Photoshopping Space Pictures

While I love astro-photography, I warn everyone who searches for space pictures, whether it's galaxies, comets, the moon, planets, or anything outside of our planet, that people use photoshop A LOT. Unlike the fashion industry, where photoshop is highly frowned upon, is the astro photography industry, photoshop isn't frowned upon but encouraged. 

In order to get the best colors out of pictures, photographers add layers, filters, colors, and alter their space pictures. Here are a few of those examples where the pictures are severely altered, although to someone who doesn't do this often, they might not be able to tell.

Comets

Comets are one of the coolest 'balls of light' as I like to call them. They happen so quickly, yet contain so much beauty.  I spoke about comet's previously, but the pictures speak for themselves.Again, enjoy some google pics!

Our Lovely Milky Way

I spoke about the Milky Way previously, but I only gave the background, and didn't give the visual. If you ever have the chance to travel to the Caribbean or a remote location with little light pollution, I dare you to look up at the night sky and look for the milky way.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Milky Way in Turks and Caicos on both my visits. I couldn't capture it on camera, I didn't have my professional camera with me at the time it was most visible, but the sight was amazing. The fact you could see it with the naked eye was astonishing.

I plan to take more pictures while i'm in Aruba this summer, so I can't post any pics yet, but until then, enjoy some google images of people who've taken incredible pictures.

Supernova's

One of my favorite topics when it comes to astronomy is SUPERNOVA's. A supernova is a star that suddenly increases in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass. This results in ASTONISHING pictures (if you are lucky enough to catch a supernova as it's happening!)

I didn't take these pictures, but I sure wish I did. Some visual enjoyment for those wanting to explore space photography more :-)

Event's Going On

As per Kevin's request (thanks for the suggestion, Kevin!) Here's a list of events that will be happening at Rolnick Observatory in Westport, CT. This is the observatory I am a member of, so I can speak best on :-)

For many of the events, you have to be a member (it's only $25 for students a year!), and after a year, you get keys to the observatory. After two classes to teach you how to use the telescopes, you get the keys and can go to the observatory whenever you want! It's a great investment for anyone interested, but I'd recommend visiting a few times before going.

Public nights are every Wednesday (so unfortunately, we're in class), but once class is over, you can go from about 8PM - 10:00 PM. 

On Saturday, April 30 - it's the last quarter of the moon at 3:29 AM
On Friday, May 6 - it's a new moon at 7:30 PM (this makes for great pics!)
On Friday, May 13, it's the first quarter at 5:02 PM
On Saturday, May 21  - we're back to a full moon
On Sunday, May 29 - we're at the last quarter

Coolest Events happening soon!!

• On May 9 - The Transit of Mercury will be visible from the Rolnick Observatory from 7:14 AM - 2:20 PM!
• On August 21, 2017 The great American Solar Eclipse will be visible, but not completely!

The Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is one of my favorite galaxies, and while I've never been able to get a good picture, I've been able to see the galaxy a few times via the telescope at the Rolnick observatory. 

The pictures speak for themselves of the beauty of this galaxy...

Space Pics I've Taken

Something I rarely EVER do is share my pictures/photography with anyone who is not close to me, but, because I've previously put these on Facebook, I figured someone's probably used them in some shape way or form. So please enjoy these space pics I've taken from Rolnick observatory.

All of these pictures were taken with an iPhone 6 (and because I'm typing this from my phone, I've had to screen shot the pics off my iphone  - sorry!), and not with my professional camera. My professional camera pictures are even better. I'll also be travelling to Aruba in August and visiting an observatory there (that's being constructed by one person !).

The first picture is obviously of the moon. No zoom on my end, however, if you consider a telescope a 'zoom' then I did 'zoom in'... It was taken with my personal telescope, which is nothing more than a $300 beginner telescope.

The second picture is Jupiter and it's moons! Jupiter has (4) moons... Europa, Ganymede, Io, and Callisto. Those little tiny specs you see.. yup, those are the moons! The glowing ball you see is Jupiter. This also was taken with a smaller telescope at zero zoom. If I was to have a bigger telescope like at the observatory, i'd be able to zoom in much more and get a closer picture.

This third picture is Saturn! This was one of the most difficult pictures taken, because Saturn moves SO quickly compared to the other planets, if you don't have a self-tracking telescope, you have to polar align it every 5-8 seconds. Also, trying to take this picture on an iphone is very difficult. It usually comes out as a ball of light. you have to adjust the focus manually on your iphone.

And this fourth picture is one of my favorites (although one of the least quality).. The top glowing orb-like planet is Venus. This picture was taken last summer when Jupiter and Venus were going to "cross" (you might have seen it on Facebook or news channels around last June - July!).  The bottom glowing planet is Jupiter, and you can kind of see the four moons.