By Clay Dillow Posted 11.28.2011 at 12:56 pm 11 Comments

The Milky Way, as Seen from the Cook Islands Tunc Tezel

Today in pretty space pics: the Milky Way, viewed from the Cook Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean on a clear summer night. Snapped by skywatcher Tunc Tezel on the second largest Cook Island of Mangaia, the image was chosen as a winner of the National Maritime Museum’s Astrophotographer of the Year 2011 contest. And it’s the most beautiful thing you’re going to see on this back-to-work Monday.

For those curious about how we can see our own galaxy from inside our own galaxy, it’s all about perspective. Our solar system resides way out in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, toward the edge of the swirling mass of stars that live in our galactic neighborhood. The sun is about 26,000 light-years from the galactic center, and since the galaxy is roughly 100,000 light-years across (give or take 20,000 light-years), from our perspective we can look back in toward the center and see a great deal of the Milky Way.

That’s exactly what Tezel was doing while looking for a clear patch of sky from which to watch a solar eclipse. Using a modified Canon EOS 5D, he snapped several 30-second exposures that let in all the light from Milky Way you see here. The bulge at the left of the band is the galactic center, near Sagittarius and Scorpius. To the right: The Centauris (Alpha and Beta), the Coalsack nebula, and the Southern Cross.

[Space.com]

11 Comments

Link to this comment
AltaMartinez
11/28/11 at 2:01 pm

Check out this work from home offer - C A S H S H A R P . C O M

Link to this comment
pheonix1012
11/28/11 at 3:43 pm

I LOVE STARPICS!!!

Link to this comment
Grunt
11/28/11 at 3:58 pm

"Starpics", yea when I travel the cosmos and stop at my galactic coffee house Starpics, I get my Starry
Cappuccino , yummy! I always ask the server to put a little Milk way in it too. It is so nice when the Milky way is frothy too. Mmmmm, so good!

Link to this comment
GeeWillikers
11/28/11 at 4:12 pm

I am a little confused. Scientist will have an artist to make a beautiful spiral Milky Way galaxy. It will look so perfect in its spiral form.

And yet, us Earthlings can look to the sky and take a picture and it is so strangely different from what I imagine.

Since we are inside this spiral galaxy, I imagine it being a saucer shape. But to look at this picture, it is like GOD took his galactic water color paint brush of stars and smudged it across the sky, not perfect in shape at all in it's display.

Link to this comment
JediMindset
11/28/11 at 6:40 pm

i don't know why but every time i see pics like this i feel so inferior. i feel as small and irrelevant as a speck of kangaroo droppings on a sandy beach.

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

Link to this comment
AdamWM
11/28/11 at 8:09 pm

I love pictures like this. It is so rare that I get far enough away from the city light pollution that I can see the Milky Way so clearly. I find the best views deep in the Rocky Mountains. It probably won’t be too many years before we can't see any stars at night. We will have to go to the most remote places to see what our ancestors saw in the night time sky.

Link to this comment
Sevykeble
11/28/11 at 11:15 pm

This picture is amazing. Purely amazing. I feel rather small looking at that. I never knew that a picture like that could be taken from earth.

Link to this comment
cydoski
11/29/11 at 5:06 am

@ Sophie84, this is an awesome creation. may i borrow it?

Link to this comment
pheonix1012
11/29/11 at 12:31 pm

@Grunt

I think you're talking about Starbucks. They got your drink at the bottom of the Frappucino menu.

@GeeWillikers

The photo's curved. The 'milky way' image you see is the saucer shape of the galaxy you speak of. toward the left is the bulgy center. To the right is the outter bands. They just curve with the scope of the shot taken. If we could see the rest of the galaxy, the other side would equalize the image making it look more saucer-like. The dark smatterings in between is the nebulous matter filling the entire galaxy from where stars form. Always a beautiful sight to see with the naked eye.

Link to this comment
Adamantine_Cat
12/01/11 at 12:54 am

Impressive, Shame it's not a higher resolution pic, I would love to use it as my backround

Link to this comment
JediMindset
12/02/11 at 9:54 pm

@Adamantine_Cat

go to the link provided in the first sentence.

alright here
http://www.space.com/13382-milky-photo-cook-islands-night-sky.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29

they have a slightly better one.

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email

Contributing Writers:
Rebecca Boyle | Email
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email

circ-top-header.gif
circ-cover.gif
bmxmag-ps