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This spectacular image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch yesterday is making the rounds; click to see the embiggened version on Gawker. It really is incredible; it was taken using an infrared-sensitive camera, so the texture is a bit different. The color is false, but does heighten the sense of unreality to it. I perused more of Eliot Schechter’s photography and his stuff is marvelous.
Sorry about the small size displayed here, but the bigger version is copyrighted and being sold by Getty Images; I don’t want to trample on anyone’s rights, but I do want people to see the big version, so I shrank the image.
I used to shoot IR film years ago, and it made everything look just a little odd; facial features were fuzzed out a bit, but veins and pupils were accentuated. Trees just looked weird; the leaves glowed. Note that this is not thermal infrared, that is, wavelengths so long that you’re seeing what you might think of as heat. In this case it’s the kind of light just outside what your eye can see. It’s amazing how different things look even when the light is changed just a little bit.
Of course, that’s why we launch observatories sensitive in the UV, IR, X-rays… things look different in different light. You can learn a lot by metaphorically widening your eyes a bit.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Hmmm, link seems to be missing for Eliot Schecter’s site. I believe this is the correct link
http://www.ejsphoto.com/
May 12th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Phil, that link to Eliot Schecter’s photography does not work.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:49 am
IR photos always strike me as otherworldly. When done well, the images are striking.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Couldn’t see the launch in Port Orange yesterday..too cloudy! Hey I do have a question for..anyone?? Last night on the Science Channel-during their 3 shows about Hubble, one of the astronomers said something to the effect of a supernova going kablooie all over our young solar system and that this the only answer they have for isotope ‘Iron-60′. Any more info on it?
May 12th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Grrr. It’s a Firefox thing. When I highlight text and make it a link, a little window pops up where I can C&P the link URL. The window sometimes is a little slow, and doesn’t accept the paste right away. I thought I had tested the link before posting, but obviously not. Sorry, and it’s fixed now.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Link still bad…
May 12th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Gorgeous image.
Reminds me of an old SF story (Asimov?) about Martians who allow a human to observe the full color spectrum the Martians do…but only for a little while. They warn him not to do it, as going back to the boring old spectrum he’s familiar with will be maddening after glimpsing all the rest. Needless to say, he ignores their advice, sees the world as they see it for a bit, then when he’s returned to normal quietly goes mad.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Yup. You have an extra http// (with no colon) in that link.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:18 am
CCDs see into the near-IR. Webcams generically contain a NIR cutoff filter. Replace the NIR filter with a visible filter and have a NIR camera. As white fabrics are primarily opaque by Raleigh light scattering, varying as the inverse fourth power of the wavelength, one must then exercise restraint or join Homeland Severity and go wild.
http://hackaday.com/2005/03/14/make-an-infrared-webcam/
May 12th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Phil, not only is that link still bad (there is a superfluous “http://”), but also you have misspelled the man’s surname, which is Schechter.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I still shoot infrared with both film & digital, I love it! I have gravitated towards only film IR since I won’t have my digital camera converted to shoot IR easily. To get the real effect, you need to place a special filter over the lens. This filter is usually visually opaque (unless you happen to have eyes sensitive to some wavelengths) so focusing through a SLR camera is almost impossible. Which is why I use a rangefinder.
This shot is awesome!
May 12th, 2009 at 10:53 am
kuhnigget:
Not half as mad as Ray Milland in X: The Man With the X-ray Eyes.
May 12th, 2009 at 11:10 am
For a few hundred bucks there is at least one place on the Internet that offers to convert digital cameras (especially Canons) to be used in the IR band or even UV. They make some fantastic pictures.
May 12th, 2009 at 11:24 am
kuhnigget: Yes, the story was Asimov’s, though I don’t recall the title. What I do remember, though, was that it wasn’t sight in the visual spectrum they bequeathed him, per se, but specifically the ability to sense magnetic fields. During his short sensitivity they played him a recording of a “musical” composition, but his magnetic sense faded before it ended.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Well, dangit. Fail.
OK, fixed again.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
WooHoo! Fixed…
May 12th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Awesome photos of the Shuttle. He must have a press pass to get some of those close in shots. He also seems to like the low shutter speed action photos of moving objects. Pretty amazing stuff.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
[...] really "cool" IR photo of the launch yesterday. I saw the mention on the BA’s blog. __________________ At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King) One Earth, One Sky [...]
May 12th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Brian wrote:
I remember that story. The title is “The Secret Sense.”
~David D.G.
May 12th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
[...] here’s a picture of the launch taken with an infra-red camera (spotted at Bad Astronomy). The picture’s copyrighted so I’ve just put a thumbnail here, but you should [...]
May 12th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
[...] IR Shuttle [...]
May 12th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Thanks, David D.G. and Brian. That was the story I was remembering.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Wow – look at that lens flare – the hot exhaust gases sure are bright.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Anyone know where to get a high-quality version?
May 13th, 2009 at 1:36 am
@Phil – check the creative commons license link (small at the bottom of the page). You may reproduce it at full res provided you attribute (tick), you are noncommercial (well you are not selling it, tick) and you reproduce the license (ooops).
You need to plainly cite the CC license.
@Uncle Al. check the exif data: it was taken with a canon EOS 20D. That’s CMOS, not CCD. filter stuff still holds, AFAIK.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:04 am
OTOH IIRC UV is supposed to make white flowers colored and distinguishable from each other, thus explaining its seeming ubiquity. Insects and perhaps birds may see a lot in them that we don’t.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Most digital cameras are sensitive to infrared light. To check, look at the live LCD display on your camera, aim an IR remote control (from your TV or whatever) at it, and press a button. You’ll see the LED light up on the camera screen, but nothing with your naked eyes. There are IR filters available for digital cameras, at least those that have some way of mounting a filter in front of the main lens. Mine looks like black plastic, and it blocks a lot of light, including infrared light. I snapped it on and put my camera on a tripod for the long exposures, and sure enough I was shooting in infrared. The pictures looked like they were black and white, but the intensities were weird, and there was a lot of interesting detail. Odds are, if you own a pro-sumer digital camera, there is an IR filter you can use.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
you always post the best pictures Phil!
May 14th, 2009 at 12:19 am
REALLY REALLY nice picture, this IR picture looks amazing. Nice pic.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:20 am
[...] read more | digg story Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Mercury Flyby #2 Imagesoooh, prettySo beautiful, so amazing [...]