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The Galaxies


Jerry Gerber

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1 hour ago, DeeringAmps said:

That was quite something Jerry. Very impressed! Would like a little more detail about the photos…

t

Thanks Tom.   I've long been interested in astronomy, got my first telescope when I was about 10 years old.  Last autumn I decided I really want to study astrophotography so I took a break from music and dived into studying how to do it.   I then decided what equipment was needed and started learning, setting up in my backyard in San Francisco. 

Each image is actually a composite of many images, sometime 20 or 30, sometimes hundreds of images, taken consecutively over 1, 2 or more nights. The camera is a dedicated astronomical camera.  Each exposure is from 3-5 minutes, guided precisely by computer as the object moves across the sky.  The telescope sits  on a mount that is controlled by a astro-dedicated computer that wirelessly communicates with an android tablet.   The images are all combined and aligned the next morning on my desktop computer and then processing and post-processing begins.  It's quite an elaborate technical process just to get one image and is very enjoyable, but some luck is involved because this pursuit is wholly dependent upon the weather cooperating.  I am hoping to do a lot more imaging and set them to music again.   But it's been raining constantly in San Francisco since December so I'll just have to wait!

Here's a photo of me in the backyard getting ready for a night of imaging.

Hope all is well with you,

Jerry

 

Jerry with Telescope, 2023.jpg

Edited by Jerry Gerber
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That was very impressive Jerry. Not sure if the main instrument is a processed human voice but it lent itself well to galaxy traveling.
I've done a few space videos but always with NASA images. Pretty cool that you're using your own images.

-Bjorn

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Nice track, has a real space theme feel as well as elements mystery, discovery, wonder, etc...     Goes very well with the pictures.   As a terrible photographer myself I can really appreciate the time and study that went into capturing these images.    Top notch production.


Regards

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Very cool. The physics behind it all is mind boggling.  The more I listen and consider the more it becomes apparent that its mostly all an illusion of sorts, or I should say its not at all what it appears to be. Beautiful and captivatingly awesome to see, but what are we really looking at?  I am puzzled by the feeling of uncertain certainty, wherein the only thing that seems absolutely certain in all this glory is the self. 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures put to music. 

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14 hours ago, bjornpdx said:

That was very impressive Jerry. Not sure if the main instrument is a processed human voice but it lent itself well to galaxy traveling.
I've done a few space videos but always with NASA images. Pretty cool that you're using your own images.

-Bjorn

Hi Bjorn,

The voices were all from various sample libraries I was using in 2011, when I produced the music.   I'm not sure which ones I was using back then...

Glad you enjoyed it!

Jerry

Edited by Jerry Gerber
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51 minutes ago, FreeEarCandy said:

Very cool. The physics behind it all is mind boggling.  The more I listen and consider the more it becomes apparent that its mostly all an illusion of sorts, or I should say its not at all what it appears to be. Beautiful and captivatingly awesome to see, but what are we really looking at?  I am puzzled by the feeling of uncertain certainty, wherein the only thing that seems absolutely certain in all this glory is the self. 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures put to music. 

Yeah, it's no doubt miraculous that we've evolved eyes, ears and mind so that we can peer into the depths of the cosmos and try to understand what it's all about.  

A galaxy is essentially a configuration of hundreds of billions, or trillions of stars (suns) with each sun most likely having one or more planets in orbit around it.  The closest galaxy to our own Milky Way is about 2.5 million light-years away, so if traveling at the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second), it would take 2.5 million years to get there.  That's far, but from a cosmic perspective it's not far at all.  How miraculous is that!

The nebula are basically star-nurseries, the hydrogen gases (emission nebula hydrogen glows red in visible light) coalesce because gravity pulls the gases together eventually getting hot enough so a nuclear fusion process begins, fusing hydrogen into helium.  When this occurs, a new sun comes into being.  Our own sun had a similar beginning some 6 billion years ago.  

Perhaps the entire reason the universe exists is for intelligent beings to evolve, learn, love and appreciate the experience.

Thanks for watching and commenting!

 

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