Starship Asterisk*

Oops, I messed up the quoting there.

[quote="neufer"][float=right][img3=""]http://pictures2.todocoleccion.net/tc/2012/03/14/30892534.jpg[/img3][/float]
[c][size=150]That's highly posable![/size][/c][/quote]
Heh. =) I wonder if the pun was deliberate on the part of the packaging designer, as well.

[float=right][img3=""]http://pictures2.todocoleccion.net/tc/2012/03/14/30892534.jpg[/img3][/float][quote="NGC3314"]

This reminded me of perhaps our first UV view of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was provided back in 1972, when the Apollo 16 crew briefly operated our first observatory on the surface of another world. Built by George Carruthers of the Naval Research Lab, the S201 camera was an all-mirror version of a Schmidt telescope, obtaining a mix of images and spectra. The slow lunar rotation allowed fairly long exposures before image trailing prevented use of the data. A refurbished engineering backup of the camera is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Oddly, I've also seen toy versions on sale in the last few years, as part of a set with an action figure called Commander Wolf Perry.[/quote]
[c][size=150]That's highly posable![/size][/c]
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1984ApJS...54..271C
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1984PASP...96..447C
http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/117/1/206/fulltext/980319.text.html

[b][i] http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=31512 [/i][/b]

We've come a long way! This reminded me of perhaps our first UV view of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was provided back in 1972, when the Apollo 16 crew briefly operated our first observatory on the surface of another world. Built by George Carruthers of the Naval Research Lab, the S201 camera was an all-mirror version of a Schmidt telescope, obtaining a mix of images and spectra. The slow lunar rotation allowed fairly long exposures before image trailing prevented use of the data. Here's one of the LMC images, scanned from a journal paper and contrast-reversed to make a positive:

[img]http://astronomy.ua.edu/keel/techniques/LMCApollo16.jpg[/img]

A refurbished engineering backup of the camera is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Oddly, I've also seen toy versions on sale in the last few years, as part of a set with an action figure called Commander Wolf Perry.

[img3="[b][color=#0000FF]Global map of lightning frequency--strikes/km[sup]2[/sup]/yr. The high lightning areas are on land located in the tropics. Areas with almost no lightning are the arctic and antarctic closely followed by the oceans with only 0.1 to 1 strikes/km2/yr there.[/color][/b]"]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Global_Lightning_Frequency.png/1024px-Global_Lightning_Frequency.png[/img3]

As much as I love the Large Magellanic Cloud, I have never thought about what it would look like in ultraviolet. Very curious about the bubble structure near the top of the image, especially as there doesn't appear to be anything there in optical. I'm guessing it's a windblown bubble around a massive star.

What we see....what we don't see....

Just one of the illusions of this wondrous Universe...

:---[===] *

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130610.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_130610.jpg[/img] [size=150]The Large Magellanic Cloud in Ultraviolet[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Where are the hottest stars in the nearest galaxies? To help find out, NASA commissioned its Earth-orbiting Swift satellite to compile a [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53yokIKAnDs]multi-image mosaic[/url] of the neighboring [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130528.html]Large Magellanic Cloud[/url] (LMC) galaxy in ultraviolet light. The [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/magellanic-uv.html]above image[/url] shows where recently formed stars occur in the LMC, as the most massive of these young stars shine brightly in blue and [url=http://missionscience.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves.html]ultraviolet[/url]. In contrast, visible in an image [url=http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr02/2012/12/15/16/anigif_enhanced-buzz-3238-1355608787-1.gif]roll-over[/url], a more familiar view of the LMC in visible light better highlights older stars. On the upper left is one of the largest star forming regions known in the entire [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group]Local Group[/url] of galaxies: the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120516.html]Tarantula Nebula[/url]. The Large Magellanic Cloud and its smaller companion the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100903.html]Small Magellanic Cloud[/url] are [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100514.html]easily visible[/url] with the unaided eye to sky enthusiasts with a view of the southern sky. Detailed inspection of the [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/magellanic-uv.html]above image[/url] is allowing a better galaxy-comprehensive picture for how [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_formation]star formation[/url] occurs.

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