Starship Asterisk*

unusual to see spiked stars in another galaxy. They are bright and the LMC galaxy is near. I wonder what large ghostly red tiles in the background of the top half of the left cavity can be. They don't feel astronomic at all. "Ghostly red tiles"? I don't see them. Can you point them out wi...

Kinda blurry; but Titan is pretty much cloud covered anyway!🪐 I think it would be an interesting place to visit! 8-) You can see Titan's atmosphere on the photo; maybe that's what gives the blurry look !? I don't think this image is blurry in any optical sense. That is, we're seeing a properly focu...

In reference to my question regarding the transference and storage (absorption) of energy resulting from earthshine and moonshine, I neglected to include time as a variable. In addition, I'm not limiting my question to a parochial moon-earth thing. The question I've in mind is how much energy is ex...

In reference to my question regarding the transference and storage (absorption) of energy resulting from earthshine and moonshine, I neglected to include time as a variable. In addition, I'm not limiting my question to a parochial moon-earth thing. The question I've in mind is how much energy is ex...

The energy we receive from the corona amounts to a nearly unmeasurably small fraction of the energy from the Sun's surface. I believe DL MARTIN was talking about the energy the moon receives from earthshine, and how much energy the earth receives from moonshine. Nothing to do with the sun's corona....

Is there an accounting of the energy transferred and subsequently stored as a result of earthshine, moonshine...? The energy we receive from the corona amounts to a nearly unmeasurably small fraction of the energy from the Sun's surface. I believe DL MARTIN was talking about the energy the moon rec...

To me it looks like perhaps being the other way round: dark solid rock (with cracks) surfaces in a sea of light colored sand. I wonder if this could be the case. If you are wondering if the the dark amorphous shapes (that are themselves covered by darker stripes) are not really dunes but hard expos...

If the stream of stars from the SMC towards the LMC that I think I can see actually exists, then it seems to start "opposite" bright globular cluster 47 Tuc. If you check out José Mtanous' and Jason Jennings's pictures of the Small Magellanic Cloud (and 47 Tuc), you can see that there is ...

It is an image of a real event. Like nearly all astronomical and nightscape images, it is processed to enhance details that would not be so apparent to our eyes. At a minimum that means setting black and white points (which increases contrast over the naked-eye scene), and generally boosting the sa...

Umm, so is this a real image or what? I'm still not sure even after following all the links. It is an image of a real event. Like nearly all astronomical and nightscape images, it is processed to enhance details that would not be so apparent to our eyes. At a minimum that means setting black and wh...

Umm, so is this a real image or what? I'm still not sure even after following all the links.

It puzzles me that there seem to be NO drawings or sketches of 'the Man in the Moon' before the telescope. Why? They are clearly visible, why did no one produce drawings of them? They could have discovered libration if they'd done it systematically! https://www.nature.com/articles/460957a Perhaps t...

And finally, Sigma Octantis shines bright in today's APOD! ⭐️ (Well, 40 times brighter than the Sun, though from a distance of 280 light-years.) At right it can be found in the brilliant APOD from June 28, 2018, by Frank Sackenheim, but I can't possibly find it in today's APOD. 🕵️🔎 Does anyone else...

Are there any photos yet of the rock and material brought back ? Be interesting sometime to see a detailed discussion of the mathematics and calculations involved in firing off a rocket to the moon, getting it into orbit, getting it onto the surface, getting it back into orbit, firing it towards Ea...

are consistent with the second skipping atmospheric entry of the Chang'e 5 mission's returner capsule So is that what it was? I am on tenterhooks! From https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/change-5 : Vehicles reentering Earth’s atmosphere from the Moon travel much faster than those returning fr...

What a great way to portray an eclipse. I'm mesmerized by this geostationary view! I love watching the clouds dance around. Are there any places where one could view longer shots of the Earth from this perspective? Also, is there a reason that even at night, some clouds are brightly lit while other...

What a great way to portray an eclipse. I'm mesmerized by this geostationary view! I love watching the clouds dance around. Are there any places where one could view longer shots of the Earth from this perspective? Also, is there a reason that even at night, some clouds are brightly lit while other...

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:13 pm I liked the clip; but I wish it were slower! It's over before you realize what's going on!

Click the gear icon - - and change the playback speed to .25. All YouTube videos allow that, as well as speeding them up by up to a factor of 2.

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:07 pm

heehaw wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:37 pm I always expect a heavenly chorus to sing when I see such pictures. But they never do as it is just an effect of filthy dust.

I didn't take you for a follower of the Magisterium!

The universe is indeed filled predominantly with His Dark Materials! (dark matter and dark energy)

What is the context of the question? Is it asking the color from the surface of Earth? If so then day or night? If not the surface of Earth then where? If daytime on the surface of Earth then why is it not Blue? If nighttime on the surface of Earth then why is it not nearly Black? I think the quest...

I also have yet to know what "2dF" stands for even after following half a dozen links. Yeah, it's the first part of 2dFGRS, where GRF stands for Galaxy Redshift Survey, but nowhere is "2dF" explained. <sigh> 2dFinst2.gif Thanks - yup, that's it alright ("Two Degree Field&qu...

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_201227.jpg Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are co...

Hard for me to see the Fox Nebula here! :shock: ChristmasTree-ConeNebula-CumeadaObservatoryDSA-net1100.jpg Ah this is better! :D Foxfur_Vermette_1080.jpg Are these oriented the same way? I'm having a hard time seeing that they have anything in common at all :( As you guessed, they are not oriented ...

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 2:01 pm Hard for me to see the Fox Nebula here!


ChristmasTree-ConeNebula-CumeadaObservatoryDSA-net1100.jpg


Ah this is better!


Foxfur_Vermette_1080.jpg

Are these oriented the same way? I'm having a hard time seeing that they have anything in common at all

A few more moons of Saturn are visible. Which ones? Tethys, Rhea, Dione, Iapetus? Good question! Sky & Telescope gives one way to identify Saturn's moons: https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/saturn_moons/saturn.html Nice! The credit link to Damian Peach's twitter feed...