Gravity - Beautiful Visual Explanation

I found this video online that visually explains gravity. There are several such videos which explains why two objects with mass has gravity between them. What's fascinating in this video is that it not only explains the gravitational pull, but also the orbit of smaller objects around the larger objects, the elliptical orbit that planets take, the anti-clock-wise revolution of all planets around the sun (except of course Venus), and many more. The best part of this video is that it is not explained in computer graphics but explained practically. Watch and enjoy.

The Lord of the Rings

Hi all. It's been a while since I updated this blog. So here it is. Some of the pics of Saturn I took over a year ago.

Used a 6-inch Newtonian Reflector Telescope and Nikon D5100. Took these pics in a-focal method. Removed the camera lens and placed it facing the telescope eye-piece so that the telescope would act as a camera lens.

These are unadulterated pics taken at 20 sec exposure and I don't actually remember the ISO settings. These pics were taken from my terrace (in the middle of the city) so you would find some light pollution in them.

I was unable to stack these images and so I ended up photoshopping it. Removed the light pollution, increased the brightness and sharpened the image. Here is the result.

And here's a blown-up version of the same. If you look closely, you can make out the shadow of the planet on it's rings. Cassini's Division, not very clear. Hopefully when I get a better eye-piece.

Silver Rock Photoshoot

Below are few of my first snaps of the Moon taken on April 3rd, 2013, using Nikon D5100 along with my M42 (Orion StarSeeker 130 Telescope). Also used a Moon Filter. These photos were taken using afocal method and so the images are not properly focused.

Spotting the ISS

It was on the evening of 2nd of May, I was riding on my way to work. Just as I was climbing Kattipara Jn, I saw a bright red object in the sky, quite close to Jupiter. I was quite surprised as there couldn't be any object so close to the Jupiter. I looked up again and realized it was moving slowing past the giant planet. I knew it had to be a satellite. After a week, I was checking the Stellarium to find out what that satellite was and I was surprised to know it was none other than ISS (International Space Station). Below is a screen shot from Stellarium.

Milky Way - A Magic Beyond Imagination

Living in the heart of the city, it is impossible for us to see the beauty of the Milky Way. But we can see this natural beauty with the help of a digital camera. Last month, I went to the Marina Beach as early as 4:00 in the morning with my friend's DSLR (Nikon D5100). Using the Sky Map Android App, I identified the spot where the Milky Way would be at its brightest and took a few snaps of the night sky. And below is the result I got.

The above picture was an epic failure. At first I tried to take the photos with different settings of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. After taking about 8 photos, I thought the above picture was the best I could get. What a disappointment! The picture contains some bright stars and a lot of sky noise. Could see a bit of Orang-ish colour on the right end, thanks to the Light House. I expected to see atleast a bit of the Milky Way, but found nothing. Disappointed, I went back home.

I then uploaded my pics to my system. I tried to zoom in the picture to see if I could spot anything at all. And then I found something. It could just be some clouds. Or maybe its the Milky Way. I uploaded the photo into the PhotoShop and tried to remove some of the sky noise. And this is what I got.

It is the Milky Way! No doubt. I was literally jumping with joy. The morning was not in vain after all. Now I wanted to know if I could do any better with this picture. I think its best for me to mention that this was my first ever experiment with the PhotoShop. After trying to remove more sky noise, this is what I got.

Neat!!! But not enough. The Light House has played a spoil-sport. I wanted to remove that Orange noise on the right end. I tried various methods but removing the noise made the picture worse. After nearly experimenting for 2 weeks with the PhotoShop, I believe I got the best out of the ordinary picture I took.

I am now official in love with the PhotoShop. I still couldn't believe that I was able to get such a wonderful picture out of nothing. Truly, a Magic beyond Imagination.