Starship Asterisk*

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...

Despite the airglow, the Zodiacal Light is faintly, but distinctly visible as an arc to the right of the Milky Way. It starts around Antares in Scorpius (towards the top-left of the picture), then down past bright Jupiter in Libra, Spica in Virgo, Regulus in Leo, M44 in Cancer and finishing up near ...

But could you explain what are the two bright dots on top left? They are stars, the brighter one is Regulus (Alpha Leonis) and the fainter one is TYC 833-134-1. See Jerry Lodriguss’ page at... http://www.astropix.com/eclipse/2017_Total_Solar_Eclipse_Earthshine.html Be sure to check out some of Jerr...

Thanks, Joe! Yes indeed, it looks quite a bit like Canis Major. Shouldn't we see Orion, though? Maybe we are really seeing Saiph? Ann Ann, Looking at the top of the ISS track, previously-noted Alpha and Beta Leporis are to the right. To the left of the ISS track top, and a bit fainter, are Eta Lep ...

Thanks Joe and Art. I defer to the experts, but the blue nebula about 1 deg from Phi Tau looks like LBN 782 also known as Cederblad 30. See image by Jim Thommes http://www.jthommes.com/Astro/images/LBN782_FSQ_PS5CrpRz_annotated.jpg And especially nice by S-J Park: https://www.astrobin.com/326174/0/...

Ann wrote:What are the bright star trails?

The brightest one is Sirius, then much of the Canis Major stick figure extends below it. Alpha and Beta Leporis are the brighter pair in the upper-right corner.

Could be mistaken, but another comet, 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT, may also be visible is this image (to the right of phi Tauri, blue tinted, and superimposed on part of the dark nebulae in Taurus, roughly left of center). Using SkyTools (with which I've successfully tracked down quite a number of comet...

... Tracking through the links I could find no further details. Click on the photographer's name under the title and it takes you to his site, and then ultimately to today's APOD, with photo details... http://www.astrophotographybyjoemorris.net/Spider_and_Fly_Nebula.htm Click the image there for a ...

Ann wrote:... Blue-looking Capella shines brilliantly at far right, with the Large Magellanic Cloud to its left ...

I suspect Capella is a typo -- I'm sure you meant Canopus.

Stunning picture, but wondering if there's purpose/significance in having image reversed? Seems puzzling considering the title. By “reversed,” I suppose you mean left-to-right. In that case, it’s because the picture was taken from the Southern Hemisphere. Up here in the USA at mid-northern latitude...

I'm generally dissatisfied when the APOD doesn't provide any specific information about the date and time of a picture, especially for a transient object such as (3200) Phaethon, or any information about the size or specific location of the field-of-view being presented. Furthermore, I couldn't find...

As far as the "small rock... stuck into one of Curiosity's aging wheels", is it the right front wheel? ... And the wheel directly behind that front one looks like it has a hole in it as well. Or is one of those spots the rock? On right-middle wheel (especially in the enlarged view), I see...

Beautiful photo of the Pleiades! Shows extremely clearly that the dust illuminated by the stars of the Pleiades is NOT any remnant of the formation of that cluster, but is merely the dusty neighborhood through which the Pleiades star cluster happens to be passing. Indeed, a great demonstration of t...

Perhaps this labeled version of today's image will be more clear than my written descriptions of the locations of the additional stars that have been discussed.

If that is Regulus, then the three stars in the top left are probably Leo's head. Gamma Leo and Zeta Leo probably, not sure which name the faint star is. Actually, at the upper-left edge of the frame, Algieba (Gamma Leonis, the fine double star) is on the left, while dimmer 40 Leonis is just below-...

wstchr wrote:Is there another star showing in this picture up near Mars?

Above-right of Mars, approximately at the 1 o'clock position from Mars and about 50% greater than the Mars to Mercury spacing, is magnitude 3.9 Rho Leonis. You have to look carefully to see it.

So I pulled off my glasses again, and noticed there wasn't much apparent light reduction (nor would there be even when the sun was 70% eclipsed). It was no darker than if there'd been a passing cloud. But the effect was nothing like cloud diffusion. The light was somehow harsh and unpleasant. It re...

Ann,

I did a quickie labeled version of the picture...

http://wasociety.us/2016_08_06_Perseids ... -label.jpg

Bob King has a recent, related article at Sky & Telescope online, "Nights of the Living Dead — What Stars Leave Behind."

Whoooooooooooooo Hoo! http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=37204 Yes, I beat APoD to it! Or rather, Mr.Wiggins did, and I noticed a post, I think on Facebook about it! Yeee-Ha! Excuse me, most un-British. I am, however, extremely gratified. I thank you. John Beat the APOD to what? SN 20...

Just after midnight on May 14, 2017 (EDT), Patrick Wiggins posted a link to the discovery image on the Minor Planet Mailing List, asking the minor planet experts if it might be an asteroid (it wasn't). Later that day, Bob King had a nice article about it at Sky & Telescope online . I finally got...

One should be careful about calling this object "Nova Sagittarius 2016" (beyond quibbling about not using the genitive, Sagittarii). On October 20, 2016, the nova TCP J18102829-2729590 was also discovered in Sagittarius. It reached a relatively bright nominal 8th magnitude and was just 2.5...

If it's twilight and a full moon, wouldn't this be the moon *rising* instead of setting? Oops -- sorry, it was taken at 6:21am; I was thrown off by the use of "twilight" instead of "dawn" Twilight is equally applicable to both evening and morning. Dusk and dawn would be specific...

The river in the picture is the Delaware River. The Schuylkill River is on the other side of center city. The Cooper River is East of this location (behind the photographer). Having taken pictures of center-city Philadelphia from this very location since the 1970's, I can assure you it is indeed th...

The foreground body of water is actually the Cooper River in New Jersey, looking west-northwest from Cherry Hill. It couldn't be the Schuylkill River since the Schuylkill is west of center-city and this is a setting moon. The Cooper River flows into the Delaware River, which separates Camden, New Je...