Photography
sjurvetson | May 26, 2009Gene Nowaczyk is aiming for the big prize - a successful launch to 100,000 ft. After 50 hours/week over two years, he drove his custom airframe from Missouri in a huge truck.
Here is prepping the upper section, packed with electronics. He put an incredible amount of work and craftsmanship into this machined metal rocket. Video camera, x-ray measurements (for atmospheric air quality), avionics for GPS, barometric pressure, accelerometer and other sensors, telemetry...
The complexity of this 17 ft. tall rocket even captured the attention of WIRED magazine:
Gene has had his share of failure…
awild | May 26, 2009
Ectatomma brunneum, Argentina
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f13, flash diffused through tracing paper
grrlscientist | May 26, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Dahlia, Dahlia hybrid.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on West 81st street as I was walking to the post office.
Image: GrrlScientist, 26 May 2009 [larger view].
Dahlias comprise a genus with at least 36 species of bushy plants that are native to the western regions of Central and South America. There are more than 20,000 named cultivars of these plants in captivity, which are the result of both hybridization and chromosomal duplication: Dahlias are octoploid -- possessing eight copies of each homologous…
grrlscientist | May 26, 2009tags: Greylag Goose, Anser anser, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greylag Goose, Anser anser, photographed at an RSPB reserve in Strumpshaw, Norfolk, UK. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Brian McFarlane, 2009.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's a bit of a change of pace: The ID of this bird is easy, but can you tell me the proper term for what it is doing and explain why it is doing this?
This bird is whiffling; flipping upside down to dump airspeed so it can land [read more about it].
Review all mystery…
sjurvetson | May 25, 2009A pair of Army scale rockets line up in the desert...
Five sparky research motors clustered together (four M's and an O) in the Little John give quite a show:
and then a another Deep sub-woofer blastoff with a cluster of five AMW motors. Jack's Nike Smoke is 19 ft. tall, and 422 lbs.
(lots of detail in the original size; you can see the left motor was late to ignite.)
But, one of the five motors blew its forward closure, torching the flight electronics inside... and since the parachutes are deployed by computer... we get a ballistic return to the playa for this maiden flight.
In the…
grrlscientist | May 25, 2009tags: Tufted Titmouse, Parus bicolor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Tufted Titmouse, Parus bicolor, photographed in Manhattan, Kansas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 11 April 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
We find ourselves looking up at a gray bird. The tail is moderately long and somewhat disheveled; the body plumage is lax and fluffy. This one's a poser.
When we can…
laelaps | May 25, 2009
A pair of calves (Bos primigenius taurus), photographed in suburban New Jersey (close-up).
grrlscientist | May 24, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Wild rose, Rosa acicularis.
Photographed while walking to the library along Amsterdam Avenue
on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 May 2009 [larger view].
After I snapped this picture, an unnamed person approached me and yelled at me for photographing -- flowers! I know this sounds shocking, and I was certainly confused, but apparently no one -- NO ONE -- is allowed any joy, not even one second of joy, not one second, if they haven't paid for it. Not in NYC, anyway.
As one of tens of…
laelaps | May 24, 2009
A white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), photographed in suburban New Jersey (close-up).
(original)
grrlscientist | May 24, 2009tags: Inca Dove, Columbina inca, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Inca Dove, Columbina inca, photographed in Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The gentle, big-eyed, small-headed look of this bird should send us in…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2009tags: NYC, Upper East Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Pansy, Viola hybrid, purple and yellow cultivar.
Photographed while waiting for the bus on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, NYC.
Image: GrrlScientist, 18 May 2009 [larger view].
I really like the coloring of this particular cultivar, possibly because it closely resembles its wild ancestors (although its giant size dwarfs its wild ancestors). I also think the blue/purple veins on the middle petals (upper yellow colored petals) make an interesting contrast to the reddish-brown veins on the bottom petals (lower yellow…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, A train, cities, NYCLife
Broken A Train.
Photographed while standing around, waiting for the engineers (and everyone else) to figure out if they can fix the downtown-bound A train that broke down at 168th street and Broadway this morning (Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC).
Image: GrrlScientist, 23 May 2009 [larger view].
So, how did you spend the first morning of your three-day holiday weekend? I spent my first morning standing around, watching the conductors, engineers, and roughly six thousand passengers trying to fix the downtown-bound A Train,…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2009tags: Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 13 October 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:10:13 08:34:51
Exposure Time: 1/639
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a tiny, acrobatic bird with a short, deeply notched tail. Even…
laelaps | May 23, 2009
The skeleton of an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), photographed at the National Museum of Natural History.
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sjurvetson | May 22, 2009
Richard Hagen's rocket, flying on a Aerotech J500G motor, created a wonderful night light over the Black Rock Desert playa.
With some of the night photos, there are random RGB pixels; digital astronomy photography becomes an exercise in the statistics of noise. The high-end photographers liquid cool their sensors and build images from a large number of relatively short exposure shots. For bright objects, like the local planets, they integrate an image from video. It's fascinating, and totally out of my league. This is just a single digital exposure without Photoshop.
It also helps to be…
grrlscientist | May 22, 2009tags: Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, photographed at Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 8 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
awild | May 22, 2009
Astylus atromaculatus (Melyridae), Argentina
The spotted maize beetle Astylus atromaculatus is native to subtropical South America but has spread to warm regions in other parts of the world. In late summer, adults congregate on flowers to mate and feed on pollen.
photo details (all photos): Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/11-f13, flash diffused through tracing paper
laelaps | May 22, 2009
The skull of Smilodon, photographed at the AMNH's "Extreme Mammals" exhibit.
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sjurvetson | May 21, 2009Beyond the thrust curve, there is an art to the color of the propellant (achieved through special metal salt additives).
My 9 ft tall Sledgehammer, lifting off on a M1550 Redline motor from Aerotech, one of my favorite photos:
The shadow of dusk in the foreground really lets the color pop. The smoke and dust is not red, but looks like cotton candy illuminated by the intensely bright red flame.
Here is a picture perfect launch of my V2.0 with an L730 motor imported from Cesaroni, a Canadian aerospace & defense company. Their unique thermoplastic propellant burns cleanly (few additives),…