Interesting Photo of the Day: Infrared Rocket Launch

Three, Two, One, Liftoff! This image was captured at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia as the rocket took off to deliver 1,300 pounds of supplies to the Expedition 37 crew. The reason for the deep blues in the sky and water is not from post-production editing, but from the effects of capturing infrared light. Photographer Bill Ingalls used a modified DSLR camera to capture this false color infrared image:

liftoff blastoff rocket space infrared photography

Infrared photography often creates darker blue skies (Via Imgur, Click to View Full Size)

Perhaps more questionable than the colors, however, is the extremely noticeable lens flare. At first you may think it was created in post, however, an observant commenter on social media made some interesting points to the contrary.

“The image has an odd aspect ratio (more square than 5:4) and was almost certainly 3:2 originally, so there is a good chance that the sun was just cropped off the top of the frame. Also, the direction of the flares matches the lighting on the clouds.”

Real or fake, this image is certainly unique and an eye-catcher.

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