It took us precisely 3.4 seconds to decide that this photograph, on its own was good enough for an entire Phogotraphy write up. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re seeing a crayon laid upon a beige carpet. In fact, you’re looking at a genuine NASA photograph from hundreds of miles above the Earth’s surface.
So what are we looking at? According to NASA this is the iconic orange external fuel tank as used in the Space shuttle missions Continue reading
We are used to seeing photographs of Space on our social media feeds. Popularised this decade by Chris Hadfield and emulated by many more it’s hard to conceive a time existed before astronomer photography. So who was the first photographer in Space?
It was this man, Gherman Titov of Russia:
Titov was aboard Vostok 2 when it took off to journey beyond our atmosphere and make 17 orbits of Earth on the 6th August 1961. The mission, Continue reading
SpaceX just shared a single exposure photograph of their Falcon 9 rocket taking off, leaving our atmosphere, reentry and landing.
That’s got to be a first.
The unusual photograph can only be achieved by performing an even more unusual rocket stunt. SpaceX have been trying, both successfully and unsuccessfully to launch a rocket into Space and return it to Earth for re-use. Today, as part of their ORBCOMMS-2 mission they managed the impossible. Even more sweeter is the fact their previous attempt earlier this year ended in disaster.
Congratulations Elon Musk on the incredible feat, but special props must go to the photographic genius who managed to compose and set up an image in which there was only one shot.
UPDATE:
It seems a LOT of people have managed to capture the same event. Musk just Tweeted out the best so far though:
Via SpaceX
Three years after Stars Episode IV: A New Hope was released one of the most remarkable cosmic coincidences with regards to popular culture on Earth and imagery of Space would occur. The first fully resolved images of Saturn’s moon Mimas would be released by NASA and its similarity to the Empire’s Death Star would take everyone by surprise.
Until last night there was no better example of cosmic coincidence in our universe. Then NASA released imagery of the so called ‘Halloween comet’ due to zip by Earth on the evening of 31st October 2015.
Take. a. look. Continue reading
Do not underestimate how important this resource is.
Only 24 humans have seen the entirety of Earth from Space with their own eyes and that’s not changing any time soon. However thanks to a joint effort by NASA, NOAA and USAF we are a step closer to having unrestricted access to instant and current imagery of our blue marble via a brand new website.
Once a day, every day from here on NASA will upload a minimum of a dozen images as taken by a camera called EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) with complete access revealing the entire globe.
Safely in orbit a million miles out at the L1 Lagrange point between the Earth and the Sun, Continue reading
Italy’s first female astronaut is a moniker that Samantha Cristoforetti can wear with pride for all eternity but if it’s proof pics you need, we’ve got you covered. While Samantha was onboard the Space station during her 200 day stint, incidentally the longest ever flight for a female astronaut, her camera was a constant companion.
Samantha was selected to be an astronaut for the European Space Agency in 2009, a childhood dream, and over the past six years, she has posted thousands of images to her Flickr page much like one of her Continue reading
Have you ever decided to stay up all night to see the aurora borealis and then fallen asleep, only to kick yourself the next morning because you missed it? Just imagine setting all your camera gear up and then dozing off before you’ve even seen the results.
Two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth, a group of astronauts are orbiting our planet conducting experiments on the International Space Station. Occasionally they get to relax and have some down time and take photographs. Commander Scott Kelly, like one of his predecessors uses those precious moments in Space to take awesome photographs.
What you’re looking at is a photograph of (top to bottom) Earth, Jupiter, Venus and the Moon all lined up in the same image. The photograph was taken from the ISS on the 19th July this year and retweeted almost 10,000 times. Frankly I’m appalled at myself for not picking this up earlier, but better late than never.
The image strikes an uncanny resemblance to Stanley Kubrik’s opening title’s sequence to the 1968 film Space Odyssey 2001 or more likely, later in the film when we’re treated to a stunning view of the Jupiter & its moons suddenly aligning.
Don’t be fooled either into thinking Kelly’s image is anything more than a beautiful photograph of a conjunction of Solar System from his vantage point. This alignment has absolutely no effect on us, planets, our gravity whatsoever. In fact they happen quite frequently. If you’re interested in finding out more about our place in the cosmos and planning your next starry night photoshoot, check out Stellarium.org, a great tool for tracking objects in the night sky.
Via PetaPixel.
Stop sharing it!
With increasing frustration I’ve watched some of my gullible friends post this image in relation to today’s spectacular Solar eclipse. It’s cited as ‘The ISS took this photo of the eclipse today. #eclipse2015‘
Don’t be fooled, it’s fake. Besides they don’t have Photoshop on the ISS (or at least I don’t think they have.)
The real photographs taken by the astronauts currently stationed on the ISS are much more underwhelming. In fact, somewhat pleasingly they make all the ones I’ve taken look pretty good.
Here’s what NASA had to say when presenting them:
You can certainly sense a bit of embarrassment from that tweet, and quite rightly so. Poor Sam Cristoforetti who seems like an absolutely lovely person, is no match as a photographer to the now widely known Chris Hadfield.
Here’s a selection of the REAL photographs taken today during the Solar eclipse from NASA’s Flickr feed: Continue reading
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