Starship Asterisk*

Great picture!

I've had this on the desktop at work for some time now, and there are several things of interest to me that I wanted like to point out, perhaps have some others correct my miscalculations if needed.
Note that all of this is based on the coordinates <<47°04'56.30" N 9°26'53.21" E>> given in the text.

While at first I assumed the bright spot on the horizon 3/4 of the way to the right was immediately "above" the yet-to-rise Sun, following a line orthogonal to the Moon's terminator slightly overshoots this bright spot (if the sun is below it, the line should [i]undershoot [/i]it). Using Google Earth and [url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yoursky]Yoursky[/url], I found the sun's azimuth is actually to the left of the tallest peak in the photo, and will later rise up to the right, finally appearing just to the left of center-photo. This means, however, that the aforementioned bright spot is actually a sun-dog, 22° from the sun.
Are sun-dogs allowed to appear before the sun has actually risen? Or has the sun indeed risen, and is hidden by the mountain? In that case, this photo also gets the distinction of being a daytime photo of Venus!

The " :shock: eyes :shock: " mentioned above are indeed from this massive antenna:[attachment=1]25841414 (2).jpg[/attachment]

Finally, and tenuously, if one zooms into the full resolution image, there's a very faint, small splotch in the sky above the "eyes". Is it possible this is one of the brighter stars of Sagittarius?[attachment=0]Moon and Venus over Switzerland.gif[/attachment]

Thanks for the photo, and for APOD, and for Starship Asterisk!
Sam

[quote="midnite wings"]Just stunning...I would really like a big print of this....is this possible or no??[/quote]

Sure this is possible. Have a look at my Whitewall gallery: http://www.whitewall.com/kaplan

Just stunning...I would really like a big print of this....is this possible or no??

[img2]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5171/5414683895_7b5d1a59e2_b.jpg[/img2]
An anaglyph make with Google Earth showing approximately where the photo was taken.

Thanks so much for the higher resolution picture :D

Hello new wallpaper :)

David Kaplan wrote:

[quote]Yeah, the sky in the night went by was absolutely stunning. Have a look at the image I took before the moon rose above the horizon. Unfortunately the image isn't that nice, but you can imagine how crazy the sky looked like.[/quote]

The sky looked absolutely incredible in that picture you gave us a link to!

Ann

I must say David, this is an absolutely magnificent capture. Congratulations.

[quote="NoelC"]Gotta love it when the clouds try to black out the light pollution, making the night sky all the more dark. I'll bet the night sky view was spectacular the prior night!l[/quote]

Yeah, the sky in the night went by was absolutely stunning. Have a look at the [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmkdmkdmk/5401385375/]image[/url] I took before the moon rose above the horizon. Unfortunately the image isn't that nice, but you can imagine how crazy the sky looked like. We get stucked in the snow with our car at 1200m. Initially we wanted to drive all the way up at mount Gonzen (1800m). So we didn't had a really good spot for our night shots. We walked to another spot and there I had a few seconds to take the APOD shot. Some moments later the glow beneath the clouds disappeared.

[quote="thugnificent"]Any chance you can link us to a higher resolution version of this photo?[/quote]

Actually the image initially was posted in full resolution by the APOD team which wasn't good for me because I am selling these pictures to my customers. Having a full res image of such a special shot for free turning it's rounds in the internet is not good for my business. We made a compromise. The image is now available at wallpaper size for free (something I usually won't do). Just klick at the image in APOD and you will get to the high res image.

[quote="moonstruck"]Great job David....Did you plan all that or just wake up one morning and there it was :|[/quote]

As most of my images, this one resulted from a planned trip. Even more because another photographer went with me. Usually I work alone. As you may have read above, our plan didn't work out so we had to reorganize. Fortunately I did know the environment so we had the chance to find two different spots very quickly. I knew that the moon would arise shortly before the sun. I did not know that venus would arise together with the moon.



I thank you all for your kind feedback. I feel very honored to be APOD photographer. Even more because I do not have a strong astronomical background.

I love this picture, it is wonderful !!!
Such a great, great image, which makes me dreaming :)
David Kaplan is a gifted artist!

Céline

I promise to never, ever again complain about APOD posting pictures that are mostly landscape with perhaps one or two stellar or solar objects.

This is a well crafted and artistically beautiful image; it's beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. The image conveys more than just a visual record, it seduces the viewer to step into the view. Well done!

[quote="owlice"][quote="lnwolf"]But what are the two red lights in the mountains just below and left of the moon? [/quote]
Eyes! :shock:[/quote]

I knew it! A yeti caught in the headlights perhaps? :wink:

Beautiful!

Gotta love it when the clouds try to black out the light pollution, making the night sky all the more dark. I'll bet the night sky view was spectacular the prior night!

-Noel

[quote="owlice"][quote="lnwolf"]

But what are the two red lights in the mountains just below and left of the moon? [/quote]
Eyes! :shock:[/quote]
They tend to put red lights on TV/radio/communication towers for some reason or other.

[quote="lnwolf"]But what are the two red lights in the mountains just below and left of the moon? [/quote]
Eyes! :shock:

Nice one... and I second the request for a higher resoltuojn version if available... :P

Great job David....Did you plan all that or just wake up one morning and there it was :|

[quote="biddie67"]Wow - this [b][i]IS[/i][/b] a beautiful photo!!! What a magnificent view - no matter what time of day .[/quote]
I'll second that! It's really art! 8-) Great picture David. Be neat wallpaper

Any chance you can link us to a higher resolution version of this photo?

[quote="boczko@astro.iag.usp.br"]

Are you sure that the Moon is crescent? I am almost right that it is almost New.[/quote]
Now it is but not last Sunday: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22807#p142294

Thanks for the answers

Yes, I used 2011.....

Perhaps the photo was taken some time ago.

[quote="LGM1963"]Is everyone sure that the bright object in the picture is Venus?

According to Heavens-Above.com's star chart for this morning, Venus would have been below the horizon but Jupiter would have been visible.[/quote]

I checked this out with [i]Stellarium[/i]. It was definitely Venus. No doubt!

Are you sure that the Moon is crescent? I am almost right that it is almost New.

Boczko.

[quote="LGM1963"]Is everyone sure that the bright object in the picture is Venus?

According to Heavens-Above.com's star chart for this morning, Venus would have been below the horizon but Jupiter would have been visible.[/quote]



Did you use "2011"?
Jupiter is visible in the evening sky right now, and Venus in the morning......

Those two red lights appear to be warning lights on a tower on top of a mountain peak.

[quote="lnwolf"]Great image! But what are the two red lights in the mountains just below and left of the moon? Seems out of place, and zooming in doesn't seem to shed any light (pardon the pun).[/quote]

Those two lights are some kind of signal lights. I don't know what they are for. But they were there :).