A double rainbow spans above Planetario Alfa observatory in Mexico on August 24, 2013. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.
Astrophotographer César Cantú was in the right place at the right time this weekend! He took this beautiful photo of a double rainbow all the way across the sky — and directly over the Planetario Alfa observatory in Mexico, part of the Alfa Planetarium Science and Technology Museum, near San Pedro Garci’a, in the northeast part of Mexico.
Of course, this is reminiscent of the most famous double rainbow…at least on You Tube:
Update: It must be double rainbow season. Astrophotographer Göran Strand from Sweden took the image below on August 19,2013:
Double rainbow over a marina in Sweden on August 19, 2013. Credit and copyright: Göran Strand
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Full disk view of the Sun on August 20, 2013. The prominences on the right side of the Sun in this image are the ones captured in the closeup image above. Credit and copyright: Michel Collart.
This close-up movie of looping, dancing prominences on the Sun looks like something you’d see from one of the spacecraft we have studying the Sun, such as the Solar Dynamics Observatory. However, the images were taken from Earth by amateur astronomer Michel Collart from France. He was able to capture incredible detail (see his list of equipment below) of this region on the Sun’s western limb, and in a series of 120 frames, shows a lot of activity taking place on the morning of August 20, 2013.
It is easy to become mesmerized watching the matter ejected at high speed from the surface, then falling back down due to the Sun’s gravity.
“We saw beautiful loops this morning, and as a bonus, we see a beautiful ejection of matter from the left and return to its starting point — great!” Collart posted on the WebAstro Forum.
And while these loops are huge – see the image below comparing the size of the Earth and Moon to the prominences — this is just a small area of the Sun.
See the full view of the Sun taken by Michel:
Full disk view of the Sun on August 20, 2013. The The ‘small’ prominences on the right side of the Sun in this image are the ones captured in the closeup image above — not the bigger prominences on the left side. Credit and copyright: Michel Collart.
And the comparison of sizes between the loops, Earth, the Moon and the distance between the Earth and Moon:
Size comparison of the looping prominences on the Sun on August 20, 2013. Credit and copyright: Michel Collart.
Michel told Universe Today that he’s been imaging the Sun for about 15 years and this is the first time he’s been able to take images of them. “These loops are very rare to catch,” he said.
The series of 120 frames (1 per 30 seconds, so 1 hour total) were taken by Michel on Tuesday August 20th, between 7:25 and 8:25 UTC on Tuesday, August 20, 2013, about the same time the Sun blasted a coronal mass ejection with billions of tons of solar particles toward Earth at the mind-boggling speed of 3.3 million km/h (2 million mph).
Here’s a video version of the loops, complete with music:
Michel Collart’s equipment and methods:
Michel Collart’s telescope and imaging set up. Image courtesy Michel Collart.
Takahashi Refractor TOA 130mm, Coronado Solarmax90 double stacked with Coronado PST etalon and blocking filter BF15, Televue 1.8x Barlow and Point Grey Camera Grasshopper3 ICX674 sensor.
120 videos of 10s spaced by 20s at 40 frames/s taken the 20/08/2013 between 7:25 and 8:25 GMT.
Processing: Autostakkert2 + Registax6 and export as video on Registax5, Finalizing the video in VirtualDub and export GIF
Thanks to Michel for allowing Universe Today to share his wonderful work!
The star Alnitak and Flame Nebula in Orion. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.
Astrophotographer César Cantú from Mexico captured this beautiful view of the star Alnitak and Flame Nebula, both in the constellation Orion. Alnitak is the southern star in Orion’s belt, and is an extremely hot star, with a temperature of 29,500 ± 1000 K. It shines brilliantly, and is about 10,000 times more luminous than the Sun. This star also makes the Flame Nebula appear to be blazing, too. Wind and radiation from Alnitak blasts away electrons from the gas in the Flame nebula, causing it to become ionized and glow in visible light.
This gorgeous view was captured on August 11, 2013.
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The Milky Way arches over Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Park in Central Illinois. Credit and copyright: Ben Romang.
Amateur astronomers from Illinois frequently venture out to Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Park, a 26-square mile conservation area of prairie and forest, famous for having the darkest skies in the state. But of course, lots of folks head out to the park to enjoy other things like the picturesque landscapes, the wildlife, and the solitude.
This past week my friend Ben Romang went to do some camping at Panther Creek, and with a borrowed camera, wanted to make his first attempt at photographing the night sky. He was hoping to nab some Perseid meteors, but instead was overwhelmed with the beauty of the expansive sky overhead. For his first try, I think he did a pretty good job of capturing the view, don’t you?
Ben used a Canon 7D, with an EF 24-70mm lens.
If you’d like to see these amazing dark skies for yourself, the perfect time would be during the annual Illinois Dark Sky Star Party, held every year by the local astronomy group in my area, the Sangamon Astronomical Society. It’s a great event, with a wonderful observing site, lots of room for camping, great food, interesting speakers (so claims their website — I’ve spoken there a few times!), and very friendly folks who are passionate about amateur astronomy. This year the Dark Skies Party is October 3-6, 2013. Find out more about the event here.
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A composite of stacked images of the Perseid Meteor Shower on August 11, 2013 seen from Lindisfarne (Holy Island) off the northeast coast of England. Credit and copyright: Peter Greig.
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks tonight, but already astrophotographers have been out, enjoying the view of a little cosmic rain. This weekend provided good views for many, as these images and videos will attest. We’ll keep adding more images as they come in, but enjoy these wonderful images we’ve received so far. Our lead image is a wowza from Peter Greig from the UK. He traveled to an island off the coast of England and found exactly what he was looking for.
“This is the exact image that I imagined and planned to come home with from that trip,” Peter said via Flickr. “It is a composite of stacked images (or pieces of images). I chose the clearest background image to use for the starry sky then chose the best light painted foreground and layered it over my background. I then went through all of my images and gathered all the shots that contained a meteor, cut them out and layered them on top of my background image to demonstrate the radiant point to which the Perseid Meteors originate.”
See more from our astrophotographer friends below:
Perseid Meteor and the Milky Way, in the Red Desert of Wyoming, August 11, 2013. Credit and copyright: Randy Halverson/dakotalapse.Early Perseids from the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore, Maine, taken August 5, 2013. Credit and copyright: Steven Coates.
This video is from John Chumack, who captured 142 Perseids from my backyard in Dayton, Ohio! “My video cameras actually caught many more than I had seen visually,” John said via email, expressing a little disapointment in this year’s Persieds, “from past years experiences I was expecting more Perseids!”
A persistent Perseid on August 11, 2013. Shot with Canon T1i/500D with Samyang 8mm fisheye. F5.6 / 3200ISO / 30s. Credit and copyright: darethehair on Flickr.A very bright fireball from the Perseid meteor shower, along with the Otto Struve Telescope from the McDonald Observatory in Texas and the Milky Way. Credit and copyright: Sergio Garcia Rill/SGR Photography.
You can read more about this image by Sergio Garcia Rill and the ‘persistent’ neon fireball at his website.
A Perseid meteor and the constellation Cassiopeia seen over Winchester, UK. Credit and copyright: Paul Williamson.
Now more:
Can you spot a total of 6 meteors in this image? (two are very faint). This is a composite of 3 pictures stacked, each picture taken with a Canon 550D @18mm 30s Exposure at ISO 3200. Credit and copyright: Andrei Juravle.2013 Perseids Radiant Point: A composite shot of Perseid meteors emanating from the meteor shower radiant point. This composite features 9 total Perseid meteors. Credit and copyright: Scott MacNeill.A Perseid meteor and the Milky Way. Credit and copyright: TheMagster3 on Flickr.Perseid meteor shower (and equipment!) taken on August 11, 2013 near Monte Romano, Lazio, Italy, with a Nikon D5200. Credit and copyright: marcopics3000 on Flickr.Perseid Meteor Shower and Milky Way image shot in Hampstead, North Carolina on a Canon 7D @10mm 30s f/4 ISO 2500. Credit and copyright: K.C. Goshert.
New images added 8/13/13:
Perseid meteor captured by Emilia Howes, aged 7, at Lacock in Wiltshire, England.Perseid Meteors over Ancient Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains of California. This is a composite shot of 73 meteors, aligned as they were captured according to where they were against the stars. Credit and copyright: Kenneth Brandon.Perseids over Joshua Tree. This is a composite image composed of 180 stills from a static timelapse sequence, aiming towards the North Star. Taken on August 9, 2013. Credit and copyright: Sean Parker/Sean Parker Photography.‘My first-ever photo of a meteor!’ said astrophotographer Dawn Sunrise on Flickr. Congrats!Perseid meteor photographed on August 11, 2013 at 0255 EDT through broken clouds, Weatherly, PA. 20 second exposure, ISO 1600 using a Samyang 14mm lens. Credit and copyright: Tom Wildoner.One Perseid meteor before the clouds rolled in over Blackrod, England, August 12, 2013. Credit and copyright: TheDaveWalker on Flickr.Perseid meteor on August 12, 2013. Credit and copyright: Stephen Rahn.Perseids Meteor 8/11/2013 El Dorado Lake, Kansas. Credit and copyright: Tom Wright.
More images added 8/15/13:
Meteor seen over Green Bay, Wisconsin on August 14, 2013 around 12:30 am central time. Photographer Michelle Madruga said, ‘I used my measly Canon T3i and my 18-55mm lens set at 18mm. During my 30 sec exposure, this huge asteroid shot across the sky! I was lucky it was in my camera’s view!’ Credit and copyright: Michelle Madruga.Perseid meteor seen over the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, taken with a Canon 7D 18-55mm. Credit and copyright: Micah Holtgraves.Perseid meteor. Credit and copyright: Val Camp.Perseid meteor on August 13, 2013 seen over Kootwijkerzand, at the ‘de Hoge Veluwe’, one of the last dark spots in the Netherlands. This picture was taken with an EOS 60d with a 11-16 2.8 tokina lens. Credit and copyright: Freek vd Driesschen.
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Noctilucent clouds taken from the ISS Image Credit: NASA
Intrigued by mysterious noctilucent, or night-shining clouds? This beautiful new film from TWAN (The World At Night) photographer P-M Hedén combines timelapse and real-time footage to provide a stunning compilation of his month in the field in Sweden this summer to capture these lovely blue electric clouds. Noctilucent clouds are visible sometimes low in the northern sky during morning and evening twilight, usually through late May through August, and they seem to be increasing the past few years.
Enjoy the stunning, tranquil views (lots of wildlife and night sky imagery too!) and lovely music in this new film, just published yesterday.
The Lagoon Nebula M8 (NGC 6523) , The Trifid Nebula M20 (NGC 6514), Star cluster M21 and star forming region NGC6559. Credit and copyright: Terry Hancock/Down Under Observatory.
Here’s a beautiful deep look at a wide-field view of the Lagoon Nebula (M8, NGC 6523) and the Trifid Nebula (M20, NGC 6514) along with star cluster M21 and star forming region NGC6559. Amateur astronomer and astrophotographer Terry Hancock from Michigan says this is one of his favorite fields of view to observe. However, right now it’s very low in the southern sky and therefore limited to a couple of hours each night. Just wait until next month, and this region will be higher in the sky for better northern hemisphere viewing.
Terry captured this view in H-Alpha plus RGB over 4 nights.
I’ll let him explain the view:
“Both of these objects are intensely rich with HII regions. Right of center is The Lagoon Nebula, a giant emission Nebula and HII region, bottom center can be seen the star forming region NGC6559 , these are estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 light years from us in the constellation Sagittarius.
Upper left in this image can be seen M20 or NGC 6514 known as The Trifid Nebula also in the constellation of Sagittarius and lies at a distance of approximately 5000 light years from us.
This object is a combination of emission nebula (the red area), reflection nebula (the blue area) and dark nebula (the dark jagged lines within the Trifid Nebula). Below left of M8 is the Star cluster M21.”
Just a really stunning “deep and wide” view of this region of the sky. See more of Terry’s work at his website, The Down Under Observatory (he’s originally from Australia) or on Flickr or Google +.
He’s also got a great video of some of his work:
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Elusive sprite lightning captured from an airplane above Boulder, Colorado as part of a sprite observing campaign. Credit and copyright: Jason Ahrns.
Mysterious red sprite lightning is intriguing: sprites occur only at high altitudes above thunderstorms, only last for a thousandth of a second and emit light in the red portion of the visible spectrum. Therefore, studying sprites has been notoriously difficult for atmospheric scientists. Astrophotographer Jason Ahrns has had the chance to be part of a sprite observing campaign, and with a special airplane from the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Research Aircraft Facility in Boulder, Colorado, has been on flights to try and observe red sprite lightning from the air.
Jason had some success on a recent flight, and was able to capture a sprite (above) on high speed film. Below you can see a movie of it at 10,000 frames per second:
Pretty amazing!
Scientists say that while sprites have likely occurred on Earth for millions of years, they were first discovered and documented only by accident in 1989 when a researcher studying stars was calibrating a camera pointed at the distant atmosphere where sprites occur.
Sprites usually appear as several clusters of red tendrils above a lighting flash followed by a breakup into smaller streaks. The brightest region of a sprite is typically seen at altitudes of 65-75 km (40-45 miles), but often as high as 90 km (55 miles) into the atmosphere.
Some of the latest research shows that only a specific type of lightning is the trigger that initiates sprites aloft.
You can read more (and see more images) about Jason’s experiences with sprites at his website.
The Moon rises surrounded by noctilucent clouds, as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/ASI/ESA. Via Luca Parmitano on Twitter.
Recently, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano spent a “night flight” in the Cupola of the International Space Station in hopes of capturing night-time images of his home country from space. But he saw so much more, including this incredible image of the crescent Moon rising among bright blue noctilucent clouds. These wispy and mysterious clouds appear in Earth’s mesosphere — a region extending from 30 to 53 miles (48-85 km) high in the atmosphere — at twilight, usually in early summer. They can be seen from Earth’s northern hemisphere and, obviously, are visible from space too.
You can read about Parmitano’s night flight and see more of the images he took at his Volare blog. At the close of his image-taking night flight he says, “It’s late, and tomorrow will be a long day. With those lights still filling my eyes, I slowly close the seven windows and cross the Station to return to my sleeping pod. Not even dreams could replace the beautiful reality that revolves, oblivious, beneath us.”
Fishing Boats Meet the Milky Way on the Isle of Wight (south of England) on May 16, 2013. Credit and copyright: Chad Powell.
We’ve shared many images of the Milky Way in our featured photos from astrophotographers, but this might be one of the most vibrant I’ve seen! The blue of the sky and sea is incredible and almost pulsates with its stunning azure color. Photographer Chad Powell explained on Flickr: “Where I live on the Isle of Wight (south of England) is known to have minimal light pollution but I only ever shot the Milky Way from my back garden. I decided to finally trek it down to my local beach. The Milky Way was so bright in the sky, it was breathtaking! The lights on the left are from fishing boats tens of miles out to sea.”
Simply beautiful, especially if you are a blue-o-file like I am!
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