Summer Sunrise Mountain Flowers

Summer Sunrise Mountain Flowers:

Mountain laurel flowers are beginning to bloom in the high peaks of the Dolly Sods wilderness. Early in the morning as the sun is breaking through the early morning clouds the flowers eagerly await the warmth of the bright rays.

Camera Model: n-flowers ForestWander Nature Photography: :08:20 20:08:57 ForestWander: restWander.com

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Heavenly Snow Shenandoah Mountains

Heavenly Snow Shenandoah Mountains:

Snow falling late in the winter in the Shenandoah mountains. Far in the distance you can see the snow showers falling on the mountain range across the valley down below.

Picture Height: 3744 pixels Picture Width: 5616 pixels Lens Aperture: f/6.7 Image Exposure Time: 1/250 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 102 mm Film Speed ISO: 100 Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV Focus Mode: AI Focus Lens Model: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Image Saturation Level: High Photo White Balance: Auto Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander:

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Blue Anemone Flower

Blue Anemone Flower:

This blue flower looks almost like a sea anemone. The light blue color is almost a baby blue with a purple tint. The small groups of blue blossoms on this flower with blue pistils make this a unique floral display.

Picture Height: 3744 pixels Picture Width: 5616 pixels Lens Aperture: f/38.1 Image Exposure Time: 1/8 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 183 mm Photo Exposure Value: -1 EV Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Photo White Balance: 0 Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander;Troy Lilly ForestWander: ForestWander.com

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Yellow Flower

Yellow Flower:

A large yellow flower up close. This beautiful yellow flower is in full bloom in the early summer. Flower like this are seen in many flower gardens and landscapes this time of year.

Picture Height: 2274 pixels Picture Width: 2386 pixels Lens Aperture: f/22.6 Image Exposure Time: 1/6 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 105 mm Photo Exposure Value: -1 EV Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Photo White Balance: 0 Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander;Troy Lilly ForestWander: ForestWander.com

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Red Petunia

Red Petunia:

A red petunia flower. The lighting is simply perfect around this red petunia providing a rich and colorful flower picture.

Picture Height: 3744 pixels Picture Width: 5616 pixels Lens Aperture: f/38.1 Image Exposure Time: 1/6 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 209 mm Photo Exposure Value: -2 EV Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Photo White Balance: 0 Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander;Troy Lilly ForestWander: ForestWander.com

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Dianthus Macro

Dianthus Macro:

This flower picture looks kind of surreal with the flower pistols protruding from the dianthus flower blossoms. A lot can be seen in floral macro photography, close exposures such as these open an entirely new world.

Picture Height: 3744 pixels Picture Width: 5616 pixels Lens Aperture: f/45.3 Image Exposure Time: 1/2 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 271 mm Photo Exposure Value: -2 EV Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Photo White Balance: 0 Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander;Troy Lilly ForestWander: ForestWander.com

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Bobcat Hillside Snow Under Tree

Bobcat Hillside Snow Under Tree:

A grey and white bobcat under a pine tree. This wild cat looks like he is stalking his prey. The predator instincts in these animals are very evident in the way they walk and move.

Picture Height: 3744 pixels Picture Width: 5616 pixels Lens Aperture: f/7 Image Exposure Time: 1/400 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 300 mm Film Speed ISO: 200 Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV Focus Mode: AI Focus Lens Model: 70-300mm Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Image Saturation Level: High Photo White Balance: Auto Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander:

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Kaleidoscope Flowers

Kaleidoscope Flowers:

Multiple colors abound in this kaleidoscope of flowers. The colors in the little flowers are quite vivid in this flower picture.

Picture Height: 3744 pixels Picture Width: 5616 pixels Lens Aperture: f/22.6 Image Exposure Time: 1/20 sec Lens Focal Length mm: 209 mm Photo Exposure Value: -2 EV Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Photo White Balance: 0 Color Space: sRGB ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander;Troy Lilly ForestWander: ForestWander.com

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Music From The Universe & Across The Universe Beatles

Music From The Universe & Across The Universe Beatles

PICTURES OF NATURE & UNIVERSE PHOTOGRAPHY

The Genesis of Galaxy Eris…

The Genesis of Galaxy Eris…:

This image of the Eris simulation shows the stars in the galaxy as observers would see it. Blue colors are regions of recent star formation, while redder regions are associated with older stars. The spiral arms are typically star-forming, and the central bulge is basically "red and dead." Credit: J. Guedes and P. Madau.

In as much time as it takes to give birth to human life, a supercomputer and a team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Zurich have given rise to the first simulation of the physics involved in galaxy formation that produced the Milky Way. They named their child Eris… (...)
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Book Review: Lunar and Planetary Rovers

Book Review: Lunar and Planetary Rovers:

Lunar and Planetary Rovers offers a bit of a primer before NASA's Mars Science Laboratory launches to Mars this November. Image Credit: NASA/Spinger/Praxis

Ordinarily if a book attempts to cover crewed and unmanned missions – the book is a compilation of space flight history in general. This is not the case when it comes to Springer/Praxis’ offering Lunar and Planetary Rovers. Written by Anthony Young, the book details both crewed (the Apollo “J” missions) and unmanned rovers (Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers and Curiosity). The book is not a perfect blending of the two interconnected, yet separate programs – but it does have much to offer.(...)
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NASA Robot arrives at ‘New’ Landing Site holding Clues to Ancient Water Flow on Mars

NASA Robot arrives at ‘New’ Landing Site holding Clues to Ancient Water Flow on Mars:

Opportunity investigates Tisdale 2 rock showing indications of ancient Martian water flow

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its front hazard-avoidance camera to take this picture showing the rover's arm extended toward a light-toned rock, "Tisdale 2," during Sol 2695 of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 23, 2011). The composition of Tisdale 2 is unlike any rock studied by Opportunity since landing 7.5 years ago. It is about 12 inches (30 centimeters) tall. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Updated with more team comments and images

Opportunity has begun a whole new mission at the vast expanse of Endeavour Crater promising a boatload of new science discoveries.


Scientists directing NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover gushed with excitement as they announced that the aging robot has discovered a rock with a composition unlike anything previously explored on the Red Planet’s surface – since she landed on the exotic Martian plains 7.5 years ago – and which offers indications that liquid water might have percolated or flowed at this spot billions of years ago.


Barely three weeks ago Opportunity arrived at the rim of the gigantic 14 mile ( 22 km) wide crater named Endeavour after an epic multi-year trek, and for the team it’s literally been like a 2nd landing on Mars – and the equivalent of the birth of a whole new mission of exploration at an entirely ‘new’ landing site. (...)
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NASA – Eyes On The Solar System

NASA – Eyes On The Solar System:




Are you ready for a fascinating virtual experience? Then check out “Eyes on the Solar System”! This clever compilation of visualizations and real images takes you on a journey that’s sure to keep you entertained for hours! (...)
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Where’s the Debris for Transiting Planets?

Where’s the Debris for Transiting Planets?:







For many exoplanet systems that have been discovered by the radial velocity method, astronomers have found excess emission in the infrared portion of the spectrum. This has generally been interpreted as remnants of a disk or collection of objects similar to our own Kupier belt, a ring of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Pluto. But as Kepler and other exoplanet finding missions rake in the candidates though transits of the parent star, astronomers began noticing something unusual: None of the exoplanet systems discovered through this method were known to have debris disks. Was this an odd selection effect, perhaps induced by the fact that transiting planets often orbit close to their parent stars, making them more likely to pass along the line of sight which could in turn, betray different formation scenarios? Or were astronomers simply not looking hard enough? A recent paper by astronomers at the Astrophysikalisches Institut in Germany attempts to answer that question.



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WISE Discovers Some Really “Cool” Stars!

WISE Discovers Some Really “Cool” Stars!:

This artist's conception illustrates what a "Y dwarf" might look like. Y dwarfs are the coldest star-like bodies known. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

What would you say if I told you there are stars with a temperature close to that of a human body? Before you have me committed, there really is such a thing. These “cool” stars belong to the brown dwarf family and are termed Y dwarfs. For over ten years astronomers have been hunting for these dark little beasties with no success. Now infrared data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has turned up six of them – and they’re less than 40 light years away! (...)
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Astrophoto: Lunar Eclipse Collage by Lara O’Brien

Astrophoto: Lunar Eclipse Collage by Lara O’Brien:

Lunar Eclipse Collage. Credit: Lara O'Brien

Wow! This was my initial reaction upon learning that a 12-year old took this very nice photo. Lara O’ Brien of Victoria, Australia took these sequence shots of the lunar eclipse that happened on June 16, 2011.




Lara won the “Junior” category of a national astrophotography competition exhibited at the Sydney Observatory.



Great job, Lara!



Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Universe Today Flickr group; we select photographs from this group and post them every day. If you don’t want to join Flickr, you can send your images in by email. If you do contribute to the group, or send us photos by email, you’re giving us permission to post them here on Universe Today. To help us out, please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, and/or a little story about it — that would enable us to write a better article about your picture! Make sure you tell us your name, and give us a place we can link to if people want to see more of your work.

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Five Awesome Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know Asteroseismology Could Do

Five Awesome Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know Asteroseismology Could Do:

The variations in brightness can be interpreted as vibrations, or oscillations within the stars, using a technique called asteroseismology. The oscillations reveal information about the internal structure of the stars, in much the same way that seismologists use earthquakes to probe the Earth's interior. Credit: Kepler Astroseismology team.

Asteroseismology is a relatively new field in astronomy. This branch uses sound waves in stars to explore their nature in the same way seismologists on Earth have used waves induced by tectonic activity to probe the interior of our planet. These waves aren’t heard directly, but as they strike the surface they can cause it to undulate, shifting the spectral lines this way and that, or compress the outer layers causing them to brighten and fade which can be detected with photometry. By studying these variations, astronomers have begun peering into stars. This much is generally known, but some of the specific tricks aren’t often brought up when discussing the topic. So here’s five things you can do with asteroseismology you may not have known about!


(...)
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Nifty Video: Clouds in Motion on Mars

Nifty Video: Clouds in Motion on Mars:







Kick back and watch the clouds go by — on Mars! Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog has put together a very nifty video from Mars Express data, showing clouds in motion over Mars. Emily has just learned a new technique called ‘tweening’ to create smooth animation videos from a series of images that are not at a very high frame rate. She explains more about the technique on her blog post here and has promised a two-part “how to” explainer for those interested in learning how to do this for yourself.



The cloudy area shown on Mars is within Noachis Terra to the west of Hellas basin, around 45 degrees south, 38 east.

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Geodesy Is Alive And Well… And Splitting Hairs On Planet Earth

Geodesy Is Alive And Well… And Splitting Hairs On Planet Earth:

This view of Earth comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite. Image credit: NASA

When it comes to planet Earth, it’s very important to know if we’re growing or shrinking. While plate tectonics are responsible for major changes in our planet’s outer crust, we need to have accurate measurements of our atmosphere and magnetic fields, too. To make these appraisals accurate, the global science community established the International Terrestrial Reference Frame. (...)
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Astrophoto: Jupiter Rising by Mindi Meeks

Astrophoto: Jupiter Rising by Mindi Meeks:

Jupiter Rising. Credit: Mindi Meeks

Here’s a photograph of Jupiter taken by Mindi Meeks from Navarre, Florida on July 3, 2011 at around 3 in the morning CST.

“My husband and I were enjoying a quiet evening on our screened-in porch when I noticed a bright star rising in the east. We determined that it was Jupiter, and it was such a lovely sight that I wanted to try to photograph it.”

Mindi captured this photo with a Nikon D5000 camera mounted on a standard tripod with the following settings: 55mm, 15.0s exposure, f/4.5, ISO 1000.


To see more of Mindi’s photos, you can check out her photo blog.


Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Universe Today Flickr group; we select photographs from this group and post them every day. If you don’t want to join Flickr, you can send your images in by email. If you do contribute to the group, or send us photos by email, you’re giving us permission to post them here on Universe Today. To help us out, please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, and/or a little story about it — that would enable us to write a better article about your picture! Make sure you tell us your name, and give us a place we can link to if people want to see more of your work.
PICTURES OF NATURE & UNIVERSE PHOTOGRAPHY