by Ann » Mon Jan 20, 2020 10:26 am
Today's APOD is a lovely picture. Not surprisingly, while I appreciate the Quadrantids and really like the explanation of how they got their name, I get my kicks from the splendid portrait of the night sky. Among other delights of the image, I just love the fact that we get to see such a great picture that "puts the current faintness of Betelgeuse in perspective". We can compare Betelgeuse with Aldebaran, yes, Betelgeuse is fainter, and Procyon, yes, Betelgeuse is strikingly fainter, and Rigel, yes, Betelgeuse is very obviously fainter than Rigel too, of course. I'm glad that this remarkable faintness of Betelgeuse has been recorded for posterity so beautifully here, because the now somewhat sickly red supergiant of Orion could return to normal in a few months or even sooner, and then it's nice to have photographic evidence of how faint it once was!
Unsurprisingly, I absolutely adore the colors. They are saturated but not "too saturated", and they carry a ton of information. I love the fact that Betelgeuse looks redder than Aldebaran in this image, because it really is redder, too!
I love that we can see how bright and saturated various emission nebulas are. Tiny little Orion Nebula is the brightest, of course, and much larger and strikingly rosy pink Rosette Nebula looks like the second brightest nebula. The Horsehead region nebula in Orion and the California Nebula appear to share third place.
And I love the blue, blue, blue color of the Pleiades. What a surprise, right?
Ann
Today's APOD is a lovely picture. Not surprisingly, while I appreciate the Quadrantids and really like the explanation of how they got their name, I get my kicks from the splendid portrait of the night sky. Among other delights of the image, I just love the fact that we get to see such a great picture that "puts the current faintness of Betelgeuse in perspective". We can compare Betelgeuse with Aldebaran, yes, Betelgeuse is fainter, and Procyon, yes, Betelgeuse is strikingly fainter, and Rigel, yes, Betelgeuse is very obviously fainter than Rigel too, of course. I'm glad that this remarkable faintness of Betelgeuse has been recorded for posterity so beautifully here, because the now somewhat sickly red supergiant of Orion could return to normal in a few months or even sooner, and then it's nice to have photographic evidence of how faint it once was!
Unsurprisingly, I absolutely adore the colors. They are saturated but not "too saturated", and they carry a ton of information. I love the fact that Betelgeuse looks redder than Aldebaran in this image, because it really is redder, too!
I love that we can see how bright and saturated various emission nebulas are. Tiny little Orion Nebula is the brightest, of course, and much larger and strikingly rosy pink Rosette Nebula looks like the second brightest nebula. The Horsehead region nebula in Orion and the California Nebula appear to share third place.
And I love the blue, blue, blue color of the Pleiades. What a surprise, right? :wink:
Ann