Starship Asterisk*

Ann, I had the same question! And the same "Wow, Aldebaran looks bright!" initial reaction :)

I looked it up on my handy stargazing app. I wasn't aware I could do this until I tried it, but Sky Map allows you to put in any date and view the sky on that date. If I put in Jan 4, 2013 (the date according to the description), and scan around for Taurus, Jupiter is right there!

[quote=neufer post_id=298419 time=1578058736 user_id=124483]
[float=left][img3=""]http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/image/quadrans.jpg[/img3][/float][quote="orin stepanek" post_id=298418 time=1578056339 user_id=100812]

looking at the landscape; makes one wonder if a wall was really necessary?
People must have really been scared to go to such extremes! :ohno: [/quote]
If you were Boötes and thought [b][i][color=#FF0000]there be dragons[/color][/i][/b]
to the north you might have a [b][color=#0000FF]Q[/color]uantum [color=#0000FF]M[/color]echanic[/b]
erect a wall as well.

https://astrobob.areavoices.com/2020/01/02/catch-the-quads-first-big-meteor-shower-of-the-year/
[/quote]
Maybe; but the landscape there looks so formidable that i wouldn't want to traverse there; The wall does make it a little tougher though! :shock:

[float=left][img3=""]http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/image/quadrans.jpg[/img3][/float][quote="orin stepanek" post_id=298418 time=1578056339 user_id=100812]

looking at the landscape; makes one wonder if a wall was really necessary?
People must have really been scared to go to such extremes! :ohno: [/quote]
If you were Boötes and thought [b][i][color=#FF0000]there be dragons[/color][/i][/b]
to the north you might have a [b][color=#0000FF]Q[/color]uantum [color=#0000FF]M[/color]echanic[/b]
erect a wall as well.

https://astrobob.areavoices.com/2020/01/02/catch-the-quads-first-big-meteor-shower-of-the-year/

looking at the landscape; makes one wonder if a wall was really necessary? People must have really been scared to go to such extremes! :ohno:

[quote=heehaw post_id=298415 time=1578045314]
Wow! Thanks for the link to the Wikipedia page on abandoned constellations! Hugely informative! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_constellations
[/quote]


[float=left][img2]https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/star-cat-nick-gustafson.jpg[/img2][c][size=85]Star Cat. Painting by Nick Gustafson.[/size][/c][/float]

Agreed. I miss [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felis_(constellation)]Felis the Cat[/url] the most.

We need a cat in the sky and not just a lynx! :kitty:

Ann

Wow! Thanks for the link to the Wikipedia page on abandoned constellations! Hugely informative! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_constellations

Beautiful picture! The Great Wall really looks, well, great among the impressive mountains.

Me being me, I'm more interested in the sky. And I'm more interested in the stars than in the Quarantids. I love the little Pleiades "hanging down" from the sky like tiny little compact Dipper.

Apart from the Pleiades, I found myself staring at the bright "star" close to the center of the image. "Wow, Aldebaran looks bright", was my first thought. But of course it isn't Aldebaran but a planet. Which one? Does anyone know? Colorwise, I might guess Saturn, although I can't remember Saturn visiting Taurus any time during the last, say, ten years. So Mars? Looks too non-red to be Mars. Jupiter? I don't remember Jupiter in Taurus, and shouldn't Jupiter be brighter? Venus? Really?

Orion looks great in the APOD too, although a little squashed. You can tell at a glance that this picture was not taken recently, because Betelgeuse is bright.

Great image!

Ann

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200103.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_200103.jpg[/img] [size=150]Quadrantids over the Great Wall[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Named for a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_constellations]forgotten constellation[/url], the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is an annual event for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers The shower's [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070812.html]radiant on the sky[/url] lies within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation [url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/quadrans.htm]Quadrans Muralis[/url]. That location is not far from the Big Dipper, at the boundaries of the modern constellations Bootes and Draco. With the radiant out of the frame at the upper right, Quadrantid meteors streak through this night skyscape composed of digital frames recorded in the hours around the shower's peak on January 4, 2013. The last quarter moon illuminates rugged terrain and a section of the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150313.html]Great Wall[/url] in Hebei Province, China. A likely source of the dust stream that produces Quadrantid meteors was identified [url=http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/leonidnews47.html]in 2003 as an asteroid[/url]. As usual, in 2020 the shower is expected to peak briefly on the night of January 3/4. [url=https://earthsky.org/tonight/quadrantid-meteor-shower-before-dawn-in-early-january]Meteor fans in North America can anticpate a good show[/url] to celebrate the new year in moonless skies before tomorrow's dawn.


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