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(Source: satanslittlegirrl, via purrr--deactivated20110731-deac)

(Source: piro-piro-piro, via purrr--deactivated20110731-deac)

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fuckyeahtheuniverse:

“Analemma - a trace of the annual movement of the Sun on the sky - is well known among experts of sun-dials and old Earth’s globes as a diagram of change of seasons and an equation of time. Between August 30th 1998 and August 19th 1999 I have photographed the Sun 36 times on a single frame of 60-mm film. The pictures were taken exactly at 5:45 UT (Universal time) of every tenth day. Previously, the position of the Sun on the sky was calculated with computer as well as optimal moments of time for taking each of the exposures. However, my success was strongly limited by the weather. Nobody can guarantee fine weather every tenth day even for a few minutes. Approximately, there are 120-170 sunny days a year in Crimea. That made me sure that my aim could be achieved. To do the job, the camera must stay fixed during 12 months. It was difficult to find such a place where the camera would be safe. The solution of the problem was to make a plug-in platform rigidly connected to the camera, which allowed to keep accurate position of the camera during next mountings. Thus the platform with the camera could be mounted and dismounted repeatedly. I use “Kiev-60” camera with the lens “Flektogon” 4/50 and neutral filter N-4. Vertical field of view of the objective is about 50 degrees which allowed to photograph all the “figure-of-eight”. The exposures were 1/1000 seconds with the diaphragm 22. When the weather was bad the shooting might be postponed for 1-2 days, but not longer. Due to bad weather conditions I had to miss 2 exposures (November 26th and June 20th); the operating schedule was shifted but it had almost no influence on the appearance of the resulting picture. The background photograph was taken on 10th July 1999 in the evening.”

oceanofmind:

The Expanding Light Echo of Red Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis

V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) is a red variable star in the constellation Monoceros about 20,000 light years (6 kpc) from the Sun, and possibly one of the largest known stars. The previously unknown star was observed in early 2002 experiencing a major outburst. Originally believed to be a typical nova eruption, it was then realized to be something completely different. The reason for the outburst is still uncertain, but several theories have been put forward, including an eruption related to stellar death processes and a merger of a binary star or planets.

Rapidly brightening objects like novae and supernovae are known to produce a phenomenon known as light echo. The light that travels directly from the object arrives first. If there are clouds of interstellar matter around the star, some light is reflected from the clouds. Because of the longer path, the reflected light arrives later producing a vision of expanding rings of light around the erupted object. In addition, the rings appear to travel faster than the speed of light.

In the case of V838 Monocerotis, the light echo produced was unprecedented and is well documented in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. 

Photos taken: May 20, 2002; September 2, 2002; October 28, 2002; December 17, 2002; February 8, 2004; October 24, 2004

(via fuckyeahtheuniverse)