Gemmi Pass
© Rick Field‘Moon from the Gemmi Pass, Switzerland’ by Rick Field, taken with his Sony RX100 MKIII.The Valaisian Alps 4000m peaks shown are from left to right: Nadelhorn, Dom, Tashchorn, then in the middle the highest peak,(but furthest away) the Dufourspitze, then Bishorn and Weisshorn with the Grand Gendarme.
Lake Wenatchee
© Phil RandallThe attached picture is of the triple conjunction over Lake Wenatchee in Washington State.It was taken this evening (June 20th) at about 10.30pm or so. The star to the left of Jupiter is Regulus and you can just make out Castor and Pollux to the left of the tree. And for good measure, there is a dead tree in the foreground.
Star Trails
© Peter JenkinsStar Trails over Sherwood Observatory. 36 exposures 30s long with 10 sec gaps between frames at f5.6 ISO400 Canon 60D with Sigma 10-20mm zoom set at 12mm.Camera controlled with DSLR Controller (to set frame timelapse details) running over wireless connection from my Android tablet to the Canon.
Camera mounted on a ball and socket head, both then attached to a polar aligned Skywatcher Star Adventurer tracking at 12x sidereal all supported on a Manfroto Tripod.
Aug '07 ISS and Endeavour
© M. GreenwoodISS and Endeavour by Mr M. GreenwoodThe photograph below, of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour over the dome of the observatory on the 12th August 2007 at 10:05 PM was taken by society member M. Greenwood, and entered into the August 2007 members photo contest
The picture was taken with a Canon 400D digital camera with a 10mm lens and a 30 second exposure at f3.5 ISO 200.
NASA J-2 Rocket Engine
© P. DingleyThe picture is of a J-2 rocket engine, located wihtin the rocket park at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The J-2 engine powered the huge Saturn-V rocket, used to take all of the astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo programme.Variations of this engine are still in use for NASA heavy-lift operations.
Atlantis Orbiter on Pad-39A
© P. DingleyDecember 2007 - The Atlantis orbiter (STS-122) sits on launch pad 39A at Cape Kennedy waiting for the resolution of a long standing problem with the external fuel tank sensors.Delayed several times due to faulty fuel cutoff sensors, the sensors are used to trigger a main engine shutoff shortly before the external fuel tank is fully empty. This prevents a possible catastrophic failure should the external fuel tank run dry whilst the engines are operating at maximum thrust.
While Atlantis sits on Pad-39A, Endeavour sits inside the Vehicle Assembly building, having been mated to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in preparation for a launch from Pad 39B early in 2008. This photograph was taken on December 15th 2007 from a viewing location that is directly in the middle of the space between both Pad 39A and Pad 39B.
KSC Vehicle Assembly Building
© P. DingleyDecember 2007 - the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Centre still shows some external signs of the 2005 Hurricane that ripped various panels from the building.Although not visible in this picture, inside the VAB, the Endeavour Orbiter is in the process of being mated to the SRB (Solid Rocket Boosters), in preparation for its rollout to Pad 39B and an early 2008 planned launch.
The scale of the VAB is relatively difficult to get across in photographs, however if you follow the grey area at the side of the American flag downwards until it meets the horizontal platform at the side of the forward protruding section of the building, and the look in the middle of the white panel above the platform you'll see a tiny grey vertical rectangle - which is actually a 7-foot high door to provide access for inspections.
The VAB is one of the largest buildings by volume in the world; it encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet (3,666,930 cubic meters) of space. It covers 8 acres (3.2 hectares), is 525 feet tall (160 meters), 716 feet long (218 meters); and 518 feet wide (158 meters).
