Starship Asterisk*

The brightest foreground stars show six straight diffaction spikes and also at least two arcs. Are the arcs similarly an artefact of the way the telescope's mirror is mounted? You beat me to asking about the arcs. Clearly it's an optical artifact, but what causes it and why is it only visible on so...

So, I'm reading that tiny NGC 3165 is also part of this triple, and at about the same distance, yet it doesn't seem to be interacting with the other two at all, either currently or in the past. Why not? First, these interactions are tidal . That means they occur when extended bodies are close enoug...

So, I'm reading that tiny NGC 3165 is also part of this triple, and at about the same distance, yet it doesn't seem to be interacting with the other two at all, either currently or in the past. Why not? Also, I note that NGC 3165 is classified as a spiral too, which would confirm that spirals reall...

So, I'm reading that tiny NGC 3165 is also part of this triple, and at about the same distance, yet it doesn't seem to be interacting with the other two at all, either currently or in the past. Why not? Also, I note that NGC 3165 is classified as a spiral too, which would confirm that spirals really...

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 10:13 pm I just re-read Clarke's 1971 short story A Meeting with Medusa about a dirigible pilot who ventures down into the upper levels of Jupiter's atmosphere (and discovers life there). Kind of like the APOD, but in slow motion.

Nice. I'll have to go read it myself. For the first time!

Nice, but I want my gargantuan tentacled buoyant Jovian alien gas bag "jellyfish"!

I trust we are nearing the end of Aurora Week! How about we have a Galaxy Week next?

EDIT: looking back, I see we had a cluster featured last Tuesday (May 14), so it wasn't a pure Aurora Week after all.

I presume this is the location of the Southern Cross:

That link to the Youtube video sure is impressive. url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt_XvnVrDco But what caused that bright flash a 00:00:33 seconds into it, quickly followed by a seemingly remnant "thumbprint" on the image? A passing car headlight? georgia aurora video still.jpg The p...

That link to the Youtube video sure is impressive. url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt_XvnVrDco But what caused that bright flash a 00:00:33 seconds into it, quickly followed by a seemingly remnant "thumbprint" on the image? A passing car headlight? georgia aurora video still.jpg

Ann wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 6:00 am Aurora Georgia?

Sorry, I couldn't help thinking of something like this...


Aurora Georgia.png

Ann

Aurora Georgialis!

The apparent disk of the Sun rotates by about 180° between sunrise and sunset (with respect to the horizon). Consider that when you're watching the Sun rise in the east, its north pole is pointing to the left. At sunset, it is pointing to the right. So a camera that is oriented so that its lower ed...

I actually rounded it down. The Windows Calc app gives me 11,668,096.170609625164708884885897 ! Cool. So we know the age of the cluster to within a few attoseconds! Where is the "rolling on the floor laughing my a.. off" emoji? Ann Here you go: 🤣🤣🤣 , or perhaps this animated gif: https://...

Astro_mark wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 7:12 pm Indeed! I thought I was still commenting on the moons post that was one line before this one.
Of this image I love the natural colors of the sky and the orange glow of the horizon!

Sorry, but what moons post? Still not getting it. I must be getting too old...

That's because you have a cheap calculator. Mine has more digits, so I know the age of this cluster to within a few milliseconds! I actually rounded it down. The Windows Calc app gives me 11,668,096.170609625164708884885897 ! Cool. So we know the age of the cluster to within a few attoseconds! I lo...

What about it? The link to the "webda" page mentioned (https://webda.physics.muni.cz/cgi-bin/ocl_page.cgi?dirname=ngc2169) shows a "Log age" of 7.067 and 10 the power of that is about 11,668,096.17 😊 That's because you have a cheap calculator. Mine has more digits, so I know the...

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 6:10 pm

Roy wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 6:09 pmLog Age

What about it?

The link to the "webda" page mentioned (https://webda.physics.muni.cz/cgi-bin/o ... me=ngc2169) shows a "Log age" of 7.067 and 10 the power of that is about 11,668,096.17

EDIT: oops: Roy beat me to it!

Hopefully someone can clear up some sun confusions for me. Today's APOD shows AR-3664 towards the BOTTOM of the solar disk. That of May 11 showed this cluster to be towards the RIGHT. Does the apparent orientation of the sun shift from day to day? My understanding is that the storms move from left ...

Hi! I'd like to introduce myself, I'm Lee! I won't be contributing anything of value to these discussions. I just love to look at the pictures. As an example, the first thing I thought of when I saw this one was "ET phone home". So, there ya go! I do read the discussions and sometimes eve...

In its simplicity, this image is both artistic and scientific. the colors of the Moon catch the eye. I would like to understand a little more what the magenta color of the central moon is due to. I will check Marcella's blog. Perhaps it is a Moon low on the horizon with this coloration that the aut...

I wonder why after I clicked Show in YouTube I was presented with a view defaulted to 480 pixel height video and had to go through options to see 1080 pixel height original video Hmm, I get a 720p (1024x720) video resolution when I click on the link. I would think the default resolution is set by t...

Amazing display on Friday night from Cornwall in the South-West of the UK. The pillars were bright rapidly changing, in subtle greens, purples and occasionally blue. Didn't know where to look at times, there were some bright transient features due South. Brightest display here for over 20 years I b...

The result looks like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MYJhsjX-C4 Thanks johnny, I had to strip a channel parameter off my url in order to get it to work. FYI, this URL also works properly in the [youtube][/youtube] tags: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MYJhsjX-C4?si=zsBn6ckJw_SLulZa

Amazing display on Friday night from Cornwall in the South-West of the UK. The pillars were bright rapidly changing, in subtle greens, purples and occasionally blue. Didn't know where to look at times, there were some bright transient features due South. Brightest display here for over 20 years I b...

Is this image, its quality and the gesture to publish it, a huge joke? From time to time APOD editions pop into my view, last time I left some abrasive comments was for the photoshoped solar eclipse-moon-something. I literally shoot better (read: much better, link below to our forum) images during ...