Starship Asterisk*

Six Planets from Yosemite

Explanation: The five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, have been seen since ancient times to wander the night skies of planet Earth. So it could be remarkable that on this night, standing at the side of a clear, calm lake, six planets can be seen with the unaided eye. Have a look. Very bright and easy to spot for skygazers, yellowish Mars is left of a pale Milky Way. Saturn is immersed in the glow of the Milky Way's diffuse starlight. Jupiter is very near the horizon on the right, shining beyond the trees against the glow of distant city lights. Last weekend, while admiring this night time view across beautiful, high-altitude Lake Tanaya in Yosemite National Park, a thoughtful and reflective observer could probably see three planets more.

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Well, I enjoyed the "thoughtful and reflective" link. John Muir in the Sierras. And he visits Lake Tenaya in the journal-style book.

Wish I could live, like these junipers, on sunshine and snow, and stand beside them on the shore of Lake Tenaya for a thousand years. How much I should see, and how delightful it would be! Everything in the mountains would find me and come to me, and everything from the heavens like light.

p. 165 (John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra)

And Mr. Andreo is as much a poet with the camera as is Mr. Muir with words.

I see SEVEN planets: the three you describe (Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), their three mirrored images in the lake, plus one more: planet Earth.

I thought you were going to say, "Over there is Uranus, see it? No? And not far to the left of Uranus is Neptune. Saturn is behind your back, so turn around and you might see it. I told you, six planets!"

Ann

Two Moons and a duck.

Ann

Yeah, I agree with Drew. I see 7 planets. Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, upside down Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, and planet Earth. Albeit only a small part of Earth is visible, sort of like seeing the Crescent Moon.

No it's eight, Earth is elected too.

Wonder if New Horizons can also see them ?

If were counting like that, I can see 8 planets. The Earth and its reflection. when I show others the visible planets one can see at anytime, I always include our "+ 1" and tell them to look at their feet, they are standing on a planet

So, what is the record?

Number of planets visible in whole or in part in a single, undoctored photograph. (So, today's APOD would actually be 4, by my count, because you would count the Earth in this situation.) We could add lots more terms and conditions to make this more precise, but I doubt that is warranted.

I'm puzzled. The annotations giving the planet names are also reflected. It seems to me that must be new physics!

heehaw wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:02 pm I'm puzzled. The annotations giving the planet names are also reflected. It seems to me that must be new physics!

Supersymmetry?

MarkBour wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 7:55 pm So, what is the record?

Number of planets visible in whole or in part in a single, undoctored photograph. (So, today's APOD would actually be 4, by my count, because you would count the Earth in this situation.) We could add lots more terms and conditions to make this more precise, but I doubt that is warranted.

There are 5 naked eye planets (not counting Earth). The next time you'll be able to see them all in one night sky is mid-July 2020. You could check an online planetarium for a night sky image of that date, and see if there are any other planets also available in that area of the sky that would need a long exposure to capture them in a photo. Also, you'd have to consider the wide-angle lens which could capture them all might be too wide to resolve the faint, more distant planets.

Rob

Awesome view....

I hope to see Saturn and Mars soon...
:---[===] *

MarkBour wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:41 pm

heehaw wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:02 pm
I'm puzzled. The annotations giving the planet names are also reflected. It seems to me that must be new physics!

Supersymmetry?

There seems to be a lot of asymmetry going on here.

One would think if one drew lines through each object and it's reflection that one would end up either with:

• 1) a bunch of parallel lines or
  2) a bunch of lines that all intersect at one point.

But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, the reflection of Jupiter in the water should appear closer to the (nearby looming) mountain reflection than Jupiter lies above the (distant non-looming) mountain...but the Jupiter reflection is further away from the mountain reflection. (Was the reflection taken at a different time?)

Curiouser & curiouser.

neufer wrote: ↑Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:45 am There seems to be a lot of asymmetry going on here.

One would think if one drew lines through each object and it's reflection that one would end up either with:

• 1) a bunch of parallel lines or
  2) a bunch of lines that all intersect at one point.

But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, the reflection of Jupiter in the water should appear closer to the (nearby looming) mountain reflection than Jupiter lies above the (distant non-looming) mountain...but the Jupiter reflection is further away from the mountain reflection. (Was the reflection taken at a different time?)

Curiouser & curiouser.

These points are true, but I don't think it takes much deviation away from a perfectly flat mirror to cause both effects. Another inconsistency -- if you follow the line of the hilltops, there is a lot of difference between the direct and reflected images. I looked at a few lake reflection images, and it is fairly common for some features very near the distant edge of the water to be significantly elongated in the reflected image. So, I am inclined to believe this could be a single photograph.

Here are some fun lake-reflection images that are not quite so real. I'd love to plot a couple of them here, but they are probably copyrighted, so I'll just link to the page: https://mymodernmet.com/erik-johansson-imagine/. Sorry, it has a fair number of ads, but the images are worth it, in my opinion.

This picture looks like a fake one:
- too many problems of geometry not compatible with miror-like reflection
- even the scales are changing
- not credible ratio of brigthness between reflected and direct view of the sky
- No geometry can explain relative changes of reflected view and direct view both for the foregrounds and the sky
Some explanations would be welcome

Art, the image is a mosaic of 12 different images. Therefore, it's not surprising to see distortions, as the mosaic tries to correct for lens distortion, sky movement, trying to put it all together and other factors, but the truth is, as Mark Bour pointed out, even in individual shots things aren't always a perfect mirror either. As for Jupiter, sky and reflection do come from different panes in the mosaic, but not more than 2 minutes apart.

JMLamarre, I don't know what you mean by "fake" here, but if by that you meant the reflection could be a fabrication... I'd say that if it was fake, then the reflection would be PERFECT. The fact things are "all over the place" should tell you this is real work and not a fabrication.. I don't know if you follow, but you think about that...

Cheers,
Rogelio

RBANDREO wrote: ↑Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:45 pm
Art, the image is a mosaic of 12 different images. Therefore, it's not surprising to see distortions, as the mosaic tries to correct for lens distortion, sky movement, trying to put it all together and other factors, but the truth is, as Mark Bour pointed out, even in individual shots things aren't always a perfect mirror either. As for Jupiter, sky and reflection do come from different panes in the mosaic, but not more than 2 minutes apart.

Thanks for the clarification. (I thought that reflecting the names was a nice touch.)

This photo brought tears to my eyes. My husband's remains are scattered across the road from Lake Tenaya, back by the domes. Helping the forest grow. He was an aerospace engineer. I miss him so.