by Ann » Wed Jan 11, 2012 1:26 pm
This is certainly a beautiful and evocative image. It is fascinating to see the smallness of the Earth being so emphasized as it is with this technique. Although it is also possible to think of the Earth as a moderately large planet - because after all, as the caption of one APOD said, our planet is the biggest rock in the Solar system!
As usual, I have to try to identiy the stars. Orion is easy to spot, although the fact that it is "upside down" - well, from a northerner's perspective - is confusing. Sirius, of course is at three o'clock - or a little past three
- and the brightest star at about 4.30 must be Procyon. The two rather faint stars at about five o'clock must be Pollux and Castor in Gemini.
The red star at seven o'clock frustrated me. What could it be? Few stars are that red and bright, and the few candidates I could think of didn't fit the bill. It dawned on me that it had to be planet Mars. To the right of Mars is the Sickle of Leo, and Regulus, the star of yesterday's APOD, is the brightest star at six o'clock. To the right of it, but completely invisible in this picture, is dwarf galaxy Leo 1.
The yellow and blue pair at eight o'clock also frustrated me, until I realized they are Saturn and Spica. Most of the stars at lower left probably belong to the constellation Centaurus, but I could be wrong about that.
Another yellow and blue pair, at ten o'clock, are Alpha and Beta Centauri. As you can see by placing your cursor on the picture, the Coalsack and the Southern Cross are in the upper left corner, and the tail of Comet Lovejoy stretches from the upper left corner down to little planet Earth. You can also see where the Large ans Small Magellanic Clouds are by looking at the annotated image. Finally, Canopus is in the upper right corner.
Ann
This is certainly a beautiful and evocative image. It is fascinating to see the smallness of the Earth being so emphasized as it is with this technique. Although it is also possible to think of the Earth as a moderately large planet - because after all, as the caption of one APOD said, our planet is the biggest rock in the Solar system!
As usual, I have to try to identiy the stars. Orion is easy to spot, although the fact that it is "upside down" - well, from a northerner's perspective - is confusing. Sirius, of course is at three o'clock - or a little past three :wink: - and the brightest star at about 4.30 must be Procyon. The two rather faint stars at about five o'clock must be Pollux and Castor in Gemini.
The red star at seven o'clock frustrated me. What could it be? Few stars are that red and bright, and the few candidates I could think of didn't fit the bill. It dawned on me that it had to be planet Mars. To the right of Mars is the Sickle of Leo, and Regulus, the star of yesterday's APOD, is the brightest star at six o'clock. To the right of it, but completely invisible in this picture, is dwarf galaxy Leo 1.
The yellow and blue pair at eight o'clock also frustrated me, until I realized they are Saturn and Spica. Most of the stars at lower left probably belong to the constellation Centaurus, but I could be wrong about that.
Another yellow and blue pair, at ten o'clock, are Alpha and Beta Centauri. As you can see by placing your cursor on the picture, the Coalsack and the Southern Cross are in the upper left corner, and the tail of Comet Lovejoy stretches from the upper left corner down to little planet Earth. You can also see where the Large ans Small Magellanic Clouds are by looking at the annotated image. Finally, Canopus is in the upper right corner.
Ann