Search found 62 matches

by florid_snow
Mon Jul 15, 2024 4:18 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Meteor Misses Galaxy (2024 Jul 14)
Replies: 17
Views: 490

Re: APOD: Meteor Misses Galaxy (2024 Jul 14)

Take the comparison of 3 million light years to 3 ten-thousandths of a light second - what is that for? (The latter number works out to 5.6 miles and so is probably wrong, too many decImal places, as that meteor track is most likely starting at least 50 miles up) By my calculations 0.0003 light sec...
by florid_snow
Sun Jul 14, 2024 2:47 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Meteor Misses Galaxy (2024 Jul 14)
Replies: 17
Views: 490

Re: APOD: Meteor Misses Galaxy (2024 Jul 14)

What a spectacular shot! I love thinking about how the light from the galaxy is relatively constant, from an amateur instrument, M33 is always going to look the same, every night, for the rest of our lives and a long time into the future. But that meteor barely lasted a second, and you'll never see ...
by florid_snow
Mon Jul 08, 2024 12:35 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Iridescent Clouds over Sweden (2024 Jul 07)
Replies: 8
Views: 1067

Re: APOD: Iridescent Clouds over Sweden (2024 Jul 07)

If you love clouds and you love astronomy then no matter what condition the sky, you'll enjoy a look up after sunset! But I also love nitpicking... today's APOD says that iridescent clouds are "relatively rare" but they are actually very common. If there are no clouds, you can't see irides...
by florid_snow
Thu Jun 27, 2024 3:20 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Protostellar Outflows in Serpens (2024 Jun 27)
Replies: 17
Views: 4561

Re: APOD: Protostellar Outflows in Serpens (2024 Jun 27)

It would have helped to label this image, as I can't tell from the text exactly what I'm looking at—confusing at best. I really like when APOD does "mouse-over" annotated images, that's a good compromise between clarity and the beautiful view without text labels. Haha, and I know you mean...
by florid_snow
Sun Jun 23, 2024 12:34 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: The Colors of Saturn from Cassini (2024 Jun 23)
Replies: 5
Views: 12061

Re: APOD: The Colors of Saturn from Cassini (2024 Jun 23)

Beautiful! So we only get to see Titan's shadow on Saturn about once every 15 years, right? I was looking up in Stellarium and it looks like there will be several visible passes around this time next year.
by florid_snow
Tue Jun 18, 2024 11:22 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Gigantic Jets over Himalayan Mountains (2024 Jun 18)
Replies: 7
Views: 13601

Re: APOD: Gigantic Jets over Himalayan Mountains (2024 Jun 18)

The image is striking (pun intended). The number of Jets is a good question. It appears that there are 5 with 2 converging and one (on the right) diverging. But, I am wondering what is the bright object in the middle of the frame? to answer that we need to recognize the star field. Is there a star ...
by florid_snow
Sun Jun 16, 2024 11:41 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star (2024 Jun 16)
Replies: 17
Views: 9261

Re: APOD: Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star (2024 Jun 16)

Maybe I'm wrong, but that "jet" of material looks exactly like a low Reynolds number smoke simulation. I happen to have more than a decade of painful experience with numerical simulations of turbulence. The rule of thumb for analysis via Reynolds number is that you measure the characterist...
by florid_snow
Sun Jun 16, 2024 12:21 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Prominences and Filaments on the Sun... (2024 Jun 15)
Replies: 4
Views: 7743

Re: APOD: Prominences and Filaments on the Sun... (2024 Jun 15)

"a multitude of planet-dwarfing active regions"

Since dwarf planets are dwarfed by planets, by the transitive property, these planet-dwarfing regions must be dwarf-planet-dwarfing!
by florid_snow
Sun Jun 09, 2024 3:17 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: How to Identify that Light in the Sky (2024 Jun 09)
Replies: 14
Views: 6112

Re: APOD: How to Identify that Light in the Sky (2024 Jun 09)

Another one: If it's blinking but appears too high to be an aircraft, or even more mystifying, if the blinking is irregular! - it's a tumbling satellite. Yep, and slow but steady brightness changes would likely be the giant tumbling rocket body stage left in orbit after releasing a satellite, I saw...
by florid_snow
Sat Jun 08, 2024 1:25 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies (2024 Jun 08)
Replies: 22
Views: 7129

Re: APOD: Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies (2024 Jun 08)

I was thinking what Ann has labeled object 8 is a dusty galaxy, and I thought I saw several dusty looking galaxies while zoomed into this image... but this is NIRCam, and when it takes pictures around the local milky way, it makes dust look transparent. So is this light really so distant that it use...
by florid_snow
Thu May 30, 2024 3:37 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: A Lunar Corona over Paris (2024 May 30)
Replies: 12
Views: 2180

Re: APOD: A Lunar Corona over Paris (2024 May 30)

In a nearby alternate universe, this image shows the Olympic torch being lit at the top of the Eiffel Tower by orbital laser! Haha, I wonder what they will actually do, the 2024 summer games in Paris are just a month or two away.
by florid_snow
Sun May 26, 2024 6:18 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: A Solar Filament Erupts (2024 May 26)
Replies: 13
Views: 1584

Re: APOD: A Solar Filament Erupts (2024 May 26)

If one is going to map grayscale to a color scale, why limit ourselves to just purple or orange, when we could have both? The perceptually uniform colormap "plasma" or "inferno" freely available from matplotlib might look really good, and they seem appropriately named.
by florid_snow
Sat May 25, 2024 12:32 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Manicouagan Impact Crater from Space (2024 May 25)
Replies: 14
Views: 3488

Re: APOD: Manicouagan Impact Crater from Space (2024 May 25)

"When's your birthday?"
"April 11th"
"What year?"
"Every year!"
by florid_snow
Sun May 19, 2024 1:55 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Jupiter Diving (2024 May 19)
Replies: 10
Views: 2643

Re: APOD: Jupiter Diving (2024 May 19)

Haha I agree it might be a little too close up. I used to do Jupiter sketching when I had access to an 8" refractor, always in black and white though, never attempted color. Sketching really adds to the observing experience, I think. Remember that blue storm that blew up briefly on Saturn? I th...
by florid_snow
Tue May 14, 2024 3:21 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: The 37 Cluster (2024 May 14)
Replies: 24
Views: 3236

Re: APOD: The 37 Cluster (2024 May 14)

Imagine if it started ticking down: "Astronomers report giant 37 in the sky is now a 36 - wait - this just in, it's 35!" Haha, feels like something that could've been in Clarke's "Nine Billion Names of God"
by florid_snow
Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:10 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Total Eclipse and Comets (2024 Apr 17)
Replies: 25
Views: 2400

Re: APOD: Total Eclipse and Comets (2024 Apr 17)

You missed the "Of these" reference at the start of the sentence. I think the writer was just trying to point out that the comets and Mercury were not visible to the unaided eye. But yes, Jupiter was bright! It must be just out of frame in this image.
by florid_snow
Fri Apr 12, 2024 4:22 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Total Totality (2024 Apr 12)
Replies: 22
Views: 1814

Re: APOD: Total Totality (2024 Apr 12)

I saw this eclipse and the bright pink prominences were stunning, and it got me reading about H alpha emission. And after some reading, I feel betrayed by every "H alpha" filtered photo of the sun I have seen. Because the prominences appeared obviously PINK to human eyes, doesn't that mean...
by florid_snow
Fri Apr 12, 2024 12:44 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Eclipse in Seven (2024 Apr 11)
Replies: 7
Views: 1135

Re: APOD: Eclipse in Seven (2024 Apr 11)

I was also near Indianapolis, the thin cirrus blanketing the entire multi-state area made comet viewing likelihood near zero. The comet's position was about at 10 o'clock with respect to the sun from that location. Venus was bright, Jupiter was visible, and the prominences and corona were still stun...
by florid_snow
Sun Feb 11, 2024 1:21 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Rocket Plume Shadow Points to the Moon (2024 Feb 11)
Replies: 10
Views: 1837

Re: APOD: Rocket Plume Shadow Points to the Moon (2024 Feb 11)

I've always loved this image, but I feel compelled to make a "well, actually" comment, please forgive me, but I don't think the word "coincidence" is appropriate and instead one could conceivably substitute "inevitable" because of the caveat that we have a Full Moon, no...
by florid_snow
Thu Jun 09, 2022 5:03 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Ship Tracks over the Pacific Ocean (2022 Jun 08)
Replies: 15
Views: 2647

Re: APOD: Ship Tracks over the Pacific Ocean (2022 Jun 08)

A key phrase here is "aerosol susceptibility" because broadly speaking, there is a large contrast from land to ocean for the amount of particulate matter floating in the air - aka the aerosol concentration is much higher over land than over the ocean. So running your SUV does not cause thi...
by florid_snow
Tue Dec 15, 2020 6:28 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Great Conjunction: Saturn and... (2020 Dec 15)
Replies: 31
Views: 11080

Re: APOD: Great Conjunction: Saturn and... (2020 Dec 15)

I plan on shooting images around local noon on the 21st, which for me will put them in the southeastern sky just past their point of being closest (which is slightly before they rise for me). Both of these objects are plenty bright to be telescopic objects in full daylight. I'll go for wider field ...
by florid_snow
Fri May 24, 2019 12:19 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Moons Near Jupiter (2019 May 23)
Replies: 17
Views: 9021

Re: APOD: Moons Near Jupiter (2019 May 23)

Has anyone ever been able to take a shot capturing all six of our system's largest moons (plus Jupiter and Saturn of course) in the same frame? Such a photo opp might have been possible back in April. If you're up late in the coming nights, you may want to pay attention to the waning gibbous moon —...
by florid_snow
Sat Mar 02, 2019 11:59 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula (2019 Mar 02)
Replies: 9
Views: 3105

Re: APOD: NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula (2019 Mar 02)

+100 points to whoever came up with "arachnologically correct" :lol2:
by florid_snow
Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:35 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Red Sprite Lightning over Kununurra (2019 Feb 25)
Replies: 20
Views: 4527

Re: APOD: Red Sprite Lightning over Kununurra (2019 Feb 25)

The majority, perhaps all researchers who study weather and climate phenomena on other planets and moons were either conventionally trained meteorologists who transtitioned to this type of planetary science, or atmospheric physicists who did so. Of course, some of them now have students who are ent...
by florid_snow
Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:20 pm
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Red Sprite Lightning over Kununurra (2019 Feb 25)
Replies: 20
Views: 4527

Re: APOD: Red Sprite Lightning over Kununurra (2019 Feb 25)

I would like to defend the position that meteorology and astronomy (and history!) are different fields. Of course they are (well, history doesn't fit here simply because it's not a branch of science). Meteorology is a subdiscipline of atmospheric and oceanic physics, which is also a subdiscipline o...