Mahdi Zamani

Masal mountains

2011-01-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

I took it on trip to Masal, here is the sunset color effect on clouds & mountains.

Ashoura from Masouleh village

2011-01-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Partial Solar Eclipse of January 4th

2011-01-05T01:47:00.000-08:00

Location: Zafaranieh observatory, Tehran, Iran

The Prayer

2010-11-23T05:24:00.000-08:00

Praying in the 4th oldest mosque in Iran (Jame mosque of Nain, Esfahan, Iran)

I took it on a trip to Kharanaq village.

Night Sky scenes

2010-10-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Comet Hartley 2

2010-10-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

Cemel Riding

2010-09-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Camel Riding in Mesr desert, Esfahan, Iran. Here is some of Swedish friends. It's too hard to having a seat on back of a camel but it's full of fun, & cool.

Gole-Zard cave

2010-09-13T02:03:00.000-07:00

Groves @ Night

2010-09-07T03:16:00.000-07:00

The Night Sky as seen as villagers can see.

The planet Jupiter (Brightest point in top of right) over a palm & a 1500 years old castle (in background). The palm lighted by flash & backlighted by moon light.

Stars & wavy clouds over the garden door.

Groves, road & clouds lighted by full moon shine.

Last weekend I spent my time in a village that named Garmeh. One night I went to country gardens near our rented place for photography at night. Here is some results of that night.

Water & Desert

2010-09-07T01:44:00.000-07:00

Sunrise over Salt Desert (in border of great Loot desert).

The water wasn't natural.

Perseid Meteor Shower of 2010

2010-08-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

On August 12th, The sky watchers could watch the finest meteor shower of this year. This picture captured by modified Canon 30D that mounted on an HEQ5 pro with a tripod Ballhead. Landscape lighted by photographer. You can also find the Milky way center in the middle of this picture's sky. About 10 meteors appears in this photo & just 7 meteors can find in web size of the picture. Perseid meteor shower means the radiant of the meteor shower is located in borders of Perseus constellation.

Location: Abianeh village, Kashan, Esfahan, Iran

Links out of here: 1, 2, 3

In da name of GOD

2010-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

Location: Tehran, Iran

Into the Darkness

2010-07-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

A ground light (kinds of lamp that use in the gardens for illuminate the ways)

Location: 2000&3000 villages, Iran

Death of the Tree

2010-06-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

A tree near the Dead Village

Location: Ahanak, Tehran, Iran

Khafr valley

2010-06-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

An HDR picture of Zagros mountain, Adventure travel to Khafr, Semirom

Camping under starry sky

2010-06-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

A part of Milkyway arm over our camp. The yellow color in the middle of this image created by light pollution of a country house.

Location: Semirom, Isfahan, Iran

a Drop & a Life

2010-06-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Water is most important thing for Human life and animal life & plant life.
water isn't just ours

Dirty flower

2010-06-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

First one of Photo painting series

Beauties won't exist for ever

Walking into the wild

2010-06-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

Location: Khafr, Semirom, Isfahan, Iran

Jungle view

2010-06-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

Fog & Jungle of 3000 village

Earth rotation effect

2010-06-10T03:57:00.000-07:00

Star traces over trees under moonlight.
Location: Khafr, Semirom, Zagros mountains, Iran

Chahkouh valley 2

2010-06-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

The dream view of Chahkouh entry

Location: Qeshm island, Persian gulf, Iran

A cool sunset

2010-05-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

Cloudy sunset over Hermitage bridge.
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia

(pro processing series)

The island animals

2010-05-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

A Camel on the road

Dolphin of Persian gulf

Location: Qeshm island, Persian gulf, Iran
(pro processing series)

Desert Show

2010-05-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

A cloudy morning in Mesr desert
(Pro processing series)

Latest conjunction

2010-05-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Planet Venus & The Moon

Seabirds

2010-05-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Location: Hara forests, Qeshm island, Persian gulf, Iran
Lens: 75-300 mm EF Canon

Birds of Mountain

2010-05-09T04:22:00.000-07:00

Black-headed Bunting

Wheatear

Mountain Sparrow

Location: Lar national park, Iran
Optic: William optic-Swan 83mm APO Spotting scope
Sponsor: Night Sky institute

For: International Day of Bird Watching

Chahkouh valley

2010-04-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Shines in end of valley (mirrors reflexes) and colorful rocks.
Chahkouh valley is one of amazing places in Iran that created by water many years ago.

Pro processing for colors
Location: Qeshm island, Persian gulf, Iran

Spring comes & Plants rise

2010-04-29T10:35:00.001-07:00

Location: Karaj, Tehran, Iran

Smoking Kills

2010-04-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Groups

2010-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Milky way and observers

An observing night for: The ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture's employees

Ecotour students

Milky way over the Caravansary

2010-04-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

Central part of milky way & Maranjab caravansary that built in Safavid era.

Dawn's view

2010-04-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Canon Macro lens testing

2010-04-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

My camera bag & a fly

Captured by: Canon EOS 50D, Canon 100mm macro lens

Stars over Stars valley

2010-04-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

Constellation Orion (Hunter) and Serious over the rocks that 10 meters up.

Location: Qeshm island, Persian gulf, Iran

Naz island @ night

2010-04-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Star trails in 4 hours exposure over Naz island (an island that just 100 meters long), the landscape backlighted by moon light, the light on the horizon was result of a ship movement & unusual lights in the sky were planes.

The Milky way and constellation Scorpios over Naz island.
Over 150 people visits this island across the day, but no one stay there @ night.

Location: Naz island, Qeshm, Persian gulf, Iran

Sunset conjunction

2010-04-02T03:26:00.000-07:00

As seen on spaceweather.com: I just had a flight over Qeshm island for photography of a wonderful conjunction between planet Venus (brightest one) and planet Mercury. I took off 1 min before sunset, and after 1 hour endeavor, I succeeded to take this picture 1520m over Qeshm island.

Winner of the International Earth and Sky Photo Contest

2010-04-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

2010 April 1: The World at Night and Dark Skies Awareness organized the International Earth and Sky Photo Contest on Dark Skies Importance. Submissions were received during the second half of International year of Astronomy 2009. Submitted photographs were all taken during the year of astronomy and were all created in the "TWAN style" -- showing both the Earth and the sky -- by combining elements of the night sky set against the Earth horizon with backdrop of a notable location or landmark. This style of photography is called “landscape astrophotography”.

According to the contest theme of “Dark Skies Importance”, the submitted photos were judged in two categories: Beauty of Night Sky and Against the Lights. The selected images are best in impressing people on both how important and amazing the starry sky is and how it affects our lives, and also how bad the problem of light pollution has become. Today most city skies have become virtually empty of stars. Light pollution obscures the stars, interferes with astronomical observatories, and, like any other form of pollution, disrupts ecosystems and has adverse health effects.

Contest Judging

The first selection and voting was made by TWAN world-wide photographers. The most voted photos were then considered by the contest judge team for 5 winners in each category of the contest. including:
- David Malin (the most distinguished night sky photographer in the world, TWAN member and consultant).
- Mike Simmons (President of Astronomers Without Borders and TWAN co-founder, contributing editor at Sky&Telescope magazine).
- Connie Walker (Director of Dark Sky Awareness project and Globe at Night program, senior science education specialist at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory).
- Richard Wainscoat (Photographer and astronomer at the University of Hawaii, the chair of International Astronomical Union Commission on Controlling Light Pollution).
- Babak Tafreshi (Founder and director of TWAN, award winning night sky photographer, and board member of Astronomers Without Borders).

1A
“Temple Night”
by Chris Kotsiopoulos from Greece

2A
“Milky Way above Romania”
by Cristina Tinta Vass

3A
“Observatory and Capital”
by Mahdi Zamani from Armenia

4A
“Lights of Los Angeles”
by Ali Douraghy

5A
“Lights vs .Stars”
by Fredrik Broms from Norway

1B
“Full Moon Rainbow”
by Tony Rowel from California

2B
“Light House and Stars”
by Larry Andreasen, from USA

3B
“Stargazers”
by Valentin Grigore from Romania

4B
“Pine Tree Startrails”
by Miguel Claro from Portugal

5B
“Starry Night of Croatia”
by Vid Nikolic from Croatia

For more info ...

Traces of Stars over Niasar fire temple

2010-03-01T23:36:00.000-08:00

Babak Amin Tafreshi writes:

The green and beautiful resort village of Niasar is located 28 kilometers west of Kashan. The green village of Niasar, located at the center of a desert region, has a beautiful scene. In January and February, blossoms of almond trees add to the beauty of the village.

More about Niasar ...

Night sky Panorama

2010-02-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

Location: Niasar, Kashan, Esfahan, Iran

Nightsky, and Niasar city light pollution that lighted Landscape as green-yellow color.

Location: Maranjab caravansary, Qom, Iran

Milky way rise over the olden inn

Star trails

2010-02-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Halomoon over Cheshmeh-Ali

2010-01-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

This place was a kind of ancient dance floors, built in Safaviye ages (1588-1722 AD).
Location:Cheshmeh-Ali, Damghan, Semnan, Iran

Halo for the biggest full moon of the year (2010).

About the moon's halos:

Halos are not purely daytime happenings. Look for them whenever a bright moon is veiled by thin cirrus cloud. A full or nearly full moon is best.

22º halos often encircle the moon. More rarely, because the moon is relatively dim, it is possible to see moondogs and other halos. Colours are faint or non existent because their light is barely strong enough to excite the colour sensors of our eyes.

Much smaller coloured rings sometimes surround the moon. These are not a halo but a corona produced by the diffraction of light by the water droplets of clouds. And of course moonlight creates a rainbow although to the unaided eye it is usually a wan creature devoid of colour.

Link

Portrayer

2010-01-25T02:20:00.000-08:00

Panoramic view of Armenia

2010-01-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

The first quarter Moon and passing clouds contributed to a dramatic night sky over the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory. This panoramic view begins at the left looking toward the eastern horizon and the rising Andromeda galaxy toward the Andromeda constellation. Sweeping your gaze to the right, you'll find the large observatory dome, housing a 2.6 meter diameter telescope, backlit by moonset. Farther to the right, the brightest clouds was lighted by nearby Yerevan's light pollution (capital city of Armenia)..

Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory
Andromeda galaxy

Spring in Winter

2010-01-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Oranges under trees

Nature from Arg-e-Karimkhani, Shiraz, Iran

Shadow and Highlight in Arg-e-Karimkhani

Wikipedia:

The Arg of Karim Khan (Citadel of KarimKhan, KarimKhan Fortress) is a citadel located in the north-east of Shiraz. It was built as part of a complex during the Zand dynasty and is named after Karim Khan, and served as his living quarters. In shape it resembles a medieval fortress.

At times, the citadel was used as a prison. Today, it is a museum operated by Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization.

Midnight from Sepidan, Shiraz

2010-01-16T09:49:00.001-08:00

lighted by fire and head lamp

Canopus and An Starry Night

Solar eclipse of January, 15

2010-01-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

24 percent of January Solar eclipse and a group of seagulls over the north of Shiraz city. You can see the sunspot 1040 in top of the eclipsed disc. Sunspot 1040 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24.

Spaceweather.com:
On January 15, 2010, the Moon passed directly in front of the sun, producing a "ring of fire" annular eclipse over a broad swath of the Indian Ocean and surrounding lands.

Reddish Shine

2010-01-12T12:37:00.001-08:00

Moharram from Tehran

2010-01-06T03:53:00.000-08:00

Night Sky family

2010-01-01T03:27:00.000-08:00

Half of family

Left to right: Shadi Hamedi Azad (Translator for Nojum magazine and other Iranian science magazine) , Babak Amin Tafreshi (Moderator of AWB, Moderator and creator of TWAN project, Scientific journalist , Pro Photographer, and …) , Oshin Daniel Zakarian (pro Photographer, member of TWAN’s photographers, and …) , Behran Amin Tafreshi (Boss of Night sky institute, researcher and writer about Iranian historical sites, pro tour leader)

Teater photography

2009-12-29T05:39:00.000-08:00

GooD AnD BaD

A Conjunction

2009-12-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

Jupiter and the Moon were spectacular shining through the fronds of this Middle Eastern-style Christmas tree.

From Spaceweather.com

Moharram in Abianeh village

2009-12-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia:

Muharram (Arabic: محرم) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited. Since the Islamic calendar is lunar, Muharram moves from year to year when compared with the Gregorian calendar.
The word "Muharram" is often considered synonymous with the event of Ashura. Ashura, which literally means the "Tenth" in Arabic, refers to the tenth day of Muharram. It is well-known because of historical significance and mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 AH (AD 680). It is a day of speeches, public processions, and great grief. Men and women chant and weep, mourning Husayn, his family, and his followers. Speeches emphasize the importance of the values for which Husayn sacrificed himself, his family, and his followers. For centuries Shi’a pilgrims flocked to Karbala during Muharram to see their imam and be there for the mourning.

Crescent moon over Anarak

2009-12-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

The one day old crescent moon is visible above one of the ancient watch towers of Anarak city in Esfahan, Iran. Aged over 150 years, this tower is one of the few magnificent towers standing on its own without any reconstructions. Indicating the starting of months in Arabic calendar, crescent moon has a significant role in Islamic calendar. In old days, Muslims climbed up to these towers to have a clearer view of the horizon in order to observe the crescent moon and announce the new month or even the new year.

Mesr 2: a friend

2009-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Mesr 2: Just desert

2009-12-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

Just desert (with a few people's traces!!!) ...

Mesr desert : Details

2009-12-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

Day and night line

Micro structures

Sunshine and the desert ...

Sunset from Esfahan

2009-12-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

ISN in Yazd

2009-12-10T22:39:00.001-08:00

Mesr 2: Starry nights out of village

2009-12-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

Upgraded Pleiades

2009-12-09T19:47:00.001-08:00

The Pleiades is one of the brightest and closest open clusters. This cluster also known as the Seven Sisters and M45. The Pleiades contains over 3,000 stars, is about 400 light years away, and only 13 light years across. This image is a composite of 20 photos. Total exposure: 2h 30min

Mesr 2: Moonrise over wilderness

2009-12-09T01:57:00.000-08:00

Mesr 2: Horse head nebula

2009-12-08T00:48:00.001-08:00

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous nebulae on the sky. The horse-head feature is dark because it is really an opaque dust cloud that lies in front of the bright red emission nebula. Like clouds in Earth's atmosphere, this cosmic cloud has assumed a recognizable shape by chance. After many thousands of years, the internal motions of the cloud will alter its appearance. The emission nebula's red color is caused by electrons recombining with protons to form hydrogen atoms. Also visible in the picture are blue reflection nebulae that preferentially reflect the blue light from nearby stars.

An observing night with frinds

2009-12-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Starry night over Mesr village, observers with naked eyes and a Chinese green laser pointer.
that is great for a wonderful picture.

Moscow from uni

2009-11-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

X & H open star clusters

2009-11-27T03:26:00.000-08:00

NGC 869 & NGC 884: A Double Open Cluster
X & H is are over 7,000 light years distant toward the constellation of Perseus, but are separated by only hundreds of light years.

Deep objects in Deep sky

2009-11-22T01:45:00.000-08:00

M 45, An open star cluster and its rich nebula.

Andromeda Galaxy, nearest galaxy to milky way and member of local Group of galaxies.

Opening of 3rd ISN expo

2009-11-17T01:24:00.000-08:00

Peyman Norouzi and his pictures. Rasht, Gilan, Iran

3rd ISN expo ...

2009-11-13T08:39:00.001-08:00

From Iran's Starry Nights project (ISN):
Time: 14-18 November 2009
Location: Iran, Gilan, Rast city

Sant Petersburg

2009-11-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

(Russian buildings series)

Moscow's Park

2009-11-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

Upgraded moon

2009-10-28T07:34:00.001-07:00

Colorful moon with details at 12" Newtonian skywatcher telescope. Mount: EQ6 pro
It is first tested photography of this telescope type in Iran.
Mahdi Zamani (Night Sky institute)

Galilean nights in Golestan palace

2009-10-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

queue for observing

First telescope in Iran, Unfocused multi shot merged with an focused shot.

Night's reporter

About Galilean Nights ...

Trails over Ghasr-e-Bahram

2009-10-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

Long exposure: 3 h

Atelier photography

2009-10-13T01:22:00.000-07:00

Historical flowers

Nature in my shots

2009-10-11T03:24:00.000-07:00

Stars over Superstar

2009-10-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

To be continued ....

Processing I

2009-09-29T13:27:00.001-07:00

Source type: jpg , Exposure: 15 s , ISO: 450

Observation without Observer

2009-09-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Wonderful works by pro plus series ... ;)

Camping under an starry night

2009-09-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

Starry night over Abianeh's helicopter site, Camping, Meteors watchers and Jupiter runner

Milkyway from North side of Asia

2009-09-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

photo details: 20 S exposure, 5D canon camera, 4.5 f, 1600 ISO

photo details: 20s exposure, 5D Canon camera, 1.8 f, 3200 ISO

Frog in wilderness

2009-09-21T13:17:00.001-07:00

What R U doing there?

Milky way after pro processing

2009-09-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

Center of our Milkkway galaxy

Vakil mosque from Shiraz

2009-09-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hafez & Sadi

2009-09-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

people and Tomb of Sadi

photography

Iranian arts over tomb of Hafez

Sadi and his eternal bed

Sunset from Persepolis

2009-09-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

link

Siberia inscription

2009-09-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

link

Russian builds

2009-09-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

Moscow Uni (link1 , link2)

Lenin

church in St.Petersburg

Hermitage sq

Pasargad in my shots

2009-08-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

Cyrus the Great

Tomb of Cyrus the Great and constellation Orion

The moon over Tomb of Cyrus the Great before sunrise.

old inscription

Pasargad @ night: Tomb of Cyrus the Great, Zodiacal light, Planet Venus, Dustily horizon, Stars and light pollution.

Pasargadae, the capital of Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) and also his last resting place, was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran's five UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

3rd Sufi competition (photo report 1)

2009-08-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

Marathon Trails

Babak A.Tafreshi: Moderator of Astronomers Without Borders

Siavash Safarian pour: Director of Night sky TV show

Sky watchers, Milky way and light pollution

Panoramic view before competition start

Homa @ Night

2009-08-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Homa and Deneb

Homa, columns and a part of constellation Scorpius

Homa ( Iranian symbolic bird ) is a type of lammergeier's family.

Abianeh village

2009-08-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

The mosque door

Abianeh is good model of modern life and historical past combine.

Central objects under moonlight

2009-08-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

((Deep sky series))
Nebula: M8 and M20, Star cluster: M21

Surreal works

2009-08-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

what is it? It's water in the stream

Pointing planet Venus by green laser pointer, that attached by the telescope.

Milky way in the dream

2009-08-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

exposure: 10 min, ISO: 100 ASA, Camera: Canon 30D

Perseid meteor shower

2009-08-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

Observing site, astronomer activities, stars trails and a perseid meteor

2 Perseid meteors and planet Jupiter under bright moonlight. Camera: Canon 5D, ISO: 400, exposure: 6 min, f: 8

A Perseid meteor, Summer triangle and a part of Milky way arm. However you can see north America nebula in little details at the top of right. Camera: Canon 30D ISO: 1200, Exposure: 3 min, f: 5.6A

Kish Island: Historical Tourism Land or Business Field?

2009-08-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

The ship on the water

way Into the trees

boughs IN the soil

Olden reservoir, just 100 years old

Under ground town

Lost photos

2009-08-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

If tonight to look out your window, you'll see, the moon and planet Jupiter together in south side of night sky, and with a distance about 2 degrees from each other .In this photo: you can see 3 of 4 Galileo's moons near planet Jupiter, the 4th moon is behind of Jupiter.

Just light pollution :((

Photo ART, what is photo art?

The moon and planet Venus in morning sky

Deep sky of Moon and Venus

What is better ?!!

2009-07-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

Plz comment ...