Starship Asterisk*

So they could be very hot or they could be very cold - and there is a lack of data to know for sure. I'm not sure how that would translate to being certain they are safe to touch on arrival, so caution seems prudent. This reminds me of Letterman's report on the fight over the remains of baseball leg...

On the "Fast Facts" page for the image at the HST site, fortunately they have info on the filters and exposures. The image is very much false color, based on five different filters in the IR and vis - including OIII and Ha. The main information is in the raw data and this picture may have ...

Oh - there it is. TMB 152, ten hours. It is in the link in the apod text, but not when you click on the image itself. TMB 152 makes much more sense than 10" f/6.3 lx200 with reducer.

zloq

I can't see any info on the equipment used or the exposures. The site associated with the image just describes a 10" f/6.3 lx200 with reducer - but it's not clear that is what took this image. Normally apod images are provided with equipment and exposure details - at least I prefer them to incl...

This eclipse had a novelty in that the calendar date of the eclipse wasn't close to - it was identical to - the date of solstice in some time zones. I think this is slightly interesting but definitely not remarkable as described in today's apod. The eclipse was reported as rare, special, and worth w...

I think as long as the times for the 2029 event are correct, it looks fine as an eclipse that happens on the date of solstice. You just have to go east a bit from Greenwich so that totality happens the next day - and it will be the same date as solstice there. You just can't go so far that solstice ...

I posted on this some time ago but it seems to have been lost in cyberspace. I agree that the novelty of this event lies in its having two things fall on the same calendar date. Calendar date is defined locally - and is perfectly valid even in this astronomical context. If two events straddle midnig...

Eye hart the picher cuz it show the komits good. I c the big dipper konstillashin 2 and that is kul. Hop 2 c a komit storm lik that 2. W my luk it wud b wen it is all ovr, i.e. the diminuendo. Will tell my studints 2 watch next komit storm so thay lern komits and astrology and konstillashins. zloq

Let's try to make another comparison. The HST image is described as the combination of a single blue exposure, colored blue, and a single near-IR exposure, colored red. Apparently they were combined in a way that left the galaxy looking gray since with only two channels, and one of them in the near...

Chris Peterson wrote: I agree that the green is more likely from the 557.7nm line than from the 500.7nm line. However, the 500.7nm line is definitely observed in auroras.

Do you have a reference for 500.7 being detected in an aurora - particularly at a level that it is visible to the eye?

See my earlier post. The 500.7 [OIII] line is strong in nebulae, while the [OI] line is strong in an aurora and is even a nuisance presence in skyglow. I doubt 500.7 has been detected in an aurora because it requires low density and high electron temperature. Ann apparently used crude dslr imagery o...

I still find it very, very improbable that blue-green light would come out as yellow to yellow-green. Ann Oxygen has many emission lines, including multiple "forbidden" ones. The ones that appear depend on the temperature and density of the plasma. Nebulae are hot and low density, so they...