APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

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APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:05 am

Image The Great Wall by Moonlight

Explanation: Last Friday, an almost Full Moon rose as the Sun set, over this mountainous landscape north of Beijing, China. Also near apogee, the farthest point in its elliptical orbit around planet Earth, it was this year's smallest and faintest Full Moon. The Jiankou section of the Great Wall of China meanders through the scene, the ancient Great Wall itself the subject of an older-than-the-space-age myth that it would be visible to the eye when standing on the lunar surface. But even from low Earth orbit, the large scale artifact of human civilization is very difficult to identify. At its farthest from our fair planet, the Moon shines brightly in the twilight sky though, posing in the faint, pinkish band known as the antitwilight arch or the belt of Venus.

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by geckzilla » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:05 am

Well, it's Friday the 13th but other than that it seems today's APOD has nothing to do with the number 13.
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Nitpicker » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:24 am

Maybe there was too much fear of the number 13, so they went for an image from China, where the the number 4 is feared, instead. Nice picture.

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Ann » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:08 am

I think I prefer this image over another version of the much-photographed, impressive but somewhat "feature-less" globular cluster, M13.

It is not hard to believe that the Great Wall is not visible from the Moon when you see this picture. But from much closer to home, and from the position of the photographer, the wall looks quite stunning. Tell me, does the wall climb up the peaks that are seen in silhouette against the sky? I guess not.

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:30 am

geckzilla wrote:Well, it's Friday the 13th but other than that it seems today's APOD has nothing to do with the number 13.
Fear of the Mongol hoards was the motivation for building the Great Wall, which obviously took an extraordinary effort. Does the number 13 have anything to do this history?
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Uwe » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:02 am

Beautiful picture, Thank you APOD! Just out of sheer interest: Does anyone know, whether it's possible to walk along (parts of) the wall?

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by owlice » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:06 am

Uwe wrote:Beautiful picture, Thank you APOD! Just out of sheer interest: Does anyone know, whether it's possible to walk along (parts of) the wall?
Yes, it is.
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by geckzilla » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:09 am

BDanielMayfield wrote:
geckzilla wrote:Well, it's Friday the 13th but other than that it seems today's APOD has nothing to do with the number 13.
Fear of the Mongol hoards was the motivation for building the Great Wall, which obviously took an extraordinary effort. Does the number 13 have anything to do this history?
It was built on and off over the centuries. Once the nomadic tribes united and the Mongol Empire was founded, the wall couldn't stop them. It's a common misconception among Westerners that the horde were mere barbarians. Far from it. (I know you didn't say they were barbarians but I thought I'd head off that topic before it could begin.)
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by starsurfer » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:51 am

Ann wrote:I think I prefer this image over another version of the much-photographed, impressive but somewhat "feature-less" globular cluster, M13.

It is not hard to believe that the Great Wall is not visible from the Moon when you see this picture. But from much closer to home, and from the position of the photographer, the wall looks quite stunning. Tell me, does the wall climb up the peaks that are seen in silhouette against the sky? I guess not.

Ann
I think both are fantastic! In my opinion, Omega Centauri appears more featureless compared to M13.

Also nice continuation of yesterday's theme of walls, we have gone from the cosmic to the terrestrial in the space of a day.

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by truth » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:56 am

I don't believe that the myth was ever that "the great wall of china is visible from the moon". The saying is that "it is visible from space" i.e. orbit.
At some point someone got confused about the saying and changed the word "space" to "moon".

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Boomer12k » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:51 pm

The mountains remindme of The Cygnus Wall.....


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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:00 pm

Thirteen seems unlucky but I'm going to leave it to a statistician to figure out the real odds. In a month it will be 45 years since Apollo 13 was launched. Perhaps from the evening of April 13th when Apollo 13 "had a problem.", NASA could still be a little triskaidekaphobic.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/24441/fo ... -apollo-13

Even Asterisk has analyzed this before from a slightly more positive viewpoint.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=19099&p=120226

As for the Great Wall, it looks like for some reason in the 13th century, no wall was being built from the Wiki link. In the end I'd bet looking for mysterious 13's is easier than proving it. Don't know if I'd choose to be the thirteenth moonwalker though. Might find "some" kind of wall.
Clavius Wall.jpg
Clavius Wall.jpg (5.73 KiB) Viewed 5796 times
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:06 pm

I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post. :ohno:
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by owlice » Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:58 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post. :ohno:
Well, lucky for you I've removed two posts, so you're safe!
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:43 pm

owlice wrote:
Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post. :ohno:
Well, lucky for you I've removed two posts, so you're safe!
You usually "chews" wisely Owlice so thanks for for being on top of you moderator role. My nails appreciate it!
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by starsurfer » Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:32 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:
owlice wrote:
Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post. :ohno:
Well, lucky for you I've removed two posts, so you're safe!
You usually "chews" wisely Owlice
Don't owls swallow things whole? :D :lol2:

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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by owlice » Sun Mar 15, 2015 2:22 pm

No, no; we rip the flesh off bunnies and other beasties that are too big to swallow whole, but can also deal with the morsels that fit down the hatch mostly complete.
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by Beyond » Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:53 pm

Mice usually go down the 'hatch' whole. Speaking of which, owlice's poor cats have to go to the neighbors to get theirs. There's none left at her place. :lol2:
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Re: APOD: The Great Wall by Moonlight (2015 Mar 13)

Post by starsurfer » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:26 pm

owlice wrote:No, no; we rip the flesh off bunnies and other beasties that are too big to swallow whole, but can also deal with the morsels that fit down the hatch mostly complete.
That sounds delightful! You're a hoot! :lol2:

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