My God, it's full of stars.

July 28, 2016 2:50 PM

Astronomy Photographer of The Year - 2016 shortlist.
posted by smoke (13 comments total)

These are amazing. I have utmost respect for these photographers, particularly those who make the outdoor treks to remote locations in the middle of the night to get these stunners.
posted by Metro Gnome at 3:03 PM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Thanks for this -- a moving photoset!
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:21 PM on July 28, 2016

Holy shit, these are fantastic.
posted by lydhre at 4:50 PM on July 28, 2016

These are amazing, and even though it's been going on for awhile now, I will never get over just how fucking cool it is that we can take pictures of the surface of the sun.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 4:55 PM on July 28, 2016

Ooooooh, Micro McGee is going to be so excited to see these!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:54 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

What I would have loved is some now technical information, especially on processing, cause with good astrophotography, a shit hot camera and lens combo will only take you so far ;these images have all had very high level and accomplished processing. Its an art form of its own.
posted by smoke at 8:26 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is beautiful stuff! I need someone to tell me if the star trails always make circles around where you point the lens? Or is it photogs know to point the camera at the North Star? Just a question, my friend wants to know. Yeah, sure.
posted by Oyéah at 9:58 PM on July 28, 2016

The star trails make a circle around the axis of rotation of the planet - the celestial poles. There's one near the South pole and one in the North. (So if you're at the equator, this point will be at the horizon, and as you get nearer the poles this point will be higher up on the sky)
posted by xdvesper at 10:39 PM on July 28, 2016

I keep my eyes on the circling skies, tongue tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I...

I think I need to stare at the Jupiter one a while with Pink Floyd queued up. Recent discoveries reveal that the Great Red Spot is caused by a mysterious heat source hidden deep in its clouds... look at the turbulence in its wake!

A moon in its death-orbit? The sputtering sparking of a star never meant to be? A black monolith making other black monoliths that Europa may thaw? A superstorm acting as the heat-sink for a giant world? I mean, just.. wow. I love all of these photos, tho.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:05 PM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Celestial pole.
posted by Pendragon at 11:25 PM on July 28, 2016

Just looked it up - Jupiter appears in shades of earth-tones because ammonia (hydrogen and nitrogen teaming up) is brown-yellow, interspersed with water-ice crystals (white). It's unclear why the Red Spot is a deep orange.

Neptune, by contrast, is mostly methane rather than ammonia in the upper reaches of its clouds, and so appears a brilliant blue mottled with green (ammonia mixed with methane and ice).

Saturn is a healthy mix of "all of the above."

I'm trying to find out if anyone has ever checked the spectography of the nearby gas giants for compounds likely to be a result of metabolic action? Ammonia is a very volatile compound, and a key ingredient of fertilizer here on earth. Google is failing me.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:31 PM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oooh, my dad's gonna flip once he sees these! Thank you so much for sharing!!
posted by Hermione Granger at 7:28 AM on July 29, 2016

These are absolutely stunning. I normally keep a picture of my kids as my background shot (I know, but it makes me happy), but I had to replace it with one of these. So beautiful. Thank you for posting.
posted by widdershins at 2:49 PM on July 29, 2016