Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[1oldman2]

 

[Mahdi Al Sabad]

Without the existence of Fourth dimension aka time the universe is useless to look at.

 

[Andy Resnick]

The constellation Virgo is passing by and I'm in the process of assembling a panoramic image of the dense cluster of galaxies present. I have another month or so to acquire images before it's time to move on to Hercules, but in the meantime here's a small menagerie of the more visible non-elliptical (except one) galaxies present in this region:

Integration times vary, ranging between about 17 and 50 minutes. 400/2.8, ISO 1000.

 

[davenn]

The constellation Virgo is passing by and I'm in the process of assembling a panoramic image of the dense cluster of galaxies present. I have another month or so to acquire images before it's time to move on to Hercules, but in the meantime here's a small menagerie of the more visible non-elliptical (except one) galaxies present in this region:

Integration times vary, ranging between about 17 and 50 minutes. 400/2.8, ISO 1000.

nice one Andy
The Virgo Cluster is a cool place to test out a scope and eyesight seeing how many faint fuzzies can be picked out Dave

 

[Fervent Freyja]

The constellation Virgo is passing by and I'm in the process of assembling a panoramic image of the dense cluster of galaxies present. I have another month or so to acquire images before it's time to move on to Hercules, but in the meantime here's a small menagerie of the more visible non-elliptical (except one) galaxies present in this region:

This was a great shot! It made me a little curious, so I went through some of your photobucket.

Now, I have to ask you a weird question... What was that off-white, powdery substance cut out into four lines with the Santa Claus figure behind it? Fuel for your many passions and talents?
_
A newer one I found:


But, this next is my very most favorite at the moment. The amount of work and computational power that went into this 11 sec(or so I can find) simulation is incredible. I do enjoy other videos and many are quite creative and artistic, but I prefer ones that are published by researchers or where I can at least find some credibility for the video. They also found that the reionization era ended later than we predicted earlier from observations and need to make adjustments.
"Such a multi-faceted simulation needed not only a powerful supercomputer, but also one that had plenty of GPUs so the team could offload its radiation and ionization calculations. Thankfully, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility’s (OLCF’s) Cray XK7 Titan supercomputer fit the description. The OLCF, a DOE Office of Science User Facility located at ORNL, built Titan with a GPU for every one of its 18,688 compute nodes. The Shapiro team needed 8,192 GPUs to run its simulations."

 

[Fervent Freyja]

Explain what you've just seen, in 100 words years, or less.

​

​

-Entropy increases in the atmosphere the closer that it gets to the surface of the earth.

NASA has a model for the ocean currents in one of those videos posted- incredible to watch it move relative to the land masses. You know though, it sure would be nice to see what the core of the Earth really looks like. Then all 3(or more layers) could be placed into one model zooming from the core out to the upper atmosphere and back again.

 

[Andy Resnick]

This was a great shot! It made me a little curious, so I went through some of your photobucket.

Now, I have to ask you a weird question... What was that off-white, powdery substance cut out into four lines with the Santa Claus figure behind it? Fuel for your many passions and talents?
<snip>

Heh... it was flour. I was wondering why nobody asked! :)

 

[davenn]

Heh... it was flour. I was wondering why nobody asked! :)

I relooked yesterday ... still haven't seen it LOL

 

[DennisN]

Two recent clips about the ISS:
The International Space Station Has Made Its 100,000th Orbit!


International Space Station Marks 100,000 Orbits of Earth


and on PhysOrg: http://phys.org/news/2016-05-international-space-station-100000th-orbit.html

 

[1oldman2]

Two recent clips about the ISS:
The International Space Station Has Made Its 100,000th Orbit!

Awesome, thought I'd share a few screenshots.

California

Queensland

West Africa

Flathead lake

 

[DennisN]

A new clip from Babak Tafreshi with music by Ali Raini:

 

[1oldman2]

A new clip from Babak Tafreshi with music by Ali Raini:

That is "MagicalMedia" I loved it. Thanks for the post!

 

[1oldman2]

Not sure how to post this other than a URL but let me know what you think after watching the whole clip.
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/media-gallery/voyager

 

[DennisN]

Not sure how to post this other than a URL but let me know what you think after watching the whole clip.
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/media-gallery/voyager

An ambitious project indeed! And a very cool and inspiring one!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Hercules is now coming into view- got this one last night- the whole field of view and a 100% crop (800/5.6, ISO 1250):

My technique is finally good enough that I needed to program periodic error correction (PEC) on the motors; my first attempt wasn't great but I could still nearly double the exposure time (5 s to 8 s). Presumably, as I keep refining the PEC, the performance will continue to improve.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Up to 28 minutes total exposure time- image quality and colorimetrics significantly improved:

 

[1oldman2]

You know, when I came across this image all I could think is, this belongs on the OBU thread. So here are the Spanish peaks in Colorado, along with credit where credit is due.

http://martinpughastrophotography.id.au/

 

[1oldman2]

T-5 minutes
http://www.arianespace.com/mission/ariane-flight-vs15/

 

[Andy Resnick]

For the next few days, (from left to right) saturn, mars, and Jupiter are all visible at night:

And a little zoomed in (the red spot is visible):

Tonight, 9pm- midnight, Europa is transiting Jupiter and the shadow may be visible (midnight - 3am, EST)... fingers crossed for good viewing conditions!

 

[davenn]

Up to 28 minutes total exposure time- image quality and colorimetrics significantly improved:

the image in the previous post was better, colour wise ... you have gone back to a very green hue in this one The star sharpness in this one is much betterD

 

[1oldman2]

You guys sure make me want a nice "Scope" I'm feeling motivated but I have a lot to learn.

 

[DennisN]

You guys sure make me want a nice "Scope" I'm feeling motivated but I have a lot to learn.

I feel exactly the same . I've been thinking about a scope for years now, but I've had other things to do, and if I get a scope I want to put it to good use. I have been very tempted by this entry level scope, which have got some pretty good reviews (e.g. it won the comparison with other scopes here: http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/celestron-cosmos-review.html )...
And a clip here:

 

[Andy Resnick]

You guys sure make me want a nice "Scope" I'm feeling motivated but I have a lot to learn.

I can speak from experience- people here are excellent resources for learning this stuff. Go for it!

 

[1oldman2]

Go for it!

I'm going to start getting the ducks in a row, it will take time but I have been accused of having too much patience.
I also find these sites inspirational.
http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/bardenridgeobs.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

 

[1oldman2]

I feel exactly the same . I've been thinking about a scope for years now, but I've had other things to do, and if I get a scope I want to put it to good use. I have been very tempted by this entry level scope, which have got some pretty good reviews (e.g. it won the comparison with other scopes here: http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/celestron-cosmos-review.html)...
And a clip here:

Another investment opportunity missed.
http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/cosmos-90gt-wifi-telescope $400.00 US
http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/celestron-cosmos-review.html -Discontinued
Amazon $670.47 US

That would be a nice starter.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Now that I have PEC working fairly well, I'm able to acquire many more useful images- here's 40 minutes total integration time, with fairly strict thresholds for image acceptability based on DSS 'score' and 'FWHM':

A small section of the total field, showing NGC 6207:

And a 100% crop, cranking up the saturation ('cuz I can...)

Thanks to davenn for helpful hints...

 

[1oldman2]

 

[DennisN]

Simply s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g...

Hubble’s High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy
This sweeping bird's-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the sharpest image ever taken of our galactic next-door neighbor.
Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler

Page source: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy
Full size image is here (click twice to zoom in order to see the enormous amount of stars as small pixels...)

 

[1oldman2]

Simply s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g...

Page source: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy
Full size image is here (click twice to zoom in order to see the enormous amount of stars as small pixels...)

 

[1oldman2]

 

[1oldman2]

This is pretty cool.
http://www.space.com/33059-massive-coronal-hole-formed-on-sun-zoom-in-video.html

 

[DennisN]

Thought I might post this in this thread; a tool for those who are interested in making visualizations...
Cosmographia Mission Visualization Tool (NASA)
http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/cosmographia.html

NAIF offers for public use a modified version of the open source visualization tool named Cosmographia. Cosmographia is an interactive tool used to produce 3D visualizations of planet ephemerides, sizes and shapes; spacecraft trajectories and orientations; and instrument field-of-views and footprints. Cosmographia has many user controls, allowing one to manage what is displayed, what vantage point is used, and how fast the animation progresses.

 

[1oldman2]

Thought I might post this in this thread; a tool for those who are interested in making visualizations...
Cosmographia Mission Visualization Tool (NASA)
http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/cosmographia.html

Thanks ! this looks interesting, have you spent much time working with it ?
Just a quick note, while downloading this my Antivirus pulled a (Trojan-Gen-2) from it. This sometimes happens on certain legitimate software downloads so I'm curious to see if a critical piece will be missing when I try and run the program. I'll comment on that after I look into it further.

 

[Andy Resnick]

First night imaging the Ring Nebula (M57)- seeing was very poor, I was only able to acquire 3 minutes worth of exposure. Full frame:

and 100%

Not enough exposure time to capture IC1296 (yet), but I can already easily see the central white dwarf.

 

[DennisN]

Thanks ! this looks interesting, have you spent much time working with it ?

No, I just got the link from a friend and thought I might share it here.

 

[1oldman2]

No, I just got the link from a friend and thought I might share it here.

I'm still playing with the program to see what all I can do with it, looks pretty cool. About the Trojan.Gen.2, I've decided that most likely came from my Granddaughter playing minecraft through her Steam account and my antivirus just happened to catch it while analyzing the site you posted. No worries

 

[DennisN]

M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
A bigger picture is here.
(from http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150205.html)

 

[1oldman2]

From http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1606/horseheadir_hubble_1225.jpg

 

[davenn]

M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
A bigger picture is here.
(from http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150205.html)

that's one I have yet to imageD

 

[davenn]

From http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1606/horseheadir_hubble_1225.jpg

View attachment 101998

imaged that one recently, but my gear cannot compete with that of the HST

Dave

 

[1oldman2]

<<< On my "wishlist" as well. At the present, here is the best my "equipment" can do.

I should add that my gear consists of a "Cheesy" cell phone camera on 4 times zoom, the "mount" is my hand braced against a pick-up.
Of course after posting this I came across, http://www.astronomysource.com/2011/12/29/astrophotography-without-a-telescope/ Who would have figured?

 

[1oldman2]

I mentioned in another thread not long ago a book from the early 80's called "From Quark to Quasar", basically a non technical but visually very cool study of scale in our universe. Lately whilst perusing the internet I came upon this link http://www.numbersleuth.org/universe/ which brought to mind the old Q to Q book.
It's a very good lesson on perspective.

 

[1oldman2]

Carina Nebula by Hubble http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/ is a great site

 

[1oldman2]

View attachment 102031 <<< On my "wishlist" as well. At the present, here is the best my "equipment" can do.
View attachment 102032
I should add that my gear consists of a "Cheesy" cell phone camera on 4 times zoom, the "mount" is my hand braced against a pick-up.
Of course after posting this I came across, http://www.astronomysource.com/2011/12/29/astrophotography-without-a-telescope/ Who would have figured?

http://www.space.com/33191-take-astronomy-pictures-with-mobile-devices.html =

 

[1oldman2]

Don't forget to go into settings on the player and turn up the resolution to the appropriate setting as each of these begins.

Hubble zoom on milky way center

Veil Supernova 4K

Monkey head nebula Pillars

And finally I've found a digital clock I like.
http://www.space.com/33210-cosmic-watch-app-astronomical-clock.html

Cool images here also... http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/data/rosetta/osiris_escort.html

 

[Andy Resnick]

This time of year Cygnus is favorably positioned (for me). It's one of my favorite regions to photograph because of the star density- at 23 minutes of exposure time, stars fill in 3% of the sky. Here's 2 frames, one located at γ-Cygni and the other at the North American Nebula:

Each of these fields of view covers about 5 degrees (400/2.8 lens). A few 100% crops:

NGC 6910 (Rocking Horse cluster)

M29

And a flicker of the crescent nebula

The dense dust clouds form interesting 'holes' in the otherwise dense starfield:

Another interesting aspect of these images is that the size distribution of the stars, which is proportional to the magnitude distribution, obeys Poisson statistics- which it should, because thermal photons also obey Poisson statistics.

 

[DennisN]

It's one of my favorite regions to photograph because of the star density- at 23 minutes of exposure time, stars fill in 3% of the sky.

Awesome to look at those photos! . So many stars, so many places, so many things we can see/imagine being there (well, having been there ). But we can only look, not visit and not touch... I'm getting poetic over here .

 

[davenn]

Of course after posting this I came across, http://www.astronomysource.com/2011/12/29/astrophotography-without-a-telescope/ Who would have figured?

do you have any other camera that has the capability of multiple seconds of exposure time ?

 

[1oldman2]

do you have any other camera that has the capability of multiple seconds of exposure time ?

Not currently, I do plan an "upgrade" soon and that is one of the main features I'm looking into, I'm currently educating myself to maximize the "bang per buck" on a limited budget.

 

[1oldman2]

These images speak for themselves.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2016/0624-wise-views-in-infrared.html