Starship Asterisk*

neufer wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2020 1:44 am

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Andromedae wrote:

α Andromedae, labeled *SIRRAH* bordering Pegasus.

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<<Alpha Andromedae (α Andromedae, abbreviated Alpha And or α And) is located 97 light-years from the Sun and is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda. Located immediately northeast of the constellation of Pegasus, it is the upper left star of the Great Square of Pegasus. The star bore the traditional names Alpheratz or Alpherat and *SIRRAH* deriving from the Arabic name, سرة الفرس surrat al-faras "the navel of the mare". (سرة alone is surrah). The word horse reflects the star's historical placement in Pegasus. Another term for this star used by medieval astronomers writing in Arabic was راس المراة المسلسلة rās al-mar'a al-musalsala "the head of the woman in chains", the chained woman here being Andromeda.The star system is referred to by the name "*SIRRAH*" on the 2017 Ayreon record entitled The Source. On this record an alien race abandons their home planet in search of a new home world orbiting "the star of *SIRRAH*."

Although it appears to the naked eye as a single star, with overall apparent visual magnitude +2.06, it is actually a binary system composed of two stars in close orbit. The chemical composition of the brighter of the two stars is unusual as it is a mercury-manganese star whose atmosphere contains abnormally high levels of mercury, manganese, and other elements, including gallium and xenon. It is the brightest mercury-manganese star known.>>

• King Lear : Act I, scene IV

• Fools had ne'er less wit in a year;
  For wise men are grown foppish,
  They know not how their wits to wear,
  Their manners are so apish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Andromedae wrote:

α Andromedae, labeled *SIRRAH* bordering Pegasus.

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<<Alpha Andromedae (α Andromedae, abbreviated Alpha And or α And) is located 97 light-years from the Sun and is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda. Located immediately northeast of the constellation of Pegasus, it is the upper left star of the Great Square of Pegasus. The star bore the traditional names Alpheratz or Alpherat and *SIRRAH* deriving from the Arabic name, سرة الفرس surrat al-faras "the navel of the mare". (سرة alone is surrah). The word horse reflects the star's historical placement in Pegasus. Another term for this star used by medieval astronomers writing in Arabic was راس المراة المسلسلة rās al-mar'a al-musalsala "the head of the woman in chains", the chained woman here being Andromeda.The star system is referred to by the name "*SIRRAH*" on the 2017 Ayreon record entitled The Source. On this record an alien race abandons their home planet in search of a new home world orbiting "the star of *SIRRAH*."

Although it appears to the naked eye as a single star, with overall apparent visual magnitude +2.06, it is actually a binary system composed of two stars in close orbit. The chemical composition of the brighter of the two stars is unusual as it is a mercury-manganese star whose atmosphere contains abnormally high levels of mercury, manganese, and other elements, including gallium and xenon. It is the brightest mercury-manganese star known.>>

geckzilla wrote:Your statement was definitely worded confusingly enough for me to think you meant global warming was as dangerous as education of women.

I have seen M33 with my naked eye, and the sky is astonishing. As indicated by the picture, you can imagine the naked-eye view of M31.

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:Great Photo! Thanks for not catching a whale jumping toward Andromeda to give APOD a third day running title of : Andromeda versus Cetus

I like the title (and the photo) just as it is. Along with the comments and explanations which adds that little extra “twist” to the plot.

Ann wrote:

Locutus wrote:Note that in this image M33 is also visible near the horizon.

Indeed, it is! This picture brings out the "brightness difference" between these two galaxies. Most of M31 is about as bright as M33 is "all over", but M31 has a bright bulge.

Ann

Locutus wrote:Note that in this image M33 is also visible near the horizon.

bactame wrote:Neufer wrote "you saw a 10th magnitude star" referring to my post earlier. Yes, i saw SN2011fe whose mag was between 9 & 10 on Sept 10, 2011, indeed according to a AAVSO special report many visual observations confirmed seeing the event. By that time in Sept the SN was near max and i had been out looking for it on several occasions before that date and seen nothing. I was in Muskegon, MI on the lake at Pere Marquette Park at the Coast Guard station at 4:00 am and watched it for about an hour as i walked my dog. The AAVSO had a special report on which much interest existed. That report included a plot of magnitudes by date, I would show you that report but the editor doesn't accept pastes. I believe that report is linked on the Cosmic Mirror website where a special topic on the SN exists.

geckzilla wrote:
Sheba's depictions featured a lot more with dark skin than light skin when I looked at images of her, though.

geckzilla wrote:

neufer wrote:
For the same reason that the Queen of Sheba is seldom depicted as an Ethiopian Greek

Fixed?

• Huh That's Ethiopian to me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba wrote:
<<The Queen of Sheba (Hebrew: מלכת שבא‎) was a monarch of the ancient kingdom of Sheba believed to have been in Ethiopia & Yemen.

Christian interpretations of the scriptures mentioning the Queen of Sheba in the Hebrew Bible, typically have emphasized both the historical and metaphorical values in the story. The Queen's visit to Solomon has been compared to the metaphorical marriage of the Church to Christ where Solomon is the anointed one or the messiah and Sheba represents a Gentile population submitting to the messiah; the Queen of Sheba's chastity has also been depicted as a foreshadowing of the Virgin Mary; and the three gifts that she brought (gold, spices and stones) have been seen as analogous to the gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense and myrrh).

Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus refers to the Queen of Sheba as Saba, when Mephistopheles is trying to persuade Faustus of the wisdom of the women with whom he supposedly shall be presented every morning. [Hopefully these women weren't presented too early in the morning before they were fully awake.]>>

neufer wrote:For the same reason that the Queen of Sheba is seldom depicted as an Ethiopian Greek

Cousin Ricky wrote:
Why have I never, ever, ever seen Princess Andromeda depicted as an Ethiopian?

bactame wrote:
<<Nice apod which refers to naked eye astronomy and mentions limits of vision to M31. If you have ever seen it you know it is quite an extended object even though it can only be seen by not looking directly at it. There are two pointer stars in the asterism that you can stare at and the ruddy red glow of M31 becomes evident. However the author fails to mention the Pinwheel supernova PTF11kly which is more than the 2.3 million lt. yrs. away. The Pinwheel is 25 million lt. yrs. away and several naked eye observers saw that.

I saw it on Sep 10 and its brilliant cobalt blue light was a sight to inspire beholding.>>

• You saw a 10th magnitude supernova with your naked eye!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2011fe wrote:
<<SN 2011fe, initially designated PTF 11kly, is a star which perished in a Type Ia supernova event that is currently visible from Earth. The star was discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey on 24 August 2011 during an automated review of images of the Messier 101 from the nights of 22 and 23 August 2011. The star, formerly a white dwarf, is located in Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, 21 million light years from Earth. It was observed by the PTF survey very near the beginning of its supernova event, when it was approximately 1 million times too dim to be visible to the naked eye. It is the youngest type Ia ever discovered. About 13 September 2011, it reached its maximum brightness of apparent magnitude +9.9 which equals an absolute magnitude of about -19, equal to 2.5 billion Suns. At +10 apparent magnitude around 5 September, SN 2011fe was visible in small telescopes. As of 30 September the supernova was at +11 apparent magnitude in the early evening sky after sunset above the northwest horizon. It had dropped to +13.7 as of 26 November 2011.>>

geckzilla wrote:Your statement was definitely worded confusingly enough for me to think you meant global warming was as dangerous as education of women. Haha, I just woke up. I accidentally edited your post instead of hitting quote at first, too.