Search found 10 matches

by paulslittlebit
Thu Sep 01, 2016 11:41 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Light at the End of the Road (2016 Sep 01)
Replies: 14
Views: 2434

Re: APOD: Light at the End of the Road (2016 Sep 01)

It looks like the ecliptic is around 60 degrees off the plane of the Milky Way. How unusual is that, knowing what we do about other 'solar' systems? According to Christopher Springob PhD in a blog named "Ask an Astronomer" at http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about-us/159-our-solar-system/...
by paulslittlebit
Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:37 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: The Milky Way Sets (2016 Aug 26)
Replies: 11
Views: 3040

Re: APOD: The Milky Way Sets (2016 Aug 26)

I agree lets fire up the FTL star ship (the government has hidden in aria 51) set a course for a point about one million light years above the galactic core, and get a better picture.
by paulslittlebit
Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:09 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: A Candidate for the Biggest Boom Yet... (2016 Jan 26)
Replies: 54
Views: 8388

Re: APOD: A Candidate for the Biggest Boom Yet... (2016 Jan 26)

I wonder why the sky of this planet stays so perfectly black. On earth even the light of the full moon masks many stars. Wouldn't a supernova do something similar? Is it just that the featured picture was taken high above the weather? From the POD explanation. The above-featured artist's illustrati...
by paulslittlebit
Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:11 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Comet Meets Moon and Morning Star (2015 Dec 12)
Replies: 28
Views: 13757

Re: APOD: Comet Meets Moon and Morning Star (2015 Dec 12)

"New visitor from the Oort cloud." The Oort cloud has millions of these little chappies. So just how does Mother Nature decide which one visits the inner solar system next? I'd really like to know! Could we suddenly get a burst of a few hundred of them? Why not? the short answer is we do ...
by paulslittlebit
Sat Dec 05, 2015 1:07 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Kepler Orrery IV (2015 Dec 05)
Replies: 21
Views: 4722

Re: APOD: Kepler Orrery IV (2015 Dec 05)

Supermoonshadow wrote:Is everything really orbiting in the same direction? The total angular momentum of this chunk of the universe seems to sum to much greater than zero.
I do not believe Kepler can tell us about the orientation of the orbit, because it just see the dip in brightness as a plant orbit the star.
by paulslittlebit
Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:23 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Aurora over Clouds (2015 Nov 24)
Replies: 11
Views: 2897

Re: APOD: Aurora over Clouds (2015 Nov 24)

I have always lived to far south to see auroral display. It is on my bucket list.
by paulslittlebit
Thu Nov 19, 2015 12:52 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Centaurus A (2015 Nov 19)
Replies: 41
Views: 7763

Re: APOD: Centaurus A (2015 Nov 19)

Morning all! My question is regarding the phrase 'active galaxy'. I know that M31 (Andromeda) is the closest galaxy to us, but why is this galaxy considered the closest 'active galaxy'? What makes a galaxy 'active'? (And why is M31 not - or no longer - classified as active?) And this is a beautiful...
by paulslittlebit
Sat Nov 14, 2015 1:47 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Wright Mons on Pluto (2015 Nov 14)
Replies: 14
Views: 2606

Re: APOD: Wright Mons on Pluto (2015 Nov 14)

ceelias wrote:I know there are dimensions of several features, but can a scale or resolution be provided? I'm interested in the size of the smallest objects visible. Thanks.
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20155
by paulslittlebit
Sat Sep 19, 2015 12:08 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: A Prominence on the Sun (2015 Sep 19)
Replies: 4
Views: 1862

Re: APOD: A Prominence on the Sun (2015 Sep 19)

Guest wrote:There is a mistake in the explanation. There is no light emitted by ionized hydrogen, either it should be neutral hydrogen or other species.
What make you thank that ionized hydrogen emitted no light?