Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[1oldman2]

 

[Aufbauwerk 2045]

NASA images of Pluto!

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-pluto-images-from-nasa-s-new-horizons-it-s-complicated

They're not new, but I haven't seen them before, so they are new to me, and I think new to many others.

 

[DennisN]

Close Views Show Saturn's Rings in Unprecedented Detail (NASA, Jan 30 2017)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6729

 

[1oldman2]

Close Views Show Saturn's Rings in Unprecedented Detail (NASA, Jan 30 2017)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6729

Here's some more to browse, Really great imaging going on lately.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/?search=&category=Saturn#submit

A couple of my favorites here, First, Enceladus and Tethys.

And an F ring Jet along with Pandora in the lower right corner.

 

[DennisN]

A couple of my favorites here, First, Enceladus and Tethys.

Amazing!

 

[Andy Resnick]

First clear night in a month or so- my first real attempt at the Horse Nebula (25m @ 400/2.8, ISO 1600)

It's an emission nebula, so my camera response is poor. Even so, not bad for an hour spent in the cold...

One thing I've learned, I'm better off imaging extended objects without the 2X tele; capturing images in DX mode (smaller files) and then stacking with 2X dither to get more magnification if I want.

 

[DennisN]

Nice, @Andy Resnick! By the way, do you use any dedicated software for photostacking, and if so, which software, I wonder?

 

[Andy Resnick]

Nice, @Andy Resnick! By the way, do you use any dedicated software for photostacking, and if so, which software, I wonder?

I use Deep Sky Stacker- it's free...

 

[DennisN]

I use Deep Sky Stacker- it's free...

Thanks, I will check it out! I don't do any advanced astrophotography (yet?), but I'd like to check out stacking software anyway for other types of photos (e.g. making macro/close-ups more sharp overall).

 

[Andy Resnick]

Thanks, I will check it out! I don't do any advanced astrophotography (yet?), but I'd like to check out stacking software anyway for other types of photos (e.g. making macro/close-ups more sharp overall).

'Focus stacking' is a little different than 'astrophotography stacking'. For focus stacking, I use CombineZP (also free) It's a little tricky and I generally don't get 'awesome' results, but it's better than nothing. Let me know if you find something better...

 

[DennisN]

'Focus stacking' is a little different than 'astrophotography stacking'. For focus stacking, I use CombineZP (also free) It's a little tricky and I generally don't get 'awesome' results, but it's better than nothing. Let me know if you find something better...

Thanks a lot, Andy! :) I will check it out!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Another clear night- now up to 1h 13m integration time. Noticeable improvement!

 

[DennisN]

Another clear night- now up to 1h 13m integration time. Noticeable improvement!

Definitely! Very, very nice! I particularly like the bottom left "cloudy" part of your image.

 

[DennisN]

@Andy Resnick, I took the liberty of downloading your image and playing around with it, because 1) I liked the image and 2) I took a pause from a really boring task I am currently doing . Are you doing any more post processing with your images? Because you can of course:

1) enhance detail with "autocontrast" and "autotone" (Photoshop):

2) and enchance colors with "vibrance" and "saturation" (Photoshop): (or we can call it "Hubblefilter", haha )

EDIT:

3) and even more vibrance and saturation, maybe over the top?

 

[Andy Resnick]

@Andy Resnick, I took the liberty of downloading your image and playing around with it, because 1) I liked the image and 2) I took a pause from a really boring task I am currently doing . Are you doing any more post processing with your images?

Sure- feel free to edit away :)

Here's my overall workflow: Stacking results in 32-bit/ch images, so the first step is to compress that to a 16-bit/ch image. I essence, I compress the image by applying an extreme gamma correction that approaches a step function. Then, I fine-tune the 16-bit/ch image with ImageJ- background subtraction, gamma, stuff like that, and then convert to an 8-bit/ch HSB image and perform a final set of corrections to the S and B channels as needed before generating the final 8-bit/ch RGB, and run a CLAHE routine to boost local contrast variations. Finally, I sometimes use Neat Image to reduce noise. It may seem like a lot, but after stacking, everything takes about 1 hour. I discuss some of this in greater detail in the 'astrophotography' insights.

As I've discussed before/elsewhere, I am very cautious about any color re-balancing. I try and set the background to neutral grey and the brightest stars to pure white, but for whatever reason, each channel seems to have a slightly different gamma, meaning the midtones are subject to off-color casts. I don't trust my eyes or monitor to set a neutral grey.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Honestly, it's hard to get exercised about global warming when I'm outside in shorts and a t-shirt in mid-February. In Cleveland, OH. 'Normally', there's 3 feet of months-old snow and it's -20 with wind chill.

1 h 36 m total integration time, 400/4, ISO 500.

 

[DennisN]

Mighty nice, @Andy Resnick!

 

[DennisN]

NASA & TRAPPIST-1: A Treasure Trove of Planets Found
"Published on Feb 22, 2017
Seven Earth-sized planets have been observed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope around a tiny, nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Three of these planets are firmly in the habitable zone."


NASA full press conference on discovery of 7 Earth-like exoplanets
"Published on Feb 22, 2017
NASA scientists announced Wednesday that they had discovered seven Earth-sized exoplanets 40 light years away, three of which may be able to sustain life."


Various links:

• Paper in Nature: Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, Nature 542, 456–460 (23 February 2017) doi:10.1038/nature21360,http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7642/full/nature21360.html

• NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planets Around Single Star (NASA)

• Ultracool dwarf and the seven planets (EurekAlert)
• Exoplanet discovery: seven Earth-sized worlds found orbiting nearby star (The Guardian)

 

[1oldman2]

From, https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21384/juno-captures-jupiter-cloudscape-in-high-resolution

 

[DennisN]

A nice photo from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:

Isidis Basin Ejecta
"This scene is a jumbled mess. There are blocks and smears of many different rocks types that appear to have been dumped into a pile."
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21553/isidis-basin-ejecta
A large image is here.

Two bonus clips from ISS:

Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science!
"2013-04-16 - CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield performed a simple science experiment designed by grade 10 Lockview High School students Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner. The students from Fall River, Nova Scotia won a national science contest held by the Canadian Space Agency with their experiment on surface tension in space using a wet washcloth."


(this may have been posted previously in the thread, I can't remember at the moment :)
4K Video of Colorful Liquid in Space
"Once again, astronauts on the International Space Station dissolved an effervescent tablet in a floating ball of water, and captured images using a camera capable of recording four times the resolution of normal high-definition cameras."

 

[Andy Resnick]

M51 is coming into view over here...

50 minutes @ ISO 1000, 400/2.8.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Orion is moving out of view, this is the longest exposure as I could get (until next year): 2 h @ 400/2.8, ISO 1250.

 

[1oldman2]

Orion is moving out of view, this is the longest exposure as I could get (until next year): 2 h @ 400/2.8, ISO 1250.

That is a beautiful shot.

 

[Andy Resnick]

That is a beautiful shot.

Thanks!

 

[1oldman2]

Ironically, more Orion.
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-11

 

[Andy Resnick]

These are amazing:

 

[DennisN]

These are amazing:

Very nice clips, thanks!

 

[DennisN]

Oh, this channel is really cool... (* see note below)
NASA Live - Earth From Space LIVE Feed
Started streaming on Oct 22, 2016
Live video of Earth from space - as seen from the Nasa ISS live stream aboard the International Space Station.


(*) EDIT: Here's the original live stream (I think):

NASA Live_ISS_Stream
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream

I've checked it just now, and it currently shows a blue page, which makes me doubt that the youtube link above really is live (* see note below). My guess is that the ISS currently is orbiting on the night side of Earth. Well, the ustream probably stream live from time to time, and there are also recorded streams on that page.

(*) EDIT 2:
Confirmed. According to http://iss.astroviewer.net/ as of right now this is/was the position of ISS:

 

[DennisN]

These Time-lapses of Earth Were Shot by Nikon DSLRs in Space
Source: http://petapixel.com/2017/04/19/time-lapses-earth-shot-nikon-dslrs-space/

 

[Andy Resnick]

The constellation Virgo is well-placed for viewing this time of year- there's a large supercluster of galaxies that is pretty amazing to image. First two are full-frames shots of the area, followed by a 1:1 cropped "rogue's gallery' of the more photogenic galaxies. Each full-frame is about 1h integration time @ 400/2.8, ISO 1000.

 

[Andy Resnick]

M51 is directly overhead now- getting some great viewing. This is the central 1:1 crop from a 3X dithered stack, using images with a star FWHM < 3.6 pixels using the 400/2.8 wide open, 13 second exposures, ISO 800. Total time = 34 min. It's still noisy, but that's ok given the small number of frames.

 

[Andy Resnick]

This part of the sky borders Virgo and Coma Berenices, in this image there are 7 Messier objects and approximately 100 NGC and IC objects visible:

This is the central 60% of the frame (400mm field of view), 2h 15m total acquisition time. I also have two neighboring fields of view that, when stitched, provide an 8 x 11 degree field of view, comprising 13 Messier objects and hundreds of NGC/IC objects.

This part of the sky is moving out of my viewing area, next up is the great cluster in Hercules...

 

[DennisN]

GRAIL's Gravity Map of the Moon
"This image shows the variations in the lunar gravity field as measured by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) during the primary mapping mission from March to May 2012. Very precise microwave measurements between two spacecraft , named Ebb and Flow, were used to map gravity with high precision and high spatial resolution. The field shown resolves blocks on the surface of about 12 miles (20 kilometers) and measurements are three to five orders of magnitude improved over previous data. Red corresponds to mass excesses and blue corresponds to mass deficiencies. The map shows more small-scale detail on the far side of the moon compared to the nearside because the far side has many more small craters."
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galleries/grails-gravity-map-of-the-moon

 

[berkeman]

Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galleries/grails-gravity-map-of-the-moon

Red corresponds to mass excesses and blue corresponds to mass deficiencies. The map shows more small-scale detail on the far side of the moon compared to the nearside because the far side has many more small craters.

How does this compare to a visual image? Do the spots correspond to different kinds of crater impacts (heavy object left behind versus no object left in the hole)?

 

[DennisN]

How does this compare to a visual image? Do the spots correspond to different kinds of crater impacts (heavy object left behind versus no object left in the hole)?

Good question... sadly I don't know. I don't even know how the far side of the Moon looks like, so I'll go check on the net now...