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On the morning of September 21, 2011, the International Space Station made a beautiful pass over San Antonio, Texas through the constellation of Cassiopeia. The pass was caught by Adrian New using his Nikon D200 camera and 18-70mm lens. The camera was set at ISO 200 and 30 second exposure.
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This photo of the Pleiades over lightning was taken by Jerry Littke in Hillsboro, North Dakota.
“A thunderstorm had just passed through and I went out to try to get some pictures of the impressive lightning. I did not notice the Pleiades until looking at the pictures later.”
Pleiades is an open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus. This 100 million year-old star cluster is composed of hot blue and extremely luminous stars. Pleiades is also known by the names, Messier 45 and Seven Sisters.
Jerry used a Nikon D300 effective 48 mm with camera specs: 10 second exposure, f3.5, ISO 1000.
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Did you see ghosts and goblins last night for Halloween? Jason Ahrns of Chatanika, Alaska saw a dark shadow of a spooky ghost in the middle of a green aurora stream during his observing run on October 31, 2011. He used a Nikon D5000 to snap this eerie image.
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Ray Gilchrist captured this photo of planet Jupiter from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria on October 27, 2011. The photo also shows the two of Jupiter’s largest moons, Io and Ganymede.
Ray used a Skywatcher 200p, EQ5 and a Canon350D camera. He also provided us with a few technical specs: 1/125 sec exposure, ISO 1600.
For more interesting astrophotos, check out Ray’s website at http://www.raygilchrist.co.uk/
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Carl Larson captured this image of the North American Nebula on Fremont Peak State Park, California on April 30, 2011. But unlike the images of the North American nebula submitted to us by other astrophotographers, this one’s presented in a different perspective.
“I decided to present the image rotated sideways from convention. I think it highlights those wonderful dark nebula clouds. At least they seem more obvious to me when I’m not so focused on making those ionized hydrogen clouds into a continent.
The dark complex separating the North American and Pelican nebulas (where the Gulf of Mexico should be) looks to me like a frog jumping into a pond. The obscuring dust really seems to stand out in front of the nebula.”
Carl also provided us with the specs he used:
QSI583 CCD, Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L @ f/4
Astrodon Ha (3A) filter
19 x 300sec exposures (95min total)
AP900 Mount
calibration, registration and post-processed in PixInsight
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Crepuscular Rays seen from the space station on Oct. 18, 2011. Credit: NASA
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Seeing crepuscular rays on Earth is a somewhat rare event, as conditions have to be just right at either sunset or sunrise for the Sun’s rays to appear as though they are diverging outward from the Sun. But seeing them from space is even more rare.
This picture taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station provides an unusual viewing perspective from above of crepuscular rays. Why are they parallel in this picture instead of radiating in an outward fashion like they appear to us on Earth? This image shows the true nature of crepuscular rays: they really are parallel!
The word crepuscular means “relating to twilight,” and they occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the Sun’s rays, when the Sun is low on the horizon. These rays are visible only when the atmosphere contains enough haze or dust particles so that sunlight in unshadowed areas can be scattered toward the observer.
The light rays are actually parallel, but appear to converge to the Sun due to “perspective,” the same visual effect that makes parallel railroad tracks appear to converge in the distance.
In the images taken from the ISS, the sun was setting to the west (image left) on the Indian subcontinent, and cumulonimbus cloud towers provided the shadowing obstructions. The rays are being projected onto a layer of haze below the clouds.
Here’s an image taken by UT reader Stephano De Rosa of crepuscular rays as seen from a more Earthly perspective:
Crepuscular Rays. Credit: Stefano De Rosa
Sources: NASA Earth Observatory, University of Illinois
Jupiter has been putting on quite a show in the night sky lately as it officially reached opposition on October 28, 2011, making it a target of many astrophotographers as the gas giant shows itself off big and bright in the night sky. This animation from amateur astronomer Leonard E. Mercer from Malta shows Jupiter’s famous Great Red Spot moving across the surface of the mighty planet. Mercer captured a series of 12 images on the 27th and 28th (10pm – 2.00am. CET). Mercer used a C11 telescope and DMK 21 mono camera with RGB filters. “Conditions were very good!” he said.
Opposition means an the planet is directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth, which also put it at its closest point to Earth in the two planets’ orbits around the Sun.
Moon, Pleidades and Mercury. Credit: Willian Souza
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Willian Souza has caught not just two, but three birds with one stone with this photo he took from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Willian captured this photo of the Crescent Moon, Pleiades and Mercury on April 26, 2009.
Willian used his Canon 350D camera set at ISO 1600 + 135mm F/2.8 lens with exposure time of 1 sec.
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Michael Underwood captured this amazing image of the Milky Way outside of Lake City, Colorado on July 2, 2011. This is certainly a stunning view while driving!
Michael used a Nikon D7000 camera with Nikon 14-24mm lens. He also provided us with a few technical details of the image.
Exposure- 30 seconds
Aperture- f/2.8
Focal Length- 15 mm
ISO Speed- 2500
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This photo of the Iridium 12 flare was captured by Riad Hamamieh on October 15, 2011 at at 7:42 PM in Beirut, Lebanon.
Iridium 12 is one of the 66 active Iridium communication satellites orbiting the Earth. It was launched on June 18, 1997.
Riad used a Canon Powershot SX210 IS camera with CHDK. Camera is set at 32 sec exposure, f3.5 and ISO 400. It was cropped and adjusted using Photoshop CS3.
For more photos from Riad, here’s a link to his Flickr page.
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