Starship Asterisk*

Nitpicker wrote:The first time I ever had sweet potato pie was at my first ever thanksgiving celebration in 1998. I have always loved sweet potato/yam/kumera, but as a savoury dish, especially with a roast dinner. This sweet potato pie was a dessert and baked with marshmallows on top, and I remember thinking it was a waste of two good things. (I still ate it, but I think it is a weird pie. You crazy Americans!)

Potato pie, on the other hand, as I understand it, is any kind of potato concoction in a pie or casserole dish, baked in the oven. I like mine scalloped, without a base, layered with cheese and garlic and rosemary and baked [facing magnetic north] until crispy golden brown . Also nice with beef in a pastry base, with mashed potato on top, for a shepherd's pie. I agree starsurfer, delicious.

Beyond wrote:I don't think being baked in the magnetically north direction is going to help that concoction at all. :signed: a non-crazy American.

starsurfer wrote: I meant that the original image on Jason Jennings website is different to the main APOD image. However, I'm sure we can all agree that potato pie is delicious.

Nitpicker wrote:I don't mind which way an image like this is rotated, but I will admit that I prefer to be provided with an indication of the North direction (Celestial if unspecified). If I study an image closely, I tend to rotate it several different ways, to compensate for the limitations of my brain. I also try to avoid "sky only" images presented in "portrait" orientation, as they are not as well suited to the "landscape" orientation of most computer screens.

It is evidently too much to ask of every author of every astrophotograph, to always present North up. It is therefore highly unreliable to assume that North is always up, and with no other indication, we are left to always figure it out ourselves -- which many of us seem to enjoy doing anyway -- by which time we know which way North is. I always prefer to have an indication of the North direction, but it doesn't have to be up. Regardless, authors are entitled to their own preferences and conventions (or lack thereof) as this sort of image making has a significant artistic component.

Nitpicker wrote:

starsurfer wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:
And I'm a nitpicker and Galactic North is different from Celestial North. Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published on Jason Jennings' website.

I was talking about celestial north! Also the orientation of the image on APOD and then on Jason Jennings website is different. This discussion has been wonderful! Now I have some idea of what Ann feels when she commentates on colour. What a wonderful and brilliant community this is! Group hug everyone!

Sorry starsurfer, but you have completely misunderstood me. I know full well you were talking about Celestial North. And I know that the "main page" of this APOD has Celestial North up. But my point was twofold:

a) That the "main page" APOD is rotated from the "full frame" APOD and the "full frame" matches the original image published on Jason Jennings' website, which has Galactic North up (more or less).

b) It doesn't really matter which way is up, or which North is North. It is a silly thing to criticize, as it is the author's prerogative.

starsurfer wrote:I was talking about celestial north! Also the orientation of the image on APOD and then on Jason Jennings website is different. This discussion has been wonderful! Now I have some idea of what Ann feels when she commentates on colour. What a wonderful and brilliant community this is! Group hug everyone! :D

starsurfer wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:

starsurfer wrote: I meant that the full image on the original website isn't north up. Just as Ann is a colour commentator, I'm an orientation commentator.

And I'm a nitpicker and Galactic North is different from Celestial North. Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published on Jason Jennings' website.

I was talking about celestial north! Also the orientation of the image on APOD and then on Jason Jennings website is different. This discussion has been wonderful! Now I have some idea of what Ann feels when she commentates on colour. What a wonderful and brilliant community this is! Group hug everyone!

Nitpicker wrote:

starsurfer wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:
Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published. It is also orientated (more or less) as one observes it relative to the horizon on an April evening (when captured). I think anyone who can produce an image like this has earned the right to rotate it however they like. (I might baulk at a mirror image, but we all have our issues.)

I meant that the full image on the original website isn't north up. Just as Ann is a colour commentator, I'm an orientation commentator.

And I'm a nitpicker and Galactic North is different from Celestial North. Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published on Jason Jennings' website.

Nitpicker wrote:And I'm a nitpicker and Galactic North is different from Celestial North. Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published on Jason Jennings' website.

starsurfer wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:

starsurfer wrote:Jason Jennings has been long overdue for an APOD for many years now! Magnificent image of one of the strangest areas of the southern sky. I believe the first major image of this was the AAO image by David Malin. The full frame of this image is incredible showing many more dust clouds and another galaxy. The only criticism about the full image is it isn't oriented north up like it is in this APOD.

Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published. It is also orientated (more or less) as one observes it relative to the horizon on an April evening (when captured). I think anyone who can produce an image like this has earned the right to rotate it however they like. (I might baulk at a mirror image, but we all have our issues.)

I meant that the full image on the original website isn't north up. Just as Ann is a colour commentator, I'm an orientation commentator.

owlice wrote:

starsurfer wrote:Jason Jennings has been long overdue for an APOD for many years now!

APOD is not a contest, however much some people want to think it is, and no one is "due" an APOD. That stupid notion needs to die; please do not resuscitate it. Thanks.

Nitpicker wrote:

starsurfer wrote:Jason Jennings has been long overdue for an APOD for many years now! Magnificent image of one of the strangest areas of the southern sky. I believe the first major image of this was the AAO image by David Malin. The full frame of this image is incredible showing many more dust clouds and another galaxy. The only criticism about the full image is it isn't oriented north up like it is in this APOD.

Galactic North is up (more or less) in the full frame APOD, as it was when originally published. It is also orientated (more or less) as one observes it relative to the horizon on an April evening (when captured). I think anyone who can produce an image like this has earned the right to rotate it however they like. (I might baulk at a mirror image, but we all have our issues.)

owlice wrote:

starsurfer wrote:Jason Jennings has been long overdue for an APOD for many years now!

APOD is not a contest, however much some people want to think it is, and no one is "due" an APOD. That stupid notion needs to die; please do not resuscitate it. Thanks.

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:The link to "dusty" caught my eye and, upon reading, it was very thought provoking. Interstellar dust appears to be quite the stuff. It seems conceivable that through gravitational rotation and random interactions that helical structures could evolve. Anyone know how much the idea has been investigated as the stuff of life?

geckzilla wrote:It's catalogued as ESO 257-19 (among a few other things) in SIMBAD.

starsurfer wrote:Jason Jennings has been long overdue for an APOD for many years now!