Astrophoto: Galactic Relaxation

By Nancy Atkinson - July 1, 2012 at 8:35 PM UTC | Extragalactic

Ah, the good life! "Probably one of my favorite things to do is sit outside underneath the stars," said astrophotographer

Harley Grady

from Texas, who took this self- and galactic-portrait on June 19, 2012. Grady said this is a single 30 second exposure, with a red LED light to illuminate himself and 6" Dob telescope.

How many of our other readers could take a similar picture of themselves?

Shot with a Nikon D700,Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 Lens, ISO 3200, WB 4000K.

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Image caption: Galactic Relaxing. Credit and copyright: Harley Grady 2012

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com