APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

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APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:10 am

Image Three Galaxies over New Zealand

Explanation: No, radio dishes cannot broadcast galaxies. Although they can detect them, the above image features a photogenic superposition during a dark night in New Zealand about two weeks ago. As pictured above, the central part of our Milky Way Galaxy is seen rising to the east on the image left and arching high overhead. Beneath the Galactic arc and just above the horizon are the two brightest satellite galaxies of our Milky Way, with the Small Magellanic Cloud to the left and the Large Magellanic Cloud on the right. The radio dish is the Warkworth Satellite Station located just north of Auckland.

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Jim Leff » Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:41 am

I'm assuming that someone with astronomy software will confirm that this spectacular and witty shot actually happened, sans cheating....

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by e-Van » Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:57 am

Hi, here comes the total noob. Are there really on earth places like this one where the naked eye can see the sky as clear and detailed as in this pic ?
I mean, such pics are usually made of a very long exposure time, aren't they ? What would this scene look like with a normal human pair of eyes ?

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Ann » Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:59 am

Hey, that's really, really nice, Mike (Mack?)! :D

I just saw another of your pictures, Antares and the Kiwi. Being a northener, I'm unfamiliar with the Kiwi in the sky. Can you point it out?

Ann
Last edited by Ann on Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by skivee » Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:59 am

Aren't there 4 galaxies shown? Isn't that Andromeda at upper central left?

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:01 am

Jim Leff wrote:I'm assuming that someone with astronomy software will confirm that this spectacular and witty shot actually happened, sans cheating....
There's nothing technically wrong with the image. This is a real sky.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:08 am

e-Van wrote:Hi, here comes the total noob. Are there really on earth places like this one where the naked eye can see the sky as clear and detailed as in this pic ?
I mean, such pics are usually made of a very long exposure time, aren't they ? What would this scene look like with a normal human pair of eyes ?
No, you can't see something quite like this with your eyes alone. Visually, this scene would have lower contrast and would be largely monochrome. Also, our eyes aren't wide enough angle to take in a scene like this. To see the entire arch of the Milky Way we would need to move our head and body, and it would appear more as a linear band across the sky.

Still, an image like this only requires a minute or so exposure, and is only a little better than what we could see visually.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by alter-ego » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:23 am

Chris Peterson wrote:
Jim Leff wrote:I'm assuming that someone with astronomy software will confirm that this spectacular and witty shot actually happened, sans cheating....
There's nothing technically wrong with the image. This is a real sky.
And the view appears correct wrt the dishes as well. I estimate the camera location to be around 100m from the dish at the left.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:31 am

skivee wrote:Aren't there 4 galaxies shown? Isn't that Andromeda at upper central left?
The upper central left would be in Scorpius or Ophiuchus. A very long way from Andromeda. From the location of the image, Andromeda never gets more than about 12°above the northern horizon (and here we're looking south). Also, at the time this image was made it was a daytime object.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by alter-ego » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:50 am

There's no mention of the streak. As it appears uniform over its length my first guess is a satellite, but seems like the streak should be longer (maybe one that had a short visibility time?). It doesn't look like a meteor, but it's length may better fit that.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jun 11, 2014 6:00 am

alter-ego wrote:There's no mention of the streak. As it appears uniform over its length my first guess is a satellite, but seems like the streak should be longer (maybe one that had a short visibility time?). It doesn't look like a meteor, but it's length may better fit that.
An image with such a large FOV is most likely a mosaic. The subs could be as short as 30 seconds... maybe even less. So it's quite possible that just one section of a satellite track could be caught and look like this.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by NCHANT » Wed Jun 11, 2014 6:35 am

Absolutely stoked to have this as APOD :) thanks everyone!
Ann wrote:Hey, that's really, really nice, Mike (Mack?)! :D

I just saw another of your pictures, Antares and the Kiwi. Being a northener, I'm unfamiliar with the Kiwi in the sky. Can you point it out?

Ann
Down here in NZ we see the Pipe Nebula as the Kiwi's beak? And then you will see the round body, and legs.
Each shot of this panorama was only 20 seconds long, using a 24mm lens on a Canon 6D camera - not modified either.

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:49 am

Today's APOD is one nice scenic picture! :thumb_up: :thumb_up: :D
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Jun 11, 2014 12:27 pm

Cool.....A GALACTIC RAINBOW!!!!!!

Just amazing. I really need to get good camera with wide angle and some long exposure capability....

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Psnarf » Wed Jun 11, 2014 2:24 pm

I really need to get someplace dark enough to see that again. In my yoot it was dark enough in the Adirondacks to see the entire arch, but along came light pollution.
Somebody better get a tech out there, the dish is leaking galaxies.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by LocalColor » Wed Jun 11, 2014 2:55 pm

Very nice, looks like a painting to hang on the wall (if you are an astro-geek.) :)

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by ta152h0 » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:21 pm

I need to sit down and have an ice cold one and soak this in, for way more than a minute exposure time. And I used to live in a place where you could do that. Brazil.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:00 pm

It looks like the Milky Way is being SHOT out of the left Telescope.... :D

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:24 pm

Boomer12k wrote:It looks like the Milky Way is being SHOT out of the left Telescope.... :D

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Or being drawn down into it. :lol2:
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by DavidLeodis » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:02 pm

alter-ego wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
Jim Leff wrote:I'm assuming that someone with astronomy software will confirm that this spectacular and witty shot actually happened, sans cheating....
There's nothing technically wrong with the image. This is a real sky.
And the view appears correct wrt the dishes as well. I estimate the camera location to be around 100m from the dish at the left.
Hi alter-ego.

The image's Exchangeable image file format (Exif) information that I was able to find through the image properties is very extensive and also has a Google satellite view of the site marking where the image was taken. This link should (hopefully! :) ) bring up the Exif data:- http://regex.info/exif.cgi?imgurl=http% ... n_2000.jpg

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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by alter-ego » Fri Jun 13, 2014 2:41 am

DavidLeodis wrote:
alter-ego wrote: ...
And the view appears correct wrt the dishes as well. I estimate the camera location to be around 100m from the dish at the left.
Hi alter-ego.

The image's Exchangeable image file format (Exif) information that I was able to find through the image properties is very extensive and also has a Google satellite view of the site marking where the image was taken. This link should (hopefully! :) ) bring up the Exif data:- http://regex.info/exif.cgi?imgurl=http% ... n_2000.jpg
Thanks for that David. Over half the time I want Exif data it's been stripped. I've not seen that much information from image properties before. It's a real gold mine. Anyway, my estimated position was within 50m of the actual - not too bad for a quick assessment.
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Re: APOD: Three Galaxies over New Zealand (2014 Jun 11)

Post by alter-ego » Fri Jun 13, 2014 2:45 am

Chris Peterson wrote:
alter-ego wrote:There's no mention of the streak. As it appears uniform over its length my first guess is a satellite, but seems like the streak should be longer (maybe one that had a short visibility time?). It doesn't look like a meteor, but it's length may better fit that.
An image with such a large FOV is most likely a mosaic. The subs could be as short as 30 seconds... maybe even less. So it's quite possible that just one section of a satellite track could be caught and look like this.
Thanks, that makes total sense.
The next morning I realized that shorter exposures the are the norm with these kind of things. My V-8 moment so to speak.
A pessimist is nothing more than an experienced optimist

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