Latest news with #MiguelClaro
National Geographic
11-07-2025
- Science
- National Geographic
What does a solar tornado look like? One photographer got these incredible shots
From a dark sky site in Portugal's Alqueva Dark Sky Reserve, Portuguese astrophotographer Miguel Claro captured stellar views of the sun's chromosphere—the orange-red layer of the sun's atmosphere—over the last few years. The sun produces energy in its core through a process called nuclear fusion. That energy travels outward to the sun's atmosphere, producing an extremely complex and dynamic environment with a variety of special phenomena, including solar tornadoes and solar prominences. 'Photographing the sun is as demanding as it is incredible,' Claro says. When he looks at the sun through his equipment, he sees 'that the sun is always featuring something new—something that wasn't there the day before.' Below is a slew of fascinating features captured from our host star. A time-lapse of this solar prominence reveals a tornado of plasmic activity. This time-lapse, taken April 24, 2025, showcases a twister on the sun. A solar tornado is created when magnetic fields swirl a tornado-like filament of boiling plasma in the sun's atmosphere. According to NASA's space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory, they can rotate at speeds up to 186,000 miles per hour. (For comparison, tornadoes on Earth only reach speeds of 300 miles per hour.) Scientists estimate there are as many as 11,000 solar tornadoes above the sun's surface at any given moment. A solar flare is documented on April 30, 2022, from the Dark Sky Alqueva region in Portugal. According to Spaceweather, 'the explosion still produced enough radiation for a strong shortwave radio blackout over the mid-Atlantic Ocean and Europe.' The solar chromosphere is seen on May 10, 2024, showing the most severe geomagnetic storm of the past 20 years, which created aurora borealis phenomena across the Northern hemisphere. A large solar prominence captured on April 24, 2025. A plasma eruption, caused by the sun's churning plasma tangling its magnetic field, is captured on June 15, 2025. Claro notes the phenomenon "resembles braids of hair." The activity from this solar storm created aurora borealis across the Northern Hemisphere, seen as far south as Texas and Arizona. On May 10, 2024, one of the most severe solar storms in over two decades hit Earth. Solar storms happen when sudden, strong bursts of charged particles from the sun hit Earth's atmosphere. They can trigger a beautiful light show in the form of auroras and can also wreak havoc on earthly technologies like power grids and our fleet of space-based satellites.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Orion constellation glows red in gorgeous deep space photo
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical "Skyscapes" that connect both Earth and the night sky. This deep view of the Orion Constellation glows in reddish hues thanks to a filtered view of hydrogen alpha emission, a type of light emitted by hydrogen atoms. The large, intricate semi-circle around the three stars that make up Orion's belt is known as Barnard's Loop (Sh2-276), a nebula about 1,600 light-years away that itself spans some 300 light-years across. Barnard's Loop is part of the even bigger Orion molecular cloud complex, made up of dust, hydrogen and helium, and is the birthplace of stars. I always wanted to make an image like this one that shows all the beautiful reddish hydrogen that surrounds one of the most spectacular and colorful regions of the entire night sky as seen from Earth. This cloud contains known wonders like M42, Horse Head, LDN 1622, the large Lambda Orionis Ring and the bluish (OIII) Witch Head Nebula, close to Rigel star. I had my set up for this shot (Samyang 35mm f1.8 with Poseidon C Pro) available and prepared for two months before Orion cooperated. This image was a bit challenging to capture, due to uncooperative weather and the fact that the Orion constellation was beginning to set early along the western horizon. I only had 40 minutes available for each clear night between February and March 2025 as seen from the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve in Portugal, so collecting the seven hours of data in total for this image took many nights. Had I taken it in the beginning of winter, I could have taken it in one night. I hope you enjoy the result. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and if you want to support my work as an independent artist, you can buy one of my images as a print and a piece of art or a wall decor for your sweet home! Explore the size options and different types available on my Print gallery. Meanwhile, you can sign-up my newsletter to get early access of future releases.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Stunning space photograph captures the majestic Andromeda Galaxy floating in a sea of faint, glowing nebulae
On a quiet hilltop in Portugal, beneath one of Europe's darkest skies, a photographer has captured more than just a galaxy. He's captured a dream, five years in the making. Miguel Claro , a renowned astrophotographer and science communicator based in Lisbon, has unveiled his latest cosmic masterpiece: a breathtaking deep-space portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), surrounded by wisps of glowing red gas and a sea of stars. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Taken from the Dark Sky Alqueva Observatory in Cumeada, this image isn't just a scientific feat, it's a deeply personal journey through time, space, and passion. Started in 2020, achieved in 2025 — A dream that took five years Claro first attempted to photograph Andromeda enveloped in faint hydrogen clouds back in 2020, using a DSLR camera. "That image stayed with me," he reflects. "It whispered that there was more to be seen, more to be told." Inspired by recent scientific discoveries, including a newly identified oxygen-III (OIII) emission arc near Andromeda, Claro returned to the galaxy. This time, he came with new equipment, refined skills, and a vision shaped by years of experience. How do he photograph light invisible to the naked eye He spent 80 hours collecting light from the heavens, using a special dual-band filter to detect Ha and OIII emissions, ionised gases invisible to the naked eye. His goal was ambitious: to reveal not only Andromeda's famous spiral structure but also the delicate veil of glowing hydrogen gas surrounding it, and perhaps even the elusive OIII arc. Though the arc proved too faint for his current setup, the image still offers a profound glimpse into the galaxy's environment. OIII signals reveal potential planetary nebulae hidden within its arms. The result is a hauntingly beautiful celestial scene, a swirling galactic city glowing softly amidst clouds of cosmic mist, framed by stars of every colour. Image credits: Miguel Claro What makes this image more than just a scientific achievement What makes this project resonate isn't just the astronomical achievement, but the emotional undertone. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'This image is my way of connecting Earth and sky,' Claro says. 'Of showing that beauty exists far beyond our planet, and yet, it's deeply human to want to reach for it.' Claro's photograph, now available as fine art prints, is more than wall decor. It's a conversation starter, a reminder of the mysteries above, and a tribute to perseverance. Through trials, technical challenges, and long nights under cold skies, he has managed to turn scientific data into something poetic. His work not only bridges the gap between art and science, but also brings the cosmos a little closer to those of us who spend our nights looking up in wonder. 'I hope when people look at this image, they feel part of something vast and beautiful,' he says. 'Because we are.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Gorgeous deep space photo captures the Andromeda Galaxy surrounded by glowing gas
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical "Skyscapes" that connect both Earth and the night sky. Five years after my first attempt to capture the Andromeda Galaxy surrounded by faint hydrogen alpha (Ha) clouds taken with a DSLR camera back in 2020, and inspired by the recent discovery by Strottner-Drechsler-Sainty of the oxygen-III (OIII) emission arc, I decided to get back to M31 and try my luck. Spanning approximately 220,000 light-years across, the Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which also contains the Milky Way, the Triangulum galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. I decided to present my final view of M31 in a little different way, framing with a rotation that could help direct our attention to the most interesting parts of the immersive scene, keeping in mind to preserve the natural level of brightness of the core. The image features a long integration of around 80 hours in HaOIII emission using a dual band filter, to show the colorful field of faint glowing ionized hydrogen gas where the galaxy seems to be immersed in. Despite these faint clouds, all the galaxy shape has a strong emission visible with Ha 3nm filter. The large-scale cloud formations visible in the foreground belong to our own Milky Way galaxy, as do the several distinct colorful stars which surround the diffuse spiral shape of M31. While its spiral arms stand out in visible light, the arms look like rings when viewed in ultraviolet light. Being sites of intense star formation, the rings have been interpreted as evidence that Andromeda collided with its smaller neighboring elliptical galaxy M32 more than 200 million years ago. RELATED STORIES: — Geminid meteor shower fills the sky with 'shooting stars' in spectacular time-lapse photos — Astrophotographer captures a 'Great Dragon' in the Pelican Nebula (photo) — Stunning space photo captures bright blue shock wave around double star system Even with all my efforts and challenges along the way, 80 hours where not enough to achieve the demanding level of good data needed for revealing the faint OIII arc, specially difficult in One Shot Color (OSC) cameras, so after analyzing the data with the help of my experienced friend Yann Saint, I took the decision of not include the OIII data on the arc for being insufficient to reveal the proper expected shape and detail. Still, the OIII signal included and visible in the arms of M31 could reveal dozens of planetary nebulas. I hope you enjoy my result. The image was captured from Dark Sky Alqueva Observatory, in Cumeada, Portugal. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and if you want to support my work as an independent artist, you can buy one of my images as a print and a piece of art or a wall decor for your sweet home! Explore the size options and different types available on my Print gallery. Meanwhile, you can sign-up my newsletter to get early access of future releases.
