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Babak Tafreshi | Photographer | Explorer | Speaker

National Geographic photojournalist, founder of The World at Night (TWAN), preserving natural night skies, bridging art & science

Author: Babak Tafreshi

National Geographic photographer, science journalist, founder of The World at Night (TWAN) program, preserving natural night skies, bridging art & science

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What a night! On Sep 7 in northern Iceland I was with my aurora workshop group when an unexpected geomagnetic storm caused strong northern lights and a couple of strikingly fast moving crowns overhead; the most majestic form of aurora. This real-time video, recorded in high quality raw format, is made with SIGMA fpL camera at ISO 51200 and 20mm 1.4 lens by @sigmaphoto. You hear my voice at the beginning, followed by composer @barbadbayat music, a part of our new soundtrack project “Enlighten”.

A few nights ago in northern Iceland. In the past two decades I have photographed northern and southern lights from Arctic to Antarctic many times but a powerful aurora display is still superbly mesmerizing to me.

After a two-year pause on my Aurora PhotoTours, today I restarted the program in Iceland. Enjoyed a beautiful display of the northern lights on the @icelandair flight from Boston, captured hand-held with @canonusa 50mm 1.2 lens at high ISO. The 2nd image by participant @alexiszbechtel shows a part of our group today at @perlanmuseumiceland in Reykjavik. Learn more about these programs on babaktafreshi.com/workshop

It was about 4 am. An astronomer was driving down the mountain after a night of observation at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory at 2400 meters high on top of the La Palma, Canary Islands. A telescope is emitting a laser to the upper atmosphere for the adaptive optics system that removes blurring effect caused by the air turbulence. For these large telescopes this technology is crucial to reveal details of the universe.

The moonrise of last night near Boston, just before the tropical storm Henri reaches here. Celestial scenes purify my mind and bring me an eternal peace. It’s a pity this view doesn’t heal the brainwashed young fighters of Taliban, neither helped those who served for Nazis. For 10 days I did not post on Instagram. It didn’t feel right to post anything, considering what happens in Afghanistan. Meanwhile the Delta variant outbreak in my birth country Iran is taking a thousand lives per day, following the deadly decision of the religious leaders who banned importing American and British vaccines months ago, claiming that microchips are hidden inside. They lifted the ban last week when the nation was exploding from suffer. People of Iran are still desperately looking for vaccines. Only 5% of the population is fully vaccinated. A few afforded to travel to nearby countries to get vaccinated or pay the untrustworthy black market for almost $500 per dose. A petition is started by @vaccineforiran and your signature may help to inquire international support from @who @gavialliance.

Last night in Sierra Nevada, on a photo workshop in California, while watching bright and long meteor streaks across the sky, this one was very surprisngly captured through a 200mm telephoto lens, aimed to the rugged Sierra peaks and the brightest part of the Milky Way, the galactic core. The single exposure photograph of 8 seconds at f2 and high ISO, was made using a star tracking mount to avoid statrtrails due to the Earth rotation. Therefore the mountains are slightly blurred (if you zoom in) due to the tracker motion. This surreal view shows far beyond our naked eyes limit, with fine details of dark dust clouds in the galaxy and the M6 star cluster in constellation Scorpius, also known as the Butterfly cluster (to the right of meteor’s head).

The Perseid meteor shower is about to reach the peak, on August 12. The moon is absent and away from light pollution you may see up to 100 meteors per hour at the peak hours. The peak is around 20:30 UT which means in the Americas the early morning of the 12th is slightly preferred (specially in Western Americas) while in the rest of the world the peaks is from midnight to morning of the 13th. This meteor shower is slightly favored for northern hemisphere. Meteor rate increases after midnight when the shower’s radiant in constellation Perseus rises. Meteors don’t necessarily appear near the radiant. They can be anywhere in the sky. In the cities you will see far less meteors due to light pollution and skyglow but still the brighter ones will be strikingly beautiful.

A starry midnight of Sierra Nevada. In this single-exposure photograph of 10 seconds the moon was rising behind me, shining on the mountains while the Milky Way was still visible in the transparent sky of this high altitude lake. See a closer crop of the reflections in the second slide. Scattered light in the reflections show the star colors better. I look forward to return to here next week under dark skies for the Perseid Meteor Shower (Aug 12) and our annual California Nightscape workshop with @mikeshawphotography. Learn more on babaktafreshi.com/ca21 or tap the link my bio

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