Starship Asterisk*

From the Northern to the Southern Cross

Explanation: There is a road that connects the Northern to the Southern Cross but you have to be at the right place and time to see it. The road, as pictured here, is actually the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy; the right place, in this case, is dark Laguna Cejar in Salar de Atacama of Northern Chile; and the right time was in early October, just after sunset. Many sky wonders were captured then, including the bright Moon, inside the Milky Way arch; Venus, just above the Moon; Saturn and Mercury, just below the Moon; the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds satellite galaxies, on the far left; red airglow near the horizon on the image left; and the lights of small towns at several locations across the horizon. One might guess that composing this 30-image panorama would have been a serene experience, but for that one would have required earplugs to ignore the continued brays of wild donkeys.

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Nice photo Mr. Buer. The colors are breathtaking. One thing puzzles me though about the description. If they were wild donkeys, then why is the wild donkey doing the braying in the brays link wearing what appears to be a human made blanket or coat? Also why is a wild donkey next to a fence of what appears to be a pen or farmyard?

Awesome; but then; any photo of the Milky Way generally is! Love that you can spot the LMC and SMC so easily!

+1

I'm glad "donkeys" hot-linked to a Wikipedia article. I was wondering what those things were.

For someone with the right software, what phase was the moon in when this composite image set was taken? (Since in my experience it's impossible to see the Milky Way when the Moon is up. Just wondering.... )

Odysseus wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:34 pm
I'm glad "donkeys" hot-linked to a Wikipedia article.

I was wondering what those things were.

• So...you don't know Jack then

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 07#p289267

neufer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 3:56 pm

Odysseus wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:34 pm
I'm glad "donkeys" hot-linked to a Wikipedia article.

I was wondering what those things were.

• So...you don't know Jack then

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 07#p289267

One man's donkey is another man's ass.

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 3:49 pm For someone with the right software, what phase was the moon in when this composite image set was taken? (Since in my experience it's impossible to see the Milky Way when the Moon is up. Just wondering.... )

With the moon low in the west after sunset, it would have been a youngish moon. I haven't checked more precicely since it was last an APOD a few years back.

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 3:49 pm For someone with the right software, what phase was the moon in when this composite image set was taken? (Since in my experience it's impossible to see the Milky Way when the Moon is up. Just wondering.... )

It looks like this image was made about an hour after sunset on 2013 Oct 7, which means the Moon was three days past new, at about a 10% phase. So just a fine crescent.

Wild Donkeys notwithstanding, it is hard to see what the image is supposed to be about... the CROSSES... I can barely make out Crux to the far left low, at the end of the Milky Way, to our right of the LMC...and I needed Stellarium to do that...and to the right end...North...Cygnus...I guess that is Vega...the bright star below the Milky Way arch...so Cygnus is just to the right basically...but from the image...I can't tell what is what... maybe some annotation in the future if things are going to be pointed out...other than that...great shot... it is a Sunday repeat and that is fine...if you have not seen it before...it is "new to you..."...

We are in heavy fog....
:---[===] *

Boomer12k wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:50 am
Wild Donkeys notwithstanding, it is hard to see what the image is supposed to be about... the CROSSES... I can barely make out Crux to the far left low, at the end of the Milky Way, to our right of the LMC...and I needed Stellarium to do that...and to the right end...North...Cygnus...I guess that is Vega...the bright star below the Milky Way arch...so Cygnus is just to the right basically...but from the image...I can't tell what is what... maybe some annotation in the future if things are going to be pointed out...

We are in heavy fog....

• So, then, you have missed the crux of the matter.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/crux#etymonline_v_29117 wrote:
<<crux (n.) 1814, "a cross," from Latin crux "cross," a word of uncertain origin. Sometimes said to be cognate with Irish cruach "heap, hill," Gaulish *krouka "summit," Old Norse hryggr "backbone," Old English hrycg "back." The figurative use for "a central difficulty" (1718) is older in English than the literal sense; perhaps it is from Latin crux interpretum "a point in a text that is impossible to interpret," the literal meaning of which is something like "crossroads of interpreters." But Century Dictionary ascribes it to "the cross as an instrument of torture; hence anything that puzzles or vexes in a high degree ...." Extended sense of "central point" is attested by 1888.>>