Space – bwuphoto.com

How a Zero-Gravity Omega Watch Repair Revolutionized NASA’s Space Station Fixes

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“I paid my way through college as a diesel mechanic for a logging outfit, so I feel comfortable with mechanical things and electric things, taking them apart and fixing them. I figured it all out myself. I didn’t have any instructions,” Pettit says. “As you can hear in the watch-repair video, I make the comment: ‘The tool you use at the frontier to fix it is the tool you use to get the job done.’”

However, 20 years ago, this repair job didn’t just fix Don’s Omega. As the chemical engineer and NASA’s oldest-serving astronaut (68) reveals to WIRED, it transformed the space agency’s supply protocol at an early stage in the ISS’s own life.

“At that point in time,” Pettit says, “the concept of doing repairs on orbit was to pull out a ‘box,’ put in a new box, and you don’t take the box apart. Up to that point, [the Space] Shuttle could carry 20 tons of supplies, and you’re flying four shuttles a year, and there was no problem getting spare parts. So your ‘repair mechanism’ wasn’t to take something apart, it was to replace these units.

“Then Columbia happened, while I was on orbit.” Pettit is referring to the disaster of February 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated on reentry having suffered damage to its heat-insulation tiles during launch 15 days prior. It meant Houston’s fleet was grounded for a full two and a half years, extending Pettit’s stay aboard ISS from two and a half months to five and a half, before returning aboard Roscosmos’ Soyuz capsule (a first for an American).

“We had to drop the [ISS] crew size to two, and we could barely keep the food and water supplies on station to support the crew. That brought in a whole new regime of how you do repairs. When I downlinked the watch-repair instructions, [around the time] Columbia happened, what this did was demonstrate that on orbit we could do fine repair.

“Taking a watch apart is kind of the paragon example of ‘fine repair.’ So the maintenance people at NASA started to think: ‘Let’s take our boxes apart and fix them on orbit.’”

Long before Instagram, Pettit’s video wasn’t for likes or “instant gratification,” as he puts it, though he now treasures the social medium for how meaningful it can be: “It track-proved a whole new mindset at NASA: the concept that astronauts aren’t klutzes; we aren’t just bulls in a china closet; we have the dexterity to do fine motor repair work on spaceship.”

With Congress having passed the NASA Authorization Act last year, extending US participation in ISS to 2030 and easing the transition to more commercial space operators than simply SpaceX and Boeing’s Starliner, it’s gratifying to know that more than 50 years since Jack Swigert relied on his Speedie to time the 14-second reentry burn aboard the stricken Apollo 13 capsule, Swiss watchmaking continues to play its part, up there.

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Top 5 winners of the 2023 astronomy photo of the year contest

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The winners of the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s 15th year of astronomy photography have been announced, and the images are nothing short of incredible.

Top 5 winners of the 2023 astronomy photo of the year contest 9632

VIEW GALLERY – 7 IMAGES

The world’s largest astrophotography contest consists of more than 4,000 separate submissions from 64 different countries, with each of the submissions going into a selection of different categories. The winners of 2023 were announced via a shortlist that was published in July, and now we able to see all of the notable submissions. The contest features 11 categories and below you will find winners for; Overall Winner, Auroras, Our Moon, Our Sun, and Stars & Nebulas.

The first image below is the winning photograph of 2023’s astrophotography contest, and it showcases the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. The image titled “Andromed, unexpected” was snapped by an amateur astronomer team led by Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty. Notably, the plasma streak on the left-hand side of the image was a unique discovery, with researchers now studying it as its believed it could be largest discovered streak of its kind.

Overall Winner/Galaxies

Image credit: Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty

Our Moon

Image credit: Ethan Chappel

Our Sun

Image credit: Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau

Auroras

Image credit: Monika Devia

Stars & Nebulas

Image Credit: Marcel Drechsler

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Kid astrophotographer reaches for the stars from Providence

Kid astrophotographer takes photos of deep space from RI

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A Providence high schooler has created an out-of-this-world photo collection from here in the capital city, and his astrophotography skills came into focus during the pandemic.

April is International Astronomy Month, a way to encourage people to look up at the night sky.

“I’m really interested in space, and what’s out there, but also combining it with the photography aspects. Sharing my photos. It’s great to incorporate the art aspect into it, too,” said Griffin Haisman, a sophomore at the Wheeler School.

He’s been taking pictures of places that are far away for a few years now.

“I really got started with more of the photography at the end of 7th grade, just as the pandemic was starting,” Haisman told 12 News Meteorologist T.J. Del Santo on a cold night with clear skies in Providence in late February.

(Story continues below gallery)

Distance learning and being stuck at home gave Haisman a lot of time to figure things out.

“I started with the moon. It was alright. It was a bit out of focus, but it was a start,” Haisman said.

To get the picture of that Supermoon in May of 2020, Haisman borrowed his mother’s camera. In the months that followed, he got better equipment and his skills improved. With tips from other astrophotographers around the world, his knowledge expanded.

“It’s already a pretty niche hobby. Kids my age? It’s even fewer people,” said Haisman.

Now a sophomore in high school, his work rivals professionals. He thinks he’d still be interested in the hobby, but didn’t think he’d gotten nearly as far.

He’s captured galaxies, comets and the moon through this telescope, but his favorite is a nebula, clouds of dust and gas where stars are born.

“I do it all from here in Providence, at home,” Haisman said.

With special filters, he cuts through the city’s light pollution and brings objects millions of light years away into focus on his computer, but he has to take a lot of pictures. For one moon picture, he took 100,000 pictures.

All the pictures need to be stacked, or digitally placed on top of each other to get better details of distant objects.

It’s a lot of work, but the rewards are infinite.

“I think one of the more interesting things to think about when I’m photographing these things is how long ago I’m actually seeing. These things are so far away that it takes a long time for the light to reach us. So what we’re seeing is many, many years in the past — millions and even billions of years in the past,” Haisman said.

He’s one kid in a vast cosmos of planets, stars and galaxies, capturing pieces of the universe to share with others.

“It’s great to see more kids my age getting into it now. I think it’s great that I’m able to give back. I’ve learned so much and now I get to teach other people,” Haisman said.

He said he probably will want to get into astronomy as a profession, but not sure if will be astrophotography.

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Kid astrophotographer takes photos of deep space from RI

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April is International Astronomy Month, a way to encourage people to look up at the night sky.

He’s been taking pictures of places that are far away for a few years now.

(Story continues below gallery)

Distance learning and being stuck at home gave Haisman a lot of time to figure things out.

“I started with the moon. It was alright. It was a bit out of focus, but it was a start,” Haisman said.

“It’s already a pretty niche hobby. Kids my age? It’s even fewer people,” said Haisman.

Now a sophomore in high school, his work rivals professionals. He thinks he’d still be interested in the hobby, but didn’t think he’d gotten nearly as far.

He’s captured galaxies, comets and the moon through this telescope, but his favorite is a nebula, clouds of dust and gas where stars are born.

“I do it all from here in Providence, at home,” Haisman said.

All the pictures need to be stacked, or digitally placed on top of each other to get better details of distant objects.

It’s a lot of work, but the rewards are infinite.

He’s one kid in a vast cosmos of planets, stars and galaxies, capturing pieces of the universe to share with others.

“It’s great to see more kids my age getting into it now. I think it’s great that I’m able to give back. I’ve learned so much and now I get to teach other people,” Haisman said.

He said he probably will want to get into astronomy as a profession, but not sure if will be astrophotography.

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The ‘green comet’ passes closest to Earth this week. Here’s the best time to see it in Australia

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A 1-kilometre-wide comet will make its closest pass to Earth early on Thursday morning, February 2, giving Australians a small chance of catching a glimpse of what’s being referred to as the “green comet”.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is the ‘green comet’?

The green comet, or Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), was discovered by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility in California in early March 2022.

The comet was closest to the Sun on January 12 and it will be the closest to Earth – 41.8 million km — on February 2.

Back in December, NASA said that, while the brightness of comets is notoriously unpredictable, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) could become only just visible to the eye in dark night skies at its closest point to earth.

According to The Planetary Society, the comet has a solar orbit of roughly 50,000 years, which means it hasn’t been seen in the night sky since Neanderthal times.

How can I see the ‘green comet’ in Australia?

It will be visible from Australia from February 5.

But the best times to see it will be between February 9-11.

However, while NASA has said the comet might be slightly visible to the naked eye, amateur star searchers should not expect a bright-green light show.

“It won’t be green to the naked eye, maybe with a substantial telescope, but it will mostly be through astrophotography,” UQ astrophysicist Dr Ben Pope told ABC News.

“Nearly everything in astronomy is basically white to the naked eye except, like, red giant stars and Mars appears a little red, Jupiter is quite noticeably yellow.”

Thanks to light pollution, even seeing the comet with the naked eye could be a problem, unless you’re in a very dark part of the country.

“Basically, they’re very faint, you get a lot of people who go outside and wait and wait, and say, ‘I didn’t see anything’, but that’s because you’re in the inner suburbs, even outer suburbs it’ll be hard,” Dr Pope said.

“It’s very hard to see unless you’re in a very dark space.”

Where C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will shine, is through astrophotography. Some US experts have already been able to capture its brilliant, green glow as it passed by the Northern Hemisphere earlier this month.

So keep your eyes peeled for some beautiful pictures in the days after the comet’s passing.

Why is the comet green?

Comets are made of a mixture of rocky materials, similar to what’s in the Earth’s mantle: dust and ices, not just water-ice but also components such as dry ice, methane, ammonia and carbon monoxide.

According to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the green glow from some comets comes from the breakdown of a reactive molecule called dicarbon (C2).

To prove their theory, researchers isolated the C2 molecule and blasted it with high-intensity light. What they found was that two light photons push the C2 molecule into an energy-rich, unstable configuration.

From there, the molecule decays and radiates a green light photon — just like what we see with some comets.

EDITOR’S NOTES:

January 30, 2023: Originally, this story said the comet would make its closest pass to Earth on Monday night, January 30. This has been amended to February 2 at 4:54am AEDT.
January 30, 2023: Originally, this story said the comet would be visible in Australia from February 1 to 2. This has been amended to February 5. A line adding that the best time to see it will be February 9 to 11 has also been added.

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Astrophotography: Shooting The Night Sky

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(MENAFN- The Peninsula) joelyn baluyut |
The Peninsula

Out there is another world, the black vastness of space bursting with colourful blobs of light, portraits of the planets, the moon, stars, nebulas, and galaxies – a different world, million miles away from where you are.

Astronomy is a broad field, a study of space and everything above us, and since the invention of photography, we seized the darkness of the night sky to capture astonishing, mind-blowing photos, we call it astrophotography.

The Peninsula sat down with one of the only four astrophotographers in the country – Ajith Everester, an Indian expat, at his rooftop observatory in Al Wukair, some 20km away from Doha. He’s been shooting the night sky since 2017.

“Since 2011, I used to photograph birds and animals, and one fine morning my daughter asked me for a telescope to see the planets, so when I saw the planets from the telescope, I asked why can’t we photograph it instead? And from there I started astrophotography.”

Everester started photographing Milky Way.“When you see something, you can also photograph it, this is the concept, so I thought of imaging the planets. I was using my Nikon D4 (SLR camera), then after that, the interest grew, and I wanted to master how to take an astronomical image.”

Ajith Everester at his observatory. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula

Viewing his first few photos of the planets, he gleamed and said:“I was astonished, then I thought, yes, let’s do this.”

Five years back, he initially bought a telescope and started upgrading as the years progressed – the biggest he acquired is the sky-watcher telescope which is the largest of its kind at 12 inches, with f4 aperture.

It may look easy for some but doing astrophotography is not a piece of cake.

“You have to invest not only in the camera but filters also, so it can avoid light pollution. A filter costs QR7,000 – you need three of that. So around QR50,000 for the camera and filter altogether.”

Elephant Trunk Nebula

Viewing the images Everester took were dazzling, a unique spectacle, every photo glitters – you wouldn’t even imagine we’re living under these bright astronomical objects.

But this ‘passion’ of his is not a walk in the park, it requires time, patience, and money.

“The recent image took 40 hours to capture, which means three weeks to collect the images alone, but still I haven’t finalised it, I’m not fully satisfied with the colours, so I’m thinking of collecting more data or modifying it – it’s a Nebula,” Everester explained.

The Peninsula asked him among the thousands of images he took, which is the ‘special one’, he responded smiling as he said:“From the first image that I have taken, till this last image that I have photographed, everything is special.”

“If you ask me my favourite, then I’ll tell the latest one – that has the best quality. You don’t really distinguish which is your favourite, but lately, I’ve fallen in love with my recent images with the core of the Heart Nebula, I can tell that is my best image, that’s my best for now,” he said.

Sky imaging through a telescope is more than shooting the stars.“You should know engineering, physics, electronics, you should know everything,” Everester said laughing.

The astrophographer has also been doing seminars, workshops and online sessions, not only in Qatar but also in Oman, United Arab Emirates, to name some. He also has a few Qatari students who are gaining interest in the field and have been coming to his observatory and stargazing.

He also revealed the best places to capture the night in Qatar are Traina and Al Aamriya.“Last Wednesday we went to Traina and watched the meteor shower, there were 15-16 of it, the moon came at 10pm so we couldn’t continue. My wife, who has been supportive of my passion, loves it and my two daughters are enjoying it, it’s our mini-getaway from the bustle of the city.”

When asked for his advice for people who want to start off in this field he said that“astrophotography is a fantastic field, especially for people who are interested in nightlife, not in the sense of clubbing or spending time in the hotels, those who like the night sky.”

And one thing really struck me is his line on having a solitary moment:“If you want to be peaceful, go sit and look at the stars, you will get a lot of energy from that. The feeling of stargazing is something you cannot explain – you have to be there – at the moment.”

“When nobody is around you, only darkness and stars – that is the real peace, you will get plenty of energy to be charged, if you go one weekend out and sit under the stars, the next whole week, you are all charged – that much peace of mind you will get, and that you have to experience. We cannot explain it, I cannot, you have to feel it.”

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Take a trip to Jabal Al Shams in Oman or witness the aurora in Iceland

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The Dubai Astronomy Group is taking giant leaps to bring the unknown closer to humankind and to show us what lies beyond our planet.

Sheeraz Ahmad Awan, General Manager of Dubai Astronomy Group (DAG), believes that knowing about astronomy is a necessity in this day and age. “With the establishment of the UAE space agency, the launch of the hope mission, the Rashid moon rover and the UAE government looking at a future on another planet, understanding astronomy is crucial.”

Over the next year, the Dubai Astronomy Group has an extensive program of workshops, training programs and tours for amateurs and those wanting to dive into space a little deeper. DAG regularly holds Astro tourism workshops upon request from visitors. The tours take place in the desert, and astronomy professionals speak to the participants about the Arabic heritage in astronomy.

“We set up telescopes, and we offer them Arabic hospitality experience. This is part of what we do to promote the Arabic culture and heritage,” said Sheeraz. This year, instead of being limited to private requests, DAG plans to open its Astro tourism activities to the public.

DAG also organises Astro tourism trips to Jabal Al Shams in Oman, Los Angeles, USA and Iceland, where participants will witness the Auroras – the spectacular celestial phenomenon which is featured on most people’s bucket lists.

He said that it is a fact that one of our ancestors was an astronomer because, in the past, it wasn’t a hobby but a necessity. “Understanding astronomy and the stars bring in a full loop. We’re coming back to a point where the understanding of astronomy, space and stars is becoming crucial in developing nations and our civilisation,” he said.

Sheeraz believes that astronomy changes live because it changes minds. “Being able to understand our universe and how massive things are out there gives you an amazing perspective of yourself and what is your size in the bigger scheme of things. It is a humbling experience,” he said.

Those interested in taking their Astrophotography skills one step further than capturing the milky way can also sign up for one of DAG’s newly launched specialised courses.

“We are introducing the Astrophotography program as a public programme as well. We are giving people the opportunity to come and learn directly from an observatory astronomer who is collecting data on a regular basis,” said Sheeraz adding that these courses are more on the research and development side of astronomy, which takes it beyond the hobby status.

Over the years, he said more people expressed interest in basic aspects of astronomy, such as learning how to use the telescope, 3D printing and attending solar system courses. “We also have people express interest in being involved in the research side of things as well. This is why we are creating these programs, which are more extensive and longer than the regular 1-2 day workshops.”

The young audience is also one of their targets. “They are mind blowing. They’re so tuned in to the subject and they would ask you questions that you wouldn’t even imagine so they are also interested in the technical side of things,” he said.

The educational classes which will take place at the Al Thuraya Astronomy Centre include an introduction to astronomy class, a practical astronomy course, Planetary Astrophotography, Pure DSLR Astrophotography and crash courses in Telescope Training, Meteorites, 3D Printing and Paper Modeling. The Astro tourism programs include packages in Arabian astronomy, Greek mythological astronomy and astronomy in ancient civilisations and world major cultures.

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Astrophotography brings out passion and a feeling of permanence for this Colorado Springs woman

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Storing telescopes, mounts, tripods and cameras inside their home, the couple takes out all the heavy equipment to their backyard to try and capture an element in our universe not seen by the naked eye. This method of photography is called astrophotography — it goes beyond landscape photography to use a combination of lenses, computers and telescopes to capture a moment in deep space.

“You can go out in the summer and set up a tripod and a camera and a wide angle lens and do a long exposure … and get to see the stars in the Milky Way in the core and some beautiful details of the sky,” Marcus explained. “I would say the biggest difference between that and deep space astrophotography is with deep space astrophotography, you’re looking way closer in on a target.”

To do that, Marcus and Miles must understand and keep track of what is happening in the sky above and when. Then given those parameters, they pick a target or two for the night, set up their equipment to get it polar aligned and then take long-exposure pictures for as long as possible — often lasting throughout the whole night.

The idea is to capture a series of long-exposure images, which invite more light into the lens, to gather as much visual data as possible. Marcus and Miles’ equipment keeps them on the target throughout the night as the subject moves across the sky. The series of photos, which will be later layered on top of each other, add more detail to the image.

As one might imagine, this hobby isn’t best served by partial commitment.

“If you meet anybody in the astro[photography] community, they’re going to talk about the time that they spent on this,” said Marcus with a smile.

On top of the time it takes to capture the images overnight, it takes about an hour to set up the equipment and a little bit less than that to take it down. While a lot of technology helps Marcus and Miles, they still must constantly check on the equipment throughout the night.

“We got up to the observatory property last Friday night at about 7:00 and we left the next morning at 7:30. So, we were there for 12 and a half hours,” said Marcus.

Marcus and Miles often take the deep space photos from just their backyard, but they also have connected with a person who has an observatory near Florissant, about 11 miles west of Pikes Peak. There they have access to power to operate their equipment, and it’s under a dark sky protected area and at high elevation. These conditions give Marcus and Miles an even better chance of capturing the beauty of the stars above.

“When I go to a dark sky and I look up and I see these things, these stars, these brighter stars, it’s like I reaffirm that they’re still there as am I. Me and the universe, we’re on the same terms,” said Marcus.

When Marcus returns to inside her home, she then has the immense task of stacking the images and pulling out the beauty from them. A single image can look like a smattering of stars, but as she is able to put several images together, nebulas, galaxies and other targets really start to take shape.

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Astro Fest is go for launch at Orlando Science Center

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ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Science Center is set to captivate young astronomy lovers with a weekend of space-themed events.

Astro Fest kicks off at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19, and lasts through Nov. 20. Daily hours will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Attendees will get immersive experiences such as simulation games, live shows and lab experiments.

Guests can also see an astrophotography exhibit by Derek Demeter, director of Seminole State College’s Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium. The exhibition, called “Capturing the Cosmos,” portrays Florida’s night sky and our celestial neighbors in the Solar System.

Admission to Astro Fest is included with your Orlando Science Center admission, meaning ticketholders can add the space-themed fun to everything else offered throughout four floors of exhibits, 3D educational films and live programming.

For more information, and to purchase tickets, click here.

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