Starship Asterisk*

[float=left][img3="How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? I'm your host, Truman Bradley. Let me show you something interesting."]http://images01.olx.com/ui/10/95/37/1291868758_145078837_1-Pictures-of--Science-Fiction-Theatre-4-DVD-TV-BOX-SET-Truman-Bradley-1955-1291868758.jpg[/img3][/float][quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Theatre"]

[c]Are We Invaded? December 31, 1955
Pat O'Brien, Anthony Eustrel, Leslie Gaye

[i][color=#FF00FF][b]"That which we do not understand sometimes causes apprehension."[/b][/color][/i][/c]
<<[i][color=#0000FF][b]A reporter and the daughter of a respected astronomer, watching the stars one evening from their parked car, see what they consider a flying saucer. A stranger appears at the door of the car saying he too saw the light in the sky, and asks if he can be given a lift down the hill into town. Later, the astronomer refuses to believe the couple saw anything more than an optical illusion. To prove the existence of UFOs, the reporter films a documentary of witnesses, while the astronomer promptly demonstrates scientific explanations for each wittnesse's sightings.

But the mysterious stranger has dropped off a photograph at the astronomer's lab- a photograph of our solar system taken from deep space. The stranger has disappeared, but left a forwarding address: Alpha Centauri[/b][/color][/i].>>[/quote]

I don't care: it looks compressed to me. :mrgreen:
[img2]http://turbocycling.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/crushed.jpg[/img2]

[img3="Positions of the planets when the mosaic was acquired"]http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/10-02131-orbits-all.jpg[/img3]

[quote="raindrop"]Can you explain the location of the planets? Mercury looks like it is too far away. The earth and moon should be closer than Mars but Mars looks further out. This makes no sense to me. What does HORIZONTAL compression mean?[/quote]
Horizontal compression means that they took the
original image
[img2]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1102/solarsystem_messenger_2100.png[/img2]
and compressed the left and right margins closer together so it would fit into the screens of most browsers without a scroll bar at the bottom.
[img2]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1102/solarsystem_messenger_900.jpg[/img2]
The planets are where they appear in respect to the location of the viewpoint (messenger)
[img2]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0207/innersolsys_cfa_big.gif[/img2]
[url]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060319.html[/url]
note: Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are on the same side of the Sun while Earth in on the other side at the time this chart was produced
The current orientations are slightly different
[img2]http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/plot/Inner.gif[/img2]
So it all depends on where you are looking from in this near 360deg panorama
There is even a difference between the July 2002 image and the current image WRT the numbers of "red" Near earth objests and the quantity of "Green" Main Belt objects

Can you explain the location of the planets? Mercury looks like it is too far away. The earth and moon should be closer than Mars but Mars looks further out. This makes no sense to me. What does HORIZONTAL compression mean?

[size=110][b]Reports of APOD displaying a crushed truck have ben split and moved to [i]'[url=http://asterisk.apod.com/asterisk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=23005]Crushed truck display on APOD download (2011 Feb 23)[/url]'[/i][/b][/size]


[float=right][img3=""]http://turbocycling.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/crushed.jpg[/img3]
[img3=""]http://www.ny3d.org/Audience.jpg[/img3][/float]
People using the APOD downloader from [url=http://nightskylive.net/software/apod/][b]Asterisk[/b][/url] or [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html][b]APOD[/b][/url] seem to be experiencing strange behaviour. The image downloaded is a link from within the APOD text, [i]'horizontally [url=http://turbocycling.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/crushed.jpg][b]compressed[/b][/url] image'[/i].
[b][i]
APOD has not been hacked.[/i][/b] This is a problem with the image download. The image being displayed on [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/][b]APOD[/b][/url] is the correct [i]'horizontally compressed [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1102/solarsystem_messenger_900.jpg][b]image[/b][/url]'[/i].

[img3="[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110223.html][b]APOD: The Solar System from MESSENGER (2011 Feb 23)[/b][/url]"]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1102/solarsystem_messenger_900.jpg[/img3]

This problem was also reported on [url=http://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTheDay][b]FB APOD[/b][/url]. The person reporting the problem there also had a problem with yesterday's APOD. The downloader program was downlowding the [b][i]3D glasses audience[/i][/b] image from the link [i]'[url=http://www.ny3d.org/Audience.jpg][b]APOD readers[/b][/url]'[/i].

This has happened [url=http://asterisk.apod.com/asterisk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=18119][b]before[/b][/url]. I don't know the reason, nor can I investigate (the download program doesn't work in Win 7). Is there anybody using this APOD download program who is not experiencing this problem?

[quote="biddie67"]Is that the Milky Way just to the left of Mars? Is the ecliptic plane that much at an angle to the MW galaxy plane?[/quote]
Yes, and yes. The plane of the ecliptic is at about a 60° inclination to the plane of the Milky Way galaxy.

Rob

Is that the Milky Way just to the left of Mars? Is the ecliptic plane that much at an angle to the MW galaxy plane?

[float=right][img3="This image shows the current position of the MESSENGER spacecraft, as well as the full orbital path since launch. The image also shows the orbits and current positions of Mercury, Venus and Earth. Positions of stars with magnitude 9 or brighter are shown from this perspective that is above the Sun and north of Earth's orbit."]http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/whereis/February2011jpg/SinceLaunch135.jpg[/img3][/float][img3="From Circus Smirkus performance 2006"]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1c/SmirkusHulaHoops.jpg/425px-SmirkusHulaHoops.jpg[/img3]

Very cool that we live vicariously through our unmanned spacecraft--Mars, Titan, much more. I guess there's a spacecraft going to the Sun.

[b][i] http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=22948 [/i][/b]

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110223.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_110223.jpg[/img] [size=150]The Solar System from MESSENGER[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] If you looked out from the center of the Solar System, what would you see? Nearly [url=http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=399]such a view[/url] was taken recently from the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER]MESSENGER spacecraft[/url] currently orbiting the Sun from the distance of [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081008.html]Mercury[/url]. The Sun's planets all appear as points of light, with the closest and largest planets appearing the brightest. The [url=http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002923/]planets[/url] all appear to orbit in the same direction and are (nearly) confined to the same [url=http://v-flyer.com/the-toolbox/blue-marble-mapper]great circle[/url] around the sky -- the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_of_the_ecliptic]ecliptic[/url] plane. Mercury, [url=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10124]Venus[/url], [url=http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/flyby/index.html]Earth[/url], Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all visible in the above horizontally [url=http://turbocycling.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/crushed.jpg]compressed[/url] image, while the positions of Uranus and Neptune are labeled even though they are too faint to make out. Pluto, which has had its [url=http://www.iau.org/public/pluto/]planetary status[/url] recently called into question, is much too faint to see. [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100901.html]Earth's Moon[/url] is visible, however, as are the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001118.html]Galilean moons[/url] of Jupiter. The [url=http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=155]above image[/url] is the reverse of [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020214.html]one taken[/url] from the outside of the Solar System in 1990 by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program]Voyager[/url] 1. MESSENGER, which has [url=http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/MESSENGERTimeline/TimeLine_content.html]flown by Mercury[/url] three times now, is on schedule to [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otF2FjpCyZk]enter orbit[/url] around the Solar System's innermost planet next month.

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