Space and astronomy news
Here’s a solar flare with a little flair added! Astrophotographer Rick Ellis from Toronto, Canada created this “artsy” Sun by using a series of photoshop filters and effects with a combination of two images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory taken on April 12, 2013. He tinkered with the contrast at specific color ranges, applied “equalization,” …
Up in the sky — it’s a bird, it’s a plane… no, it’s a spider and a SuperMoon! Well, not quite. This composite image by Brian who is called Brian on Flickr was actually taken last night, on September 7, 2014, but it’s an awesome lead-in for our usual request for astrophotos of the Harvest …
Continue reading “Awesome Astrophotos: Caught in the Web of the SuperMoon”
Whoa! Having just returned from the science and science fiction mashup that is Dragon Con, my mind is still combining the two. Then I saw this image from Mike Taylor, which is one of the most unique Milky Way images I’ve ever seen. Perfect! Mike said he combined two images, one for the foreground and …
Continue reading “Astrophoto: I Need Warp Speed in 3 Minutes or We’re All Dead”
What a gorgeous view of the dusty cloud of the Milky Way arch hovering over clouds low on the horizon here on Earth! Fellow NASA Solar System Ambassador Greg Redfern took this image of our galactic center in the constellation Sagittarius. “If you have dark skies look to the south to see this grand spectacle,” …
The closest planetary conjunction of the year graced the skies this morning, and astrophotographers were out in force to marvel at the beauty. The duo were just 11.9’ apart, less than half the diameter of a Full Moon. Also joining the view was M44, the Beehive Cluster. We start with this gorgeous shot from Queensland, …
Continue reading “Astrophotos: Spectacular Venus-Jupiter Conjunction Graces the Dawn”
“The sum total of 2 1/2 hours worth of images – one meteor!” lamented photographer Roger Hutchinson (see his image below). A bright Moon is not conducive seeing and capturing meteors on camera, but some astrophotographers persevered and managed to get some photos of this year’s Perseid Meteor Shower. Enjoy the views from photographers who …
What a stunning view of this dark region of space! This image, by astrophotographer Callum Hayton shows LDN 673, a molecular cloud complex that lies in the constellation Aquila. This region is massive — around 67 trillion kilometers (42 trillion miles across), and it is between 300-600 light years from Earth. Observers in the northern …
Continue reading “Deep Astrophoto of LDN 673: The Place Where Stars are Born”
Channelling all U2 fans: this stunning timelapse above Joshua Tree National Park is a walking tourism brochure for astrophotographers. The pictures were taken in September and November 2012 (the latter during the Leonid meteor shower) and just put up on Vimeo a few days ago. Can you spot any famous astronomical objects? Read below to …
You might think the image above of the famous Antenna Galaxies was taken by a large ground-based or even a space telescope. Think again. Amateur astronomer Rolf Wahl Olsen from New Zealand compiled a total of 75 hours of observing time to create this ultra-deep view. “To obtain a unique deep view of the faint …
Continue reading “Ultra-Deep Astrophoto: 75 Hours of the Antenna Galaxies”
Astrophotographer Leo Aerts from Belgium took advantage of the recent opposition of Mars and captured the Red Planet both “coming and going” in this montage of images taken from October 2013 to June of 2014. Mars reached opposition in April of this year, meaning it was closest to Earth, allowing for the brightest and best …