Monday - January 16, 2006

Photo Du Jour

“Tadpole Galaxy”
-by-
Hubble (NASA)

In this stunning vista recorded with the Hubble Space Telescope’s new advanced camera, distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic Tadpole is a mere 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation Draco. Its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long and features massive, bright blue star clusters.

One story goes that a more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188 - from left to right in this view - and was slung around behind the Tadpole by their gravitational attraction. During the close encounter, tidal forces drew out the spiral galaxy’s stars, gas, and dust forming the spectacular tail. The intruder galaxy itself, estimated to lie about 300 thousand light-years behind the Tadpole, can be seen through foreground spiral arms at the upper left. Following its terrestrial namesake, the Tadpole Galaxy will likely lose its tail as it grows older, the tail’s star clusters forming smaller satellites of the large spiral galaxy.

Credit:  ACS Science & Engineering Team, NASA

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/16/2006 at 07:09 PM   
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   Sunday - January 15, 2006

Gadget Of The Week

Great Googley-Moogley! Does any photographer really need this much detail? 39 Mega-Pixels? And is any photographer serious enough to want to spend $38k for a single camera? Of course! There are professional photographers out there who probably own two or three of these babies. Those would be the people who charge thousands of dollars an hour to photograph weddings and coronations. Personally, I’m quite satisfied with my 8 Mega-Pixel Canon PowerShot Pro I, which only set me back about $900 a few years ago ...

Hasselblad is creating a new standard of digital image quality for professional photographers with the announcement of a new camera and three camera backs based on the combination of Hasselblad’s new, true 39-Megapixel CCD sensor and its unique Digital APO Correction (DAC) technology. This new line of products features the new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, which promises to take digital photographic colour reproduction to an entirely new level. The new products should also deliver images of unsurpassed sharpness and resolution and at the same time reduce any moiré effect to a minimum - a first in the history of digital photography.

Based on the Hasselblad H2 camera with its range of high performance, digital central shutter-based lenses, and featuring extended features, such as DAC lens optimisation and Instant Approval Architecture, the Hasselblad H2D-39 (£21,150-UK or $37,568.96-US) is the world’s first high-end, 39-Megapixel, digital auto-focus camera. Compatible with the entire range of Hasselblad H System lenses, as well as the Hasselblad V camera lens system, the H2D-39 brings the highest level of integration and flexibility to the professional photographer.

- If you haven’t fainted at the price and want to take super pictures, read the rest here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/15/2006 at 01:16 PM   
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   Sunday - January 01, 2006

Photo Du Jour

“The Majestic Sombrero Galaxy”
-by-
Hubble

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/01/2006 at 06:33 PM   
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   Tuesday - December 20, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“Scandinavia In Winter”
-by-
Red Orbit

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/20/2005 at 07:29 PM   
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   Friday - December 09, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“Donkey Borne”
-by-
Spc. Mike Pryor

The Story Behind The Picture ....
October 12, 2005
MIANASHIN, Afghanistan (Army News Service)

Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, along with Afghan National Army troops, were conducting an operation in the Mianashin region north of Kandahar in early October when an airdrop of supplies fell short of its mark. Water bottles and boxes of food were strewn for hundreds of yards across the mountain and paratroopers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment spent the afternoon carrying boxes down from the ridgeline, but there were still several large loads that needed to be transported. With daylight rapidly disappearing, A Company seemed to have run out of options.

Luckily, that is when the “Donkey Man” showed up.

Spc. Daniel Boyle spotted the old man as he led a team of donkeys up a hill in the distance. Boyle realized the donkeys might be the solution to A Co’s transportation problem. He beckoned the man over and began to negotiate. They reached an agreement, and soon each donkey was loaded with a bundle of supplies and was ready to move out. Staff Sgt. Matthew Sheppard mounted the lead donkey and with a gentle jab he spurred the animal forward. “On a mission like that, you never know what situation you’re going to find yourself in. That’s why we just try to stay flexible and make the most out of whatever breaks we get,” said Shaw.

The five-day operation resulted in the detainment of three Taliban leaders and the destruction of two enemy safe houses. It began with a pre-dawn air assault into the town of Lwar Kowndalan Oct. 1. Two Chinook helicopters with an Apache gunship for support delivered the paratroopers in a clearing just outside the village. They exited the helicpoters and as the dust settled, the paratroopers could see they had landed in a graveyard.

The paratroopers moved out quickly and encircled the town by squads. Their objective was to capture several high-ranking Taliban operatives known to live in the village. After they searched several houses, three Taliban members were captured. Meanwhile, paratroopers were also on the lookout for a safe-house used by Taliban forces. After several hours, Capt. Michael Shaw, A Co. commander, decided to set up a patrol base from which to continue the search. He chose a high-walled, fortress-like compound. Ironically, soon after occupying the building, the paratroopers realized it was actually the safe-house they were looking for.

- Read the rest of what happened on Operation Donkey Tales here ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/09/2005 at 04:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Military • War-Stories •  
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   Sunday - December 04, 2005

Photo Du Jour

November 29, 2005 Paratroopers from Company C, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, take cover after receiving enemy fire in Tal Afar, Iraq.

-- Photo by Pfc. James Wilt

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/04/2005 at 04:32 PM   
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   Wednesday - November 30, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“In Living Color”
-by-
Hubble (RedOrbit)

In this view of the center of the magnificent barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512, NASA Hubble Space Telescope’s broad spectral vision reveals the galaxy at all wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared. The colors (which indicate differences in light intensity) map where newly born star clusters exist in both “dusty” and “clean” regions of the galaxy.

This color-composite image was created from seven images taken with three different Hubble cameras: the Faint Object Camera (FOC), the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/30/2005 at 06:08 PM   
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   Thursday - November 24, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“The Survivors”
-by-
anonymous

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/24/2005 at 06:02 PM   
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   Sunday - November 20, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“Cat’s Eye”
NASA APOD

Staring across interstellar space, the alluring Cat’s Eye nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth. A classic planetary nebula, the Cat’s Eye (NGC 6543) represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula’s dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood. Seen so clearly in this sharp Hubble Space Telescope image, the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across. Of course, gazing into the Cat’s Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/20/2005 at 03:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Science-Technology •  
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   Saturday - November 12, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“Bubble Nebula”
-by-
Red Orbit

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/12/2005 at 01:08 PM   
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   Wednesday - October 19, 2005

Photo Du Jour

I’m sorry but I just love looking at this picture again and again!
Die, blasted smurfs! Die!
The purple dinosaur is next!

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/19/2005 at 05:22 PM   
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   Saturday - October 08, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“Blue Marble”
-by-
NASA

Skippers Note: America - proving once again that there is absolutely nothing the human race cannot do when good people get together and decide to do something that has absolutely nothing to do with hurting other people and only serves to satisfy our innate curiosity and benefit the entire human race. To the stars and beyond .... God Bless America.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/08/2005 at 04:20 PM   
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   Thursday - September 01, 2005

Photo Du Jour

You have all seen the pictures in the earlier post of the apartment complex I lived in in Long Beach, Mississippi. If not, take a look at the “before” pictures. Then take a look at this “after” image that was sent to me by one of our alert readers, Steve. Yes it is all that remains of Arbor Station. I thank God for convincing me to take that job offer two years ago that caused me to move and eventually wind up in St. Louis. Far from the holocaust that destroyed my old home this week.

Another of our readers (emdfl) has a friend in the military who used to live there until just recently. Emdfl’s friend told him/her that a lot of military families lived there and it was very popular. I can testify to that. Around me I had “SeeBees” from their nearby base in Gulfport, Navy SEALs who trained in the swamps around Stennis Space Center and Air Force personnel from nearby Keesler AFB. Ironically, Keesler AFB is where the “Hurricane Hunters” are based. At least, they used to be ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/01/2005 at 05:32 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Climate-Weather •  
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   Friday - August 12, 2005

Photo Du Jour

“Return To Flight”
Photo courtesy of NASA
(Click on picture for High-Res 2000x1300 image)

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/12/2005 at 11:31 AM   
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