The Milky Way and me
A silhouette of me looking at the Milky Way from the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. I know the correct grammar is "The Milky Way and I", but that sounds far too impersonal to describe the awe and wonder that you experience standing under the stars in the Desert.
This single 5 second exposure "beginner astro-photo" has special significance as it was one of my first Astophotography images that rekindled my lifelong interest in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Technical imperfections and all (which I decided to keep unfixed for sentimental reasons), this single short exposure was one of the catalysts that made me embark on a personal lifelong learning adventure in an attempt to better understand our place in the Cosmos.
I got my first small Telescope soon after I took this photo. Feel free to visit my Astrophotography Gallery with a collection of old and new images of the observable Universe, on my journey of discovery.
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J. R. R. Tolkien.
“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” - Sarah Williams.
About the Milky Way, and Earth's place within it:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets with moons orbiting them. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It’s a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars.
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Astrometry info for this photo:
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/774720#annotated
Click on this link to view an image that illustrates ''our Solar System's position within the Milky Way Galaxy''.
Consult Google & Wikipedia for more information and other interesting facts.
Martin Heigan
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [eBook]
[Facebook] [3D VFX & Mocap] [Science & Physics]
The Milky Way and me
A silhouette of me looking at the Milky Way from the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. I know the correct grammar is "The Milky Way and I", but that sounds far too impersonal to describe the awe and wonder that you experience standing under the stars in the Desert.
This single 5 second exposure "beginner astro-photo" has special significance as it was one of my first Astophotography images that rekindled my lifelong interest in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Technical imperfections and all (which I decided to keep unfixed for sentimental reasons), this single short exposure was one of the catalysts that made me embark on a personal lifelong learning adventure in an attempt to better understand our place in the Cosmos.
I got my first small Telescope soon after I took this photo. Feel free to visit my Astrophotography Gallery with a collection of old and new images of the observable Universe, on my journey of discovery.
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J. R. R. Tolkien.
“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” - Sarah Williams.
About the Milky Way, and Earth's place within it:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets with moons orbiting them. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It’s a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars.
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Astrometry info for this photo:
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/774720#annotated
Click on this link to view an image that illustrates ''our Solar System's position within the Milky Way Galaxy''.
Consult Google & Wikipedia for more information and other interesting facts.
Martin Heigan
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [eBook]
[Facebook] [3D VFX & Mocap] [Science & Physics]