AstroPhoto – Page 3 – astroengine.com

Standing Under the Aurora

Under an auroal display in 2004 above a Harstad (Norway) communications tower (NASA) — Under an auroal display in 2004 above a Harstad (Norway) communications tower (Frank Andreassen/NASA)

In 2002, I remember standing on the ice-crusted snow in Svalbard, looking up, in awe of what I was seeing. Dancing overhead, stretching from horizon to horizon was my first aurora. Predominantly green and highly structured against the inky black 24 hour night, the highly dynamic plasma danced, much like a curtain in the wind. Occasionally, I would see the ribbons of green scatter, forming a radiant pattern, much like today’s NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), above.

Seven years ago, I was studying the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth’s upper polar atmosphere with four friends for five months at The University Centre in Svalbard, and it is an experience I’ll never forget. Seeing this dazzling view from a communications tower in northern Norway stirs some amazing memories of my stay on this unique island in the high arctic, watching the light generated as the solar plasma spiralled down Earth’s magnetic field, interacting with our atmosphere.

From that magical day onward, I never underestimated the beauty of physics again…

Morse Code Messaging with the Stars

Sirius morse code, but what does it say? (©Jimmy Westlake) — Sirius Morse code, but what does it say? (©Jimmy Westlake)

It’s another one of those “I wish I’d thought of that” moments. Well, at least it would have been if I knew Morse code. And if I was an astrophotographer. I have a camera, and some patience, and have worked out how to capture the Moon with my ancient SLR, so perhaps there’s some hope yet? Nah, I’ll give up on this one.

Jimmy Westlake from Colorado took this shot of star trails, with the brightest star being Sirius. Usually, star trails are continuous arcs of light after keeping the shutter of the camera open for minutes-hours at a time. You’ll notice that this picture is different, the star trails are broken. It turns out that Westlake wanted to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in his own way:

“This is actually a series of 28 separate exposures on one piece of film. The ‘dots’ are 30-second exposures; the ‘dashes’ are 3-minute exposures. The ‘shutter’ creating the gaps was my shivering, gloved hand held over the lens in the 0ºF Colorado air. The entire message required just under two hours to record. Every few minutes, I had to turn on a blow dryer to keep the frost from forming on the lens–and me!“

I’ll let you try to decipher the code if you can read Morse code, otherwise read on for the answer…
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Our (Painfully) Featureless Sun

The Sun, being boring on Jan. 13th 2009, a whole year after Solar Cycle 24 was supposed to start (solar astrophotography by ©Stephen Sykes)

This morning I realised it’s been a whole year since we saw the first reversed polarity sunspot pair on the surface of the Sun. A year ago, Solar Cycle 23 was running out of steam and Cycle 24 was about to take over. Solar physicists the world over were making predictions, some thought Cycle 24 was going to be a “doozy”, others were a little more conservative, saying it might just be an “average” cycle. However, 12 months on, it would appear Cycle 24 is off to a very lazy start. Once again, we have a “blank” Sun, a perfect sphere, looking like a marble, or as my wife observed: a jawbreaker (or as us Brits like to expressively call them, gobstoppers).

The stunning image above was shot by skilled astrophotographer Stephen Sykes, over at AstroSlacker.com, demonstrating what superb views of the Sun can be captured by amateur astronomers. When I (eventually) get my telescope, and/or a new camera, the Sun will be my first astronomical object to observe, but I doubt I’ll get as good a view as this.

So, another day, another featureless Sun. That’s not to say it’s been a totally boring year; we’ve had flares from “left over” active regions from Cycle 23 and we’ve had a bit of action from Cycle 24 (the most recent set of spots–Sunspot 1010–have just rotated out of view), and I’m pretty sure this time next year we’ll be inundated with sunspots… fingers crossed (I can’t wait to see some coronal loop arcades again). For now, good night our lazy Sun, I look forward to seeing more action in the coming months…

In a Picture: Snoopy’s Apollo 10

Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford pats the nose of a stuffed Snoopy held by Jamye Flowers (Coplin), Gemini astronaut Gordon Cooper's secretary (NASA)

On May 1969, Apollo 10 astronauts Gene Cernan, John Young and Thomas Stafford orbited the Moon on a reconnaissance mission that would lead to the first lunar landing by Apollo 11 later that year. During the mission, the lunar module came within 50,000 feet of the surface, to “snoop around”. It is therefore fitting that the module should be called Snoopy and the Apollo command module be named Charlie Brown.

In the scene above, Jamye Flowers Coplin (Gemini astronaut Gordon Cooper’s secretary) hugging a stuffed Snoopy, sees off the Apollo 10 crew as they make their way to the launch pad. Mission commander Tom Stafford gives Snoopy a rub on the nose.

Later this month, Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 10 mission with an exhibition of the connection between the three pioneering astronauts and the tenacious cartoon beagle.

Snoopy’s connection with NASA actually began before Apollo 10. In 1968, NASA chose the beagle as an icon who would “emphasize mission success and act as a ‘watchdog’ for flight safety.”

Established that same year, the agency’s “Silver Snoopy Award” is considered the astronauts personal award, given for outstanding efforts that contribute to the success of human space flight missions. Award winners receive a sterling silver Snoopy lapel pin flown in space, along with a certificate and letter of appreciation from NASA astronauts. Fewer than 1% of the workforce is recognized with a Silver Snoopy annually, making it one of the most prized awards in the industry.

—NASA press release, Jan. 5th 2009

For me, the scene captures a very special moment in space flight history, one that I find strangely moving. The pride, excitement and bravery of the time are communicated wonderfully.

Frosty Phoenix Not Snowed Under… Yet.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE instrument spots the dead Phoenix Lander on December 21st (NASA/HiRISE)

NASA lost contact with the Phoenix Mars Lander at the start of November 2008, as its batteries were drained and sunlight began to dwindle. With no sunlight came no charge for the batteries from Phoenix’s solar panels, and the robot’s fate was sealed: a sun-deprived coma. A dust storm hastened the lander’s fate, but it certainly wasn’t premature. The Phoenix mission was intended to last three months, but in the same vein as the Mars Exploration Rovers, Phoenix’s mission was extended. In the high latitude location of the Martian Arctic, a dark winter was fast approaching, so Phoenix didn’t have the luxury of time and it transmitted its last broken signal before the cold set in, sapping the last volt of electricity from its circuits…

Although there was some excitement about the possibility of reviving the lander next summer, it is highly unlikely Phoenix will be in an operational state, even if it did have an abundant source of light to heat up its solar panels once more. No, Phoenix is dead.

However, that doesn’t mean the orbiting satellites won’t be looking out for it. So long as there is a little bit of light bouncing off the frosted Martian surface, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can image Phoenix, keeping track of the encroaching ice around its location. The HiRISE team seem to be assembling a series of images throughout the change in seasons at the landing site, so it will be interesting to see the full set…

Source: HiRISE blog

The Moon and a Jet: Astrophotography by Stephen Sykes

Photography by Steven Sykes — Photography by Stephen Sykes

If you’ve listened to my Astroengine Live show, you may have noticed that I am a (very) frustrated practical astronomer. I have yet to save up for my first telescope (thanks Mike Simonsen for making me even more eager to hand over my credit card!), and I still want to upgrade my camera equipment so I can begin taking some shots of the night sky.

So when I see images like the one above, I move one step closer to making that big purchase (upgrading to a digital SLR, followed closely by my dream telescope). This shot was taken by Stephen Sykes in his back yard in Alabama. Intending to capture the Moon alone, his luck was in and a commercial jet passed right in front. Luck is a huge part of astronomy, and when a skilled astrophotographer is there to capture the moment, stunning shots like these are possible.

Be sure to check out his site, StephenSykes.us, for all the images in this set. He’s even put together a superb animation of the series of shots he was able to capture during the jet transit.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Fully Integrated at Cape Canaveral

As the first post of 2009, I couldn’t think of a more worthy topic: SpaceX. Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company is accelerating its progress ever since the successful launch of the Falcon 1 (Flight 4) in September. Just last week, it was announced that NASA had signed a $1.6 billion contract for 12 SpaceX launches to resupply the International Space Station over the next decade. As if that wasn’t enough, we start the New Year with some more great news, the heavy-lift rocket, Falcon 9, has just been assembled at Cape Canaveral in preparation for it to be hoisted vertically so it can begin preparations for its first launch.

Falcon 9 is now fully integrated at the Cape! Today we mated the 5.2 m payload fairing to the Falcon 9 first stage (see below). This was the final step in the integration process—one day ahead of schedule.

With Falcon 9 integrated, our focus shifts to the big launch mount and erector. All the pieces have been delivered, and the coming days will see a tremendous amount of welding to join them all together.

The long hours put in by the SpaceX team over the last several weeks, particularly the folks on the ground at the Cape, are certainly paying off. Once the launch mount and erector are complete, we’ll transfer Falcon 9 on to the erector and raise it to vertical early in 2009. Happy New Year!

—SpaceX press release (Dec. 30th)

And just in case you wanted to see just how quickly this company ships and assembles their rockets, check out the image below. This is the same Falcon 9 first stage as the one above pre-paint-job, before being shipped from the Hawthorn facility in LA, during my visit in October. How time flies…

Falcon 9 1st stage in the SpaceX rocket-manufacturing facility in Hawthorn, CA (© Ian O'Neill)

What an exciting year 2009 is shaping up to be. We are living in historic times for commercial spaceflight, with SpaceX spearheading a new age for space travel…

Moon, Venus, Jupiter Conjunction Dazzles California

Tonight is a very special night. Three celestial bodies clustered together in the sky, signifying a rare conjunction between the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. If you missed it, you’ll have to wait five years until the natural satellite of the Earth and two planets align in a similar pattern again in 2013.

Having been a frustrated astronomer for many years, I decided to get outside to investigate the conjunction over California for myself. Sure enough, from dusk, I could see a bright, thin crescent Moon with two very bright dots to the right and below in the southwest. The same scene has been repeated across many nations, but from my perspective I was able to capture the moment with some basic equipment and a very steady hand (plus some folded business cards)…
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Meteor Explodes Over Canada

Only a month ago, a series of all-sky cameras in the Canadian region of southern Ontario captured a long-lasting meteorite fireball as it streaked across the skies. Last night it was the turn of the central province of Saskatchewan to see the spectacular fireball of a meteroid dropping through the atmosphere. According to eye witnesses, the intense light lit up the dark skies and a series of thunderous booms shook the ground.

Another day living in the interplanetary shooting gallery I suppose…
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Dust Really IS a Problem for Spirit

The ninja rover, NASA's answer to creeping up on Martian lifeforms...

Talk about having a bad dust day. Only last night on Astroengine Live I was discussing the near-death experience Mars Exploration Rover Spirit survived a few days ago. Much to NASA’s (and the science-loving world’s) relief, the Sun-blocking dust storm in Gusev Crater couldn’t beat down this tough wheeled warrior. Even though her solar panels are coated in a thick layer of red dust, she battles on to see another sol. According to NASA, Spirit will remain in a recovery mode until next month at least, giving the batteries some time to recharge…
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