APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

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APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:09 am

Image Milky Way over the Pinnacles in Australia

Explanation: What strange world is this? Earth. In the foreground of the featured image are the Pinnacles, unusual rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia. Made of ancient sea shells (limestone), how these human-sized picturesque spires formed remains unknown. In the background, just past the end of the central Pinnacle, is a bright crescent Moon. The eerie glow around the Moon is mostly zodiacal light, sunlight reflected by dust grains orbiting between the planets in the Solar System. Arching across the top is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Many famous stars and nebula are also visible in the background night sky. The featured 29-panel panorama was taken and composed last September after detailed planning that involved the Moon, the rock spires, and their corresponding shadows. Even so, the strong zodiacal light was a pleasant surprise.

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by Nitpicker » Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:31 am

I like how you squeezed two five separate links into "Earth". Lovely APOD.

heehaw

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Post by heehaw » Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:55 am

And I liked the surprise!

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by rstevenson » Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:07 pm

I'm wondering about the other two bright areas on the horizon. If this is the setting Moon, I can't see much of anything (in Google Maps) west of the Pinnacles except for Hangover Bay. Maybe there's some off-shore rigs that are well lit all night? Or is it a rising Moon, and there's something bright to the east?

Rob

NCTom

Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by NCTom » Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:15 pm

Great shot. A rollover identifying some of the various galactic neighbors would have been a nice addition.

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by Ann » Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:59 pm

heehaw wrote:And I liked the surprise!
Me too!

Of course, me being a cat person... :wink: :kitty:

Ann
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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by BillBixby » Thu Feb 18, 2016 2:22 am

NCTom wrote:Great shot. A rollover identifying some of the various galactic neighbors would have been a nice addition.
If it helps, click the E of the five links in the word Earth for a roll over

NCTom

Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by NCTom » Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:01 pm

Thanks for the reference. I always can use a little (lot of!) help.

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by Nitpicker » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:30 pm

rstevenson wrote:I'm wondering about the other two bright areas on the horizon. If this is the setting Moon, I can't see much of anything (in Google Maps) west of the Pinnacles except for Hangover Bay. Maybe there's some off-shore rigs that are well lit all night? Or is it a rising Moon, and there's something bright to the east?

Rob
I think that is the town of Cervantes, about 12 km to the NNW. The galaxy spans the horizon from left to right in the APOD, roughly from the SW to the NNE. The young, setting Moon is roughly to the West.

Errolhunt

Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by Errolhunt » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:47 am

Why is the Milky Way curved in this image?

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by geckzilla » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:24 pm

Errolhunt wrote:Why is the Milky Way curved in this image?
Conversion of sphere to flat rectangle.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by rstevenson » Sun Feb 21, 2016 2:02 pm

Nitpicker wrote:
rstevenson wrote:I'm wondering about the other two bright areas on the horizon. If this is the setting Moon, I can't see much of anything (in Google Maps) west of the Pinnacles except for Hangover Bay. Maybe there's some off-shore rigs that are well lit all night? Or is it a rising Moon, and there's something bright to the east?
I think that is the town of Cervantes, about 12 km to the NNW. The galaxy spans the horizon from left to right in the APOD, roughly from the SW to the NNE. The young, setting Moon is roughly to the West.
Thanks nit. I wasn't thinking of the wide span of the Milky Way, and therefore was tilting at the wrong windmill. Cervantes it is, I'm sure.

Rob

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Re: APOD: Milky Way over the Pinnacles in... (2016 Feb 17)

Post by neufer » Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:09 pm

rstevenson wrote:
Nitpicker wrote:
rstevenson wrote:
I'm wondering about the other two bright areas on the horizon. If this is the setting Moon, I can't see much of anything (in Google Maps) west of the Pinnacles except for Hangover Bay. Maybe there's some off-shore rigs that are well lit all night? Or is it a rising Moon, and there's something bright to the east?
I think that is the town of Cervantes, about 12 km to the NNW. The galaxy spans the horizon from left to right in the APOD, roughly from the SW to the NNE. The young, setting Moon is roughly to the West.
Thanks nit. I wasn't thinking of the wide span of the Milky Way, and therefore was tilting at the wrong windmill. Cervantes it is, I'm sure.
Not to mention nearby Lake Thetis with its 3.5 billion year old inhabitants
(way older than anything in http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150223.html )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Thetis wrote:
<<Lake Thetis is a saline coastal lake in the mid-western region of Western Australia. The lake is situated east of the small town Cervantes, 2 kilometres inland from the Indian Ocean. The lake is one of only a few places in the world with living marine stromatolites. The Lake Thetis stromatolites exhibit unusual columnar branching. These narrow, closely spaced and almost parallel columns are extremely rare in modern stromatolites.

Stromatolites (from Greek στρώμα, strōma, mattress, bed, stratum, and λίθος, lithos, rock) are layered bio-chemical accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms (microbial mats) of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria. Fossilized stromatolites provide ancient records of life on Earth by these remains, which might date from more than 3.5 billion years. Lichen stromatolites are a proposed mechanism of formation of some kinds of layered rock structure that is formed above water, where rock meets air, by repeated colonization of the rock by endolithic lichens>>
Art Neuendorffer