APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 06)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
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APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 06)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:09 am

Image Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern Night

Explanation: Have you ever seen the night sky change? It does -- sometimes in beautiful and unexpected ways. To see it, though, usually requires patience. The above award winning video shows several of the possible changes in dramatic fashion with a time lapse video. Visible are sunset-illuminated clouds moving, stars of vivid colors rising, the long tail of a Comet Lovejoy rising, bright satellites crossing, a meteor exploding, a distant lightning storm approaching, skyscapes including the Magellanic Clouds rotating, and a fisheye sky rotating while the foreground becomes illuminated by moonlight. Frequently featuring an artistic human sculpture in the foreground and the southern sky in the background, the video closes with a time lapse clip of a total lunar eclipse. If you can identify any more of the sky events depicted -- or any of the landscapes shown -- please illuminate them with a comment.

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by paul_adams777 » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:46 am

The scenes near the start with silhouetted rocks that lighten to show yellow / orange sands with sandstone pillars are almost definitely at a location called The Pinnacles on the coastal sand-dunes inland from Grey in Western Australia - roughly 100 miles NNW of Perth. Google Earth has some good images. Search for The Pinnacles, Western Australia.

There are no brightly lit towns for miles around there, making it an ideal place for astronomical observation.

A venti

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by A venti » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:12 am

To drunk to get it all. Stop thinking so hard. Get a grip. We're all still stuck on this rock!!!!!! Either make something of metal or dont. Get us off this rock. Peace yo

DrMick

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by DrMick » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:43 am

1:25 appears to be the Bungle Bungles. 1:45 might be stromatolites at Shark Bay. Both are in Western Australia

hooray beer

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by hooray beer » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:16 am

That's no sculpture...

I, for one, welcome our welcome our artistic alien overlords :D

Those fast moving wispy things look like they are clouds, or galaxies, and I think I see some dark matter in there also...

Some of those clouds look like they might have sprites, gnomes, and even ELVES!

1:44 doesn't fool me, it has to be a lake on Mars, just discovered.

Seriously, this is some fantastic work here, reminiscient of anima mundi, no wonder it has won awards. Congratulations, hope to see more.

P.S. I know this is a little off topic, but this seems like an astronomy forum (captcha told me), and I was wondering, does Uranus have an Aurora

Borealis? I never oserved it directly, but am guessing it does.

Brewer

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Brewer » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:34 pm

I especially liked the Southern Cross rising over the snow caped volcano. Such a simple constellation to have such a grip on me.

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Beyond » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:37 pm

Two minutes just isn't long enough! :no:
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

Barta IV

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Barta IV » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:46 pm

At 1:55 there is something at the 10 o'clock position near the moon moving up perpendicular to the movement of the stars, what is it?

Mr Ballard

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Mr Ballard » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:30 pm

At 59 seconds the lake is named after my family.

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by neufer » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:02 pm

hooray beer wrote:
That's no sculpture...

I, for one, welcome our welcome our artistic alien overlords :D

[c]Those guys will have to compete for Earth
against Wenlock and Mandeville first :!:[/c]
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:49 pm

hooray beer wrote:...
P.S. I know this is a little off topic, but this seems like an astronomy forum (captcha told me), and I was wondering, does Uranus have an Aurora Borealis? I never oserved it directly, but am guessing it does.
Yes, an aurora has been seen on Uranus.

And no, you're not likely to observe it with an amateur telescope.
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

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spoiler

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:55 pm

I think tomorrow's apod might be this wheel on Mars.
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

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Re: spoiler

Post by neufer » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:16 pm

Anthony Barreiro wrote:
I think tomorrow's apod might be this wheel on Mars.
No one will be interested in this shot tomorrow. (Instant obsolescence.)

It'll be rather the unique MRO parachute landing shot.

Unless, that is, APOD could somehow photoshop Matt Harding into the JPL celebration.
Last edited by neufer on Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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none

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by none » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:48 pm

There is no image.

Winslow1191

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Winslow1191 » Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:47 pm

When I put my cursor on the still shot, the screen goes blank. WassUp?

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Re: spoiler

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:01 pm

neufer wrote:
Anthony Barreiro wrote:
I think tomorrow's apod might be this wheel on Mars.
No one will be interested in this shot tomorrow. (Instant obsolescence.)

It'll be rather the unique MRO parachute landing shot.
Hmmph. Mars Reconaissance Orbiter always gets all the glory. Mars Odyssey gets my vote for best supporting spacecraft: Odyssey was in position to receive radio communications from Curiosity during descent and landing, sent the first confirmation of successful landing, and relayed the first pictures.
neufer wrote:Unless, that is, APOD could somehow photoshop Matt Harding into the JPL celebration.
How about Matt Harding and Charles Bolden jitterbugging together?
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by bystander » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:01 pm

none wrote:There is no image.
Winslow1191 wrote:When I put my cursor on the still shot, the screen goes blank. WassUp?
It's a video, be patient. You need to have Flash Player installed to view it and it may take a while for the video to load. I usually have better luck going to the source to view it.

http://vimeo.com/45856570
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alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
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imontheinternet

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by imontheinternet » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:16 pm

lol! I guess especially because this is ASTRONOMY pic of the day afterall - so if aliens were to be discovered it would be in this field if any - thought the 'disturbing' figure in the water was an alien! :shock:

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by azhad » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:40 pm

Brewer wrote:I especially liked the Southern Cross rising over the snow caped volcano. Such a simple constellation to have such a grip on me.
I find the Southern Cross nice too. The one reason I watched the video again. I'm at the equator, so don't get the chance to see it upside down.

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by NoelC » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:09 pm

What beauty and wonder to see the world through digital eyes better than our own and so easily able to compress time so as to animate the sky and Earth.

-Noel

totalnewbie

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by totalnewbie » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:14 am

No one recognizes the alien planet as Uyuni?

mikeyralph68

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by mikeyralph68 » Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:30 am

Did you notice the two small satellites to the left of the Moon once it starts to go dim during the eclipse? They both are traveling upwards while the Moon is dim. Maybe meteorites? or maybe Artificial?

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by mirtomlia » Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:41 pm

The sculptures on a salt lake - Lake Ballard Western Australia - the Antony Gormley Sculptures are displyed in the largest out door gallery -- the sculptures are scattered over the 10km salt lake in the Shire of Menzies. The sculptures are modeled on residents of the local area of Menzies. An amazing but eerie place. The night sky is unbelievable.

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Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by neufer » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:49 pm

mirtomlia wrote:
The sculptures on a salt lake - Lake Ballard Western Australia - the Antony Gormley Sculptures are displyed in the largest out door gallery -- the sculptures are scattered over the 10km salt lake in the Shire of Menzies. The sculptures are modeled on residents of the local area of Menzies.
That sure doesn't look like a hobbit to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ballard wrote: Lake Ballard is an ephemeral salt lake. In 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Perth International Arts Festival the Inside Australia exhibition was commissioned. The artist and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley installed 51 sculptures over an area of 10 square kilometres on the bed of the lake. The statues were to be removed at the conclusion of the festival but remain as a tourist exhibition.

Lake Ballard is used as a breeding site for Banded Stilts following major flood events. The stilts nest in large close-packed colonies on low islands in ephemeral inland salt lakes such as Lake Eyre, Lake Barlee and Lake Ballard. The last recorded nesting on the lake was in 1995 following the aftermath of Cyclone Bobby.

The Banded Stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus) is a nomadic stilt from Australia. It belongs to the monotypical genus Cladorhynchus. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, but this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes are dark brown. They breed whenever the water conditions are suitable and lay 3-4 white, brown or black eggs on a scrape.>>
Last edited by neufer on Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Art Neuendorffer

Jim J

Re: APOD: Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern... (2012 Aug 0

Post by Jim J » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:53 pm

One Word.... Thanks... :clap: