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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

2020-06-13

Night Sky, Our Connection to the Universe

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← Night Sky, Our Connection to the Universe

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It was about midnight on the bottom of Zion Canyon in Utah, Jan 2021. The setting moon was still shining on the passing clouds. My camera was looking directly up for a long-exposure image of about 45 minutes. The rotating sky, by the Earth rotation, made these startrails. The colors represent the stars surface temperature with blue the hottest (young massive stars) and the orange-red the coolest (old red giants). See this scene in video in my earlier post (March 21). For print inquiries please message and for more images of the site at night tap the link my bio to the fine art catalog and search Zion. #zion #nationalparks #longexposure @twanight

Most of the vast cosmic clouds of hydrogen in our galaxy are invisible to naked eyes, but a sensitive camera reveals them, and their surprising true colors. In the center-left of this image in North America Nebula in constellation Cygnus, the swan. With apparent size of 2 degrees it is 4x wider than the full moon. Considering its immense distance of 2500 light years away, it is 100 billion times wider than our planet!

Two nights ago at 2000 meters altitude on La Palma, Canary Islands. A single exposure of 20 seconds with the galaxy rising in the bokeh backdrop. Known as Tajinaste in Spanish, it is Echium wildpretii, also called the tower of jewels. This otherworldly plant, up to 3 meters tall, is a wonderful example of how nature can recover if we act as gardeners of Earth, and not her enemy. In early 2000s the plant was nearly extinct on this island, from intrusions by both rabbits and humans. Less than a dozen individual plant was left when major conservation started by the locals. Now hundreds of them are found on the mountain, blooming in May. The neighboring island of Tenerife is also home to the red flowering version of them.

About 30,000 ft above New England, on a window seat from the US to Europe, an extraordinary sunset appeared when the telephoto lens was ready in my hand. The sun’s shape changes on the horizon due to atmospheric refraction. The light passing through a thick layer of air becomes reddened, dimmer, and distorted. The same happens to the moon, bright planets and stars when they rise or set.

For night sky photographers interested in online guides and how-to lessons, I have started subscription service, an Instagram option provided to selected creators. Tap on my name to open the profile page and find the subscribe button under my bio.

I’m on my way to La Palma, Canary Islands, for the annual Astromaster workshop where I hold a masterclass on night sky photography for a group of 15 international participants. Learn about the next programs on babaktafreshi.com/workshop (or tap the link in bio).

About tonight lunar eclipse, a part of my 2022 Night Sky Photography webinar (babaktafreshi.com/webinar).

Learn about dark sky places, light pollution, and astrophotography, on this one-hour live with @idadarksky, the leading organization that acts in this field of conservation.

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