by seriousreader » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:41 am
I would like APOD to show a photograph of the mock moons and axial luminous patches that Fridtjof Nansen sketched during his polar exploration of 1893-96, along with the Nansen sketches themselves.
I recently read _Farthest North_ by Fridtjof Nansen (1897). (I'd never heard of Nansen until I saw a lecture on NASA-TV called "Isolation and Confinement" (I think) by Jack Kunster (sp?) discussing what the shuttle team could learn from expeditions to explore uncharted regions on earth.) Nansen's book, a fascinating account of his attempt to reach the North Pole, includes several amazing pastel sketches of the moon at very high latitudes. In two illustrations, there are what he calls "mock" moons at either edge of the horizon, and scattered light along the vertical axis of the real moon. (Vol. 1, p. 576, and vol. 2, page 321). Another sketch shows a halo (Vol. 2, p. 248), rather like the halo shown in the March 9, 2005 APOD photo of the sun in Tennessee, which is what made me think of Nansen's sketches again.
What I would love to see on the APOD would be a comparison of a Nansen sketch with a current photograph showing the same phenomena. As far as I can tell, APOD has never shown the mock moons or any polar moon views. An explanation of the mock moons and axial light would be nice, too!
I would like APOD to show a photograph of the mock moons and axial luminous patches that Fridtjof Nansen sketched during his polar exploration of 1893-96, along with the Nansen sketches themselves.
I recently read _Farthest North_ by Fridtjof Nansen (1897). (I'd never heard of Nansen until I saw a lecture on NASA-TV called "Isolation and Confinement" (I think) by Jack Kunster (sp?) discussing what the shuttle team could learn from expeditions to explore uncharted regions on earth.) Nansen's book, a fascinating account of his attempt to reach the North Pole, includes several amazing pastel sketches of the moon at very high latitudes. In two illustrations, there are what he calls "mock" moons at either edge of the horizon, and scattered light along the vertical axis of the real moon. (Vol. 1, p. 576, and vol. 2, page 321). Another sketch shows a halo (Vol. 2, p. 248), rather like the halo shown in the March 9, 2005 APOD photo of the sun in Tennessee, which is what made me think of Nansen's sketches again.
What I would love to see on the APOD would be a comparison of a Nansen sketch with a current photograph showing the same phenomena. As far as I can tell, APOD has never shown the mock moons or any polar moon views. An explanation of the mock moons and axial light would be nice, too!