Astrophotos Archives

December 18, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

More Incredible Geminid Meteor Shower Images and Video

“This shot is a composite of about 700 frames from a time-lapse I took in Big Sur, CA. I found 61 frames with meteors in them. (Some frames had two or three meteors.) Then I stacked the frames and created masks for each meteor. This is my final shot!” Credit: Ken Brandon.

We have received so many great shots from the Geminid Meteor Shower, that we decided we needed to add another post (here’s our previous collection of Geminid Meteor Shower shots from around the world.) Enjoy the beauty and majesty of the night sky, captured in these amazing images. Click the images to see larger versions on our Flickr page, and thanks to everyone who submitted images and video.

“The Beacon: If you look closely you can see me looking up into the sky. Not a perfect shot but a lucky one. Credit to friend for firing the camera.” Credit: dwissman611 on Flickr.

Prolific astrophotographer John Chumack compiled this video of the Geminid Meteor Shower 2012, and in a minute and a half, shows over 400 meteors he captured on video!

Silent Witness, a Geminid Meteor from Black Balsam Knob near East Fork, North Carolina. Credit: Daniel Lowe/IStockTimelapse © danieldragonfilms.com

Geminid passing the Orion Constellation. Credit: fxmurphy on Flickr

Geminid meteor composite from 36 frames. Credit: Mark Ezell.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

December 14, 2012April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Incredible Sky Show: Geminid Meteor Shower Images from Around the World

Geminids at Gates Pass. Composite image from 30 frames of video. Credit: Sean Parker

The 2012 Geminid Meteor Shower has lived up to expectations, and here are some images and videos provided by people around the world.

“What an incredible show we had here!” said Sean Parker in Tucson, Arizona, USA. “I was able to see about 50 per hour.”

The images were shot at Gates Pass in Tucson, Arizona on the morning of 12-13-12. You can see M31 (Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million light years away) at the left next to the Milky way.

More below, and you can click on most of these images to see larger versions in Flickr or Twitter.

Geminid Fireball. A large Geminid burns up in the atmosphere above the iconic Flatirons of Boulder, CO. Credit: Patrick Cullis

And another by Patrick:

Geminid Meteor Shower above the Flatirons, Boulder, CO. Credit: Patrick Cullis

Raining Down on Roseberry Topping (Geminid Meteor Shower 2012).Credit: Peter Greig.

Peter says: “This is the only meteor I caught whilst on a Geminid meteor hunting trip …at Captain Cooks Monument, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, UK.”

Geminid Meteor Over Death Valley. Credit: Gavin Heffernan/SunChaser Pictures

Meteors in Malta. Credit: Leonard Ellul-Mercer

Leonard shares: “Last night the sky was totally overcast in Malta and this was very depressing as I was looking forward to this meteor shower. At around midnight I decided to retire, However, before doing so I went on the roof and noted some very small breaks in the cloud, but in a matter of 10 minutes I noted 6 bright meteors in these small gaps. So I presumed that there was a good meteor shower going on beyond those clouds. After about 30 mins. the cloud break increased and the show started off. It was a great meteor shower with bright meteors appearing every one or two minutes.”

Here’s a compilation of various views from a news station in Modesto, California. Some shots are obviously from a fish-eye camera:

December 4, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Jet Black Moon

Jet crossing the Moon on December 2, 2012. Credit: Sculptor Lil on Flickr

A little play on words for the headline, but we just had to share this great shot by astrophotographer Sculptor Lil from London, England!

November 26, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Beam Me Up!

Light beams and the Milky Way. Credit: Peter Greig (St1nkyPete on Flickr)

This great shot of the Milky Way includes some mysterious beams of light. But astrophotographer Peter Greig supplies the festive explanation: “This is a shot I took in Soisdorf, Germany earlier this year,” he writes. “The beams of light on the right are coming from a carnival in a nearby village!”

This photo was taken on September 7, 2012 using a Canon EOS 550D.

November 16, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Angel of the North Gets a Halo

Halo (Comets and Starry Sky Edition). Credit: Peter Greig (St1nkyPete on Flickr)

What a stunning shot! It took much of the night, but astrophotographer Peter Greig has now given this angel a halo, in the form of star trails. The Angel of the North is a gigantic sculpture located in Gateshead, England. It is a 200 ton steel sculpture of an angel/being with airplane wings that measures 20 meters (66 feet) in height, with wings measuring 54 meters (177 ft) across — making it as tall as 4 double-decker London buses with a wingspan as big as a jumbo jet. The only mystery is, who is sitting at this angel’s feet?

The sculpture was designed by Antony Gormley and was completed in 1998. You can find out more about it here.

November 12, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Deep Sky Treasury

The view of the Paranal Observatory: Credit: ESO/Babak Tafreshi

A new image captures the stunning view of the night sky over ESO’s Paranal Observatory, with a treasury of deep-sky objects. The image was taken by Babak Tafreshi, an astronomer, journalist and director of The World at Night (TWAN).

It shows the Carina Nebula, glowing intensely red in the middle of the image. Below Carina is the the Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532); then to the right is the Lambda Centauri Nebula (IC 2944) – which is also called the Running Chicken Nebula. Above this nebula and slightly to the left is the Southern Pleiades (IC 2632), an open cluster of stars that is similar to its more familiar northern namesake.

In the foreground, is three of the four Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI).

See more information about this image from ESO.

November 9, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Do a Doubletake: Jupiter and Europa

Here’s a recent view of Jupiter, with its moon Europa just coming into view from behind the planet, as seen by Efrain Morales of the Jaicoa Observatory in Puerto Rico. Why two images? This is a different way to see it in 3-D — just focus on the center between the 2 images and kind of cross your eyes. Not everyone can see the effect, but its pretty cool when it works. Click the image for a larger version.

Efrain took the image on November 4th, at 07:20 UTC. Also visible are the Great Red Spot and Oval Ba transiting across the Jovian disk.

Equipment: LX200ACF 12 in. OTA, CGE mount, Flea3 Ccd, TeleVue 3x barlows, Astronomik RGB filter set.

October 30, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Spooky Fingers Reach Out into Space

Dark shadows and dust in VdB 4. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

It’s the Case of the Phantom Phalanges! Spooky fingers reach up from the dark realms of space in this new image from Adam Block of the Mount Lemmon Sky Center. The image shows a ghostly view of VdB 4, which is a reflection nebula associated with a young open star cluster NGC 225, often called the Sailboat Cluster. Click here to see the entire field of view — which includes a dark area that looks like a spooky Halloween spider. This image was taken in October, 2012 with the 32-inch Schulman Telescope (RCOS) at Mount Lemmon, using a SBIG STX16803 CCD Camera. Thanks to Adam Block for sharing this eerie image!

October 29, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Just in Time for Halloween: Orion’s Bloody Massacre

The Orion Nebula, or M42 in a hybrid image of old DSLR data with new CCD images. Credit: Astrochuck on Flickr.

This view of the Orion Nebula makes it appear as a bloody mess! Astrochuck on Flickr said he’s been socked in with clouds and rain lately so took this opportunity to combine some older DSLR data with new CCD observations to create this stunning view of M42. Here are the specs:

QHY9M & Orion ED102CF refractor 10/21/2012 & 10/22/2012
L- 7×600
R-3×600
G-3×600
B-3×600
(5×2 seconds for the core area)

3/22/12
Canon T3 w/Astronomik Ha filter & ST-80T refractor 5×120,10×300,5×600 @iso 1600
6×60 w/crosshairs for diffraction spikes

Images acquired,aligned and stacked with Nebulosity V2.0, Guiding with Orion 50mm mini guider,SSAG and Phd. Combined & post processed with PS6 and StarTools.

October 26, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Polaris and Circumpolar Rotation in 30 Minutes

This recent image from astrophotographer John Chumack shows the Earth’s natural rotation in just 30 minutes of exposure time. Polaris, the North Star, is the stationary point over a Sequoia tree in Warrenton, Virginia, USA. “The rotational speed of the Earth at the equator is about 1,038 miles per hour,” John writes. “At mid-latitudes, the speed of the Earth’s rotation decreases to 700 – 900 miles per hour. You can notice star trails “rotation” in your photographs even in as little as 1 minute exposures. I notice star trailing in about 30 seconds with a 17mm wide angle lens. But the longer you leave the shutter open the more trailing and the more dramatic the effect!”

John used a Canon Rebel Xsi, ISO 400, .17mm Lens at F4.

See more of his work at his website, Galactic Images.