• Shuttle Atlantis' last trek to liftoff

    Scott Andrews / for msnbc.com

    In one of 120,000 images shot during the time-lapse, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is hoisted before being mounted with "the stack" before rollout at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    As the sun sets on NASA's spaceflight program, three talented people set out to document the preparations for shuttle Atlantis' final launch.

    Armed with 15 cameras, Scott Andrews, his son Philip Andrews and Stan Jirman teamed up to shoot and seamlessly combine a whopping 120,000 still images. The finished product is condensed into a 3-minute time-lapse video that makes the four-day process of preparing the shuttle for its trek to the launch pad look like a cakewalk.

    NBC News' Jay Barbree narrates a rare time-lapse video of the shuttle Atlantis being prepared for its final mission.

    The time-lapse is the culmination of 40 years of collaboration. Photographer Scott Andrews, a technical consultant for Canon, has been photographing launches and landings professionally since Apollo 15 in July 1971.

    Scott Andrews / for msnbc.com

    The morning after rollout, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis rests on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    Throughout the years he has helped hundreds of photographers from around the world and worked closely with the NASA spaceflight program. Scott said his main mission in creating the time-lapse is to pay tribute to all of the shuttle workers.

    Referring to the origins of the time-lapse video, Scott said "Anybody could have done this time lapse — but nobody did."

    So Scott sat down and drafted a 47-page proposal and made six trips to the Kennedy Space Center to finally get the "yes" he needed. This all hinged on the trust he had built during his tenure, split between Kennedy and Johnson space centers.

    In the end, they produced a tribute to not only the shuttle workers, but also NASA and the spaceflight program as a whole.

    Veteran NBC space correspondent Jay Barbree summed it up best: "When historians look back, they will write that the shuttle was a reusable ship that carried astronauts into orbit.  It was an essential brick on the road to distant places beyond our planet."

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  • Magnificent views of the Milky Way

    Jonathan Woods writes: Sleep deprivation leads people to do crazy things. For Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd, a week atop Spain's highest mountain with very little shuteye produced results that even he was surprised by.

    Sorgjerd talked with us about the experience of capturing the images.

    Terje Sorgjerd

    The Milky Way is seen above, through a Saharan sandstorm.

    Terje: As I set up to shoot a five-hour sequence of the milky way [above], I got hit by a large Saharan sandstorm. I took cover behind some rocks and eventually made it over to the camera only to find that it had captured some amazing pictures of the Milky Way through the sandstorm clouds.

    Jonathan: What I find remarkable about these images is the way Terje is able to capture light without significant manipulations. The human eye has much greater latitude to see details cameras cannot. High Dynamic Range is a form of manipulation that enhances images. In the captions below, Terje is asserting that by not using HDR technology, he has not substantially manipulated these images.

    It is also worth mentioning that a photographer who is skilled at his or her craft can make substantial improvements to images when, as Terje references below, making adjustments to the raw image.

    Terje Sorgjerd

    The sun rises off Mount Teide with views of Grand Canarya. Image shot using a Canon 5D Mark II with 16-35mm/2.8LII and 3-stop graduated neutral density filter to bring out the colors. No HDR or Photoshop. Only raw adjustment.

    Terje: After a magnificent view of the Milky Way, it was time to move on to shooting sunrise and what a magical sunrise we got. In the distant background you can see the neighboring island of Grand Canarya.

    Terje Sorgjerd

    A valley on Mount Teide. No HDR or Photoshop. Only raw adjustment. The video frame is over twice the resolution.

    Terje Sorgjerd

    The sun sets on Mount Teide. Photographed with a Canon 5D MarkII with 16-35mm/2.8LII and 2-stop graduated ND filter. No HDR or Photoshop. Only raw adjustment.

    Terje: As you hike around this island, you will notice how regular and precise the weather patterns really are. I noticed this spot with the clouds moving in a very nice pattern and decided to mark it off as a sunset spot the next day. An absolute marvelous sunset it was.

    Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd speaks with TODAY.com's Dara Brown about the stunning images of the Milky Way captured glittering in the night sky from Spain's highest mountain, El Teide.

    Terje Sorgjerd

    The milky way glows above photographer Terje Sorgjerd in a self portrait. The photo was a 30 second exposure shot through a 24mm/1.4 lens at ISO 2000. No HDR.

    Terje: After seven days of hiking and shooting without sleep I was making my way down to the airport when I realized I did not have a single shot of myself and the Milky Way. This was the very last shot and the only one with myself in it. I am lit up by a macbookair screen hid about 10 meters away reflecting off a rock.

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    Stunning views of the sun ... and Discovery?!
    Terje's website

  • Stunning views of the sun ... and Discovery?!

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Amateur astrophotographer Alan Friedman has done it again. Adding to an already impressive collection of outer space images, he just published two more magnificent photos of the sun. First, here's a view of a gassy prominence flaring off the sun like a cloud:

    Alan Friedman

    This section of the solar disk was imaged at the Winter Star Party on West Summerland Key in Florida, in the midst of 30 mph winds. The massive detached solar prominence was visible for hours. Skies were quite steady, despite the wind.

    To add some perspective on the sheer magnitude of what Friedman is documenting, look at the dark spot below the prominence. That spot is roughly twice the size of the Earth. 

    Using the same specialized equipment he used in October 2010 to produce the last set of breathtaking images, Friedman looks at the deep red end of the light spectrum to capture the emissions given off by hydrogen gas in the sun's atmosphere.

    He also came away with a historic glimpse of Discovery as it was docked to the International Space Station, during the space shuttle's final mission.

    Friedman said he captured the event, lasting just a fifth of a second, after making an 1,800-mile drive from Buffalo, N.Y., to the Winter Star Party in West Summerland Key, Fla.

    He went to the Florida gathering "for the steady skies, warm temperatures and the company of good astronomy friends." But when he learned that the International Space Station would cross paths with the sun, and that the sight would be visible 20 miles north of where the star party was being held, he felt compelled to document the flyover.

    "I jumped into the car with solar imaging gear, and we got set up just in time to catch it." he said. "I underestimated the narrowness of this event. We were about 5,000 feet south of the centerline in a good location... another 500 feet and we would have missed it entirely. Lucky day!"

    Alan Friedman

    Silhouetted by the sun, the space shuttle Discovery can be seen docked to the International Space Station during its final mission.

    Friedman talks with TODAY.com's Dara Brown about his latest work:

    More imagery of the sun and the shuttle:

  • ESA, Hubble & NASA

    This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a dazzling star cluster in the well-known Eagle Nebula. The NGC 6611 cluster, which is 6,500 light-years from Earth, formed about 5.5 million years ago. It is a very young cluster, containing many hot, blue stars whose fierce ultraviolet glow makes the surrounding Eagle Nebula glow brightly. The open star cluster and the associated nebula together are also known as Messier 16. This stunner was the European Hubble team's "Picture of the Week" for Jan. 3.

    Dazzling star cluster in the Eagle Nebula

    By Elena Grothe

    Here's one of the stunning images that made it into the final edit of our latest Month in Space roundup. See the full slideshow here.