spacettf: More Milky Way From the Big Bend by dfikar1 on Flickr. Definitely view this photograph at full size (click the image to view alone). [Image description: The night sky, tinted violet by the combination of ambient light and long exposure, with a portion of the Milky Way appearing on a diagonal between the centers of the top and right sides of the image. Along the bottom of the photo, both distant mountain peaks and nearby plants are silhouetted against the star-filled sky.] Utterly captivating. I can imagine spending a night under those stars, but not sleeping; just staring up into luminous eternity. Big thanks to spacettf for actually including the link to the source of the photo! Notes from photographer dfikar1 about “More Milky Way From the Big Bend”: I ran this frame through a star-counting program and came up with over 12,000 distinct star lights detected! I used a long exposure time (around 100 sec. I think) with the aid of my camera’s GPS module which freezes the stars for astrophotography (Pentax O-GPS1 module). That is the only way I could get a long enough exposure without star trails. taken on April 1, 2012 in Brewster County, Texas, US, using a Pentax K-5. #Big Bend, #Desert, #Milky Way, #Ten Bits Ranch, #astrophotography This photo is Creative Commons licensed and may also be available for commercial use via Getty Images. Also, that GPS module thing is mind-bogglingly awesome. They’re doing things with technology today that I’d never imagine were possible. I love living in the future!
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spacettf:

More Milky Way From the Big Bend by dfikar1 on Flickr.

Definitely view this photograph at full size (click the image to view alone).

[Image description: The night sky, tinted violet by the combination of ambient light and long exposure, with a portion of the Milky Way appearing on a diagonal between the centers of the top and right sides of the image. Along the bottom of the photo, both distant mountain peaks and nearby plants are silhouetted against the star-filled sky.]

Utterly captivating. I can imagine spending a night under those stars, but not sleeping; just staring up into luminous eternity. Big thanks to spacettf for actually including the link to the source of the photo!

Notes from photographer dfikar1 about “More Milky Way From the Big Bend”:

I ran this frame through a star-counting program and came up with over 12,000 distinct star lights detected!

I used a long exposure time (around 100 sec. I think) with the aid of my camera’s GPS module which freezes the stars for astrophotography (Pentax O-GPS1 module). That is the only way I could get a long enough exposure without star trails.

taken on April 1, 2012 in Brewster County, Texas, US, using a Pentax K-5.

#Big Bend, #Desert, #Milky Way, #Ten Bits Ranch, #astrophotography

This photo is Creative Commons licensed and may also be available for commercial use via Getty Images.

Also, that GPS module thing is mind-bogglingly awesome. They’re doing things with technology today that I’d never imagine were possible. I love living in the future!

jenrik:

INFMETRY star projector.

More accurately, the INFMETRY brand “Romantic Star Projector”:

This star projector projects a map of the heavens onto your ceiling and walls with thousands of stars in random order.

Featuring a rotating base with compass-point alignments, it is possible to set up your AstroStar by aligning it according to your location and the time of the year, so it can project a map of the clear night sky all around you. You can also change it to the accurately track movement of the heavens as the year progresses.

The AstroStar projector not only gives your child an education of astronomical science, but also gives you the [chance] to create a romantic surprise! Ideal for astronomy or astrology fans, romantics, kids who appreciate a nightlight with a difference or anyone who wants to bring some starlight into their home. Powered by a couple of AA batteries.

Note: You need to build it yourself.

Want. Willing to assemble. Somehow it’s only $25 with standard shipping included?! I wish it came with a cord option, but there are after all adapters for that. Plus, my digital cameras haven’t killed all my rechargeable AA batteries yet. Affordable home planetarium = AWESOME. And? WILL BE MINE.

Click here to go to the INFMETRY projector page, with more photos and an installation-instructions video.

(via enjoylifemaketea)

The galaxy we live in… and a bunch of other galaxies that only look tiny because they’re unfathomably far away.
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The galaxy we live in… and a bunch of other galaxies that only look tiny because they’re unfathomably far away.

(via mannlich-deactivated20120518)

Source: pokec0re

…Is it okay that I kinda ‘ship them now? Carl Sagan and Tenzin Gyatso: Two wise and brilliant minds; two sexass men.
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…Is it okay that I kinda ‘ship them now?

Carl Sagan and Tenzin Gyatso: Two wise and brilliant minds; two sexass men.

(via neildegrassetyson-deactivated20)

Source: brobergism

the-star-stuff: The Filipina who proved Einstein right Meet  Reinabelle Reyes, a 28-year-old astrophysicist who astounded scientists all over the world when she proved Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity on a cosmic scale. That was when she was only 26. Einstein’s theories have been verified many times, but it took Reyes and her Princeton University collaborators to verify his Theory of General Relativity, beyond the confines of our solar system. Led by Reyes, the research team made headlines back in 2010 when they showed how galaxies up to 3.5 billion light years away are clustered together in exactly the way General Relativity predicts. They came up with a new astronomical measurement, which indicates how galaxies are pulled together by gravity, just as Einstein theorized. Her findings also support the existence of Dark Energy—a force greater than gravity once merely imagined by scientists. This is a big deal, because, even NASA tells us, pinning down the exact properties of Dark Energy is among the most significant problems facing science today. According to the NASA website, Dark Energy “is the deepest mystery in physics, and its resolution is likely to greatly advance our understanding of matter, space, and time.” Reinabelle Reyes is among the scientists involved in unraveling this profound mystery. READ MORE!!!! How much do I love it that her T-shirt reads “Schrödinger’s cat is: Alive | Dead | Undead” with cartoony illustrations of each state? XD Not-so-secretly, I am totally a physics geek.
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the-star-stuff:

The Filipina who proved Einstein right

Meet  Reinabelle Reyes, a 28-year-old astrophysicist who astounded scientists all over the world when she proved Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity on a cosmic scale. That was when she was only 26.

Einstein’s theories have been verified many times, but it took Reyes and her Princeton University collaborators to verify his Theory of General Relativity, beyond the confines of our solar system.

Led by Reyes, the research team made headlines back in 2010 when they showed how galaxies up to 3.5 billion light years away are clustered together in exactly the way General Relativity predicts. They came up with a new astronomical measurement, which indicates how galaxies are pulled together by gravity, just as Einstein theorized.

Her findings also support the existence of Dark Energy—a force greater than gravity once merely imagined by scientists. This is a big deal, because, even NASA tells us, pinning down the exact properties of Dark Energy is among the most significant problems facing science today. According to the NASA website, Dark Energy “is the deepest mystery in physics, and its resolution is likely to greatly advance our understanding of matter, space, and time.”

Reinabelle Reyes is among the scientists involved in unraveling this profound mystery.

READ MORE!!!!

How much do I love it that her T-shirt reads “Schrödinger’s cat is: Alive | Dead | Undead” with cartoony illustrations of each state? XD Not-so-secretly, I am totally a physics geek.

(via kivitasku-deactivated20130120)

Source: rappler.com