moon

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Photography

A Volcanic Eruption Photographed Against the Backdrop of the Milky Way, Moon, and an Iridium Flare

While photographing the surface flow of a volcano several weeks ago in Hawaii, photographer Mike Mezeul managed to capture an extraordinary number of natural phenomena in this single shot. His original intent was to photograph just the volcano itself, but he soon realized the scene had a bit more potential.

“When I found this surface flow and saw the clouds had cleared out, I knew I needed to at least try to get the stars above with the lava,” he tells Colossal. “As twilight faded, I saw that the position of the moon—which was just a sliver—was to the right of the Milky Way so I figured what the heck, might as well try to get the Milky Way with the lava.” After only three shots another fortuitous event occurred: an iridium flare just happened to streak across the sky.

For the skeptics, Mezeul shares that he used a Nikon D810 with a Nikon 14-24mm lens, with the following settings: F2.8, ISO 2500, 25″ exposure. You can see more of his landscape work on Instagram. (via PetaPixel)

Amazing Design Science

New Camera Allows You to Zoom in to the Surface of the Moon. Way In.

In a great example of just how powerful consumer cameras have become, watch as this Nikon P900 zooms into the night sky, transporting you from a parking lot in Quebec to the surface of the moon. According to DL Cade at PetaPixel, the built-in optical zoom maxes out at 83x but the camera is capable of continuing with digital zoom. “The P900 features 166x ‘Dynamic Fine Zoom,’ putting the final equivalent focal length at a mind-numbing 4000mm.” I don’t even know that that means exactly but it sounds like a whole lotta zoom. Video by Daniel Pelletier. (via Sploid, PetaPixel)

Art Craft

The Lunar Cycle Displayed Through 15,000 Colorful Origami Birds

Mademoiselle Maurice (previously here and here) recently produced the mural “The Lunar Cycle” in collaboration with the French Mathgoth Gallerie, a temporary piece that pays tribute to the hundreds of residents who were temporarily uprooted due to the upcoming demolition of the building. Composed of 15,000 colorful origami birds, the piece forms the cycles of the moon against the dark background of the wall and covers over 21,000 square feet of space—making it the largest urban mural ever created in Paris. Each origami is painted after folding using a solution deemed “Maurigami” by Mademoiselle Maurice, making the pieces nearly indestructible. You can see more of her original origami-based murals on her Instagram and Facebook. (via Faith is Torment)

Design Science

A Topographically Accurate Lunar Globe Designed with Data From NASA

Product designer Oscar Lhermitte has collaborated with design studio Kudu to produce a topographically accurate lunar globe that turns along with the phases of the moon. MOON exists at a 1:20 million scale and was created with data from NASA to reveal all of the moon’s craters in precise detail. As the round light or “sun,” rotates around the globe, dramatic shadows are cast across its surface.

With three settings, you can manually twist the moon to the position you desire, place it on demo mode to let you see all phases in 30 seconds, or switch it to live mode to have the piece synchronize with the current position of the moon itself. In addition to a physical similarity to the moon, the globe also has an intrinsic connection to it. MOON’s computer system has the exact same memory as the Apollo 11 computers that landed the first men on the earth-orbiting giant.

You can check out more about the project on MOON’s Kickstarter. (via Faith is Torment)

Design Illustration Science

The Chart of Cosmic Exploration Elegantly Details 56 Years of Human Adventures into Space

We’ve long been fans of the data-rich illustrations produced by Pop Chart Lab, and this new print is no exception. The Chart of Cosmic Exploration documents every exploratory endeavor into space spanning Luna 2 in 1959 to DSCOVR in 2015. The elegantly dense chart not only depicts the flight paths and orbits around planets, moons, comets, and asteroids, but also takes pains to illustrate some 100 exploratory instruments. The result is a shockingly clear overview of an immensely complex topic. The print is now available for preorder and begins shipping next week. (via Mental_Floss)

History Photography Science

NASA Releases Trove of Over 8,000 HD Photos from the Apollo Moon Missions

During the course of the Apollo space program astronauts were charged with enduring unknown perils, conducting science experiments, piloting spacecraft, walking on the surface of the moon, and comprehending sights, sounds, and physical stresses never before experienced by humans. All the while, they were also asked to snap a couple thousands photographs of practically every moment with a modified Hasselblad camera.

Last Friday, for the first time ever, NASA uploaded the entire catalogue of 8,400 Apollo mission photos to Flickr spanning Apollo 7 (the first manned test flight in 1968) through Apollo 17, the final lunar mission in 1972. The effort to bring the photos online was lead by Kipp Teague of the Project Apollo Archive who first began scanning camera film magazines on behalf of the Johnson Space Center in 2004.

While we’re all used to seeing the more iconic photos like Blue Marble, the Apollo 11 bootprint, or this image of Buzz Aldrin, this random assortment of mundane moments and blurry horizons seems to highlight the humanity of the entire endeavor. Collected here are a few of our favorite shots, and you can see thousands more organized by mission on Flickr. Digg and PetaPixel also have collections of their favorites.