Wow. [From Bad Astronomy]
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Wow. [From Bad Astronomy]

I think today will be a day of reblogs, this one from fuckyeahtheuniverse: wildfrost: Andromeda Galaxy (by clownfish33) Space is beautiful, isn’t it?
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I think today will be a day of reblogs, this one from fuckyeahtheuniverse:

wildfrost:

Andromeda Galaxy (by clownfish33)

Space is beautiful, isn’t it?

Source: flickr.com

Tiny interchangeable lenses for tiny digital cameras. It’s still no DSLR, but the gap between consumer and professional is getting smaller by the day. This little beast by Sony still doesn’t have a mirror, but its lenses can be swapped out depending on what you need. For the full details, check out the source link. [From Wired]
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Tiny interchangeable lenses for tiny digital cameras. It’s still no DSLR, but the gap between consumer and professional is getting smaller by the day. This little beast by Sony still doesn’t have a mirror, but its lenses can be swapped out depending on what you need. For the full details, check out the source link. [From Wired]

This photo of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3190 came up on my wonderful Astronomy Picture of the Day app a few days back. It was so tasty that I just had to share. It’s hard to imagine that all of the diffuse light is coming from millions of stars as big (or bigger) than our sun, and that some of the dust that’s obscuring the light is likely larger than the planet we’re sitting on now.
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This photo of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3190 came up on my wonderful Astronomy Picture of the Day app a few days back. It was so tasty that I just had to share. It’s hard to imagine that all of the diffuse light is coming from millions of stars as big (or bigger) than our sun, and that some of the dust that’s obscuring the light is likely larger than the planet we’re sitting on now.

Are you a photographer? If so, where do you fall on this graph? Back in my prime, I’d say I was somewhere between “The HDR hole” and that sharp dip in “how good you think you are” only without the steady increas in “quality of photos.” To explain where I am now would probably require moving backwards along those graphs. [From Chris]
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Are you a photographer? If so, where do you fall on this graph? Back in my prime, I’d say I was somewhere between “The HDR hole” and that sharp dip in “how good you think you are” only without the steady increas in “quality of photos.” To explain where I am now would probably require moving backwards along those graphs. [From Chris]

It was Hubble’s birthday yesterday, and I’m ashamed to admit I forgot to get it a present. 20 years ago, on April 24th, the space telescope that has brought us some of the most awe inspiring pictures of the cosmos was carried into orbit on the back of a space shuttle. To (belatedly) celebrate this momentous occasion I give to you the 20th anniversary image provided at HubbleSite, of the Carina Nubula. This huge cloud of dust, which is being warped and distorted by ‘wind’ from the nearby stars has been wistfully named the “Mystic Mountain.” Enjoy. [More photos from HubbleSite]
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It was Hubble’s birthday yesterday, and I’m ashamed to admit I forgot to get it a present. 20 years ago, on April 24th, the space telescope that has brought us some of the most awe inspiring pictures of the cosmos was carried into orbit on the back of a space shuttle. To (belatedly) celebrate this momentous occasion I give to you the 20th anniversary image provided at HubbleSite, of the Carina Nubula. This huge cloud of dust, which is being warped and distorted by ‘wind’ from the nearby stars has been wistfully named the “Mystic Mountain.” Enjoy. [More photos from HubbleSite]

From a post by nationalgeographicdaily:

A collection of photos of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano on Sunday.

I’ve made a few posts about Eyjafjallajojallabananafannafofalla already, but this tasty little collection of images showing the true beauty and power of the eruption was too good to pass up a chance to reblog.

Source: nationalgeographicdaily

As promised, more from the SDO/AIA. The false-colors in this image show just how dynamic the sun really is. The first thing you notice (or at least the first thing I noticed) is the massive temperature variations; from about 110 thousand degrees (Fahrenheit) in the areas shown in red, to nearly 1.8 million degrees in the areas shown in blue. But there’s so much more hidden away in an image as stunning as this. Notice all the swirling eddies and bright flashes that speckle the surface. You can even see a brilliant flare shooting up through the corona! So much potential knowledge! All of which is made possible by the amazing resolution of the images taken by SDO. The one shown here was 4800x4800 pixels in it’s original size. That’s over 4 times the vertical resolution of the best HDTV’s, and still they manage to fill the frame with an object that’s 93 million miles away. To put things in perspective, many of the images of the sun that you’ve already seen have come from NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), and its 2400x2400 resolution looks dinky by comparison. This is just one example of the many exciting NASA missions currently flying, or coming up in future. Recently, there’s been a lot of negative press about the policy decisions to put manned spaceflight on the back-burner, but there’s still a enormous amount of incredibly interesting work just waiting to be done. It’s an exciting time to be interested in science. If this sort of things turns your gears, I strongly suggest reading the source link, and then taking some time to flick through NASA’s website. They’re a veritable wealth of fascinating astronomical information. [Source NASA’s New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images]
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As promised, more from the SDO/AIA. The false-colors in this image show just how dynamic the sun really is. The first thing you notice (or at least the first thing I noticed) is the massive temperature variations; from about 110 thousand degrees (Fahrenheit) in the areas shown in red, to nearly 1.8 million degrees in the areas shown in blue. But there’s so much more hidden away in an image as stunning as this. Notice all the swirling eddies and bright flashes that speckle the surface. You can even see a brilliant flare shooting up through the corona! So much potential knowledge! All of which is made possible by the amazing resolution of the images taken by SDO. The one shown here was 4800x4800 pixels in it’s original size. That’s over 4 times the vertical resolution of the best HDTV’s, and still they manage to fill the frame with an object that’s 93 million miles away. To put things in perspective, many of the images of the sun that you’ve already seen have come from NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), and its 2400x2400 resolution looks dinky by comparison. This is just one example of the many exciting NASA missions currently flying, or coming up in future. Recently, there’s been a lot of negative press about the policy decisions to put manned spaceflight on the back-burner, but there’s still a enormous amount of incredibly interesting work just waiting to be done. It’s an exciting time to be interested in science. If this sort of things turns your gears, I strongly suggest reading the source link, and then taking some time to flick through NASA’s website. They’re a veritable wealth of fascinating astronomical information. [Source NASA’s New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images]

In the words of Ralph Kramden, “hummina hummina hummina!” Shown above is the Phantom Flex digital video camera. This beastly little gadget is capable of capturing full HD video (1920x1080 resolution) at up to an impressive 2800 frames per second. With four different resolutions, ranging from 2650x1600 all the way down to standard definition (640x480) it sports frame rates between 5 fps and 13,000 fps (which, by the way, is over nine thousand), depending on the setting. That will make for some mighty purty slow-motion shots, eh? A cookie for the person who guesses which frame rate ends up being the closest to the MSRP. [From Vision Research via Engadget]
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In the words of Ralph Kramden, “hummina hummina hummina!” Shown above is the Phantom Flex digital video camera. This beastly little gadget is capable of capturing full HD video (1920x1080 resolution) at up to an impressive 2800 frames per second. With four different resolutions, ranging from 2650x1600 all the way down to standard definition (640x480) it sports frame rates between 5 fps and 13,000 fps (which, by the way, is over nine thousand), depending on the setting. That will make for some mighty purty slow-motion shots, eh? A cookie for the person who guesses which frame rate ends up being the closest to the MSRP. [From Vision Research via Engadget]

I have never been a financial supporter of Photoshop, primarily because despite their massive educational discounts (can you say 80% off?) I have never been in a position to be able to justify spending 200+ dollars on a piece of their software. After all, my forays into art have never been more than a hobby. Thus I’ve always depended on the licenses of family members or free software options. But as time goes on, and Photoshop gets more and more robust, I find it harder and harder to stop myself from making the plunge. I mean come on: CONTENT-AWARE FILL? Yes please! If you’re a photoshop hobbyist and this doesn’t get you at least a little excited, I think you ought to go see a Doctor. (Though admittedly, there are some NSFW uses that can only end in disaster.)