Photo credit: Simone Giertz
Inventor Simone Giertz is known for her wacky robotic creations, and her latest project is no exception. This selfie booth for dogs was made using a LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor Building Kit and several other parts. When a dog presses a pedal, a GoPro camera is triggered to take the selfie. Afterwards a treat is dispensed to ensure the perfect shot. This was accomplished by linking several different linked modules and works like a charm as you’re about to see. Read more for a video demonstration.
Let’s face it, carrying a DSLR with several telephoto lenses around just isn’t practical for most people, and that’s where the new Canon PowerShot ZOOM, the company’s first telephoto monocular, comes in. Featuring one-touch 100mm, 400mm and 800mm telephoto viewing capability, complete with an instant zoom function to help users view distant subjects, whether it be bird watching or a sporting event. Not just a pocket telescope, it can also capture images and videos to a microSD card. Read more for a video and additional information.
NASA’s Juno mission has captured countless images of Jupiter, and what better way to make use of them than by creating a breathtaking time-lapse video? To accomplish this, scientist Kevin M. Gill used data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam instrument as it performed its 27th close flyby of Jupiter on June 2, 2020. Juno officially entered a polar orbit of Jupiter on July 5, 2016 to begin a scientific investigation of the planet, and once complete, the spacecraft will be intentionally deorbited into the planet’s atmosphere. Read more for the video and additional information.
Let’s face it, even the best consumer drones equipped with cameras aren’t quite up to Hollywood standards. How can one improve upon this? Strap a RED cinema camera onto a 100MPH FPV (First-Person View) racing drone of course. That’s exactly what the guys over at Potato Jet did, and the results are crazy to say the least. However, these racing drones are far more difficult to master than standard ones, mainly due to their power to weight ratio. Read more to see the chaos that ensued.
Most will not get the chance to see a rocket from space in their lifetime, but thankfully, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have captured the phenomenon for all to enjoy. This amazing time-lapse video reveals the Russian Soyuz-FG rocket rising to Earth orbit, carrying a Progress MS-10 (also 71P) module to bring needed supplies to the ISS. Some highlights include city lights, clouds visible on the Earth on the lower left, blue / gold bands of atmospheric airglow running diagonally across the center, and distant stars on the upper right that set behind the Earth. Read more for the video and additional information.
Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team; acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured an incredible photo of a fading supernova, or in scientific terms, the self-detonation of a star. What you’re looking at is the spiral galaxy NGC 2525, located 70 million light-years away. The time-lapse sequence that you’re about to see spans nearly a year, and the supernova first appears as a blazing star located on the galaxy’s outer edge, outshining the brightest stars in the galaxy before fading out of sight. Read more for a video and additional information.
Several people reported seeing a meteor lighting up the morning sky Wednesday across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The American Meteor Society confirmed the sighting and reported that the bright meteor was seen in other parts of the U.S. as well and may have spanned up to Canada. The annual Taurid meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through a wide stream of debris left over from Comet Encke. This dust strikes Earth’s upper atmosphere around 65,000 mph burns up, creating faint streaks of light or meteors. Read more for dash cam footage of the meteor and additional information.
GREGOR is a solar telescope that has been equipped with a 1.5m primary mirror and is located at the Teide Observatory on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It’s currently the third-largest solar telescope in the world, after the Big Bear Observatory and the McMath-Pierce solar telescope. Its primary goal is to observe the solar photosphere and chromosphere at visible and infrared wavelengths. Read more for two videos and additional information.
Photo credit: Peta Pixel
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules may not be a cutting edge aircraft, but it’s more than sufficient for capturing stunning images of fighter jets. Why? It’s capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, while its versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship (AC-130), for airborne assault, search & rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refueling, maritime patrol, aerial firefighting, as well as photography. Read more for two videos showing why.
Photo credit: Francisco Sojuel
Photographer Francisco Sojuel just happened to be at the right place and time to capture a breathtaking photo of the moon. He was climbing volcano Acatenango in Guaemala back on December 24, 2019 when the Moon appeared to look just like Saturn due to a thin cloud passing in front of it just before sunrise. This was actually two days before a solar eclipse took place, and required a six-hour trip to get to the location. Read more for a video showing what would happen if other planets replaced the sun in our sky and additional information.