WISE Captures the Unicorn's Rose

WISE Captures the Unicorn's Rose
Originally uploaded by NASAJPL

A new cosmic image taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WISE) shows the Rosette nebula located within the constellation Monoceros, or the Unicorn.

This flower-shaped nebula, also known by the less romantic name NGC 2237, is a huge star-forming cloud of dust and gas in our Milky Way galaxy.

We're just blogging this at astronomy for beginners because it's such a beautiful image.

Fireball on Jupiter

FIREBALL ON JUPITER:  An amateur astronomer in Japan has video-recorded a fireball on Jupiter.  This marks the third time in only 13 months that amateur astronomy buffs have detected signs of something hitting the giant planet.  Will the latest impact leave behind a visible cloud of debris? .

SPACE STATION and SPACE PLANE FLYBYS: This is a good week for satellite watchers in the USA and Canada.  Both the International Space Station and the US Air Force X-37B space plane are making a series of favorable passes over North American towns and cities.  The spacecraft are easy to find using our Simple Satellite Tracker--an app for iPhones and Android.  Visit http://simpleflybys.com for downloads and more information.

Perseid Meteor Shower Peak August

PERSEID METEOR SHOWER

The annual Perseid meteor shower is underway. Earth is passing through a wide stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, and each time a fleck of comet dust hits Earth's atmosphere - flash! - there is a meteor. Forecasters say the shower will peak on Thursday, August 12th, and Friday, August 13th. You can see Perseids flitting across the sky at any time between about 10 pm on Thursday evening and sunrise on Friday morning. Observers who get away from city lights can expect to count dozens of meteors per hour, especially during the dark hours before dawn.


BONUS: If you go outside a little early on Thursday evening, around sunset, you'll see a beautiful gathering of planets in the sunset sky--Venus, Mars, Saturn and the crescent Moon. It's a nice way to start a meteor watch.

Saturn's small moons Beyond Rings

Petite Pair Beyond Rings
Originally uploaded by NASAJPL

Two of Saturn's small moons can be seen orbiting beyond the planet's thin F ring in this Cassini spacecraft image

Prometheus Between Rings

Prometheus Between Rings
Originally uploaded by NASAJPL

Saturn's A ring appears bright compared to the thin F ring, which is shepherded by the moon Prometheus, in this view from the Cassini spacecraft.

WISE 'First-Light' Image

WISE 'First-Light' Image
Originally uploaded by NASAJPL

This infrared snapshot of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way was taken shortly after NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) ejected its cover. The "first-light" picture shows thousands of stars and covers an area three times the size of the moon. WISE will take more than a million similar pictures covering the whole sky.

Portrait of Bright Spokes

Portrait of Bright Spokes
Originally uploaded by NASAJPL

The moons Mimas and Pandora join bright B ring spokes in this Cassini captured scene.

First Star Trail Attempt

First Star Trail Attempt
Originally uploaded by Christopher M.J. Tsorotes

Here's a great demonstrationn of how beginners can take pictures of star trails with no special astronomy equipment::

To achieve this photo I used the following:
My K7

No tripod (I just sat the camera on the ledge)

16 shots in raw plus one dark frame (turned off slow frame NR, then turned it back off tor the dark frame)

ISO 500
f6.3 (Pentax DA16-45)
30" Shutter
Cable Release (I found interval timer inbuilt didn't work properly for some strange reason, I think because of the buffer limits)

Photoshop CS4
Lightroom (to process the raws)
Star Trails (this app really suprised me, its amazing)
Vertus fluid mask

Believe it or not I used absolutely no noise reduction software.

Clever stuff on the astronomy for beginners group.

Perseids

constellation LEO

constellation LEO from May 25th 2oo9
Originally uploaded by Sebastian Z.

Constellation LEO from May 25th 2009

Astronomy for beginners Smithsonian Photography Call

Smithsonian click! Photography Call for Entry

Because of our group Astronomy For Beginners interest particularly in astrophotography, please help us spread the word about the Smithsonian Photography Initiative’s call for entries for click! photography changes everything – an online exhibit that invites the public to consider ways in which photography influences every aspect of our lives. For the months of May and June 2009, and in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, our focus is on ”Seeing Other Worlds". How can photography help us see things that would otherwise go unnoticed in our everyday lives? How does micro- and macro- photography (e.g. from microscopic bacteria to galaxies far beyond the earth) change our perception of the world and our place in it? How do new imaging technologies and software (e.g. MRI’s, CAT scans, Google Earth, etc.) change what we’re able or want to see? click! wants photographs and stories on how photography helps us see things that would otherwise go unnoticed in our everyday lives. Additionally, for these two months we will be adding new Chandra x-ray photos to our set on Flickr. Below are some quick links to help members get started: • About click!: www.click.si.edu/about.aspx • Submission Guidelines: www.click.si.edu/Contribute.aspx • Media Release and Call for Entries Badge:www.click.si.edu/Connect.aspx • click! Flickr Group: flickr.com/groups/click-photography-changes-everything/ • Smithsonian Commons Photos from the Chandra X-ray Observatory:www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/sets/72157608016866848/ • Engage in an online discussion about photography at our blog, THE BIGGER PICTURE: blog.photography.si.edu Please help spread the word through Astronomy For beginners