Starship Asterisk*

starnut wrote:Cosmologists are of the opinion that there is no center and no edge to the universe

At least some cosmologists are also of the opinion the universe is expanding. That would imply to me that everywhere in the universe is receding from ??? the center of the universe ???

SmartAZ wrote:Electric charges can cause all those effects, but apparently that possibility has not been considered yet.

I understand storm fronts causing the buildup of electric charges, that happens enough here in Oklahoma. But electric charges causing storms? I don't understand this, please explain.

BTW, I'm told that saucer shaped clouds sometimes form over mountains by a somewhat similar methods. The cloud looks like it's just sitting there but it actually forms in fast moving air. I think what you are refering to are lenticular clouds http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030430.html . Althoug...

It is my understanding that the light from reflection nebula is light reflected from nearby stars. The color of reflection nebula is caused by Raleigh scattering (refraction) in the same way our skies are colored blue. Emission nebula create their own light, mostly excited H-alpha ions which have a ...

R136 is supposed to be the star cluster at the center of 30 Doradus (Tarantula Nebula) as in: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010730.html. But I was wondering if it is the star cluster shown at the left edge of http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070822.html

I'm still curious about the cluster @ 9:30 in the picture. In none of the pictures I've found of the LMC and 30 Doradus do I find a cluster that close to the Tarantula Nebula in our own galaxy. I'm thinking that must be R136. If so, I'm very impressed with the resolution. This must be an extreme clo...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070822.html I assume the stars with diffration spikes are in our own galaxy, but are all the other stars in the LMC? And the cluster on the left edge center (9:30), is that in the LMC? There seem to be a lot of small star clusters in this picture, were they all fo...

Professionally done, the image would look as follows: http://www.lonestarobservatory.org W Barry Smith Lone Star Observatory And why is this so much more professional? Because you did it? or because you paid to have it done? I liked the affects, thought it was a "professionally" executed ...

Would Daylight Savings Time account for the extra hour??

(1) I was wondering about the mechanism that causes the variability. On Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_variable ), it says the variability is caused by repeated contraction and expansion of the star. Mira's variability, from nearly invisible to magnitude 3.5, seems to be extraordinar...

I see lots of images in full color but wonder what the 'true' colors of the objects might be? I.e. what would they look like to me say if I were visiting them? Depends on the object. If the explanation does not say "false color", it is probably at least an approximation of the true colors...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070806.html

It's just an asterism.

See Anomaly in APOD 0807 and Has anyone seen my coffee???

Borrowing from another thread, "Has anyone seen my coffee??"

orin stepanek wrote:http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060314.html
It looks like the giant space worm is going to eat the galaxy.
Orin

If you check the apod, the circle of stars is not so circular, and the center isn't so blank.

jimmysnyder wrote:It's either a zero or the letter O. Here is some more of the code:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051118.html

Yes, I think 37 is probably the real answer to "life, the universe, and everything," not 42.

Sorry about my dumb question I did not realize the Helix Nebula is outside our galaxy. I should do more research before posting... Thanks! As one of the closest planetary nebulae, I don't think it is outside our galaxy. 700 light-years is not much, astronomically speaking. Some of the stars you see...

inertnet wrote:...In Dione's region, there must be a significant number orbiting in the opposite direction...

With asteroids traveling in the opposite direction of Dione, there would be a "head on" collision and the resulting impact would be on the leading side, not the trailing side.

I would think the rings would be elliptical, much the same as the orbits of the planets and asteroids around Sol. One focus of the ellipse would be the center of mass of the inner pair of stars. The motion of the inner pair around their center of gravity would probably perturb the rings, but stabili...

As the stars are in the foreground, they can't very well be an effect of lensing.

Dont be stupid, if it were not flat, all ocean water would stream off the planet. Not to mention that elephants would have hard time trying to hold the earth balanced on their backs. Don't be silly. If they can stand on the back of a turtle, of course they can balance a spherical earth. I just don'...

Stars are red or blue because the star's temperature makes the majority of the light in that band. Our star (the sun) is yellow. All stars emit all colors. The spectral absorption lines are independent of temperature. They are a function of elements and molecules at the surface. Red and Blue shift ...

So, the Virgo Cluster, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000220.html , must be of an intermediate age. Although it is dominated by huge ellipticals, plenty of spirals are present, and there is noticable interaction (especially in Markarian's Chain, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050316.html ), ...

Is the degree of interaction between member galaxies of the Hercules Cluster unusual? Is there an explanation for this high degree of interaction? As seen in today's apod http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070719.html , the Hercules Cluster is full of galaxy mergers and interactions, even though it'...

An interesting site for all you wannabe astronomers. Help classify millions of unclassified galaxies at http://www.galaxyzoo.org/ . Welcome to GalaxyZoo , the project which harnesses the power of the internet - and your brain - to classify a million galaxies. By taking part, you'll not only be contr...

FieryIce wrote:Wouldn’t NLC’s occur in both hemispheres like auroras do?

To quote the explanation from http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070705.html

... The clouds form over the poles in the corresponding summer season ...

This would suggest to me that both poles are involved.

disregard