Astronomy.com blog : imaging

2009 AIC recap: Heavenly images abounded, part two

Michael Bakich — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:44:00 GMT

Longtime astroimager and Astronomy magazine contributor Tony Hallas thinks about his upcoming acceptance speech. The Advanced Imaging Conference committee awarded Hallas its most prestigious award, the Hubble Award, for his service and the advances he brought to astroimaging. Michael E. Bakich photo

In my previous blog, I described the first day at the 2009 Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC), which occurred October 30 through November 1 at the San Jose, California, Doubletree Hotel. Day 1 revolved around imaging workshops.

Some of the workshops dealt with equipment, and some focused on imaging techniques, but the majority assumed the attendees could get good images. The rest of the workshop presenters, therefore, offered image-processing tips.

Day 2 was the general session for this, the sixth incarnation of this event. Registration and a continental breakfast took place between 7 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. Then, at 8:15 a.m. sharp, the conference’s opening remarks began. Ken Crawford, AIC’s president and long-time image contributor to Astronomy magazine, welcomed some 300 attendees and introduced AIC’s founder, Steve Mandel, who talked about the early days of the organization and new projects he’s working on.

Some of you may know the name Mandel from the Mandel-Wilson Unexplored Nebula Project. (Michael Wilson was the project sponsor.) This survey searched for low surface-brightness interstellar clouds in the Milky Way that appeared on some wide-field photographs of deep-sky objects.

Astronomer Beverly T. Lynds first noticed the phenomenon — dubbed “galactic cirrus” or “integrated-flux nebulae” — in 1965 on photographic plates taken at Palomar Observatory. But it wasn’t until December 2004 that Mandel recorded them on a wide-field image of Bode’s Galaxy (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82) in Ursa Major. Astronomers now know that these nebulae are primarily thin dust clouds located at high galactic latitudes, that is, away from the Milky Way’s plane.

Michael E. Bakich photo

Next on the agenda was the presentation of AIC’s Hubble Award, the highest honor the organization bestows. This year, AIC president Ken Crawford handed the award to renowned astrophotographer Tony Hallas for the many ways Hallas has advanced astrophotography through the years.

Regular readers of Astronomy magazine will recognize Hallas’ name from his numerous images that have appeared through the years. Most recently, Tony won top honors in our 2009 Astroimage Contest, the results of which ran in the September issue. After receiving the award, Hallas presented a high-level, entertaining lecture on — what else? — astroimaging.

As with day 1, in the short time between workshops, during breaks and before and after meals, AIC encouraged attendees to visit a large exhibit hall called the Technology Showcase. There, more than 30 of our hobby’s top vendors showed off their best telescopes, cameras, filters, software, and accessories.

The conference continued through Sunday morning, November 1. Two imagers offered workshops, and the AIC staff presented door prizes. The Technology Showcase closed at 11:30 a.m., and AIC 2009 was over.

This was a great conference for me. During the entire event, attendees said nothing but great things about Astronomy magazine. Lots of astroimagers thanked me for running their work in the magazine. Actually, I’m the one who continually needs to thank you, the many celestial photographers who send in such great images. Without you, we wouldn’t be the world’s most beautiful astronomy magazine. So, please, keep sending me your stuff. And the more, the merrier. See you next year!

Editor's note: Watch videos from the 2009 Advanced Imaging Conference Michael took with a handheld camera, including interviews with AIC President and astroimager Ken Crawford, Steve Cullen of LightBuckets, and Adam Block of Mount Lemmon SkyCenter.

2009 AIC recap: “Advanced” doesn’t begin to cover it, part one

Michael Bakich — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:31:00 GMT

Renowned astroimager Adam Block of the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter presented a pair of workshops at the 2009 Advanced Imaging Conference. Michael E. Bakich photo

As part of my duties as photo editor for the world’s most popular astronomy publication, I attended the sixth annual Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) October 30 through November 1 at the San Jose, California, Doubletree Hotel. If you’re one of our many readers who love the “eye candy” that top-level astroimagers produce, future issues of Astronomy will be required reading for you.

Organizers of the conference break it into two parts: They devote day 1 to workshops. Day 2 is the general session. In this blog, I’ll tell you about day 1.

Registration, which features a continental breakfast, began at 7 a.m., and the first workshops started at 8:30. AIC wasted no time or space. Some 300 registrants filled four workshops that all started at 8:30 a.m. Then, at 10:15 a.m., 1:45 p.m., and 3:30 p.m., four more workshops began. That’s 16 1.5-hour presentations in one day!

Most of the imagers I talked to attended four sessions, with a break only for lunch. Attendees raved about the talks. Listeners took detailed notes or photographed every slide. I can sum up the only complaint with this statement: “I had to miss such-and-such’s workshop because I was in so-and-so’s presentation.” Thoughtfully, AIC’s organizers will put all the workshop presenters’ PowerPoint talks online for the registrants to review at their leisure.

These talks were not for the faint of heart. For example, renowned astrophotographer Tony Hallas presented a workshop entitled “Image Processing with a Master.” He wasn’t kidding. I was in and out of all the workshops to sample their flavors and get some pictures. At one point I heard Tony talking about manipulating an image’s individual pixels to produce superior results. And he wasn’t the only one to get into that kind of detail. It’s those kinds of post-processing procedures that make today’s celestial images superbly detailed, rich in color, and accurate in what they show.

In the short time between workshops, during breaks, and before and after meals, AIC encouraged attendees to visit a large exhibit hall called the Technology Showcase. There, more than 30 of our hobby’s top vendors showed off their best telescopes, cameras, filters, software, and accessories. The Technology Showcase was open until 9 p.m. each night, so everyone had a chance to spend quality time there.

Tomorrow, we'll recap day 2.

An amateur astronomer discovers an exploding star

Michael Bakich — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:21:00 GMT

This 5-minute exposure shows Stuart Parker’s latest supernova discovery in spiral galaxy PGC 17517. Stuart Parker photo

New Zealand amateur astronomer Stuart Parker just sent me an e-mail in which he announced his fourth supernova discovery. Parker routinely surveys numerous galaxies as part of a regular search program.

He discovered the magnitude 17.1 object October 18 in PGC 17517, a magnitude 13.6 galaxy in Pictor. PGC is an acronym that designates this galaxy as one in the Principal Galaxies Catalogue, which contains 73,197 entries.

 Peter Marples and Colin Drescher, both of Queensland, Australia, confirmed Parker’s supernova, and he received the discovery credit from the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. That organization designated the supernova 2009jz and announced it to the astronomical community as Central Bureau Electronic Telegram (CBET) 1984. 

World’s largest solar telescope is now online

Michael Bakich — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:30:00 GMT

On October 3, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) dedicated the world’s largest solar telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in California. BBSO, located on the north shore of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, is one of the world’s leading solar observatories. It sits at an altitude of 6,780 feet (2,067 meters).

The telescope, which has an aperture of 63 inches (1.6 meters), took 5 years to construct. It collects light by means of an aspheric primary mirror. Such a mirror has a complex curve ground into it to eliminate optical aberrations found in other telescopes.

The new instrument offers three times the resolution of the telescope it replaced. With it, scientists will undertake joint observation campaigns with NASA satellites to optimize the scientific output of solar studies. One such area of research will probe the fundamental scale of the Sun’s dynamic magnetic fields. These fields are of great interest to solar physicists because they can cause magnetic storms that disrupt the power grid and communications.

BBSO contrast enhanced full disk H-alpha image: The image was recorded with a 12-bit, 2048 x 2048 pixel Pulnix CCD camera. This image has been corrected by dark and flat field images, and a limb darkening estimate has been subtracted to enhance the contrast. The image was recorded at 16:07:26 (UT) on October 09, 2009.

Image and credit info: Courtesy NJIT/BBSO

The best astroimagers will gather in California

Michael Bakich — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:00:00 GMT

During Halloween weekend, when most people are worrying about ghosts, goblins, and what candy to give away, some 300 avid astroimagers from around the world will meet in San Jose, California, for the 2009 Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC). And, guess what? I’ll be there, too.

AIC’s board of directors once again invited me to the conference because Astronomy is important to astroimagers. Our magazine represents the largest audience available to photographers who target celestial objects.

So who will be there? Many astroimagers who regularly contribute to the magazine: Adam Block, Thomas Davis, Bob Fera, Jay GaBany, Tony Hallas, Warren Keller, Dean Salman, and more. But I’m even more jazzed about meeting imagers who haven’t appeared in the magazine.

At the 2008 meeting, I presented a talk entitled “What Astronomy’s Photo Editor Wants.” The 300 imagers who heard me learned what they should include when sending images, what happens to images after they arrive, and, most importantly, the objects I’m looking for. And, you know what? The talk was a tremendous success! The past year was the best one ever at Astronomy for the number and quality of astroimages we received.

So what do I hope comes out of this year’s meeting? First, more of the same. I want to continue to entice the imaging community to keep sending their great work to Astronomy magazine.

Second, as the editor here who deals with the hobby and equipment end of our science, I’ll chat with manufacturers about their latest and greatest cameras, filters, software, and accessories. Who knows how many reviews may come from this one meeting?

Indeed, I think AIC 2009 will provide many more treats than tricks. Interested?

Related:

2008 Advanced Imaging Conference, by Michael E. Bakich, senior editor
Online Reader Gallery

Behold: the Andromeda Galaxy

Bill Andrews — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:01:00 GMT

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the best-ever ultraviolet picture (at right) of our galactic neighbor, M31, aka the Andromeda Galaxy.

Taken by NASA’s Swift satellite, which normally scans the skies for far-off gamma-ray bursts, this picture represents a total exposure time of just 24 hours, taken during late spring 2008. It merges 330 images taken by the satellite, showing a region 200,000 light-years wide by 100,000 light-years high (or 100 arcminutes by 50 arcminutes).

The galaxy’s central bulge appears smoother and redder because of the older, cooler stars that reside there, according to Stefan Immler, a research scientist on the Swift team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. It’s mostly full of old stars because much of the star-making material in the area already has been used up. The disk and spiral arms still have some of the necessary gas and dust to produce stars, just like in our own Milky Way Galaxy, and that’s where the more recent, hotter, bluer stars dwell.

M31 is more than 220,000 light-years across, close to twice as much as the Milky Way. Despite being about 2.5 million light-years away, M31 is so big and bright you can see it unaided on a clear, dark night. Pretty impressive.

I don’t know about you, but I love pictures like this. Being a city-dweller most (well, all) of my life, I appreciate the extra-detailed images in particular, having never seen a vista of countless twinkling stars in real life. I always feel like, as long as NASA takes these pictures and gets them out there, it could never run out of funding. Of course, one never knows when it comes to funding, or NASA.

So how about you? Amazed by awesome Andromeda? Or do you give M31 a mere “meh”?

Related:

Images of Andromeda in our Online Reader Gallery.

Find the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) tonight with our interactive star chart, StarDome

Photo credit: NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler (GSFC) and Erin Grand (UMCP)

Watch the Perseids fly

Michael Bakich — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:15:00 GMT

Longtime Astronomy contributor John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, sent us a video we had to share with you. It shows 3 nights of Perseid meteor activity beginning with the evening of August 11 and continuing through the morning hours of August 14.

During that time, Chumack recorded more than 240 meteors. He condensed the videos into a movie that runs just under 1 minute. During that minute, you’ll see the stars advance as Earth rotates. The Moon rises three times, once per night. Venus also rises above the house as twilight brightens the sky.

Chumack ends the movie by leaving a still image of the brightest Perseid he recorded — a magnitude –8 fireball. Anyone outdoors when that bad boy went over would have seen the sky light up and shadows appear all over the ground.

Watch John's Perseid meteor shower video.

Great work, John! Thanks for sharing.

Popularizing the heck out of astronomy

Bill Andrews — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:28:00 GMT

I’m a big fan of anything that brings people face to face with amazing science, and it looks like that’s exactly what’s happening in The World At Night (TWAN), an international program to display beautiful images of the night sky in American malls.

Exhibiting these pictures in 24 shopping malls across the United States, in cities big and small, is part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, which celebrates astronomy and its greatness on the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope. The images include not just the starry sky and celestial events, but natural and cultural landmarks as well, giving context for both the heavens and Earth.

Plus, each of the malls hosting an exhibit also will have other projects designed to spark interest in astronomy, events such as contests, dances, and workshops. The United States is not TWAN’s only destination, with calls in Australia, Italy, and Brazil earlier this year. For a full list of TWAN’s venues, visit www.twanight.org.

Some people might be horrified to think malls are the new springboards for science appreciation, but I think it’s a great way to snag some unsuspecting back-to-school shoppers and make potential astronomy fans out of them. Even if they don’t go out and buy telescopes, just reminding them that the sky’s a wonderful place could go a long way toward appreciating and funding astronomy. It doesn’t suffer from other sciences’ abstractness, so we don’t have to trick people to be interested in the stars — we just have to show them. And if the best place to do it is the mall, so be it.

Do you think this is a good idea, smart for astronomy? Or is it horrible, another indication of the coarsening of our culture? And would you interrupt your busy shopping to look at some pictures of the night sky?

Photo credit: Wally Pacholka/AstroPics.com/TWAN

Oh my gosh, the Sun!

Bill Andrews — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:32:00 GMT

Holy cow, what an amazing picture! Thierry Legault, a well-known astrophotographer, recently captured this literally (in my case) breathtaking image of the space shuttle Endeavor docked with the International Space Station (ISS) as the two vehicles passed in front of the Sun. Another of Legault’s recent shots captured the shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as they transited across the Sun.

I particularly like how the perspective makes it look like they’re all there, orbiting the Sun. Of course they’re not really; they’re actually orbiting our own planet Earth. It’s the same phenomenon of perspective that makes the Moon — 400 times smaller than the Sun but 400 times closer — appear about the same size as the Sun during a solar eclipse. This also explains how you can blot out the Sun entirely with your thumb, which is many billion of times narrower than our home star’s disk.

Legault suggests the power of the images is their ability to make these sophisticated instruments real to non-astronomers. "These space ships are virtual for all these people," he said in an e-mail. "A lot of people think that if the HST takes pictures that are so detailed, it's because it's voyaging in space to get closer to the planets and galaxies! With [my] images, they realize that they are real, they are just overhead and they could almost see them."

In fact, Legault remains surprisingly humble about the pictures, saying, "With good training and equipment, anyone can do it, as any other photograph." Of course, even for a pro like him, such work remains quite a challenge. "If I miss it, it's over forever, period. Perhaps like the match ball in the final of Wimbledon. Basically, it's a challenge to myself: Are you able to do it again, will you succeed?"

As athletes and astronomers both know, meeting that self-imposed challenge is half the fun. "My primary motivation is that it's funny to do and there is a lot of adventure and (good) stress," Legault said. "Every time it's a total surprise: Will the ships be on the images? In which orientation? What details will be visible? Will the image be fuzzy or sharp?"

So, assuming you have enough preparation and training, you too can go out and snap pictures like these. "[It’s] just like the final of Wimbledon," Legault said, before adding, "No, I'm kidding: It's much easier :-)"

What do you think? In total awe, like me? Or have you snapped better ones in your backyard?

A resolution you can keep

Bill Andrews — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:04:00 GMT

The European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) just released a striking set of images focused on an unusual star, HD 87643, near the constellation Carina the Keel.

The main image (to the right) centers 87643 within its backdrop of bright stars of every color; it’s the expansive kind of star field that’s just soothing to look at. But, even more impressively, ESO also obtained much closer images of 87643, zooming in around 60,000 times. The picture demonstrates that it has an unexpected companion star about 50 times as far as Earth is from the Sun. The field of view in the close-up image (lower right) is less than a pixel of the expansive image.

Astronomers are interested in 87643 because it’s a member of the rare B[e] class, and this is the best picture they’ve ever taken of one. (A star is called B[e] if it’s of spectral type B with emission lines in its spectra. Naturally.) ESO used a variety of telescopes to get the progressively closer images, starting with the Wide Field Imager at La Silla Observatory in Chile and ending with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Paranal.

As a result of such fine detail, astronomers speculate 87643 ejects matter every 15 to 50 years, shaping its surrounding nebula. The discovery of a companion star could even offer an explanation because the companion’s elliptical orbit puts it close to 87643, potentially triggering the emissions.

To me, this is what astronomy’s all about. Not just are these beautiful images, fun to look at on an office wall or computer desktop, but they teach us stuff, too. Astronomers can, with almost magical skill, probe deeper and deeper into these pictures to tell us how hot those stars are, what the surrounding clouds are made of, and (these days) if they have any orbiting planets. These images inspire and please not just our aesthetic sensibilities, but our intellectual faculties, too.

I look at pictures like this and wonder, “How can anyone not be impressed? How can people be indifferent to what’s in the sky above them?” But there are tons of people who are, somehow.

Why do you think some people don’t ‘get’ astronomy? Or am I just geeking out over nothing here?

Photos credit: ESO/F. Millour et al.