The First Ever Photographs of Lightning [circa 1880's]

The first ever photographs of lightning were shot by amateur photographer William N. Jennings between 1885 and 1890.

Jennings named the types of lightning he photographed according to their patterns of electric discharge.
[via George Eastman House, and Franklin Institute]

"Ribbon" lightning: in an article printed in the Journal of The Franklin Institute, Jennings explained that wind moving across the path of lightning in space produced a ribbon-like form of lightning.

"Multiple flash": Jennings showed that lightning sometimes prepares a path for successive flashes.

Subject to debate: this photo captures the phenomenon of a brilliant main flash with dark side branches, the cause of which has been given a great deal of discussion. 

Fourth Annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award WInners

M51—also known as the Whirlpool galaxy—is a classic spiral galaxy that scientists have studied for centuries. But this mesmerizing new image of the galaxy has nabbed Australian photographer Martin Pugh the top prize in the fourth annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards, announced this week. The sharp detail of the spiral’s arms, defined by dark, dusty areas and bright, pink clouds of hydrogen, impressed the judges. “This is arguably one of the finest images of M51 ever taken by an amateur astronomer,” said judge and astronomer Will Gater in a press release. Pugh’s photograph—which was chosen from more than 800 entries from around the world and earned him £1500—as well as those of the winners in categories such as ”Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year,” “Earth and Space,” and “Our Solar System,” are now on display at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the United Kingdom. Other standout entries include a photograph of the Pleiades cluster, taken by a 15-year-old astronomer, and an image of this year’s transit of Venus across the sun, which was taken on 6 June. [via science now]

*Click on images for a larger view*

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy 
The grand prize-winning entry shows the Whirlpool galaxy's spiral arms in sharp detail; trails of light show a smaller, neighbouring galaxy being slowly torn apart by the Whirlpool's gravitational pull. © Martin Pugh

 Pleiades Cluster
The Pleiades, sometimes called the Seven Sisters, is a cluster of many young stars. The 15-year-old photographer captured this image after more than an hour of exposure (winner of the "Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year" category). © Jacob von Chorus

Transit of Venus 2012 in Hydrogen-Alpha 
Venus passed between Earth and the sun on 6 June. The photographer captured the rare event—which won't happen again for 105 years—on a cloudy morning in Blackheath, London (winner of the "Our Solar System" category). © Chris Warren

Star Icefall
The constellations of Orion, Taurus, and the Pleiades illuminate an ethereal icescape in Nagano, Japan (winner of the "Earth and Space" category). © Masahiro Miyasaka

Simeis 147 Supernova Remnant 

Remnants of a star that exploded roughly 40,000 years ago collide with gas and dust, forming the glowing "Spaghetti Nebula" (runner-up of the "Deep Space" category). © Rogelio Bernal Andreo

NASA's Epic Sky Panorama Created From 18,000 Images

NASA has released a gigantic catalog of the night sky that contains more than 563 million stars, galaxies, asteroids, planets, and objects. The images were captured by the infrared cameras of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, which has been collecting data for the past two years. After capturing more than 2.7 million images of the sky, NASA created by stitching together 18,000 of those images. You can view the panorama in a zoomable browser an epic panorama showing the entire sky here Or download the massive 180MP/73.5MB photographhere. 

*click full screen mode for the full effect*

Stunning Photographs of Northern Lights Over Erupting Icelandic Volcano

23 year old Photographer James Appleton from Cambridge risked his life trekking solo to the site of the volcano to capture these incredible shots. Well worth it I'd say. Despite the warnings from local guides, Appleton spent seven hours battling biting wind and freezing temperatures to get as close to the eruption as possible. He managed to get within a 100 feet of the active volcano

"watching the volcano spew out lava and growling with the peaceful Northern Lights flickering was just incredible." ~ Appleton
[via DailyMailUK]

Purple and blue lights in the sky contrast with bright yellow and red lava flowing from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, erupting from beneath its ice cap.

The Northern Lights, a natural phenomenon called aurora borealis, is created by the sun's super hot atmosphere, which blasts particles into the protective magnetic field surrounding the Earth.
The magnetic field forces the particles toward the north and south poles.
About 60 to 200 miles overhead, the particles bump into the Earth's atmosphere and become electrically 'excited' - throwing off light of various colours.
Although the phenomenon occurs around the clock, the lights are only visible at night.
The best time of year to see them is during winter, when darkness in the upper latitudes stretches up to 24 hours.

Amazing Time-Lapse of Earth Shot from the International Space Station.

This is the what Superman would see.

Photographer Profile ~ Brassaï

Brassaï was the pseudonym of Gyula Halász (1899-1984), a Parisian photographer considered by all as one of the great photographers of the 20th century. Brassai took his name from the town of his birth, Brasso, in Transylvania, then part of Hungary, later of Roumania, and famous as the home of Count Dracula.

 He studied art at the academies of Budapest and Berlin before coming to Paris in the mid-twenties. He was completely disinterested in photography, if not scornful of it, until he saw the work being done by his acquaintance André Kertész, which inspired him to take up the medium himself. In the early thirties he set about photographing the night life of Paris, especially at its more colorful and more disreputable levels. The result of this project - a fascinatingly tawdry collection of prostitutes, pimps, madams, transvestites, apaches, and assorted cold-eyed pleasure-seekers - was published in 1933 as Paris de Nuit, one of the most remarkable of all photographic books.

Making photographs in the dark bistros and darker streets presented a difficult technical problem. Brassai's solution was direct, primitive, and perfect. He focused his small plate camera on a tripod, opened the shutter when ready, and fired a flashbulb.

Brassaï's photographs brought him international fame leading to a one-man show in the United States at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and at New York City's Museum of Modern Art.




"When you meet the man you see at once that he is equipped with no ordinary eyes," ~ writer Henry Miller on Brassai

"The purpose of art is to raise people to a higher level of awareness than they would otherwise attain on their own." ~ Brassai

Paris Prostitute

 Washing up in Brothel, 1932 

 Picasso

 Woman playing snooker , 1933

 Dali

  Folies Bergère, 1933        

    

Dalí and his wife Gala; you can see Brassai in the mirror to the right. 

 Picasso

1932

"To keep from going stale you must forget your professional outlook and rediscover the virginal eye of the amateur." ~ Brassai

 Portrait of author Henry Miller

Masters of Photography : Brassaï by Brownsugar18