Starship Asterisk*

I was out on Monday evening, October 17th, to look for Mercury after sunset (I found it, about 4 degrees from brilliant Venus, using 16x70 binoculars). Since I was at a relatively dark site, I also took a look at comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) with the binoculars. Indeed, it was pretty easy to find in He...

The text fails to specificlly identify Barnard 168... Joe, If you click the link for IC 5146 , and scroll about two thirds down (second paragraph from the end), Barnard 168 is touched on - albeit briefly - there. Yes, I had to scroll down a bit to find the Barnard 168 reference. Since both Hallas’ ...

The text fails to specificlly identify Barnard 168, the dark nebula that's so prominent on the right-hand side of the picture. B168 is one of the most accessible dark nebulae, and unlike the Cocoon Nebula, it can easily be seen with binoculars from a reasonably dark site. My 16x70s provide a splendi...

The APOD text refers to the time of the image vaguely as "last weekend," but typical of a comet, C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is moving somewhat quickly with respect to the background stars, so it's in a noticeably different position every night (in a telescope, the motion can be detected in less t...

It's the Palomar Transient (not Transit) Factory.

Omega can be seen from some northern places I think even 40 degrees North. It's just spectacular with binos rising above the horizon in a dark place. Right now from my location is almost at the Zenit (75 degrees at 9pm). Boomer it's raining for today's eclipse. I'm so so so mad about that :D At a d...

I saw the ISS/Shuttle double passes on Monday and Tuesday evenings from the eastern USA (southern New Jersey to be specific). Monday, March 7th, was certainly the most spectacular with the spacing between Discovery and the ISS ranging from about 4 to 10 degrees. Unfortunately, today's APOD doesn't r...

Only 700 LY away ... so close yet so far away ... I wonder if I could spot this nebula with just my binoculars ... From a reasonably dark site, the Helix is not difficult to spot in binoculars. However, it's just a dim hazy patch (with no real color), so you need to know where to look. I swoop abou...

I am looking at that picture, and I'm thinking y smart people of the APOTD can be making a mistake this grossly bad! This does not to me look like the ISS crosing the disk of the sun. it looks like Hubble that is in transit! Yes? it' far too small and not complex enough for ISS, yet the profile mat...

Why is the Vernal Point between the two planets? That certainly is not the case today or on the coming autumn equinox. I have doubts about the relative position of the three points for any moment this year or next - unless there's something about the orientation of the photo I don't get. Because th...

Note that M28 is mismarked. The line from the label is actually leading to Lambda Sagittarii (Kaus Borealis, the star marking the northern tip of the archer's bow, or alternatively, the apex of the Teapot's lid). M28 is the next brightish object to the right of Lambda. The mismarked label has been ...

Note that M28 is mismarked. The line from the label is actually leading to Lambda Sagittarii (Kaus Borealis, the star marking the northern tip of the archer's bow, or alternatively, the apex of the Teapot's lid). M28 is the next brightish object to the right of Lambda.

That's a good question. If the km and miles are right, the arcseconds are wrong. If the arcseconds are right, the km and miles are wrong. Or they could both be wrong. If your math is right, the arcseconds are wrong. In Fast Facts it gives the distance to Jupiter as 386 million miles. The semi-major...

I know this is sort of late (I just finally joined this discussion board), but the real problem with this picture is the scale bar. It's labeled: 10,000 mi = 16,100 km = 3.4" However, at Jupiter's distance of 4.10 AU on the day it was taken (July 23, 2009), it should be: 10,000 mi = 16,100 km =...

The Badlands Wall does indeed look like a cardboard cutout. All we need is a model railroad in the foreground. :D On a more factual note, the text says the picture was taken "looking southwest." Since Jupiter and Capricornus are not long after rising, they are roughly in the southeast; the...