The night time sky of Cambridge

By day, Evan Kramer, SM ’22, works on his PhD within the Aero-Astro Area Methods Lab, growing a satellite tv for pc tasking algorithm. (His aim is to effectively faucet right into a community of satellites with artificial aperture radar sensors, which may see via all climate and illumination. This may let individuals shortly picture a particular level on Earth within the wake of a pure catastrophe or different emergency.)

The ISS passes over the aero-astro advanced (left) and the Central Utilities Plant, captured by a number of half-second exposures at half-second intervals.

However at night time, there’s probability you will discover Kramer on an MIT rooftop, capturing the night time sky of Cambridge as you’ve by no means seen it earlier than.

The Worldwide Area Station (ISS) passes over Kresge Auditorium. Jupiter and Saturn are seen simply above the roof. This composite picture has 75 frames for the night time sky and two frames for the foreground.

Kramer’s curiosity in astrophotography began in highschool, when he was in search of a solution to persuade his associates that observing objects like Jupiter and the moons of Saturn with a telescope was cool. Then he branched out into panorama astrophotography and delved into capturing ultraviolet and infrared in addition to seen gentle.

A composite of six photos reveals aero-astro grad scholar Charles Dawson, SM ’21, with two of his drones on the roof of Constructing three in opposition to the Boston skyline; its starscape that includes Jupiter was shot with a fog filter. That is a part of Kramer’s ongoing mission to create portraits of fellow aero-astro grad college students and their work in opposition to the night time sky.

A full-spectrum picture of ultraviolet, seen, and infrared gentle shot from the McNair Constructing roof reveals star trails and air visitors over the Nice Dome—and makes tree leaves seem pink. This combines 1,600 frames for the night time sky and 5 for the foreground.

Gentle air pollution makes astrophotography in city environments tough, but it surely’s potential with filters and a variety of planning. Kramer composes photos with acquainted options within the foreground to get individuals’s consideration and make them marvel how they have been taken—and query their assumptions about what can and might’t be seen within the city night time sky.