APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5546
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am

APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:07 am

Image Airglow Sky over France

Explanation: This unusual sky was both familiar and unfamiliar. The photographer's mission was to capture the arch of the familiar central band of our Milky Way Galaxy over a picturesque medieval manor. The surprise was that on this January evening, the foreground sky was found glowing in a beautiful but unfamiliar manner. The striped bands are called airglow and they result from air high in Earth's atmosphere being excited by the Sun's light and emitting a faint light of its own. The bands cross the entire sky -- their curved appearance is due to the extremely wide angle of the camera lens. In the foreground lies Château de Losse in southwest France. Other familiar sky delights dot the distant background including the bright white star Sirius, the orange planet Mars, the blue Pleiades star cluster, the red California Nebula, and, on the far right, the extended Andromeda Galaxy. The initial mission was also successful: across the top of the frame is the arching band of our Milky Way.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

NorbVor

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by NorbVor » Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:14 am

The label "Sirius" is placed on the wrong star!

ngc4438

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by ngc4438 » Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:21 am

I think you have miss-identified Sirius. :eyebrows:

User avatar
Holger Nielsen
Ensign
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:45 am

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by Holger Nielsen » Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:37 am

NorbVor wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:14 am The label "Sirius" is placed on the wrong star!
Yes, that star must be Procyon. Sirius, I think, is the bright star farther below somewhat above the large tree in the foreground. The rather bright star near the top left could be Pollux.

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13759
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by Ann » Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:36 am

Holger Nielsen wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:37 am
NorbVor wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:14 am The label "Sirius" is placed on the wrong star!
Yes, that star must be Procyon. Sirius, I think, is the bright star farther below somewhat above the large tree in the foreground. The rather bright star near the top left could be Pollux.
Indeed, the caption got the position of Sirius wrong. And you may be right about Pollux.

APOD 15 February 2023 detail annotated.png

Ann
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Color Commentator

bls0326
Science Officer
Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:18 pm
Location: USA, Texas, Amarillo

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by bls0326 » Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:49 pm

Interesting that our observant humans here quickly picked up the misplaced Sirius. The ChatGPT AI that rewrote the APOD description apparently did not notice the error.

User avatar
RJN
Baffled Boffin
Posts: 1673
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:58 pm
Location: Michigan Tech

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by RJN » Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:52 pm

NorbVor wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:14 am The label "Sirius" is placed on the wrong star!
Yes, my bad. Thanks to everyone including Ann. The annotation has now been fixed on the main NASA APOD. I apologize for the mistake.
- RJN

User avatar
johnnydeep
Commodore
Posts: 3142
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:57 pm

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by johnnydeep » Wed Feb 15, 2023 4:14 pm

Why is Andromeda described as "the extended Andromeda Galaxy" here?
--
"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:08 pm

Beautiful!!!! 😎
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
VictorBorun
Captain
Posts: 1123
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:25 pm

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by VictorBorun » Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:23 pm

johnnydeep wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 4:14 pm Why is Andromeda described as "the extended Andromeda Galaxy" here?
at this moderate exposure Andromeda is in fact presented in a short version

User avatar
VictorBorun
Captain
Posts: 1123
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:25 pm

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by VictorBorun » Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:25 pm

I wonder what is airglow waves' direction. East to West?

User avatar
johnnydeep
Commodore
Posts: 3142
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:57 pm

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by johnnydeep » Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:29 pm

VictorBorun wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:23 pm
johnnydeep wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 4:14 pm Why is Andromeda described as "the extended Andromeda Galaxy" here?
at this moderate exposure Andromeda is in fact presented in a short version
I do understand that the longer the exposure, the larger (or "extended") Andromeda appears. But I see no point in using the 'extended' descriptor in this case. As you said, Andromeda doesn't look particularly "extended" to me either!
--
"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

User avatar
Case
Commander
Posts: 617
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:08 pm
Location: (52°N, 06°E)

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by Case » Thu Feb 16, 2023 2:36 am

APOD Robot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:07 amThe striped bands are called airglow and they result from air high in Earth's atmosphere being excited by the Sun's light and emitting a faint light of its own. The bands cross the entire sky …
Wikipedia wrote:Even at the best ground-based observatories, airglow limits the photosensitivity of optical telescopes. Partly for this reason, space telescopes like Hubble can observe much fainter objects than current ground-based telescopes at visible wavelengths.
Does it glow all night? Every night? Everywhere (e.g. above Atacama, Hawaii, Canary Islands too)? With the same intensity? How do scientific ground based telescopes deal with the glow? From the photo, it seems to be much brighter than other very faint things.

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13759
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by Ann » Thu Feb 16, 2023 5:10 am

VictorBorun wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:25 pm I wonder what is airglow waves' direction. East to West?

I'm not sure they move in a particular direction. See the Youtube video below about waves in water:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18526
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Feb 16, 2023 2:15 pm

Case wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2023 2:36 am
APOD Robot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:07 amThe striped bands are called airglow and they result from air high in Earth's atmosphere being excited by the Sun's light and emitting a faint light of its own. The bands cross the entire sky …
Wikipedia wrote:Even at the best ground-based observatories, airglow limits the photosensitivity of optical telescopes. Partly for this reason, space telescopes like Hubble can observe much fainter objects than current ground-based telescopes at visible wavelengths.
Does it glow all night? Every night? Everywhere (e.g. above Atacama, Hawaii, Canary Islands too)? With the same intensity? How do scientific ground based telescopes deal with the glow? From the photo, it seems to be much brighter than other very faint things.
Airglow is always present, everywhere. It is what limits the dimmest thing that can be seen at any site not impacted by artificial light pollution. It varies in intensity. Imagers deal with the glow by subtracting it off the signal as background and living with its noise component.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
VictorBorun
Captain
Posts: 1123
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:25 pm

Re: APOD: Airglow Sky over France (2023 Feb 15)

Post by VictorBorun » Thu Feb 16, 2023 6:43 pm

Ann wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2023 5:10 am
VictorBorun wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:25 pm I wonder what is airglow waves' direction. East to West?

I'm not sure they move in a particular direction. See the Youtube video below about waves in water:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann
well, the airglow waves in the APOD do have two points of infinite distance convergence, and in principle we could relate them to East, West and such
Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
Airglow Sky over France.png
Airglow Sky over France-.png
...
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.