Starship Asterisk*

Mark. I can see in your version (just barely) that Saturn is practically in line with the Sun at the same time. True! Today (! Dec 21) Saturn reached the conjunction position (Earth-Sun-Saturn in line). The angular distance of the Sun and Saturn in the sky was only little more than one half degree. ...

Hi Chris.

Chris Peterson wrote:the complexity of evolved life doesn't seem to me an argument either for or against life in genera.

I totally agree.

Chris Peterson wrote:We celebrate today as our main winter holiday. Presents under the Solstice Tree this morning, a dinner party tonight.

Very cool.



Stefan

Chris Peterson wrote:How do you know?

Relax. I didn't speak about 'creation of life'.

In my mind I had the reproductive biology. The more you learn about, the more unlikely it seems.

But let's talk about the winter solstice instead...

The Moon is JUST the right size to cover the Sun at eclipse... Not always. There are annular eclipses too. :mrgreen: Apart from the charge on the electron and the strength of the weak force being 'just right' ... Good points. More: Life is very, very unlikely. But it happens after all. Again and ag...

Hi John. Is it true that if the stars could be seen in daytime, the Sun would be centered over the Milky Way on the Winter Solstice? Yes. A happy coincidence ... Indeed. A 'happy accident'. :wink: Is there any component of orbital mechanics that would synchronise the Sun, Earth and Galactic Centre a...

Gotmar the norwegian wrote:Of course, the camera is facing north!

Actually, it is more the East than the North.

michael o'brien wrote:The space station streaks IN FROM the right side, disappearing into the pre-dawn glow in the east, but not before it's orbit appears to briefly parallel the star trails, then begins to diverge again before it is lost in the glow.

Perfectly written.

epf wrote:... I would disagree about this being a "small" house. It looks more like a palace to me ....

Right! Please click to the link 'lakeside house' and you see that actually it is a small castle/palace, built in 1760.

Chris.

Chris Peterson wrote:No, a "moon" is a natural satellite. The "Moon" is Earth's natural satellite.

Lesson learned!

Stefan (German native speaker)

hexalm wrote:That's no moon. It's a space station.

By definition, a Moon is a natural satellite of a planet or celestial body. Therefore, the ISS can't be a moon.

But if 'The Moon' is also called a 'natural satellite' of the Earth, why should the ISS not be an 'artificial moon'?

Ann wrote:Stefan, I'm amazed that you could bring out so much detail in Jupiter and its Galilean moons in a picture like this one!

Thanks Ann.

The only problem was that Jupiter was so low in the sky during dawn. I had no chance to see them in my 10x42 binoculars, for example.

Is it possible to identify the individual moons? Sure. All four Galilean moons are visible in the original file (5616x3744 pixel). At the left, a crop of this file is shown (reprocessed to improve the visbility of the moons). At the right, a simulation tells the moon names (Stellarium = planetarium...

Half of the Sky http://www.profiteleskope.de/astromeeting/tmp/HalfOfTheSky_small.jpg Link to a larger version (1500x1144px) That one is from Egypt. It shows the Sinai dessert with the summer milkyway and Jupiter (at the left) above it. In fact, the fisheye lens I used was able to capture the half o...

Joyce Burks wrote:I don't understand the photograph on. Why is the right side of the sun shaded? Why isn't photo of sun more or less equally bright all over?

Remember the title of the image: Sunspots on a Cloudy Day.

I had to wait for 1.5 hours to have the right clouds at the right place...

An obvious mistake on this page. This pic could not have been done in 1/6 of a second. Looks closer to 20 or 30 minutes. Reading the caption may help: During the 1/6 second long exposure he smoothly changed the focal length while simultaneously rotating the camera ... With other words: 1/6 second i...

soliars wrote:10 year!!!!It is really long time.
And let's go on!

Good morning.

In the meantime we are at 12 years and approx. 8 month.

Here is the first APOD ever:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950616.html

Best wishes,
Stefan

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http://www.astromeeting.de

I would like to second that, Alex.

Thank you Robert and Jerry for bringing beauty and fun into my life. Each day.

Thanks again and good luck for the next 10 years.