Is this a real photo from space or did Apple just render it? If it is real, what constellations can you identify?

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Looks to me like it was rendered.

Its not real.

Rendered.

+4 rendered

lol

Well, Leopard Server has a blue version of the exact same wallpaper:

http://www.peter-v.com/115/os-x-leopard-server-wallpaper/

dont like the server one too blue while the desktop version is better

The actual one:

Someone identified this constellation within the wallpaper

<img removed>

ROFL osirisX

It's most likely rendered. Too perfect to be real.

Definitely rendered.

+1 real

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that you don't get auroras in space...

Scirwode

Well, if you look at the stars in the background while fully zoomed in, it does look real. However, that's not to say they didn't do some photoshopping to it.

LOL, Seriously??

there no blur or pixel, all is render.

Why can't Microsoft do things this cool?

Because Steve Ballmer said Microsoft doesn't need to do cool things.

What's so cool about it? It's... just a wallpaper.

^It's cooler than that crappy "luna" hills & sky!

The core image behind it actually is part of larger photo from NASA, however the Aura (of course) was created by the wonderful people in Apple's Graphics Design and Media department. I think the core image is credited somewhere in the OS's deep, dark secret places.

Aha! I knew it was partially real!

Clever cloggs.

^Actually, you can...

You mean Bliss? It was an actual image taken in the late 1970s in Sonoma County, CA. It's been used as wallpaper on many OSes prior to Windows XP. I saw it on a computer that was from a 1991 documentary.

They're an effect caused by the atmosphere, but if you can provide a source that says otherwise I'd be more than happy to admit I'm wrong


Seriously? It looks unnatural.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_%28image%29

Doesn't look any more unnatural than the aurora in Leopard. In other words, they are both real images with some post-editing done.

Edit: This is kind of interesting. Apparently, about 10 years later, someone else went to the same spot and re-photographed it, presumably during the middle of a harvest season. Look at the difference...
Click to view attachment

That's kinda cool, actually. I might use that as my wallpaper, Quillz

you can archieve that with some post-processing and editing on a real photo.


There are many "artistic" photos achieving "perfection" by ways of some photoshopping.

Bill Gates founded and owns Corbis? The plot thickens...

Wow, I didn't know that!

What a twist!