Starship Asterisk*

Nice description of the forces at work that create this strange and beautiful apparition. I was curious as to why Cassiopeia was described as "boastful" in the text. So, yet again, through APOD I've learned something I didn't know that I never knew . . http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/and/...

This image first appears to be taken with less than a 1 sec exposure - otherwise the ash cloud wouldn't be so detailed. So what's with the star trails? It's a time-exposure, but the ash cloud has been illuminated by the brevity of the lightning flash, that's why it shows detail . . just like using ...

I'd like to echo Chris Peterson's sentiments regarding this thread. In style it's really no different to the articles that Otto Posterman posts every day; surely it's up to those of us who want to, on the forum, to pick up on the subject-matter of the post (no matter who has posted it) and discuss i...

It's a stunning image!, hard to believe this is a photograph taken of something occurring on our own planet; it looks so hellishly other-worldly. I particularly like how the lightning bolt illuminates the ash cloud, reminiscent of stars illuminating a nebula. And it's fascinating how the lightning c...

I find it interesting how the brain can be tricked by the perspective in photos from above like this. At first it looked like a conical mound projecting above the surrounding surface, which reminded me of a Chameleon's eye. Then it swapped around visually and I could see it as a depression in the su...

Insomnia

Many thanks, Luigi, for your explanation (and Chris for clarifying also). Seems I was having a little coma of my own trying to figure, but now it's all clear

Thanks for providing your exposure information for your great picture Luigi, and congratulations for having it selected as an APOD. In my ignorance, I had to look up the "Polarie tracker" you mentioned, as I had never heard of this before and did not know what it was. I subsequently found ...

I think it's a very good design. Have to admit, I too often find sundials quite frustrating because they seem to be hardly ever useful (or right!), but this Solstice/Equinox one has an unusual element of design and thought about it. I am still trying to get my head round how one would set about maki...

Happy Universary APOD!!! Here's to another billion images

Oh WOW!, Venus looks so vulnerable and small moving across that incredible fiery maelstrom. These are simply the best views of a Venus transit ever in human history, all thanks to the SDO project! What an amazing video sequence; an awesome APOD! Thanks

A truly unique perspective on astronomy and art, astronaut Don Pettit's beautiful star trail pictures taken from on board the ISS! Image copyright: Don Pettit/NASA http://www.geekweek.pl/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/star-trails-seen-from-space-ISS-nasa-don-pettit-15.jpg Image copyright: Don Pettit/NAS...

Ha! That was good!

. . . but I now really want to know what happens next

Daisy [/Art], Daisy [/Art], give me your answer do

I saw this for real in 2004! It looked exactly like this! Used my scope to project the image onto a sheet of paper. It was quite a thrill
Great picture and nice to see it again.

50% chance of rain is our current forecast for Tuesday. :-( Going by your 'smiley', your glass is half empty! Mine is half full . . only 50% chance here too :ssmile: , according to the forecast for tuesday, but it's 90% today . . and it's raining heavily now. Ah well, either way, I expect it'll be ...

Okay, I'm sold on it! Never seen this galaxy with my own eyes, but I'm going to make a point of trying to locate it through my low-powered scope at the next opportunity (which, in all honesty, may be a little while 'cos it doesn't get dark on a night 'til late at this time of year and I'm usually mu...

Works fine for me as an APOD . . . totally other-worldly! (and all part of the Universe)

I don't mind looking at pictures of the frozen north when the sun is beating down and it is 75 degrees in the shade! A beautiful picture of the day!

blue sky and buttercups 500x331.jpg It has been lovely shorts and tee shirt weather here for over a week too Ann . . I don't mean the shorts are lovely, but the weather :lol2: , although the shorts aren't so bad! This is a picture I took yesterday morning of buttercups in one of the fields. All the...

This picture reminds me strongly of Pink Floyd on stage . . but, "Hey!, Teacher!", where's Dave? Seriously though, what a superb photo! It really tells the story. I would love to know what the focal length of the lens used to take this photo was; the photographer must have been quite some ...

Well, I can't speak for the song, but I actually quite enjoyed watching this, enough to take a look at some of the other finalists' efforts too. Clearly a lot of thought and creativity has been put into making these. There are some pretty inventive interpretations and some surprisingly good choreogr...

Ann, thanks for putting up that clip :) I really enjoyed seeing Agnetha again; oh my!, how that takes me back! I haven't watched the interminable "Eurovision" for quite a number of years now . . As for Loreen, congratulations to her and Sweden, but I'm not sure she'll quite have the appeal...

I wish the mission every success. I always get a blast from seeing a rocket launch and because this is testing a new vehicle, it is quite exciting. Good luck to the Dragon!

Got to say, I do feel a little bit sorry for the bug! . . . you could have just let him/her go out of a window

Cassini does it again . . another great shot

Ann, hehe!, that's a classic!
Now I can see why everybody on the Danish/Swedish TV thriller series "The Bridge" looks so confused and baffled all the time