MargaritaMc wrote:alter-ego wrote:
Ann wrote:Today's APOD is very fascinating, but I'm frustrated because I can't identiy the background stars. Can anyone help me?
Ann
The bright star on the right is Altair and on the left is Cassiopeia's gamma Cas, Caph, and Shedir. The moon is just rising under Altair (behind the mountain) so it is not a reasonable light source for the cloud. The suspect light source I think are the ground lights below. The cloud could be farther away from the mountain and the town (Government Camp), so the illumination could be more from the side of the cloud than directly under it. Also the lights on the mountain, behind the ridge, could easily be bright enough especially if you consider the likely skyward reflected component off the snow (the ski areas are on the other side of that ridge).
Correction: I was too early with date/time. The moon rises later, possibly after the sunrise.
Have you any thoughts about the stars on the far right of the photo? Just above and slightly to the left of the tent. When I first read what you had posted, alter-ego, I thought that you meant that one of these was Altair. Then you mentioned that Altair was directly above the mountain. So I thought I'd ask!
Margarita
Margarita,
See Picture...Altair is the far right star...the view is East, from my city, Salem, Oregon on the 17 of March. The Moon is down in the lower left, just under Jupiter, same color text, UNDER the horizon, so, Maybe I did not have the right day, but this is about 4:30 in the morning. MY SOFTWARE shows that the Moon was setting in the west at this time around the 25th, which means it was actually starting the new phases...and was not VISIBLE for MID-MARCH...Earlier than the 25th, it was under the horizon. The Moon was UP and to the SOUTH early in the month, but was down, under the horizon at this time of morning, from about the 8th on...so Mid Month, it would not be up and not in the picture, or even "behind" Mount Hood...or the other mountains.
Hope this helps put things in perspective.
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