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APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 4:10 am
by APOD Robot
Image A Scorpius Sky Spectacular

Explanation: If Scorpius looked this good to the unaided eye, humans might remember it better. Scorpius more typically appears as a few bright stars in a well-known but rarely pointed out zodiacal constellation. To get a spectacular image like this, though, one needs a good camera, color filters, and a digital image processor. To bring out detail, the above image not only involved long duration exposures taken in several colors, but one exposure in a very specific red color emitted by hydrogen. The resulting image shows many breathtaking features. Vertically across the image left is part of the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Visible there are vast clouds of bright stars and long filaments of dark dust. Jutting out diagonally from the Milky Way in the image center are dark dust bands known as the Dark River. This river connects to several bright stars on the right that are part of Scorpius' head and claws, and include the bright star Antares. Above and right of Antares is an even brighter planet Jupiter. Numerous red emission nebulas and blue reflection nebulas are visible throughout the image. Scorpius appears prominently in southern skies after sunset during the middle of the year.

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Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 4:54 am
by Ann
Oh, this is one of my all-time favorite APODs! :D

Ann

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 9:09 am
by superwillbee
And if that's really Jupiter, the picture was taken in 2006? Or before? From where was is taken?

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 10:33 am
by Case
superwillbee wrote:And if that's really Jupiter, the picture was taken in 2006? Or before? From where was is taken?
Probably in September 2007, from Paranal Chile, where the photographer works and lives.

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 1:30 pm
by DLaw
Why don't we see tracks for the moons of Jupiter if this is a long exposure?

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 1:55 pm
by BDanielMayfield
Ann wrote:Oh, this is one of my all-time favorite APODs! :D

Ann
Well then you are less color biased than you have led us to believe Ann, for there doesn't seem to be anything especially blue here. I'm color biased toward red, so I really like how the red emission nebulas show up here, but I miss the striking red color of Antares, the red pulsating heart of the Scorpion. If I was composing this image I think I would have ampped up the main red channel to help Antares look more "normal". (This isn't meant as a critical comment, merely a statement of personal tastes.) :ssmile:

Bruce

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 1:58 pm
by superwillbee
Probably in september 2007 in Chile, thank you.
We can't see the moons of Jupiter because they are to close to Jupiter, and Jupiter is probably over-exposed too. The moons have disappeared in Jupiter's light.
To see Jupiter's 4 biggest moons, you also need to zoom in about 30 times or more, and this photo is more or less a wide-angle image.

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 2:01 pm
by BDanielMayfield
Oh, and I meant to ask Ann, from your location do you even get to see Antares at all?

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 2:04 pm
by Chris Peterson
DLaw wrote:Why don't we see tracks for the moons of Jupiter if this is a long exposure?
At this image scale, the farthest any of Jupiter's moons could be from the planet would be about 6 pixels. That is well inside the optical diameter of the planet created by diffraction, scatter, and internal reflections.

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 3:10 pm
by Boomer12k
Interesting.....so much going on.....

Well...the Pipe Nebula....looks like a little kid in a wagon being pulled.....the KID NEBULA????


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Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 5:51 pm
by BMAONE23
DLaw wrote:Why don't we see tracks for the moons of Jupiter if this is a long exposure?
Because it is a long exposure, the brightness of Jupiter will overpower the faintness of the 4 major moons

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 5:52 pm
by Ann
BDanielMayfield wrote:Oh, and I meant to ask Ann, from your location do you even get to see Antares at all?
Yes, I can see it in the early mornings about now, in late April and May. It culminates about three a.m.!

Ann

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 7:27 pm
by Guest
<iframe src="https://onedrive.live.com/ ... ></iframe>
Picture of Jupiter&moons at 30 times zoom with a plane passing by. 20120202 18.42 MET - Appelscha - the Netherlands. Hope it works....

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 7:55 pm
by geckzilla
Guest wrote:<iframe src="https://onedrive.live.com/ ... ></iframe>
Picture of Jupiter&moons at 30 times zoom with a plane passing by. 20120202 18.42 MET - Appelscha - the Netherlands. Hope it works....
This is the wrong thread for this but if you sign up for an account you can attach images directly to your post.

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 1:20 am
by Nitpicker
Very deep image. But I am surprised to see Scorpius described as "well-known but rarely pointed out". It is one of the few zodiacal constellations that is bright and also looks like what it has been named after, with very little imagination required. Perhaps it is just because it is southern?

Re: APOD: A Scorpius Sky Spectacular (2014 May 04)

Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 1:35 am
by Chris Peterson
Nitpicker wrote:Very deep image. But I am surprised to see Scorpius described as "well-known but rarely pointed out". It is one of the few zodiacal constellations that is bright and also looks like what it has been named after, with very little imagination required. Perhaps it is just because it is southern?
I thought that was odd, too. Like all of the zodiacal constellations, it's visible over most of the world. I'd say Scorpius is one of the most common things pointed out- right up there with Orion and the Big Dipper.