https://cosmicdusk.org/gallery/https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/iss.pngISSInternational Space Station [ISS] (2018/07/19 – 10:30:00): The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable artificial satellite that is in low earth orbit. This space station is around 250 miles away from earth and cruising at speeds of about 17,200 mph! It provides the ability to conduct scientific research and experiments in space from botany, biology, weather, astronomy, human research, and more! The ISS orbits the earth about 15.5 times a day, or in other words, the ISS orbits the earth approximately every 92 minutes.https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/eclipse-panoramic-midres.pngEclipse-panoramic-midresSolar Eclipse 2017 (2017/08/21 from 13:14:52 to 16:01:53): The image is a series of photos to present a time-lapse picture of the entire solar eclipse. A huge and big thanks to Do-Si-Jo's Corn Maze at Newberry, South Caroline for providing their farm so that I could capture a shot of a life time!https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/eclipse-totality-hires.pngEclipse-totality-hiresSolar Eclipse Totality (2017/08/21 – 14:40:36): The image was taken at Newberry, South Carolina. The amount of time for totality was approximately 2 minutes and 33 seconds. The totality of a solar eclipse is when the moon fully eclipses the Sun. The flare and ring of light around the dark circle, aka the Moon, is the corona of the Sun. The corona is the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere. It is only visible during the total eclipse because the corona is too faint and is out shined by the brightness of the Sun's photosphere. https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/eclipse-partialb-hires.pngEclipse-partialB-hiresPartial Eclipse After Totality (2017/08/21 – 15:11:45): This partial eclipse of the Sun was approximately 31 minutes after totality. The part of the Sun you are seeing within the image is known as the Photosphere. The Photosphere is the visible surface of the Sun and it is not a solid surface but it is a layer of gas that is about 62 miles (100 km) thick. Can you see the Sun spots at the center? These are regions that are visible within the Photospere.https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/eclipse-partiala-hires.pngEclipse-partialA-hiresPartial Eclipse Before Totality (2017/08/21 – 14:05:42): This partial eclipse of the Sun was approximately 35 minutes before totality. The Sun, from the photo, looks like a crescent moon that is actually made out of cheese! Can you see the Sun spots to the left? These are regions that are lower in surface temperatures and they are caused by strong magnetic field lines protruding through the surface of the Sun. Even though the Sun spots have lower temperatures, these temperatures can be around 70% the temperature of the Sun's average surface temperature which is still pretty hot! On the surface of the Sun (also known as the Photosphere), the Sun is around 10000 degrees Fahrenheit (5500 Celcius).https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/jupiter.pngJupiterJupiter (2017/03/05 – 00:54:09): Known for being the fifth planet in our Solar System, Jupiter is the largest planet by far as it is more massive than all the other planets in our Solar System combined. The atmosphere of the planet is mostly hydrogen and helium with the stripe-like clouds of ammonia and water. Can you see the Great Red Spot? That spot is a giant storm as big as three Earths that has been active for hundreds of years!https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sirius.pngSiriusSirius (2017/03/04 – 21:33:38): Sirius is the brightest star within our night sky. The star is bright partly because of its proximity to Earth. Sirius is approximately 8.6 light-years away. The star itself actually is part of a binary star system that consists of two different stars. Within the Sirius System the two stars are creatively called, Sirius A and Sirius B. Sirius is also known as the "Dog Star" because Sirius is the eye of the constellation, Canis Major (Greater Dog).https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sun.pngsunSun [Main Sequence Star] (2017/01/28 – 15:21:05): Our Sun, a Yellow Dwarf star (G2V), is about 93 million miles (8.3 light-minutes) away. Even though the Sun is classfied as a Yellow Dwarf, the actual color of the Sun is white. Had the Sun actually been yellow, things that are white here on Earth would also have been yellow. The Sun appears yellow to us during sun rise and sunset due to the way light scatters in our atmosphere from the Sun. From the image, the Sun appears yellow due to the solar filter used on the telescope as much of the light coming from the sun is blocked out. The Sun is a large ball of gas composed mostly of hydrogen and some helium. The inner core of the Sun is around 27 million degrees Fahrenheit which is hot enough to fuse hydrogen into helium. As the Sun continues through this fusion process, it will get hotter, expand, and eventually become a Red Giant star. Once our Sun begins this phase of it's life, the inner core will be hot enough to fuse helium to other heavier elements. On the surface of the Sun, the temperature is only around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/seaofsenerity.pngseaofsenerityMare Serenitatis [Sea of Serenity] (2016/09/17 – 00:13:10): The Mare Serenitatis, nicknamed the Sea of Serenity, is one of many lunar maria which are large, dark, basaltic plains on the Earth's Moon. These basaltic plains were formed by ancient volcanic eruptions over 4 billion years ago. Giovanni Riccioli named this basaltic plain Mare Serenitatis in 1651. Apollo 17, one of the manned Moon missions, took place at this plain. If you see what looks like a dark-wavey pathway towards the top left of the circle-like plain, that is where the Apollo 17 astronauts landed. This location is called the Taurus-Littrow which is a lunar valley and site for the astronauts who were there on in December of 1972 (the last manned moon mission to date).https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/harvestmoon.pngharvestmoonMoon (2016/09/17 – 00:17:29): At around 240,000 miles away, there is enough space inbetween us and the Moon to fit about 30 Earth-sized objects. Though there was a time where the Moon was technically much closer in terms of how it was formed. The current leading theory behind the formation of the Moon is that the Earth was collided by a Mars-sized object around 4.5 billion years ago. The newly formed Moon remained in a molten state for another 100 million years as the magma eventually crystallized allowing lesser dense rocks to float upward forming the lunar crust.2026-03-22T04:26:58+00:00weekly0.6https://cosmicdusk.org/equipment/https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170206_203846.jpg20170206_203846https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170206_203658.jpg20170206_203658https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170202_222016.jpg20170202_222016https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170206_202915.jpg20170206_202915https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170206_202637.jpg20170206_202637https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170206_201519.jpg20170206_201519https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20170202_222213.jpg20170202_222213https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/accessorycollection1.jpgAccessoryCollectionhttps://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/xt10i-ota1.jpgXT10i-OTAhttps://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/xt10i-ota2.jpgXT10i-OTA22020-11-21T02:18:07+00:00weekly0.6https://cosmicdusk.org/instrumentationpreview/2020-11-21T01:46:47+00:00weekly0.6https://cosmicdusk.org/observatory/2020-11-21T01:36:21+00:00weekly0.6https://cosmicdusk.org/observationspreview/2020-11-20T19:58:51+00:00weekly0.6https://cosmicdusk.org/contact/https://cosmicdusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/canismajor.jpgA Grazing Encounter Between two Spiral GalaxiesIn the direction of the constellation Canis Major, two spiral galaxies pass by each other like majestic ships in the night. The near-collision has been caught in images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.2020-11-19T03:06:36+00:00weekly0.6https://cosmicdusk.orgdaily1.02026-03-22T04:26:58+00:00