photography life

AuroraMAX camera launches for dramatic season of northern lights | News

19/09/2024kivalina

A still from the AuroraMAX camera last season

AuroraMAX

Have you always wanted to see the northern lights, but from the comfort of your own living room?

You’re in luck. This Monday, Jan. 8, the University of Calgary’s AuroraMAX observatory will launch for the season. The ground camera in Yellowknife, NWT offers people from around the world a live view of the northern sky.

The camera turns on automatically as soon as the sun sets in Yellowknife. If the sky is clear, the northern lights can be seen every night through the camera’s live feeds. That’s because Yellowknife is within the auroral oval — a belt around the magnetic North Pole.

AuroraMAX is led by the University of Calgary and supported by the Canadian Space Agency, Astronomy North and the City of Yellowknife. The program started in 2009 and was originally planned to extend for five years. Due to its popularity, it’s still growing. AuroraMAX has over 38,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter)where active aurora alerts are shared as well as stunning video replays from the camera in Yellowknife.

An exciting time for the aurora

Space physicists are particularly excited about the upcoming aurora season. The solar maximum occurs

A face only a mother could love: Terrifying photo shows what an ant looks like close up

03/09/2024kivalina

CNN
—

No, this photo doesn’t depict one of the new creatures on HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” or an outtake from a horror movie. It’s an award-winning close-up photo of … an ant.

The eye-popping photo is one of 57 Images of Distinction in Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition. The terrifying portrait was captured by Eugenijus Kavaliauskas, a Lithuanian photographer.

This is the 48th year of the competition, which seeks to “recognize excellence in photography through the microscope,” according to a news release shared with CNN.

The 2022 contest received almost 1,300 entries from 72 countries, according to Nikon.

Kavaliauskas previously worked as a bird photographer before pivoting to insects, according to his website. He used reflected light to capture the shocking ant close-up, complete with what seems to be an angry expression.

Although the image received a viral welcome on the internet, Kavaliauskas didn’t receive the top prize in the competition. That honor went to Swedish photographers Grigorii Timin and Michel Milinkovitch, who produced a beautiful fluorescent image of the front paw of a Madagascar giant day gecko’s embryo. They used 63x magnification to document the hand’s tiny veins and bones.

Correction: A previous version of this story

Researchers Have Finally Identified the Mystery Man on a Led Zeppelin Album Cover | SmartNews

23/02/202425/03/2024kivalina

An original Victorian-era photograph of the “stick man” featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV
Wiltshire Museum, Devizes

A researcher in England has uncovered a copy of the original photograph featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV —and revealed the identity of its subject.

Released in 1971, the iconic album featured mega-hits like “Stairway to Heaven.” But it’s also famous for its curious cover, which doesn’t include text identifying the band name or the album title.

Instead, it shows a framed photograph of a man hanging against a backdrop of peeling floral wallpaper. The man uses a stick for a cane and carries a bundle of long twigs strapped to his back. Led Zeppelin fans have come to know him as the “stick man.” Some have even argued it was a painting rather than a photograph.

The album cover of Led Zeppelin IV

Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

The photo’s origin and the man’s identity have long been a mystery. As the story goes, Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin’s lead singer, was rummaging through an antique shop near guitarist Jimmy Page’s house in Berkshire, England, when he came across the photograph, per BBC News’ Sophie Parker.

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