Explanation: Clouds are white but the sky is dark in this snapshot of Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The dramatic daytime sky is partly due to the black and white photo captured with a digital camera at near-infrared wavelengths. Taken at 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday May 30 the launch was pretty dramatic too as a Falcon 9 rocket lofted a Crew Dragon spacecraft towards low-Earth orbit. Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley were onboard, the first crew launched from a United States spaceport since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. A few minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 first stage returned to land on Of Course I Still Love You (that's an autonomous spaceport drone ship ...) patiently waiting off the Florida coast. The two astronauts guided their craft to a successful docking with the International Space Station's Harmony module at 10:16 a.m. EDT Sunday May 31.
Isn't one of the much touted features of the Crew Dragon that it can (and did) dock autonomously with the ISS.
No crew input required.
B&W photos ruled the roost for many a year, but I can't help feeling that colour adds another dimension ?
Especially for us earthlings where it doesn't have to be synthesized, and would make a good photo into a great one ...
Hope I haven't offended anyone !
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 9:58 am
by De58te
Re black and white. Astronomers don't mind black and white as it can show more detail than color. Many Voyager and New Horizon photos were transmitted in B&W because of signal strength and the color was added later. But there is something fishy about this photo. If I recall that the Falcon 9 was mostly white, yet here it is totally black. This is not true black and white. By the way, trivial point, but there is only one L in successful.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 11:38 am
by John Colling
Spelling: spacecraft, successful
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 11:57 am
by Danno
De58te wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 9:58 am
Re black and white. Astronomers don't mind black and white as it can show more detail than color. Many Voyager and New Horizon photos were transmitted in B&W because of signal strength and the color was added later. But there is something fishy about this photo. If I recall that the Falcon 9 was mostly white, yet here it is totally black. This is not true black and white. By the way, trivial point, but there is only one L in successful.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 11:57 am
by Danno
De58te wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 9:58 am
Re black and white. Astronomers don't mind black and white as it can show more detail than color. Many Voyager and New Horizon photos were transmitted in B&W because of signal strength and the color was added later. But there is something fishy about this photo. If I recall that the Falcon 9 was mostly white, yet here it is totally black. This is not true black and white. By the way, trivial point, but there is only one L in successful.
It is not a black and white image. It is a "near-infrared" image. Google that
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 12:03 pm
by orin stepanek
Awesome!
See the candle in the sky:
burning, burning up so high;
while billowing clouds are passing by!
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 1:51 pm
by Chris Peterson
RocketRon wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 9:17 am
Isn't one of the much touted features of the Crew Dragon that it can (and did) dock autonomously with the ISS.
No crew input required.
B&W photos ruled the roost for many a year, but I can't help feeling that colour adds another dimension ?
Especially for us earthlings where it doesn't have to be synthesized, and would make a good photo into a great one ...
Hope I haven't offended anyone !
Since the image captures part of the spectrum we can't see, it could never be presented in ordinary color. If it was captured in a single channel of data it could be presented using pseudocolor; if it was captured with multiple channels it could be presented using false color. But never true color.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 4:33 pm
by Sa Ji Tario
From its inception, photography was in Black and White and was controlled with high contrast and a range of grays that displayed fine details that color films cannot capture. The photographic plate was in principle a thin glass plate covered with a silver emulsion that reacted with light, in astronomy they were used until the 70 '-80' of the last century.
To those who do not know this story, I recommend that you see the techniques used by David Malin of the AAT of Australia and they will see how astronomical color images "are not" "they are made"
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 4:43 pm
by Chris Peterson
Sa Ji Tario wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 4:33 pm
From its inception, photography was in Black and White and was controlled with high contrast and a range of grays that displayed fine details that color films cannot capture. The photographic plate was in principle a thin glass plate covered with a silver emulsion that reacted with light, in astronomy they were used until the 70 '-80' of the last century.
To those who do not know this story, I recommend that you see the techniques used by David Malin of the AAT of Australia and they will see how astronomical color images "are not" "they are made"
Of course, now we have tools that can expand the amount of information we can absorb even from single-channel data. Such data (when the intent is scientific) is rarely left as a simple grayscale image, but instead has its intensity information mapped to color (i.e. pseudocolor) since we can discern more colors than we can intensities.
The situation with precise filters and electronic detectors is very different from the situation with film. We now have linear detectors that have vastly greater dynamic range than film, much higher resolution than film, and are- in every respect- superior to film for every purpose.
I most commonly create B&W astroimages. But it's an aesthetic choice, not a scientific one. If science is the goal, I collect as many different wavelength channels as possible, and process them to enhance information content, not aesthetics.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 7:54 pm
by johnnydeep
RocketRon wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 9:17 am
Isn't one of the much touted features of the Crew Dragon that it can (and did) dock autonomously with the ISS.
No crew input required.
Yes, the Crew Dragon is capable of full autonomous docking, but in this case it was apparently a joint effort. A CBS News link says this:
"Following a picture-perfect climb to space Saturday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Hurley and Behnken monitored an automated rendezvous with the station Sunday, approaching the lab complex from behind and below.
Executing a precise series of thruster firings, the Crew Dragon looped up to a point directly in front of the station and lined up on the lab's forward docking port, the same one once used by visiting space shuttles.
Hurley, a former Marine test pilot, briefly took over manual control, firing thrusters by tapping high-tech touch-screen cockpit displays to verify a crew's ability to fly the spacecraft by hand if needed.
The ship's flight computer than resumed the approach and the Crew Dragon's docking mechanism engaged its counterpart on the space station at 10:16 a.m. ET, about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. A few minutes later, the capsule was pulled in and locked in place by 12 motorized latches."
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:24 am
by Sa Ji Tario
Thanks Chris, always gentle
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:35 am
by bearvarine
I was wondering if the photo was taken as part of the mission or by an enthusiast. A near-infrared photo would be a good choice if one were wanting to enhance any hotspots that appeared on the rocket body.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2020 1:45 pm
by Chris Peterson
bearvarine wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:35 am
I was wondering if the photo was taken as part of the mission or by an enthusiast. A near-infrared photo would be a good choice if one were wanting to enhance any hotspots that appeared on the rocket body.
This looks to have been taken with an ordinary camera filtered for IR. That means very near-IR, around 1um, so pretty devoid of thermal information.
bearvarine wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:35 am
I was wondering if the photo was taken as part of the mission or by an enthusiast. A near-infrared photo would be a good choice if one were wanting to enhance any hotspots that appeared on the rocket body.
This looks to have been taken with an ordinary camera filtered for IR. That means very near-IR, around 1um, so pretty devoid of thermal information.
bearvarine wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:35 am
I was wondering if the photo was taken as part of the mission or by an enthusiast. A near-infrared photo would be a good choice if one were wanting to enhance any hotspots that appeared on the rocket body.
This looks to have been taken with an ordinary camera filtered for IR. That means very near-IR, around 1um, so pretty devoid of thermal information.
Except for the rocket exhaust.
Sure. But that also emits visible light. It's a narrow temperature range that glows in near-IR but not visible light.
Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 1:45 pm
This looks to have been taken with an ordinary camera filtered for IR. That means very near-IR, around 1um, so pretty devoid of thermal information.
Except for the rocket exhaust.
Sure. But that also emits visible light. It's a narrow temperature range that glows in near-IR but not visible light.
The rocket exhaust would have been much more impressive in the IR if it wasn't so overexposed.
Sure. But that also emits visible light. It's a narrow temperature range that glows in near-IR but not visible light.
The rocket exhaust would have been much more impressive in the IR if it wasn't so overexposed.
The peak radiance of rocket exhaust at about 850nm is only about twice that at the peak sensitivity of the human eye. Hardly noticeable visually. Rocket exhaust in the near IR doesn't look much different than in the visible (assuming it's not overexposed).
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2020 1:51 pm
by TheZuke!
What? No "color commentary" from our "Color Commentator"?
B^)
Two NASA astronauts splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday for the first time in a commercially built and operated American crew spacecraft, returning from the International Space Station to complete a test flight that marks a new era in human spaceflight.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, carrying Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, splashed down under parachutes in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida at 2:48 p.m. EDT Sunday and was successfully recovered by SpaceX. After returning to shore, the astronauts immediately will fly back to Houston. ...
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2020 1:11 pm
by Forrest White
The US keeps silent in rockets building almost for 10 years and finally, they are ready to refuse from using Soviet Soyuz ship which is not safe due to its old structure.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 12:01 pm
by Forrest White
I missed its launch in June, but I really hope to observe it in two days on November, 14.
Re: APOD: SpaceX Demo-2 Launch (2020 Jun 13)
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 11:36 am
by micasmith
I highly recommend watching the webcasts of the Cosmo-skymed and NROL launches from earlier this week. I've watched almost every webcast, and these have been easily the most cinematic annd beautiful launches so far, with exceptional views of stage separation and landings (RTLS on both of them). Found it on world news page..
SpaceX Demo-2 Launch
