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Astronomy Picture of the Day |
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#51 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Skysurfer2000. I wonder how many fans of APOD you are creating. I met someone last night who is a keen astronomer but up to now was not familiar with APOD. He is well impressed.
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#52 |
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Join Date: Sep 2000
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Quote:
Skysurfer2000. I wonder how many fans of APOD you are creating. I met someone last night who is a keen astronomer but up to now was not familiar with APOD. He is well impressed.
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#53 |
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26.1.10
Annular Eclipse Over Myanmar Credit & Copyright: Wei Loon Chin Explanation: A hole crossed the Sun for a few minutes this month, as seen across a thin swath of planet Earth. The event on January 15 was actually an annular solar eclipse, and the hole was really Earth's Moon, an object whose dark half may appear even darker when compared to the tremendously bright Sun. The Moon was too far from Earth to create a total solar eclipse, but instead left well placed observers with a bright surrounding circle called the ring of fire. Pictured above was a complete solar annular eclipse sequence as seen above the Ananda Temple in Bagan, Myanmar. The image of the ancient temple, built around the year 1100, was taken after sunset on the same day of the eclipse. The next solar eclipse will be a total solar eclipse during 2010 July. |
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#54 |
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27.1.10
Tethys Behind Titan Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: What's that behind Titan? It's another of Saturn's moons: Tethys. The robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn captured the heavily cratered Tethys slipping behind Saturn's atmosphere-shrouded Titan late last year. The largest crater on Tethys, Odysseus, is easily visible on the distant moon. Titan shows not only its thick and opaque orange lower atmosphere, but also an unusual upper layer of blue-tinted haze. Tethys, at about 2 million kilometers distant, was twice as far from Cassini as was Titan when the above image was taken. In 2004, Cassini released the Hyugens probe which landed on Titan and provided humanity's first views of the surface of the Solar System's only known lake-bearing moon. |
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#55 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
26.1.10
Annular Eclipse Over Myanmar Credit & Copyright: Wei Loon Chin Explanation: A hole crossed the Sun for a few minutes this month, as seen across a thin swath of planet Earth. The event on January 15 was actually an annular solar eclipse, and the hole was really Earth's Moon, an object whose dark half may appear even darker when compared to the tremendously bright Sun. The Moon was too far from Earth to create a total solar eclipse, but instead left well placed observers with a bright surrounding circle called the ring of fire. Pictured above was a complete solar annular eclipse sequence as seen above the Ananda Temple in Bagan, Myanmar. The image of the ancient temple, built around the year 1100, was taken after sunset on the same day of the eclipse. The next solar eclipse will be a total solar eclipse during 2010 July. |
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#56 |
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28.1.10
Kemble's Cascade Credit & Copyright: Processing - Noel Carboni, Imaging - Greg Parker, New Forest Observatory Explanation: An asterism is just a recognized pattern of stars that is not one the 88 official constellations. For example, one of the most famous (and largest) asterisms is the Big Dipper within the constellation Ursa Major. But this pretty chain of stars, visible with binoculars towards the long-necked constellation of Camelopardalis, is also a recognized asterism. Known as Kemble's Cascade, it contains about 20 stars nearly in a row, stretching over five times the width of a full moon. Tumbling from the upper right to lower left in the picture, Kemble's Cascade was made popular by astronomy enthusiast Lucian Kemble. The bright object at the lower left is the relatively compact open cluster of stars, NGC 1502. |
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#57 |
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29.1.10
Mars Opposition 2010 Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (Averted Imagination) Explanation: Mars is at opposition tonight, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. Of course, it will be easy to spot because Mars appears close to tonight's Full Moon, also opposite the Sun in Earth's night sky in the constellation Cancer. For this opposition, Mars remains just over 99 million kilometers away, not a particularly close approach for the Red Planet. Still, this sharp view of Mars recorded on January 22nd is an example of the telescopic images possible in the coming days. The planet's whitish north polar cap is at the upper right. Mars' tiny red disk is about 14 arcseconds in angular diameter, less than 1/100th the diameter of the Full Moon. |
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#58 |
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30.1.10
Messier 88 Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, U. Arizona Explanation: Charles Messier described the 88th entry in his 18th century catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters as a spiral nebula without stars. Of course the gorgeous M88 is now understood to be a galaxy full of stars, gas, and dust, not unlike our own Milky Way. In fact, M88 is one of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster some 50 million light-years away. M88's beautiful spiral arms are easy to trace in this colorful cosmic portait. The arms are lined with young blue star clusters, pink star-forming regions, and obscuring dust lanes extending from a yellowish core dominated by an older population of stars. Spiral galaxy M88 spans over 100,000 light-years. |
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#59 |
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31.1.10
The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript Credit: Yale University ; Digital Copyright: B. E. Schaefer (LSU) Explanation: The ancient text has no known title, no known author, and is written in no known language: what does it say and why does it have many astronomy illustrations? The mysterious book was once bought by an emperor, forgotten on a library shelf, sold for thousands of dollars, and later donated to Yale. Possibly written in the 15th century, the over 200-page volume is known most recently as the Voynich Manuscript, after its (re-)discoverer in 1912. Pictured above is an illustration from the book that appears to be somehow related to the Sun. The book labels some patches of the sky with unfamiliar constellations. The inability of modern historians of astronomy to understand the origins of these constellations is perhaps dwarfed by the inability of modern code-breakers to understand the book's text. The book itself remains in Yale's rare book collection under catalog number "MS 408." |
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#60 |
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Very good shots. Thanks for sharing the links.
However, after that third explanation I'd like my brain back please... *Whoosh...straight over my head* ![]() |
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#61 |
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I remember in School one of my teachers used to put this show on called 'Cosmos' - I recall as a 9 year old child finding it hard to get to grips with the detailed history of the origins and interactions between religion and science!
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#62 |
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Yeah, that's it. A facinating programme yes, but it was a bit too much for my young brain back then!
I think I saw Mars last night... |
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#63 |
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Quote:
Yeah, that's it. A facinating programme yes, but it was a bit too much for my young brain back then!
I think I saw Mars last night... |
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#64 |
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1.2.10
Shepherd Moon Prometheus from Cassini Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: Another moon of Saturn has been imaged in detail by the Cassini spacecraft. Orbiting Saturn since 2004, the robotic Cassini got its closest look yet at Saturn's small moon Prometheus last week. Visible above in an unprocessed image from 36,000 kilometers away, Prometheus' 100-km long surface was revealed to have an interesting system of bulges, ridges, and craters. These features, together with the moon's oblong shape and high reflectivity, are now being studied to help better understand the history of Prometheus and Saturn's rings. Prometheus is one of the few shepherd satellites known, as its gravity, along with its companion moon Pandora, confines many smaller ice chucks into Saturn's F Ring. Cassini's next major targeted flyby is of the moon Rhea on March 2. |
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#65 |
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2.2.10
Mars and a Colorful Lunar Fog Bow Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (AstroPics.com, TWAN) Explanation: Even from the top of a volcanic crater, this vista was unusual. For one reason, Mars was dazzlingly bright two weeks ago, when this picture was taken, as it was nearing its brightest time of the entire year. Mars, on the far upper left, is the brightest object in the above picture. The brightness of the red planet peaked last week near when Mars reached opposition, the time when Earth and Mars are closest together in their orbits. Arching across the lower part of the image is a rare lunar fog bow. Unlike a more commonly seen rainbow, which is created by sunlight reflected prismatically by falling rain, this fog bow was created by moonlight reflected by the small water drops that compose fog. Although most fog bows appear white, all of the colors of the rainbow were somehow visible here. The above image was taken from high atop Haleakala, a huge volcano in Hawaii, USA. |
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#66 |
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Join Date: Sep 2003
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Quote:
IOW photoshop fake.
Clouds BEHIND the moon is far too fake for me. Sorry. Please try and pay attention old bean. |
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#67 |
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3.2.10
P/2010 A2: Unusual Asteroid Tail Implies Powerful Collision Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (UCLA) Explanation: What is this strange object? First discovered on ground based LINEAR images on January 6, the object appeared unusual enough to investigate further with the Hubble Space Telescope last week. Pictured above, what Hubble saw indicates that P/2010 A2 is unlike any object ever seen before. At first glance, the object appears to have the tail of a comet. Close inspection, however, shows a 140-meter nucleus offset from the tail center, very unusual structure near the nucleus, and no discernable gas in the tail. Knowing that the object orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a preliminary hypothesis that appears to explain all of the known clues is that P/2010 A2 is the debris left over from a recent collision between two small asteroids. If true, the collision likely occurred at over 15,000 kilometers per hour -- five times the speed of a rifle bullet -- and liberated energy in excess of a nuclear bomb. Pressure from sunlight would then spread out the debris into a trailing tail. Future study of P/2010 A2 may better indicate the nature of the progenitor collision and may help humanity better understand the early years of our Solar System, when many similar collisions occurred. |
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#68 |
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4.2.10
Stardust in Perseus Credit & Copyright: Máximo Ruiz Explanation: This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers close to 3 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus. Right of center in the gorgeous skyscape is the dusty blue reflection nebula NGC 1333, about 1,000 light-years away. At that estimated distance, the field of view is about 50 light-years across. Next to NGC 1333 is the reddish glow of shocked hydrogen gas created by energetic jets and winds from stars in the process of formation. Other reflection nebulae are scattered around, along with remarkable dark dust nebulae. Near the edge of a large molecular cloud, they tend to hide the newly formed stars and young stellar objects or protostars from prying optical telescopes. Collapsing due to self-gravity, the protostars form around dense cores embedded in the molecular cloud. |
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#69 |
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5.2.10
Dust Storm on Mars Credit & Copyright: Jean-Luc Dauvergne, Francois Colas, IMCCE/S2P, Obs. Midi-Pyrénées Explanation: It's spring for the northern hemisphere of Mars and spring on Mars usually means dust storms. So the dramatic brown swath of dust (top) marking the otherwise white north polar cap in this picture of the Red Planet is not really surprising. Taking advantage of the good views of Mars currently possible near opposition and its closest approach to planet Earth in 2010, this sharp image shows the evolving dust storm extending from the large dark region known as Mare Acidalium below the polar cap. It was recorded on February 2nd with the 1 meter telescope at Pic Du Midi, a mountain top observatory in the French Pyrenees. |
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#70 |
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6.2.10
Hong Kong Sky Credit & Copyright: Peter Lau Explanation: This remarkable scene combines multiple exposures recorded on the evening of January 18th from a waterside perspective in Hong Kong, China. It follows a young crescent Moon, with brilliant planet Jupiter to its left, as they set together in the western sky. Their two luminous trails are faintly paralleled by trails of background stars. But easier to pick out are the short, bright airplane trails converging toward the horizon and the Hong Kong International Airport that seem to offer a frenzied imitation of the celestial tracks. Of course, the reflection of city lights and boat traffic follows the water's surface. Streaking car lights define the span of the cable-stayed Ting Kau bridge. |
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#71 |
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I remember in School one of my teachers used to put this show on called 'Cosmos' - I recall as a 9 year old child finding it hard to get to grips with the detailed history of the origins and interactions between religion and science!
Beautiful pictures in this thread. |
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#72 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
I remember in School one of my teachers used to put this show on called 'Cosmos' - I recall as a 9 year old child finding it hard to get to grips with the detailed history of the origins and interactions between religion and science!
My fav piece of "Cosmos". See http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...8&postcount=60 |
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#73 |
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7.2.10
The Einstein Cross Gravitational Lens Credit & Copyright: J. Rhoads (ASU) et al., WIYN, AURA, NOAO, NSF Explanation: Most galaxies have a single nucleus -- does this galaxy have four? The strange answer leads astronomers to conclude that the nucleus of the surrounding galaxy is not even visible in this image. The central cloverleaf is rather light emitted from a background quasar. The gravitational field of the visible foreground galaxy breaks light from this distant quasar into four distinct images. The quasar must be properly aligned behind the center of a massive galaxy for a mirage like this to be evident. The general effect is known as gravitational lensing, and this specific case is known as the Einstein Cross. Stranger still, the images of the Einstein Cross vary in relative brightness, enhanced occasionally by the additional gravitational microlensing effect of specific stars in the foreground galaxy. |
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#74 |
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Fantastic TV series - got the box set on DVD & still rate it as the best of its genre.
Beautiful pictures in this thread. |
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#75 |
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8.2.10
A Sun Halo Over Cambodia Credit & Copyright: Nagy Attila Explanation: Have you ever seen a halo around the Sun? This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens. Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to the radius of the Sun halo. A similar Moon halo may be visible during the night. Pictured above, a nearly complete sun halo was photographed high above the ancient Bayon temple in Angkor, Cambodia. Exactly how ice-crystals form in clouds remains under investigation. |
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