Images of space are valuable for researchers to find out more about our solar system, our galaxy, and way beyond. But us regular folks enjoy them as well because they’re often quite an eye candy. The European Space Agency’s Gaia observatory has just released the most precise and detailed 3D map of the Milky Way to date. It doesn’t only look gorgeous of course, but it also takes the astronomers to both the future and the past of our galaxy.
The world’s largest lens is being perched on top of a mountain to shoot 3.2-gigapixel images every 20 seconds
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Have you ever wondered what the largest lens in the world looks like? It belongs to the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and its diameter is 1.57 meters (5.1 feet). It will be paired with a massive three-ton camera to study the sky and take enormous 3.2-gigapixel images every 20 seconds.
NASA captures the galaxy’s most epic stellar “fireworks”
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The Independence Day is just around the corner in the US, and it means we’ll get to see (and shoot) lots of epic fireworks. But they can hardly be as epic as the one NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope recently captured. It started exploding 170 years ago and it’s still continuing, and NASA calls it “the galaxy’s biggest ongoing stellar fireworks.”
How many photos should you stack when shooting the night sky?
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Star stacking is a commonly used technique among astrophotographers. It helps you to reduce noise and end up with better images of the night sky. But how many photos should you stack to get the best results? The answer isn’t as simple as “take X photos and stack them.” But, Michael Ver Sprill aka Milky Way Mike shares some tips to help you determine the ideal number of photos to stack.
A comprehensive guide to photographing the Milky Way
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Introduction
This guide will be a walkthrough on the basics of Milky Way photography. It is best for beginners, but even intermediate and expert photographers might find something new! Plus, I always find it never hurts to refresh yourself on the basics.
Before we get to the good stuff, I’d like to start by saying that I hope you find this guide to be a bit different from the rest. I have found that most guides go on way too long and provide more detail than you could possibly need. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but it creates a problem. With that much information available, it tends to be overwhelming and hard to retain what you learn. By the time you’ve read through the countless pages, you’ve forgotten where you started!
This stunning photo shows two stars fighting to death
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Did you know that stars can fight with each other out there in space? Thanks to this magnificent image captured by European Southern Observatory (ESO), we can see what it looks like. Located 650 light-years from Earth, these two stars were captured by ESO’s Very Large Telescope in a dramatic cosmic fight.
This breathtaking colorful meteor was captured in a single photo
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Did you know that meteors can be colorful? Our eyes can’t detect the different colors of meteors, but our cameras can. Photographer Dean Rowe managed to capture a magnificent, colorful meteor during Geminid meteor shower. He was kind enough to share with DIYP the details of his photo and tell us how he made it.
Astrophotography: How I shot Comet 46P from start to finish
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If you have access to dark and clear skies, you should have a great opportunity to catch Comet 46P / Wirtanen leading up to it’s closest approach on December 16th. It’s great timing as there’s barely any moonlight to interfere with viewing the comet, too!
This is the second installment of my new series called The Process. Each time I’ll take you through the planning, shooting and processing of an image. On this post, I’ll also be sharing how to find the comet 46P, how I shot my images, and taking a special first look at the new Sigma 40mm f1.4 ART lens!
Let’s get going!
Sagittarius Rising – Long exposure photography from the stratosphere
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One of the most frequently asked questions I get is how I shoot long-exposure photos from the cockpit and how they end up sharp, despite flying at roughly 950kmh / 500kts through the air. I will try to answer that question in more detail, going through the process and challenges step by step. Hopefully it sheds some light (pun intended) on the techniques I use and for the pilot-photographers among us some valuable and easy-to-use tips for your next night-flight.
This Milky Way photo was shot on a Huawei P20 Pro smartphone
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If someone told me fifteen years ago that smartphone cameras would be able to capture the Milky Way, I’d probably just scoff. However, smartphones have come a long way, and photographer Daniel Cheong used his Huawei P20 Pro to shoot a pretty epic photo of our galaxy. He shared some details with DIYP and told us how he shot and edited this photo.
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