"Best" astro photo in your opinion?

[Major]

Evening folks

Just got my hands on "Pale Blue Dot" and thought that famous photo of Earth from behind the Saturn could be one of the best ever taken (another being Hubble's empty space). Not quality wise, but somehow it has high impact on the viewer. I have seen this pic few years ago and it still can get me thinking about various things



What in your opinion could be "the best" astro photo ever taken?

Edited October 27, 2016 by Major

[ollypenrice]

The original Hubble Deep Field has to be in there. But some of E.E Barnard's pioneering Milky Way images showing the striking dusty dark patches make your spine tingle. Edwin Hubble's 'VAR' annotated M31 is another.

Olly

[Roy Challen]

+1 for HDF, 'Olly and Toms' 400 hr Orion widefield- if you haven't seen this, you really should take a look!

[RobertI]

The close up images of Jupiter's cloud belts from Voyager 1 are still wonderful to look at and were very exciting at the time as it was our first really close up view (I think) of the planet's 'surface'.

 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Plenty of good candidates mentioned above. I enjoy images I can place or relate to in some way, such as Tom & Olly's Orion mosaic or Rogelio Bernal Andreo's wider but far less detailed Orion from Head to Toe.

Which reveal what's really hiding in a familiar patch of sky.

Perspective-altering images such as The Pale Blue Dot, Earthrise, The Blue Marble and the HDF would make also make my list.

I have a particular liking for this (mostly) Hubble image of the Seyfert galaxy m106:

As it has a real sense of depth that is so often missing from astrophotography due to the lack of visual cues that we're used to. It's also a very dramatic image, this is object is not passively sitting there in space, you get a real sense of its activity and evolution.

The image above is actually a mix of Hubble and amateur data taken by Robert Gendler and Jay GaBayny.

Edited October 29, 2016 by Knight of Clear Skies

[symesie04]

Funny enough i was just thinking about this question the other day however i decided against asking it because in my mind its almost impossible to answer. Yes Hubble and others have taken such incredible shots and how could any resist the beauty of these images. The delicate Sombrero or the clash of colossal galaxies in the midst of a god like gravitational clash but then the beauty of gazing upon Jupiter's clouds or Saturn's rings or even gazing for the first time on Pluto plains and thats without mentioning the moons that tempts the imagination as to what secrets they may hold. And i guess for many their favourite astro image will be the first one they take, that sense of excitement and achievement as you see a object unseen by the eye appear in your image. For me its probably an old image of dear old Horsey that was on the cover of a book endorsed by Patrick Moore back in the late 70's. By modern standards its not a amazing image probably not as good as many currently in the imaging forum but for a 10 year old boy it was a glossy introduction into the wonders of the universe that has transfixed me ever since. Sadly i no longer have the book or would even know where to start to find the image if it even exists online but it still holds a soft spot with me. 

[bejay1957]

Obviously a very subjective discussion, but for me its a reminder of our position in space/the cosmos - the Earthrise photo from the Apollo 8 mission in 1968

[Major]

Of course it's very subjective discussion, hence the "in your opinion" part of the question .  I was hoping that some users would mention other photos and also that some of these will be linked here. So far it looks fantastic, thank you all for either pointers or pictures, keep them coming, eyes are feasting now!

[Alien 13]

This one does it for me...

Alan

 

[RobertI]

21 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Perspective-altering images such as The Pale Blue Dot, Earthrise, The Blue Marble and the HDF would make also make my lis

The Blue Marble picture must have caused a real wow when it was released. Presumably there had been plenty of imges of the earth's prior to that from orbiting satellites but none showing the entire earth prior to that? 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

10 minutes ago, RobertI said:

The Blue Marble picture must have caused a real wow when it was released. Presumably there had been plenty of imges of the earth's prior to that from orbiting satellites but none showing the entire earth prior to that? 

I was curious so did a quick search. The first full-disk image of the Earth was taken by the ATS-3 satellite in 1967, five years before The Blue Marble:

[John]

The whole point of the "pale blue dot" image, for me, is to illustrate where our home planet sits in the scale of the solar system, space, and the Universe IMHO. For me it's a combination of that image and Carl Sagan's words that create the impact.

The Apollo 8 "Earthrise" image creates a similar effect I feel - the Earth looks distant, fragile and beautiful.

So the above 2 images are certaily right "up there" with my favourites. Another that has inspired and been with me for my 30+ years in the hobby is the black and white image of the Horsehead Nebula which appears in my 1965 edition of "The Observers Book of Astronomy". I don't know who took the image I'm afraid but I know that it made a big impression on the young me !

Still to see the darn thing with my own eyes though ......

 

Edited October 29, 2016 by John

[oobydooby]

Thinking objectively, great and incredible as those photographs are shown here, I feel that the best I have seen and that which gives me greatest pleasure is my first successful picture taken with a DSLR on a tripod.  Having suffered several years ago a stroke which left my sight badly impaired I have never had much success with photography, much less at night but with perseverance and a great deal of encouragement, I finally took my camera out recently in the hope of capturing the Aurora. No aurora, but these captures from a very heavy light polluted site of some objects I managed to get- one is very obvious, the other not so obvious.  Not great pictures, but to me a great achievement.

[RichLD]

Tom and Olly's epic Orion for me 

[Macavity]

As sheer beauty: Current faves probably ORION widefields by whoever! 
(I hate to cite a favourite in case I leave someone's "masterpiece" out)
Of late, I have become something of a (H-Alpha) Solar groupie too...

As personal incentive to try to emulate... Some SGL *Video Astro* shots
of Hickson & Arp galaxies etc. Just to contemplate the distance involved.
That such might be within range of Amateur equipment... and from UK! 

I like to imagine that the above (slightly off-beat) choice may deliver a
hitherto unknown SCIENTIFIC discovery as well as giving pleasure!  

[tomato]

+1 for Apollo 8 Earthrise, it had a profound effect on me aged 11, and later when I heard Jim Lovell talking about covering all of Human Existence with his thumb...

At the risk of getting political the world could do with a dose of that sense of perspective right now.

[barkis]

Dr. David Malin had a few goodies too.

http://www.davidmalin.com/

[Stub Mandrel]

The Hubble empty space image.

If anything, anywhere comes close to the idea of the 'Total Perspective Vortex' by showing just how insignificant our world is, it's aht shot of a tiny, empty piece of sky that is actually cram packed with galaxies, each as diverse as our own. Uncountable billlions, trillions of stars.

[RobertI]

14 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

I was curious so did a quick search. The first full-disk image of the Earth was taken by the ATS-3 satellite in 1967, five years before The Blue Marble:

Nicely found, very interesting! 

[Hadron]

For me it's got to be the Hubble ultra deep field every time with the classic pillars of creation shot a close second, they both really put things in to perspective for me. If I'm honest though I'm practically bursting with excitement at the prospect of what the James Webb telescope will show us, with that and the advances in technology in respect of earth based observations I can't help but think we're on the brink of a new dawn of discovery 

[johnfosteruk]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

anywhere comes close to the idea of the 'Total Perspective Vortex'

Any astro image offers the 'Frogstar experience' for me, simply because it reminds me that 400 years ago we had such a totally, completely, different, smaller, even wackier perspective of the universe and that change in viewpoint is as mind boggling for me as the discoveries we've made.

But a few that come to mind are the pillars of creation as mentioned already, the hubble Crab http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2005/37/ because they both have been on my study wall for a long time, having reignited my interest in astronomy as an adult. 

Galileo's sunspot drawings (not photos but I'm certain they count) because of the absolute shift in understanding that they represent.

The Chandra X-Ray/Sloan DSS composite of Abel 85 http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/darkenergy/ for the same reasons as above really, they represent what surely will be another great watershed if we ever get a handle on it - dark energy.

The list could go on for pages but I won't be greedy. 

Great idea for a thread btw Major, thanks for posting.

Clear skies

 

Edited October 29, 2016 by johnfosteruk

[impactcrater]

Horse

head nebula taken by my wife in Twilight.....believe it or Not !!!!

[laser_jock99]

On 29/10/2016 at 19:41, barkis said:

Dr. David Malin had a few goodies too.

http://www.davidmalin.com/

Beat me to it - some great 'early days' colour images, a real pioneer.

 

I love David Malin's/AAT Vela Supernova Remenant image......taken in 1978.

 

Edited October 30, 2016 by laser_jock99

[Pluto the Snowman]

On 27/10/2016 at 22:53, Major said:

Evening folks

Just got my hands on "Pale Blue Dot" and thought that famous photo of Earth from behind the Saturn could be one of the best ever taken (another being Hubble's empty space). Not quality wise, but somehow it has high impact on the viewer. I have seen this pic few years ago and it still can get me thinking about various things



What in your opinion could be "the best" astro photo ever taken?

 

The word you're looking for is significant. In this case its the significance of our insignificance. That dot, that blue little pixel. Everything you have ever done. Everything you know about (well not about Pluto, Orion nebula etc, but Earth stuff), Tyrannosaurus rex, Bugatti Veyron race against a Eurofighter, the Tsar Bomb plus you, me and all our family. All of that stuff is, or has happened on that little blue dot. This is my fav image too.

 

Some other contenders are the iconic Pluto image, the deep field images, Neptune and Uranus Voyager 2 images plus ones of battered Miranda and the surface of venus. Generally I find the harder it is to get hardware there, the more interesting I find the images. The surface of Venus is ridiculously hard to get to. Very few photos have ever been taken directly of the surface of Venus and that makes it mysterious, which makes it interesting. Volcanic activity on Mars or Venus would definitely make my day too.

 

Pluto is high on my list because for most of my life, and all of my childhood it was the last planet in the solar system. Indeed it was also the last object in the solar system from the sun. So when NH past it, I got to see what it truly looked like at last. Up until then all I had was a fuzzy blob. There is no other object out there that holds the same appeal and that I would like to see up close but havent yet. Sedna or KBO-2014 MU69 are not quite in the same league, altho I do look forward to the KBO thing in a couple of years.

[Major]

That is exactly the word I was looking for. Totally agree.

Thanks for amazing pic of Pluto!