Starship Asterisk*

How can I buy a poster of this marvelous "Countryside Mars and Milky Way"? Please let me know if this is possible. I love this photo. Thank you. -- John Cook

[quote=alter-ego post_id=283177 time=1528574549 user_id=125299]
[quote="Joe Stieber" post_id=283176 time=1528572018 user_id=128088]
...
Saturn was the key to getting the date.
...[/quote]
I agree, along with Mars, I thought Saturn put the nail in the coffin so to speak. Although not as much fun, the EXIF time stamp really nails it at 2:01am 5/15/18.
[/quote]
How do you like that -- the EXIF info was there all along and I didn't even think to look! Mainly because EXIF info is so often missing in these images. The time sounds about right too. For simplicity, I was using 3 am EDT for my location of 40°N-75°W.

In any case, you're correct, it is more fun to track down the date based on clues from the picture. Just like observing, it's a lot more fun to find things on your own rather than use go-to (and as far as I'm concerned, generally faster and more accurate :D ).

[quote="Joe Stieber" post_id=283176 time=1528572018 user_id=128088]
...
Saturn was the key to getting the date.
...[/quote]
I agree, along with Mars, I thought Saturn put the nail in the coffin so to speak. Although not as much fun, the EXIF time stamp really nails it at 2:01am 5/15/18.

[quote=neufer post_id=283174 time=1528563871 user_id=124483]May 15 would put Vesta back near Messier 24, I guess:[/quote]

Indeed, on May 15, (4) Vesta was between M17 and M24, at the southwest vertex of a nearly-equilateral triangle, about 20 arc minutes per side, with the stars HD 168000 and HD 168329, both nominally 7th magnitude.

Saturn was the key to getting the date. In the APOD, it is just left of a line between M22 and M25, so I just cranked SkyTools back in time until Saturn's position matched as best as I could eyeball it. Then I checked Mars' and Vesta's positions and they were in accord too. Not sure about the time of night since I can't tell how high the mountain ridge is above the astronomical horizon.

I confess that I'm somewhat more familiar with this area than I might usually be, since I was out in the NJ Pinelands this past Monday night (June 4-5, 2018) looking at Vesta, and taking [url=http://sjastro.org/]a couple of snapshots[/url] of the area too. While I failed to spot Vesta with unaided eyes, it was an easy binocular object, and now I have an improved grasp of the area for further attempts to spot Vesta (if the weather ever cooperates). Bob King has a [url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/vesta-2018-opposition/]nice online article at Sky & Telescope[/url] about observing Vesta this opposition.

[quote="Joe Stieber" post_id=283170 time=1528560761 user_id=128088]

Based on the positions of Saturn and Mars, I suspect the image was captured around May 15, 2018. Using that date, I was even able to find (4) Vesta in the image, magnitude 6.1 at the time. I've been following Vesta lately as it is becoming bright enough to see with unaided eyes around opposition on June 19, 2018. I've only seen it once before with unaided eyes.[/quote]
Aha! I thought it was a more recent image.

May 15 would put Vesta back near Messier 24, I guess:

[quote=" https://astrobob.areavoices.com/2018/06/08/vesta-brightest-asteroid-shines-extra-bright-this-month/"]
[img3=""]https://astrobob.areavoices.com/files/2018/06/Vest-June-thru-Oct-2018_FINAL_V2-1024x639.jpg[/img3][/quote]

[quote="Sa Ji Tario" post_id=283164 time=1528543876]
Because of the exposure time, the light of the stars are diminished and little recognizable, M 7 stands out on the top of the tree, M 8, M 20 and M 21 are locatable by the brightness of M 8, it is seen part of Southern Crown, M 69, M 22 and M 28, literally vanished and the stars of Sagittarius Zeta, Tau, Sigma, and Fi are barely visible. It is a nocturnal image and it seems like the first hours of the day
[/quote]
Sa Ji Tario,

Have you looked at the large version -- by clicking on the APOD home page image? Any difficulty in finding some of the objects you mention is more likely a matter of scale and resolution rather than exposure time. I could go on at great length listing the objects visible in the image, including M22 and M28, which are prominent in the large version and not really that difficult in the smaller home page image.

Based on the positions of Saturn and Mars, I suspect the image was captured around May 15, 2018. Using that date, I was even able to find (4) Vesta in the image, magnitude 6.1 at the time. I've been following Vesta lately as it is becoming bright enough to see with unaided eyes around opposition on June 19, 2018. I've only seen it once before with unaided eyes.

And Saturn? :cry:

Nice Photo; makes a good screen background! 8-)

Because of the exposure time, the light of the stars are diminished and little recognizable, M 7 stands out on the top of the tree, M 8, M 20 and M 21 are locatable by the brightness of M 8, it is seen part of Southern Crown, M 69, M 22 and M 28, literally vanished and the stars of Sagittarius Zeta, Tau, Sigma, and Fi are barely visible. It is a nocturnal image and it seems like the first hours of the day

[float=left][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53kq635mpMs[/youtube][/float]
.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18699&p=283044#p283044
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=38339&p=282984#p282971
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=38340&p=282985#p282985
https://www.universetoday.com/139429/and-nasas-big-announcement-is-ancient-organic-molecules-found-on-mars/

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180609.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_180609.jpg[/img] [size=150]Countryside Mars and Milky Way[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180601.html]Mars shines brightly[/url] now in planet Earth's sky. Seen with a yellowish hue it rises over the hills and far away in this serene night skyscape, a countryside panorama recorded last month from Parque Nacional de Cabaneros in Spain. [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180517.html]The Milky Way too[/url] extends above the distant hills into a starry sky. Its faint pinkish nebulae, cosmic rifts and rivers of dust are mingled with the pale, diffuse glow of starlight. [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/antares.html]Mimicking Mars'[/url] yellow tint, bright star Antares shines to the right of the central Milky Way starclouds. Of course, [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/news/2018/nasa-cubesats-steer-toward-mars]CubeSats from Earth[/url] are on their way to the Red Planet.


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