Incredibly beautiful photo, near Flagstaff, AZ, at night. This will take your breath away .....

[shireen]

(read more about it at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080416.html)

[tekisui]

1. Beautiful, thank you.

[Olney Blue]

2. Thank you- I needed this!

[shireen]

8. i needed it too ...

I think we all need it. A brilliant night sky like that puts us in touch with nature at a very profound level. Maybe if more people experience a place like that, we'd treat our planet, and each other, with more care.

:grouphug:

[Olney Blue]

10. I came back to this thread after wading into GD-P.... I like it here better!

:hi:

[I Have A Dream]

3. Absolutely stunning!

:D

Thank you for sharing it!

[dhill926]

4. looks like the Mothership...

coming to take us away....please????

[shireen]

9. LOL! It's a lenticular cloud

I also love meteorology ... so the combination of the incredible stars and a rare lenticular cloud perched over the mountain is sheer magic. :)

[medeak]

5. what a beautiful respite from politics! n/t

[Arctic Dave]

6. After living in a city for the last 6 years I forgot how many stars

are out there to be seen. One of my great memories of the navy was being on the equator at night kicking back on the flag bags and looking up at all the stars at 2 in the morning.

[gateley]

7. Breathtaking - thank you! nt

[The River]

11. Infinite Manifestation

Thanks for a Trip @ the speed of thought.

[Leftist Agitator]

12. As a former amateur astronomer...

One who has lived in some pretty dark places, I might add, I highly doubt that this image is a millisecond exposure with a regular consumer camera, dark sky ordinance aside.

Incredibly beautiful either way though.

[shireen]

14. i'd love to know how they got the photo

Definitely not a millisec. exposure.

But in this age of digital imaging and photoshop, it's hard to tell how the photo was created.

If the photographers used color film and a regular 35mm SLR mounted on a tripod, I'm guessing they used a high ISO film, maybe 400 or 800. When I used to take photos of stars using a standard wide 35 mm lens, anything longer than 30s would result in a perceptible trailing. Since this photo was taken with a wide-angle lens and there's already a little bit of trailing visiblr, my guess is for an exposure time around 1 minute, maybe slightly longer. It's really quite amazing how sensitive film can be to low light levels and star colors, it's a great thing for astrophotography. But I don't know how many people use film for astrophotography anymore and have no idea how digital camera CCD detectors would do the job.

[dchill]

13. I am so jealous.

[CherokeeDem]

15. Here's the Link...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

This was today's pic on Astronomy Picture of the Day. If you like this, look through their archives...I can spend lots of time looking at all those amazing pictures.

I also haven't been anywhere dark enough in quite a while to see the stars...need to go somewhere really dark. This pic was done over Flagstaff and they have a lighting ordinance there.

[Shoelace]

18. APOD, one of my favorite sites when I need to get off earth

which seems to be alot these days! Thankyou for the pic. Gives us a little cosmic perspective.

[bluesmail]

16. It appears to be hugging the mountain

and is part of space. Thanks

[tom_paine]

17. Thanks for wallpaper! Awesome!

[Delphinus]

19. I remember,

years ago, when stopping in Flagstaff after a rather grueling 13-hour leg of a journey, looking up and seeing Comet Hyutake (I know I butchered the spelling). It was amazing how clear the night sky was and how beautiful the comet was.

Thank you for the picture and the wonderful memories it engendered. :)

[LDB]

20. 40 years an astronomer

and I still love the night sky -- even in a city where only a few bright stars shine -- out there where there's real dark though: gorgeous. You can just fall up into it. Thanks for the beautiful pic.