably the cutest image we've ever received. This is Otto the Dachshund, created by Ralph Petrozello. Otto is on his way to Pluto. Really. This image was chosen by The Planetary Society to be part of the New Horizons Digital Time Capsule, on board the New Horizons spacecraft on its way to Pluto. The time capsule consists of photographs of things in 2006 that people expect will be transformed by 2015, when the spacecraft arrives at Pluto. Only fifty photos were selected, and this is one of them.

Ralph told us more about this image:
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Reaching Near Space For Less Than $150

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:47:41 +0000

A group of MIT students have launched a low-budget satellite to near space, taking images of the curvature of Earth and the blackness of space. Their approach was to use low tech, off the shelf equipment, which included a Styrofoam beer cooler, a camera from eBay, open source software and an inexpensive helium balloon as the launch vehicle in order to do their complete mission launch for less than $150. Total cost? $148. The experience? Priceless, including getting interviewed on CNN and Fox News about their achievement. The best news for the rest of us? They'll soon be sharing an illustrated step-by-step guide on how to launch your own low-budget satellite.
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340 Million Pixels of GigaGalaxy Zoom

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:21:57 +0000

Second image from GigaGalaxy Zoom. Credit: Stéphane Guisard

Last week the GigaGalaxy Zoom project introduced an interactive 360-degree panorama of the entire night sky, and they promised more zoomable images to come. The second of three images is now available, and it is a wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our galactic home. Taken by Stéphane Guisard, an ESO engineer and world-renowned astrophotographer, the image shows the region spanning the sky from the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) to Scorpius (the Scorpion). This mosaic was assembled from 52 different sky fields made from about 1200 individual images totalling 200 hours exposure time, with the final image having a size of 24,403 x 13,973 pixels. Click on the image to get access to larger versions of the image. Jump right in and enjoy the views!
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Space Shuttle Flushes the Toilet for All the World To See

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:17:29 +0000

Shuttle with water dump. Copyright Clair Perry

This picture is from last week; September 9, 2009 to be exact, but I still wanted to share it. I just got in touch with photographer Clair Perry from Prince Edward Island, Canada to get his permission to post the image. No, this is not a comet. Pictured is space shuttle Discovery executing a water dump. The shuttle needed to get rid of excess waste water before landing the next day, and jettisoned it overboard via the waste water dump line, creating a spectacular visual effect as sunlight hit the spraying water. This dump occurred just as the shuttle was flying over North America last week, and lots of people witnessed this "toilet flush." Some reports indicated it was "pristine" water (the shuttle fuel cells' by-product is water) and other reports said it was "waste water and urine" (the Bad Astronomer called it Constellation Urion). Whatever, it was pretty. NASA said this was an unusually large dump, about 150 pounds (68 kg), because new regulations say no shuttle water dumps can take place while docked to the ISS, so as not to contaminate the outdoor experiments on the Kibo lab.

See below for the spectacular entire image, which also includes the nearby ISS creating a streak in the sky. Thanks to Clair Perry for sharing his images.
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Astro Art: Artist Creates Portrait Gallery of Astronomers

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:29:39 +0000

Galileo. Painting by Sayward Duffano

Art and astronomy often intersect, and it's wonderful when art can provide an emotional connection to science. Amateur astronomer and artist Sayward Duffano has captured the personalities of several astronomers through history as well as individuals in astronomy related fields in a gallery of paintings she created especially for the International Year of Astronomy. "I knew I wanted to paint something special for the IYA," she said. "So last year I had started painting a few astronomers, some planets, and some other types of astro art."

And Sayward says she is looking for a place to display her work.
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Great Views of the ISS and Shuttle From Earth and Space

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:57:35 +0000

The ISS and Discovery on Sept. 1, 2009. Credit: Paolo Beltrame

Paolo Beltrame from Italy sent us this amazing montage of images he took of space shuttle Discovery docked to the ISS on September 1, 2009. See the incredible details visible of the space station and docked shuttle! Paolo is with the Circolo AStrofili Talmassons (Amateur Astronomers Club in Talmassons, or CAST) who have an impressive observatory (take a look at Paolo's website). He took these selected images from a 2-minute movie taken with a TourcamPro webcam. As impressive as Paolo's astrophotos are, however, he says his real passion is viewing the night sky with the naked eye. His motto is "Lasciate che i fotoni vengano a me!" (Let the photons come to me!) See a close up of Paolo's best shot of the ISS/shuttle below, as well as images from other astrophotographers of Tuesday evening's pass of the shuttle and ISS as they flew in tandem after Discovery undocked from the station on Tuesday afternoon. There's also video from the shuttle's flyaround.
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Astro Art of the Week: Space City of the Future

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:03:46 +0000

Future City by Alan Lipkin.

Ever try to imagine what cities on other planets or moons might look like? Universe Today reader Alan Lipkin put his imagination to work for this week's edition of Astro Art. But do you recognize the different images Alan Photoshopped together to create this very futuristic city? "It is Saturn's moon Phoebe with New York City inserted in the craters Jason and Erginus," Alan revealed. Additionally, a portion of the Wild Duck Cluster is the backdrop.
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"What Was That Big Star Next to the Moon Last Night?"

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:36:27 +0000

Anyone ask you that question this morning? Jupiter was only 3 degrees from the Moon last night, making a pretty (and bright!) conjuction. I put out a call on Twitter last night for pictures of the event, and here are a few that were shared. Above is one taken by Kevin Jung in Grand Rapids, Michigan USA. Click the picture for more of Kevin's images. Also, if you looked at Jupiter with a telescope last night (Sept 2) at 4:43 to 6:29 Universal Time (12:43 a.m. to 2:29 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) you may have also noticed something was missing: Jupiter's moons were hiding! Ganymede and Europa passed in front of the giant planet, while Io and Callisto will passed behind Jupiter (from our point of view) making it nearly impossible to visually detect any moons around Jupiter. Our own Brian Ventrudo explains all on his site One Minute Astronomer. And here's some more images from the conjuction:
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Astro Art of the Week #8: Space Shuttle Sketches

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:48:46 +0000

This week's Astro Art was submitted by Assi Süer, a 20 year-old amateur astronomer and astrophysics student from Sweden. She has been sketching and painting since she was young. Since space shuttle Discovery is now docked at the International Space Station for the STS-128 mission, Assi's sketches seemed fitting for this week, especially since her fellow Swede, Christer Fugelsang, is on board. "He has inspired me, and many more, to never give up," Assi said. "Even a Swede can become an astronaut, but only if we work hard for it. It is, of course, nothing wrong with Swedes, but it's hard for us because we're such a small part of the European Space Agency."

"'Failure is not an option' is my favorite quote," Assi said, "because failure definitely isn't an option for me, if I'm going to one day work for ESA, which is my dream. So I'm going to do everything to not fail."

Below is another of her sketches of space shuttles.
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Astro Art of the Week: Music and the Heavens

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:44:25 +0000

This week's featured Astro Art was created by Universe Today reader Bhavya Mittal. Bhavya calls it "Music combines the soul and the heavens," and explains the image: "On the bottom left is the most dangerous black hole identified till now. On the top right is the Crab Nebula, and below it, as you can see, is our dear Solar System. This image shows that when you are totally engrossed in music,you really get the feel of the Universe. At least I have felt it!"
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Astro Art of the Week #6

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:00:47 +0000

Here's another installment for our new feature, Astro Art of the Week, where we feature our readers' artwork they have created via digital editing software and other media. On a warm summer day, this image of "Frozen Nitrogen Landscape" looks almost inviting! This image was created by UT reader "Bunnyman," a.k.a. Stephen Guida. What was the inspiration for this image? "A couple of years ago I was reading about Pluto and its eccentric orbit," Stephen told us, "how its atmosphere is gaseous part of the time and freezes out into solid material as it reaches its aphelion. I started to imagine a large rocky planet, many times the size of Earth, with a highly eccentric orbit and a dense nitrogen atmosphere which would freeze out into a solid at different points in its orbit. The frozen nitrogen "lake" covers most of the planet's surface and the background mountain ranges, covered with nitrogen "snow", poke through and tower thousands of meters above."
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Astro Art of the Week

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:48:11 +0000

Here's the fifth edition of our new feature, showcasing our readers' prowess with image editing software. This week's Astro Art of the Week is a conglomeration of several images created by Aaron Nako. "The blue background with vertical lines is actually a distorted and colour-adjusted picture of the Carina nebula," Aaron wrote, "and the stars in the electricity/waves are from a picture of NGC 6384 taken from the Rancho Del Sol Observatory. The grunge darker blueish bit coming from the top right-hand corner is actually our sun. The stars were Photoshop brushes that I changed a little bit."

Thanks for sharing your photo-editing wizardry Aaron! If you've got a space or astronomy image you've created and would like to share it, submit it to Nancy . We're also still mulling over what to call this new feature — so if you have any suggestions, post your idea in the comments.

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Have You Ever Seen a Moonbow?

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:12:09 +0000

They are elusive, but powerful to see. "Moonbows" are rainbows created by light from the Moon. Conditions have to be just right, and there are only a small number of places in the world where they regularly materialize, such as Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe as seen above, Cumberland Falls in Kentucky, Yosemite Falls in California, and Waimea on Hawaii. Because they are so faint, moonbows are difficult to see with the naked eye (they usually appear just white). But with long-exposure photography, all the colors of moonbows can be seen. Below, check out a gorgeous video of stars, a moonbow and rainbow over Torres del Paine in Patagonia, Chile, and more moonbow images at Environmental Graffiti.
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Astro Art of the Week: Dragon Vs. Eagle

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:55:23 +0000

Dragon Vs. Eagle. Credit: Wienie van der Oord

Here's the fourth installment of our new feature, showcasing our readers' prowess with image editing software. This week's Astro Art of the Week is a showdown of cosmic proportions: "Dragon Versus Eagle" was submitted by Wienie van der Oord from Negev Desert in Israel.

The image of the Eagle Nebula was taken by Wienie's friend, Kfir Simon, with a DSI 3 pro, HAlpha filter and a Canon with 200mm lens. You can see more of Kfir's astrophotography here. . Thanks Wienie and Kfir!

Also, we're still contemplating a good title for this feature. We've tried "Astro 'Shop of the Week," (as in 'Photoshop') and now "Astro Art of the Week." If you have any suggestions for a good title, post it in the comment section. Thanks!

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Stunning Image of ISS and Endeavour Transitting Sun

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:00:07 +0000

Wow! Take a look at this image captured by award-winning French astrophotographer Thierry Legault. The visible detail of the shuttle and parts of the International Space Stations is absolutely amazing! If you remember, Legault also took images of space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope transiting the sun back in May during the HST servicing mission.
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Astro Art of the Week: Rover Picture That Never Was

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:34:18 +0000

The Opportunity Rover picture that never happened (sadly!) Credit: Stuart Atkinson

This week's Astro Art of the Week is one of my favorite creations from my pal Stuart Atkinson, and it is a picture that never happened. Oh, the Opportunity rover did take a picture of its crumpled backshell on the surface of Mars, as seen above. But look closer: Stuart has added a reflection of the rover in the shiny metal — a self-portrait that could have been taken had the rover come close enough. Stuart writes on his blog Cumbrian Skies:
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July 22, 2009 Total Solar Eclipse from China – Let's Chase!

Tammy Plotner — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:02:38 +0000

Eclipse from Chongqing Municipality (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

The total solar eclipse which just occurred on the 22nd of July 2009 was the longest maximum duration of the 21st century. Not since Saros 1991 have astronomers and eclipse chasers been treat to such an event! Totality lasted over six and a half minutes at maximum. duration. The event started in India along the western shore near Surat moved towards Butan and reached the southern tip of Nepal and the northern edge of Bangladesh.

For other lucky astronomers like Vietnamese student Dang Anh Tuan at Hanoi National University of Education, the eclipse path also took the event over cities like Chengdu, Suining, Chonging, Wuhan, Xiaogan, Hangzhou, and Shanghai – and event which yielded five minutes of totality. Leaving Shanghai the shadow path raced across the ocean, to fall across islands such as Toshima and Akusaki south of Japan and eventually the Marshall islands. Where was the longest point? The maximum eclipse duration of 6 minutes and 43 seconds occurs far off the coast in the Pacific Ocean! Are you ready to become an eclipse chaser? Then follow me… (...)
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July 22, 2009 Total Solar Eclipse – Incoming News…

Tammy Plotner — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:41:23 +0000

July 22, 2009 Solar Eclipse Image Submitted By Bill Fish

The total solar eclipse which just occured on the 22nd of July 2009 was the longest in terms of maximum totality duration of the 21st century – lasting over six and a half minutes. Not since Saros 1991 have astronomers and eclipse chasers been treated to such a length of time! The eclipse footprint started in India along the western shore near Surat moved towards Butan and reached the southern tip of Nepal and the northern edge of Bangladesh. For other lucky astronomers, the eclipse path also took the event over the Chinese cities of Chengdu, Suining, Chonging, Wuhan, Xiaogan, Hangzhou, and Shanghai – yielding five minutes of totality. Leaving Shanghai the shadow raced across the ocean to fall across islands such as Toshima and Akusaki south of Japan and eventually the Marshall islands. Where did the longest time occur? The maximum eclipse duration of 6 minutes and 43 seconds was far off the coast in the Pacific Ocean! As I write this announcement, our readers are sending in their photos and stories to my home email (send them!!) and I just couldn't wait to show you some of the beginning results. It will take a short time to do a little translation work… But it's a small, wonderful world and this article will be updated very soon!

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Astro Art of the Week: Space Travelers

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:23:08 +0000

Astro-photo creation by Laura Gardiner.

Here's the second installment of our new feature, showcasing our readers' prowess with image editing software. This week's Astro Art of the Week was submitted by Laura Gardiner from Tucson, Arizona USA. This seemed to be a perfect image to use, as during Apollo 11 festivities on Monday, astronauts repeatedly talked about inspiring the next generation of space explorers. This is a collage Laura created several months ago with Photoshop, using several PS brushes downloaded from deviantart.com, along with a photo of her daughter and nephew. "I've gotten a lot of positive comments about it," she said. "I was new to Photoshop then, but I've been having fun learning new things. I probably would have done some things differently now, but all in all I think it turned out pretty neat. It was an experiment because I was fascinated by the idea of Photoshop's "brushes," so that's where the stars/galaxies/etc. came from. I didn't have any particular picture or project in mind when I made it…it just sort of came together after several hours of fooling around with stuff."
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Jupiter Impact Confirmed

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:45:25 +0000

As we reported yesterday, an amateur astronomer snapped evidence of an impact on Jupiter. Now, NASA has confirmed the black spot on the giant gas planet is in fact an impact and not just a weather-related disturbance. And Anthony Wesley has now made the biggest observation of his life.

"It still feels very surreal right now," he told Universe Today. "I guess it will take some time to really sink in (pun intended). I guess it shows that persistence and many hours at the scope eventually pays off."
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