Starship Asterisk*

Milky Way over Erupting Volcano

Explanation: The view was worth the trip. Battling high winds, cold temperatures, and low oxygen, the trek to near the top of the volcano Santa Maria in Guatemala -- while carrying sensitive camera equipment -- was lonely and difficult. Once set up, though, the camera captured this breathtaking vista during the early morning hours of February 28. Visible on the ground are six volcanoes of the Central America Volcanic Arc, including Fuego, the Volcano of Fire, which is seen erupting in the distance. Visible in the sky, in separate exposures taken a few minutes later, are many stars much further in the distance, as well as the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy situated horizontally overhead.

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The colors, the live volcano and city lights that seem like lava pools - eerily alien-like.
In addition to many Messier objects, Saturn is also in this image (brightest object near top, right of center).

Nice one Sergio!

Nitpicker wrote:Nice one Sergio!

Yes, Sergio is one of those who very regularly grace the Recent Submissions forums here at Starship Asterisk* with his fine photos. You deserve an APOD, Sergio!

Ann

Thank you I feel really happy!

Another intrepid photograpgher....braves the elements.

Almost...um....er.... A mount too far!!!!!!!......uh....sorry....

:---(===) *

APOD Robot wrote:Battling high winds, cold temperatures, and low oxygen

Astronomers are made of stronger stuff! All around the world and throughout history, many extraordinary individuals have been courageous enough to put themselves through hardship for the sake of bringing the universe closer.

If you let your imagination wander, this could be a view from another planet or a view from Earth many millions of years ago!

Also has anyone personally faced intolerance in regards to astronomy from people in their life?

starsurfer wrote:Also has anyone personally faced intolerance in regards to astronomy from people in their life?

I find it's one of the only things I can mention and universally receive a positive response to. I've met people who immediately want to mention how dubious they are about Big Bang theory but people always love to talk about astronomy, whether they accept one theory or another or not.

Thank you, Sergio Montufar, for this eerily beautiful image! What an extraordinary thing.

Starsurfer asks "Also has anyone personally faced intolerance in regards to astronomy from people in their life?"

Oh, my! Yes indeed. The mean little boys had a mean little name for me all the way through grade school, after I made the mistake of revealing in the 2nd grade that I wanted to grow up to be an astronomer. My parents, who thought I was nuts, told me that after finishing secretarial school "you can always have astronomy for a hobby."

Did manage to get a Ph.D., but not in the hard sciences. Women weren't especially welcome in the 1960s.

pic tells me something about the geometry of the solar system with respect to the galaxy

astro-nut wrote:pic tells me something about the geometry of the solar system with respect to the galaxy

Well, actually no.
The view galactic plane orientation wrt the local horizon have several circumstances participating to present this view: Time of day/night, time of year, and Earth's latitude, Obliquity of the Ecliptic, the Vernal Equinox. If you know these parameters (give or take) you could back out the relationship between our solar system and the galaxy. The image itself does not reveal any geometrical correlation.

alter-ego wrote:

astro-nut wrote:pic tells me something about the geometry of the solar system with respect to the galaxy

Well, actually no.
The view galactic plane orientation wrt the local horizon have several circumstances participating to present this view: Time of day/night, time of year, and Earth's latitude, Obliquity of the Ecliptic, the Vernal Equinox. If you know these parameters (give or take) you could back out the relationship between our solar system and the galaxy. The image itself does not reveal any geometrical correlation.

I've always found the zodiacal light to be a good illustration of the relationship between our solar system and the galaxy. Steed posted an interesting picture the other day which shows the whole sky without distorting the galactic plane or the ecliptic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/steedjoy/16469461723/

geckzilla wrote:

alter-ego wrote:

astro-nut wrote:pic tells me something about the geometry of the solar system with respect to the galaxy

Well, actually no.
The view galactic plane orientation wrt the local horizon have several circumstances participating to present this view: Time of day/night, time of year, and Earth's latitude, Obliquity of the Ecliptic, the Vernal Equinox. If you know these parameters (give or take) you could back out the relationship between our solar system and the galaxy. The image itself does not reveal any geometrical correlation.

I've always found the zodiacal light to be a good illustration of the relationship between our solar system and the galaxy. Steed posted an interesting picture the other day which shows the whole sky without distorting the galactic plane or the ecliptic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/steedjoy/16469461723/

Good observation - I certainly agree. The zodiacal light in that image gives especially good insight into the relative orientation of the planes. If today's APOD had the zodiacal light in it, I wouldn't have questioned astro-nut's post.

I used Stellarium to reproduce the relative distortion-free galactic and ecliptic planes (with the zodiacal light).