APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

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APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:11 am

Image The Terraced Night

Explanation: Long after sunset on January 25 an unusually intense red airglow floods this south-looking skyscape. The scene was recorded with a long exposure using a digital camera over Yunnan Province in southwest China. At best faintly visible to the eye, the lingering airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Originating at an altitude similar to aurora, it can found around the globe. The chemical energy is initially provided by the Sun's extreme ultraviolet radiation On this night, despite the luminous atmosphere, the band of the Milky Way clearly stretches above the horizon with bright star Sirius near the top of the frame. Both airglow and starry sky are beautifully reflected in region's watery Yuanyang rice terraces below.

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Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by neufer » Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:36 am

http://qz.com/167445/activists-in-china-just-saved-2800-cats-from-ending-up-on-the-dinner-table/ wrote:
<<This week, about 30 activists in Wuhan, China blocked the path of a truck carrying over 2,800 cats destined for the south where feline cuisine is not uncommon. The cats were likely to be sold as meat at restaurants. Wuhan’s Animal Protection Association Center said the cats would be rescued.>>
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2014/01/14/the-secret-history-of-cats/ wrote:
<<Until recently, everyone agreed that domestic cats first appeared in ancient Egypt, about five thousand years ago. [However,] recent excavation of a 5,000 year-old village in Shaanxi has unearthed the bones of cats that seem to have been preying on rodents that were living in the village and raiding the villagers’ crops and food stores. The scientists were able to rely on a quirk of biochemistry that distinguished animals that had been eating mainly wild plants from those that had been getting their nutrition from [millet].>> - John Bradshaw: author of “Cat Sense: the feline enigma revealed”
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Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by Ann » Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:29 am

What a lovely APOD. Both the sky and the Earth are terraced.

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Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by Boomer12k » Thu Feb 06, 2014 7:46 am

Growing rice,
In between
the Glow
of Heaven
and Earth....

When you look up to the heavens, you see our Father.
When you look down, you see our Mother.
We are the Children, in between...

What an inspiring APOD....and quit a coincidence....I had Rice today....

That is some Sirius Red Glow.

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WallyBalls

Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by WallyBalls » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:26 pm

Is it me or is that image rotated a few degrees clockwise?

lmpr8r

Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by lmpr8r » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:38 pm

Are the small points of light that appear very close to the surface of the terraced landscape reflections of the stars in the water flooding the rice paddies? The size and brightness matches the heavenly bodies above. At first, I took them to be fireflies (or something similar) until I zoomed in to the image enough.

Pretty (and) phenomenal.

Lovely image.

julianm3

Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by julianm3 » Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:11 pm

Nice work Mr. Yongjiang!

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Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Thu Feb 06, 2014 9:23 pm

This is a remarkable picture! At first glance I thought the skyglow was the aurora borealis. The reflection of the sky in the terraced rice paddies is truly lovely.
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

retrogalax

Re: APOD: The Terraced Night (2014 Feb 06)

Post by retrogalax » Fri Feb 07, 2014 2:30 pm

With these glows looking like cirri the photographer may have felt himself like under a dome. :o

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