Starship Asterisk*

The Earth is Round...

Looking out of the window of commercial airliners I've always felt that the horizon was not entirely straight, in other words, that you could see the curvature of the surface of the earth. However, I was never sure if I was just imagining it. On a recent flight I snapped a photo with a wide-angle lens with a horizontal field of view of 90 degrees. Sure enough, the horizon came out curved. (The lens was rectilinear, not a fish-eye).

If you think about it, the curvature of the horizon isn't all that surprising. Looking at the world from an altitude of 11km (36,000 feet) above sea level your horizon is about 375km away, and the distance between two points at the horizon that are 90 degrees apart from your point of view (left and right edge of the photo) is 530km. The direction that is "up" at those two points differs by about 4.8 degrees. A difference of almost five degrees in the direction of the horizon should be clearly visible.



Curvature of the Earth by fksr. Click on the image for a larger version.

I also shot an anaglyph 3D version of this photo, where can also see the surface of the earth curve away from you in the distance:


Curvature of the Earth in 3D by fksr. Click on the image for a larger version.

Photo taken with Canon 60Da, CPC925 ...

Pleiades and surrounding nebulas

Hi-res here:
http://www.tamanti.it/Stars%20Cluster/M45_5D.htm
Thanks for looking, best regards.
Copyright: Andrea Tamanti

NGC 6188 in ARA and the Bipolar NGC 6164-5 - Hydrogen Alpha image only.
16" F3.75 Dream scope from Tivoli farm in Namibia.

Kfir Simon

larger version:
http://www.pbase.com/tango33/image/147234594

Another Messier 33 (ngc598)
Ha+LRGB , imaged from Àger Observatories (Catalonia). I hope you like it!
larger version here:
http://observatoriagullo.wordpress.com/ ... 33-ngc598/

Fornax Cluster
http://www.glitteringlights.com
Copyright: Marco Lorenzi

Aurora over Central Oregon
http://goldpaintphotography.com/
Copyright: Brad Goldpaint
Time-lapse video can be found here: http://wp.me/p1FtJT-qL

NGC 457 in Cassiopea: a rich galactic cluster also known as "E.T. Cluster" or "The Owl Cluster"

Authors: F.Antonucci - M.Angelini - F. Tagliani
ADARA Astrobrallo - http://www.astrobrallo.com
Full-Size Image: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/var/ ... 1352562119
Details: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/inde ... ster-finle

M103 (NGC 581), Open Cluster in Cassiopeia

http://www.elateobservatory.com

Copyright: Velimir Popov
Large scale and more information is avaliable here ...

Thank you for looking ...

NGC 1365 and Supernova SN2012fr
http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com
Copyright: Rolf Wahl Olsen Link to full resolution image (1.7MB)

This image shows the large elegant barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365, located in the southern constellation of Fornax at a distance of 56 million light years. The bright and intensely blue star directly below the galaxy core is supernova SN2012fr, which was discovered by Alain Klotz (TAROT La Silla telescope) on 27th October 2012.
As of 10th November 2012 the supernova appeared to be nearing its peak, with an R magnitude of 11.90. To get an idea of how bright this event is we can calculate the absolute magnitude M of the supernova using the following formula where m is the apparent magnitude and D the distance in parsecs: M = m - 5(log₁₀(D) - 1)
This gives an absolute magnitude of -19.27 for SN2012fr. This means that if the supernova had occurred at a distance to us similar to Betelgeuse (643 light years), then its apparent magnitude would be -12.80, same as the full Moon!

Image details:
Date: 7th and 9th November 2012
Exposure: LRGB: 205:57:56:51m, total 6hrs 9mins @ -30C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2

Rosette Nebula in Hubble Palette
Copyright: Terry Hancock
http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryhanco ... hotostream
Using narrow band filters H-Alpha, OIII and SII Processed using the HST (Hubble) Palette with SII assigned to red channel, H-Alpha to green channel and OIII to blue channel. 4x30 min each, total exposure 6 hours
The Heart of The Rosette (crop)

NGC 7822 & Cederblad 214
http://www.starkeeper.it/NGC7822.htm
Copyright: Leonardo Orazi

IC1848 fetal nebula: narrowband image
http://www.miki-hosp.or.jp/BIND/
Copyright: Nobuhiko Miki

IC342 The Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis

Acquisition: Paolo Lazzarini
Processing: Davide Bardini
Newton WFN 350 f/4.3 - Paramount ME - STL11000
Osservatorio astronomico della Val Malenco (SO) Italy
http://www.cieloinvalmalenco.it
http://www.astrosky.it
Medium: http://www.astrosky.it/index.php?id=358
Large: http://www.astrosky.it/imagebig.php?big=358

Thanks for viewing!

Dawn of the Milky Way
http://500px.com/rafaeldefavari
Copyright: Rafael Defavari


Click to view full size image
http://500px.com/photo/17433101

The warm glow actually it is not a rising sun, but the light pollution of a big city nearby: Campinas, Brazil.

NGC 884 & NGC 869: The Double Cluster in Perseo (H & Chi Persei)

Authors: F. Antonucci - M. Angelini - F. Tagliani
ADARA Astrobrallo: http://www.astrobrallo.com
Full-Size: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/var/ ... 1352684011

Picture details: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/inde ... o-Finale-1

NGC 3372 (Carinae Nebula)

Copyright: Martin Matias Menrath http://www.astronommmia.blogspot.com.ar/

The Chariot of Auriga
http://www.lightwavesobservatory.com/Li ... n=download
Copyright : James Black

Cederbald 214 7nm hydrogen alpha
http://www.lightwavesobservatory.com/Li ... n=download
copyright : James Black

NGC7822 and Cederbald 214 widefield 7nm hydrogen alpha
http://www.lightwavesobservatory.com/Li ... n=download
copyright : James Black

The Heart and Soul Nebula widefield 7nm hydrogen alpha
http://www.lightwavesobservatory.com/Li ... n=download
copyright : James Black

The California Nebula 7nm hydrogen alpha
http://www.lightwavesobservatory.com/Li ... n=download
copyright : James Black

The Elephant Trunk Nebula 7nm hydrogen alpha
http://www.lightwavesobservatory.com/Li ... n=download
copyright : James Black

Rosette Nebula in CFHT Palette
Copyright: Terry Hancock
http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryhanco ... hotostream

Using narrow band filters H-Alpha, OIII and SII this was processed with the CFHT Palette technique, the channels are assigned with H-Alpha = Red, OIII = Green, SII = Blue. Captured over 2 nights on the 22nd October and 7th November 2012 from my backyard observatory in Fremont.
The Heart Of The Rosette (crop)

Small Magellanic Cloud
http://500px.com/rafaeldefavari
Copyright: Rafael Defavari


Click to view full size image

Also on http://500px.com/photo/18033241