Starship Asterisk*

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Usgs_map_traverse_mercator.PNG Okay, I don't get it. What am I looking at? :arrow: A transverse Mercator map projection looking up at the night sky from inside a tower in Hungary (as the Earth rotates vs-a-vis that sky)? Ah, thank you. I would hav...

Okay, I don't get it. What am I looking at?

The definition of "minor planet" is pretty much anything that isn't a planet or a comet but is in orbit around the Sun, so yes, any asteroid, no matter the size, would be considered a minor planet. In fact, if you look up minor planet in the dictionary (at least in the one that comes up wi...

Airglow is bright enough to see with our scotopic (rod) vision, but not our photopic (cone) vision. We don't see color in airglow, just gray. But that means if it has structure in it from gravity waves, we can see that patterning. A camera is much more sensitive than the eye, and is capable of inte...

I'm not sure I understand the description this time. We can see the waves, but not the color? But digital cameras can see the color? So is the color added or is it just a factor of some kind of long exposure? Usually, I follow the explanation with no trouble, but I'll admit to confusion this time ar...

This is really fascinating. It makes perfect sense, but I'd never thought about it before. Thanks for the input, guys. I'm definitely going to read up on this more.

Why is it that identifying all the spectral absorption lines is difficult? I had assumed that they could be fairly easily identified (by those with that kind of training which I obviously do not have), given the nature of spectral emission and absorption. I'll be introducing a class to the concept o...

In later years, when so many people have begun questioning the Moon landing, I have come to think of the terrible quality of the transmission as one brilliant piece of evidence that the Moon landing was for real. Because if Hollywood had staged the whole thing, there is no way they would have allow...

That CME gave me my first and so far only glimpse of an aurora. I was in northern Utah and hadn't even realized that it was possible. That's quite an amazing video.

Technically, it doesn't say that fire itself is a tragedy, merely that it causes tragedy, and that much is true. The lodgepole pine is another example of a species that requires fire to reseed. The Yellowstone fires back in '88 were devastating, but you can see the forest coming back now. All throug...

How do they predict noctilucent clouds? I've seen beautiful photos of them, but I didn't realize they were predictable.

I have to say that I've been following the APOD for many years now, never missing a day (or almost never), and I never had noticed the discussion link before. I'm glad I have because I feel like I get smarter every time I come here and read more about these photos.

JohnD wrote: ↑Wed May 16, 2018 8:57 amFingerprint!

That was my first thought, too! Before I read the description, I was thinking it looked like a cosmic fingerprint.

I once read a slightly fictionalized biography on Kepler, but fictionalized or not, I believe that most of the things the book told me were true. Such as, Kepler had to put up a legal fight to save his mother from being burnt at the stake as a witch (twice, if I remember correctly); Kepler worked a...

"This is no cave."

I think we've found the dwelling of a space worm.

I don't fully understand the reprocessing... process. I was also wondering about the "approximate true color scheme". Does that mean that if we were to actually go to that nebula in person, these are the colors we'd see? ...minus the pink O star, of course.

I wasn't aware that most galaxies in clusters are elliptical. Is there an explanation for that?

I remember reading Clarke's book that they mention here, Fountains of Paradise, when I was in high school. The whole concept of a space elevator was fascinating to me and I always hoped that there might be something to it.

I would love to float free in space, of course, with the knowledge that I'd easily get back.

An amazing photo!

I'm sure there are stairs on the other side.

I really like this video. I've seen it before. When I was teaching a course on the origins of...well, pretty much everything (a general science class), I would show this video at the beginning of the semester and again at the end to see if my students noticed any more details from the beginning to t...

Very cool! Thanks, Chris and neufer!

How is the fish-eye panorama done? Is it just pictures stitched together in the circle or is there some actual process or camera setting?

I'm just waiting for VGER to come back with Persis Khambatta as its spokesman.

It was perfect over SE Idaho, where I was. We sat out on the front lawn and watched from the first moment of partial eclipse, through totality and about halfway after. Absolutely amazing experience and one I hope I get to repeat someday.