Starship Asterisk*

Benbrilling wrote:Cool plane, but... no windows?

rocksnstars wrote:Astronomy?

richard schumacher wrote:Yeah, what does this have to do with astronomy? It's not even a space topic, as it is clearly an airplane and not a space vehicle.

RJN wrote:I posted that video to APOD. About once a month or so, APOD posts an image that is not strictly related to the classical definition of astronomy or space science. Reasons for this are several, including broadening APOD's reader base. APODs like these, in my opinion, interest people in space, science, and astronomy who might not normally have or follow such interests. In my view, the web appears to stratify people by interests, and many times people in one interest group will not wander into other interest areas. Eclectic APODs like this are therefore an attempt to reach across disciplines.

Additionally, in my view, APOD is also about planet Earth, exploration, and making connections between science and things not classically related to science. In this case, this APOD focussed on humans specifically, who have never been highlighted on APOD before. This also gives APOD a "human" link usable inside of future APODs.

- RJN

RJN wrote:I chose and wrote this APOD, and here are some of my thoughts on the criticism that this APOD is not true to APOD's astronomy theme.

First of all, I do think that this criticism does have some merit. How would I feel if my favorite classic-rock radio station suddenly played Beethoven? Possibly the same way -- especially if the radio station advertised that it played rock music.

They why did we run this image? Well, in some sense APOD is like a blog. Sometimes Jerry or I will just run things we think are cool. Fuzzy ideas that swim around in my brain when choosing a non-astronomical cool image include the wow factor of the image, whether the sky is at all involved, the educational content of the image, the scientific content of the image, and whether the image could be useful in the future as a link from a more main-stream astronomically-oriented APOD. I also hope that non-astronomy images are useful in drawing people with more diverse interests to view APOD and therefore become interested in astronomy.

Other arguments include "the Earth is also a planet" and that the term "astronomy" is actually somewhat vague these days. See: Wikipedia: Use of terms "astronomy" and "astrophysics". If one is to take the term "astronomy" at its Greek roots then APOD should only show star images! But these reasons are secondary.

APOD runs non-astronomy images about once a month or so. We have always done this. If you don't like it, I apologize, but I think it will continue. I still hope that, for the most part, everyone, even the astronomy purists, will still find APOD enjoyable and educational.

- RJN

Mr America wrote:Lets get over this GREEN thing
Its not going to happen
its a joke
First-you cannot fly supersonically at great altitudes without using a large amount of energy to get there.
Secondly, Sonic boom will always be a problem no matter what kind of quieting you attempt.
Third-at the present course, there will be no mankind around for this stuff

geckzilla wrote:There are no passenger windows, either. I think you mistook the logo letters for windows.