astro-wrld1

[astro-wrld1]

Eclipse

The solar eclipse is an event that happened recently that I had the pleasure to witness. It is an event where the moon passes between the sun and earth covering the sun entirely. The last time it happened was April 8th, 2024. I was fortunate enough to be taking an astrophotography class during this time and was given glasses to view the sun. During the eclipse it is possible to damage your sight as the eclipse is extremely bright. The only way to prevent anything serious from happening to your vision is by wearing protective glasses. These glasses work by filtering out the specific light that would damage the eye. These waves include Ultraviolet, visible light towards the blue section, and infrared. These are just some of the lights that are filtered out during the viewing of the eclipse. We are extremely fortunate to have been in this class since the next total solar eclipse won't be till the year 2044. So approximately 20 years from the last solar eclipse. With the protection of my Professors equipment I was able to view the eclipse head on. The safety sheet she provided really came in handy as I was trying to slickly take pictures of the eclipse. The pictures I took didn't come out extremely well however since they were taken wrong. The only idea I had on had to take pictures of such a bright event was to put my phones camera through the protective wear. This allowed me to take pictures of the event, however they were extremely bleak. Being in Massachusetts we didn't get the full solar eclipse but we got close to it. Surrounding states were lucky enough to get a full covering of the sun, which I'm sure was amazing. There is so much in space that happens often, however we don't usually get to see something so different. The thought that something so extreme could happen is a little worrying since truly anything could change the course of our planet. During astrophotography we could relate a lot of things we learned to the observation. Such as the editing process for astrophotography, using what we learned we could have potinetally created photos the right way, however we need very specific equipment. A specialized lens is one of the most important things, because if we tried to use a normal lens we would damage the sensor of the camera and end up with an over exposed photo. The light coming off the solar eclipse is dimmed, but the Ultraviolet radiation is what damages the eyes. There is a lot of Ultraviolet radiation that occurs during the eclipse and if witnessed would severely damage the retinas. Thanks to my professor for helping us safely view the eclipse and teaching us the ways to do it correctly.

[astro-wrld1]

Findings

On the day of Wednesday April 21st, 2024 we had the opportunity to present our findings to a variety of different. STARS stands for student arts and research symposium. This presentation had a variety of different students and professors that were supporting their students work. Everyone had an opportunity to present and share their findings. It was surprising to me that there was that many people able to present at once instead of turn based presentations. The venue was a little confusing and had 3 people to one board. It's extremely interesting that we had such a diverse spread of information in such a compact area. Being able to interact with students of other majors was the most fun for me. I had interacted with a multitude of other presenters and learned that everyone was extremely welcoming. The organizers were also kind enough to offer beverages and food to those presenting. Thanks to those who organized the event and gave all the students chances to share something they're passionate about.

Before starting my presentation I had to find my way to the venue. I was across campus about 5 minutes before starting due to my unpreparedness. I hadn't been to RSU and was convinced that it was Burnell Hall. After zooming across campus I had to quickly set up my poster on the bulletin boards provided. I had come in with wrong information about where my board would be located so I mistakingly accused someone of stealing my spot. After clearing up the mishaps I set up my poster and was ready to present. During the course of my presentation I had a ton of different people approach me. Two of these people happened to be really close friends that were also presenting that day. It was interesting because they didn't take the same course as me however we were able to present at the same event. The stARS event was very diverse and inclusive having all types of majors. Another person that had approached me was another professor on campus named Thayaparan Paramanathan. He informed me of an offer on campus during the summer to do research regarding your major. After discussing more with him I have come to find out that you can be payed as well for the research you provide. I am gonna meet with him later this week to discuss more, but I am extremely grateful for his information and assistance. The rest of the presentation was very laid back. Everyone who approached was extremely respectful of the work you put into their posters. Fortunately I was well informed enough to answer any questions that people had.

My poster included information about the M1, M82, and M42. These three galaxies were all worked on by me throughout the semester. The Crab Nebula was the very first Nebula I had the opportunity to edit. This base line was established in order to help our class understand the basics of editing photos such as brightness adjustment, Colorizing, and stacking the photos. The first picture was obviously different from what the Nebula should like, but that is due to in-experience. After finishing The Crab Nebula, I moved onto the M82(Crab Nebula). The Crab Nebula we got more into depth regarding the process of obtaining the pictures we stack. While obtaining the pictures there is a lengthy process that involved using a separate program called MaxIm DL. This helpful application calibrated images that we hadn't known existed. These were the flats and darks that the main images were made of. We calibrated the flats using the darks. Then stacked the flats on top of one another in order to get the main photos. After getting the full process I worked on the Pleiades. This was the final photo that I had spent my time editing and was the one that took the longest. After finding out the proper way to make these photos I took it upon myself to do my absolute best and try and replicate the process. It was my best looking photo as the cluster is usually pretty bland anyway. I also had nailed the brightness while editing the original photos.

Ultimately this class has taught me a lot regarding not only the galaxy but editing as a whole. With the introduction of GIMP I now have access to a free editing software. I can use this not only while editing for My professor, but I can now edit personal photos as well. MaxIM DL won't be of use unfortunately, because the application is so confusing to me even now. We stayed in a very specific part of the software and wasn't able to explore much. I will continue to get better overtime as I have gained an interest in it. It's very interesting that you can take a class you don't expect to like and end up falling in love with it. Originally I was hesitant to take this class as I didn't understand the topic or know anyone. However I am very happy that I ended up following through. I have met a lot of amazing people and gained experience that I wouldn't have before. The knowledge that I gained in this class will continue to be useful to me as I take pictures for friends and edit them. I also will occasionally be taking pictures of the sky knowing that there is a much more lengthy process to getting the correct color and image shown.

[astro-wrld1]

Calibrating images.

When it comes to calibrating images in astrophotography there are a lot of steps involved in finalizing an image. Firstly I learned that a single photo of the stars, isn't just a singular photo rather mutliple that have been been edited together. A dark calibration image is something that is similar to median, as it helps the image correct the temperature of hot pixels on the image sensor and sensor heat noise. When editing photos with dark calibration images you have to set the photo to a median. This instead of averaging the pixels of the photos together, we reject the outlining data that is weird in the calibration and keep it in the median of the data. The median mode overall helps the photo mitigate the noise that it produces and makes the photo less noisy. Overall this improves the overall quality of the image making it easier for the viewer to enjoy. You would use the dark calibration image to calibrate flat photos that you have taken of the object of interest. Flat photo calibrations are images of the object that are used to correct any mishap that occurred while taking the photos. This can include but isn't limited to dust that might appear on the photo itself and the image sensor itself. They are very important for the process as they remove any impurities that can be visible in the images. Unfortunately we don't have the ability to snap a picture of something in the far galaxy and the picture come out perfect. The limitations isn't in the technology itself, rather the atmosphere that keeps us alive. When taking the pictures of the galaxy the atmosphere has a tendency to show up in pictures due to interference. Even if a camera makes it to space there will always be steps involved in calibration and getting the perfect presentable picture to the world.

[astro-wrld1]

Crab Nebula

During my time exploring the sky and understanding what space has to offer, I was fortunate enough to obtain pictures of the crab nebula from the Bridgewater State Observatory. The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. To be exact the pictures I was given by the observatory were different one was red, one was blue, one was green and lastly one was black and white. While they weren't given their color yet our job was to change these pictures to match their descriptions. To see the colors overlapped we had to use a program called GIMP.

GIMP is a program that we use to combine the pictures that are already filtered. We use GIMP to stack the photos on top of one another and combine them into one main photo. Using GIMP we were able to adjust almost anything about each photo regarding color, blur, and brightness. The original photos I had were very undeveloped and it took a lot of time to come out the way I envisioned. I had to take each individual filtered photo and alter each one For them to align together. For example, in the red filter photo, we adjusted the level of color, so the color came out red. I repeated this process with all filtered photos and the original black and white. After I had adjusted each photo individually, I had to align each photo on top of one another so that the photo looked the correct way.

Currently, I need to adjust the blur and brightness to make the picture easier on the viewer's eyes. These micro-adjustments make a huge difference in the overall quality of the finished product you will obtain. Another thing about the picture that is being displayed is that the pictures are 4 different pictures that have been layered atop one another to create a colorful image. What I've learned is that it's extremely hard to get colorful images in space without putting multiple pictures together, due to exposure time as well as light pollution from people. The longer time of exposure you have the more you capture, however, this isn't always good as the camera can pick up mistakes that don't relate to the object you want to capture. Light pollution relates to the area where the photo was taken, for example, the farther away from the city and civilization the less amount of light pollution you can receive in the camera.

I plan on making an even better picture by adjusting the blur from the photos as well as the brightness to make sure that one color isn't dominating over another. Each picture is set to the screen option as the screen option allows the pictures to see through one another, however, the only picture that isn't is the black and white. I have made that specific luminance to get rid of some of the blur and make the picture a higher quality. Im very excited to understand more about the process of taking pictures, as well as editing the pictures.

[astro-wrld1]

Observatory exploration

For the first time this week, I was lucky enough to step foot inside an observatory. This experience was quite unreal to me due to me having no prior knowledge to what an observatory carried. Being apart of this experience has taught me a lot of things about the observatory and what they exactly are capable of. While in the observatory we learned that the dome has the ability to rotate and the microscope can be adjusted manually. Another thing that caught me off guard regarding the observatory is just how small the telescope within the middle is. Despite being deceivingly little, the telescope shown here has the power to study objects that are 4.5 billion light years away(Quasar 3C66a). This camera also has the options to put different filters over the lenses to get different looking pictures from the same angle. An observation I noticed while in the observatory was that the whole room was illuminated with a red light. It made me curious as to why the room would need to be red in order to observe space. After researching I came to the conclusion that red-light has a peak wavelength of 635-700 nanometers, while normal light is 530. This makes it easier for the pictures to come out darker and get the color they're looking for. Also present in the room was a lot of high tech equipment that operated the telescope. It's captivating how much work truly comes with taking pictures of the stars at night. It also makes me wonder how pictures can be taken during the day, with such a high exposure coming from the sun. After doing some of my own research I learned that without a specialized lens there isn't a way to take pictures during the day. The lens has the ability to dim the exposure of the sun making it possible to photograph past the sun. This experience was very interesting and made me want to learn a lot more about space and astrophotography. I am extremely happy that I was able to experience something such as this since it's not often you get offered a tour of a whole observatory. It amazes me the amount of knowledge required to capture these truly intricate pictures of things located within the sky.

[astro-wrld1]

This picture was really created well, from the contrast of light to how long the exposure lasts for. One of my biggest hobbies is photography and in order to take this picture you must know some things about your camera. It appears that in order to have captured this picture someone had to adjust the exposure of their camera to a very high setting. With the higher exposure the camera was able to pick up more light that was being reflected off the moons surface, and also the mountain. Not only that but the timing of the picture had to be perfect, since the earth will only have the two lining up perfectly for a specific time period. Astrophotography is super interesting to me in the way that our earth is constantly spinning, so in order to take pictures of something in space from the ground you would have to wait for earth to be in the perfect position in order to recapture the picture you had taken. On top of that there is also people who dedicate their lives to astrophotography just to capture only a small percent of what truly lies in space. Personally I need to work on identifying the different constellations in the sky and even planets. Im making steady progress everyday in the usage of my camera and becoming more familiar with space. Overall I find that this picture is beautiful for the dedication that it took to get the shot, and the process of getting it as well.

2024 January 22

Shadows of Mountain and Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Enzo Massa Micon

Explanation: Can the Moon and a mountain really cast similar shadows? Yes, but the division between light and dark does not have to be aligned. Pictured, a quarter moon was captured above the mountain Grivola in Italy in early October of 2022. The Sun is to the right of the featured picturesque landscape, illuminating the right side of the Moon in a similar way that it illuminates the right side of the mountain. This lunar phase is called “quarter” because the lit fraction visible from Earth is one quarter of the entire lunar surface. Digital post-processing of this single exposure gave both gigantic objects more prominence. Capturing the terminator of this quarter moon in close alignment with nearly vertical mountain ridge required careful timing because the Earth rotates once a day.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240122.html