Here's an image I captured this last week of the Orion Nebula M42. Everyone who has done any astronomy is probably quite familiar with this star-forming region that sits in the middle of Orion's sword. The colors will not be familiar to most people, since the colors are falsely introduced by using narrowband filters. Red represents Sii emission, green/orange represents H-alpha emission, and blue represents Oiii emissions. The most interesting photographic thing about the Orion nebula is the immense brightness dynamic range in the area. The inner core, the trapezium, can be seen well in just small fifteen second exposures in most amateur telescopes, but the outer wispy clouds took me over 16hrs of exposure to properly show. This also presents a problem in how one can show both the dim and faint at the same time, which is actually quite easily solved in post-processing using HDR composition and adaptive histogram transformations.
Here's an image I captured this last week of the Orion Nebula M42. Everyone who has done any astronomy is probably quite familiar with this star-forming region that sits in the middle of Orion's sword. The colors will not be familiar to most people, since the colors are falsely introduced by using narrowband filters. Red represents Sii emission, green/orange represents H-alpha emission, and blue represents Oiii emissions. The most interesting photographic thing about the Orion nebula is the immense brightness dynamic range in the area. The inner core, the trapezium, can be seen well in just small fifteen second exposures in most amateur telescopes, but the outer wispy clouds took me over 16hrs of exposure to properly show. This also presents a problem in how one can show both the dim and faint at the same time, which is actually quite easily solved in post-processing using HDR composition and adaptive histogram transformations.

Things You Thought You Knew – Zombie Apocalypse

Astrofalls, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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About This Episode

How empty is space? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice break down things you thought you knew about asteroid belts, the sun’s highest point in the sky, and what the real danger is in a zombie apocalypse.

Just how empty is space? Neil explains the vast, often-misunderstood stretches between objects in our solar system. Learn how the asteroid belt formed, why early astronomers were puzzled by the gap between Mars and Jupiter, and what makes Pluto just another icy body in the Kuiper Belt. How real are movie scenes where spaceships have to dodge rocks in a massive asteroid field?

Why doesn’t the Sun reach its highest point in the sky at the same time every day? Neil breaks down the figure-8 on your sundial that you’ve been wondering about. Discover how Earth’s elliptical orbit warps our perception of time and why solar noon can drift.

When the apocalypse comes, it’s not just the zombies you’ll need to worry about. Neil and Chuck unpack why societal collapse, whether through pandemic or undead hordes, comes down to broken supply chains. From toilet paper panics to tactical gear ads, we break down how little it takes to unravel civilization.

Thanks to our Patrons Barry Hunter, Gabriel Arias, Red Robin, Champagne, Ripal Bhatt, Larry Keyes, Jack Farrell, Alexander Harvey, joel con, Zach, Simone Garcia, Christopher Durocher, Josh Schuitema, Slade, Steve Davidson, Gerald Koch, Nelson Hellwig, shawn m bivins, Patrick Mathews, Kamal, cheryl carter, Roberta Reynolds, Tim Greathouse, Alykhan Hemraj, Patrick Barber, Mi Scott, Trey’s Blind Spot, Allen Daniels, raju kilaram, Sony, Matej Zaujec, Bob, Mike Rebeschi, Isaac Huerta, TJ Sho, Ken, Josue Cabrera Amador, Ercilio Liriano, Darwin, Doug Hill, Greg Allen, Cris, Foster, Eric Marteles Martinez, Alexander Velitsky, Kody Shaffer, Joshua Franck, Aaron Jackson, Jerome Wattson, Jane, Montavio Avery, KyleighSmiley, L Bo, Space, Bonney Ely, Brit Butler, Pete, Brad and Mindy Robinson, Within cells interlinked, Annalie, Zbyněk Veselý, Ralph Jacobson, and Rodrigo Valles for supporting us this week.

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