Search found 1376 matches
- Sat Feb 05, 2022 8:48 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Symbiotic R Aquarii (2022 Feb 05)
- Replies: 21
- Views: 10748
Re: APOD: Symbiotic R Aquarii (2022 Feb 05)
Judy Schmidt wrote: This system is curiously bright at certain infrared bands, and I'm not entirely sure why. I'd love to see what JWST makes of this thing. Being such a well-studied object, I would guess that it will eventually become a Webb target. Thanks Ann, bystander, and Geck for the info! It...
- Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:44 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows (2022 Jan 23)
- Replies: 16
- Views: 6128
Re: APOD: Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows (2022 Jan 23)
Telesto and Calypso are big enough that they're perturbing Tethys as well. Saturn's mass is ~6 orders of magnitude greater than that of Tethys. Tethys's mass is ~5 orders of magnitude greater than that of Telesto or Calypso. Okay, so you're suggesting insignificant to the orbital mechanics of Tethy...
- Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:35 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows (2022 Jan 23)
- Replies: 16
- Views: 6128
Re: APOD: Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows (2022 Jan 23)
Animation of Polydeuces/Dione/Helene orbits relative to Saturn https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Animation_of_Polydeuces%27s_orbit_relative_to_Saturn_and_Dione.gif Telesto (24 kilometers, or 15 miles across) shares the orbit of Saturn's moon Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles ...
- Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:10 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Retreating Thunderstorm at Sunset (2022 Jan 16)
- Replies: 4
- Views: 2562
Re: APOD: A Retreating Thunderstorm at Sunset (2022 Jan 16)
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoMRwyNhqJ4 It is really tremendous for us astronomers to have a really close-up look at an actual planet! Complex and interesting! Thanks neufer! Yes, an image of this event is certainly worthy of at least one APOD. I see it does respond nicely to heeh...
- Tue Jan 11, 2022 6:06 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Orion's Belt Region in Gas and Dust (2022 Jan 11)
- Replies: 17
- Views: 7014
Re: APOD: Orion's Belt Region in Gas and Dust (2022 Jan 11)
A lovely image, and it allows me to focus attention on the shapes of the clouds.
Congratulations, Matt. And I like that signature line:
Congratulations, Matt. And I like that signature line:
Cameras, Binoculars, Dobs, Cats, and Refractors. Whatever it takes!
- Mon Jan 10, 2022 5:29 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Comet Leonard's Tail Wag (2022 Jan 10)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2807
Re: APOD: Comet Leonard's Tail Wag (2022 Jan 10)
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Wow, I love this time lapse!
It really shows that the ion tail boils off and is blown away.
Something I never really pictured that clearly before.
- Fri Jan 07, 2022 12:20 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: The Last Days of Venus as the Star... (2022 Jan 06)
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5214
Re: APOD: The Last Days of Venus as the Star... (2022 Jan 06)
Hey cool! Let's point the JWST to get a shot of Venus at inferior conjunction! (sarcasm emoji) Better shoot quick, though, before the boiling clouds of helium obscure the view! Interesting. I had not read about this! On the Webb, the MIRI instrument is cooled by a special "cryocooler". Ex...
- Thu Jan 06, 2022 6:17 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: The Last Days of Venus as the Star... (2022 Jan 06)
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5214
Re: APOD: The Last Days of Venus as the Star... (2022 Jan 06)
Hey cool! Let's point the JWST to get a shot of Venus at inferior conjunction! (sarcasm emoji)
- Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:49 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
- Replies: 47
- Views: 15027
Re: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
Also, johnnydeep, welcome to the 1000-post club!
- Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:45 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
- Replies: 47
- Views: 15027
Re: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
Thanks johnnydeep, neufer, and Chris for the links and discussion that help me understand the choice of L2. So, it seems that there were a few possible reasons to prefer L2, but this discussion centers on the difficulty of communicating large amounts of data from 1 AU away, as the biggest downside t...
- Fri Dec 31, 2021 12:40 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
- Replies: 47
- Views: 15027
Re: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
LagrangePointsSunEarth.jpg I had trouble figuring out why L2 was chosen instead of another one of the 5 Lagrange points. Clearly L3 would be terrible -- huge distance, never a clean line of communication. And L1 would not be a good choice for this mission (though it is handy for the SOHO mission). ...
- Thu Dec 30, 2021 6:08 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Giant Storms and High Clouds on Jupiter (2021 Dec 29)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 3272
Re: APOD: Giant Storms and High Clouds on Jupiter (2021 Dec 29)
What a beautiful image! I am trying to understand what I'm seeing and can learn about Jupiter from this image. Let me know if I got any of the following incorrect: Those comparatively small white clouds above the larger oval are condensed water clouds, much like on Earth. And they're floating in a t...
- Mon Dec 27, 2021 4:30 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
- Replies: 47
- Views: 15027
Re: APOD: James Webb Space Telescope over Earth (2021 Dec 26)
I was thrilled when I saw this image during the launch coverage. A few seconds before this view, it was out of focus and glitching in the 2nd stage camera image. A few seconds later, it was overexposed and looked like a fuzzy blob of light as the 2nd stage maneuvered to avoid hitting it and then it ...
- Tue Dec 21, 2021 5:16 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: The Comet and the Fireball (2021 Dec 20)
- Replies: 13
- Views: 5276
Re: APOD: The Comet and the Fireball (2021 Dec 20)
Looks like the fireball stole the Comet Leonard's Thunder! :shock: The Giant Arc stole the fireball's Thunder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXtmRRXTiSw <<The Giant Arc is a large-scale structure discovered in June 2021 that spans 3.3 billion light years. The structure of galaxies exceeds the 1.2...
- Tue Dec 21, 2021 4:35 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Solstice Sun and Milky Way (2021 Dec 21)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 5121
Re: APOD: Solstice Sun and Milky Way (2021 Dec 21)
A question pops up for me. In ancient times the year was considered to start on the vernal equinox when the Sun was in Pisces. Therefore it is said we are in the Age of Pisces and coming up is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius when the Sun moves over into that sign. However, in these modern times ...
- Mon Nov 15, 2021 12:57 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: How to Identify that Light in the Sky (2021 Nov 14)
- Replies: 26
- Views: 14701
Re: APOD: How to Identify that Light in the Sky (2021 Nov 14)
As for the ISS, I think I have seen it twice, but I noticed that it moved, it was very bright, and then quite quickly it got fainter and disappeared. . . . Ann I have enjoyed this: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ I wondered if this was only available in the United States, but when I put in "M...
- Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:35 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 3673
Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)
(Mad, Mad, mad ...) I was wondering if you might pick up on my made-up word "firescape". You (and Spencer Tracy) did not disappoint. That movie had about every living comedian (at the time) in its cast, even Buster Keaton! It didn't age well, the humor seems just silly now (time is rough ...
- Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:06 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 3673
- Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:41 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Filament Leaps from the Sun (2021 Nov 08)
- Replies: 21
- Views: 5885
Re: If it's just us, seems like an awful twaste of space.
A current problem in plasma physics is that observed reconnection happens much faster than predicted by MHD in high Lundquist number plasmas (i.e. fast magnetic reconnection). Solar flares, for example, proceed 13–14 orders of magnitude faster than a naive calculation would suggest, and several ord...
- Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:38 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Rorschach Aurora (2021 Oct 30)
- Replies: 12
- Views: 5276
Re: APOD: A Rorschach Aurora (2021 Oct 30)
Good point about the "dreary days", Mark. November, December, January, February and sometimes March are often overcast, gray and dreary where I live. And when it clears up it gets cold, which I am also unhappy about. Ann Well, here's wishing you more days of sunshine this winter ... and a...
- Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:56 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Rorschach Aurora (2021 Oct 30)
- Replies: 12
- Views: 5276
Re: APOD: A Rorschach Aurora (2021 Oct 30)
By the way, for today's APOD . . . I find the image lovely and creative in its design. Nevertheless, I quickly found myself wishing to have just seen the 180-degree image un-warped, and felt it would probably be considerably more beautiful to have just seen it as nature actually presented itself.
- Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:53 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Rorschach Aurora (2021 Oct 30)
- Replies: 12
- Views: 5276
Re: APOD: A Rorschach Aurora (2021 Oct 30)
I was born far north in Sweden, just a little bit south of the Arctic Circle, Is that where you also grew up? If so, did you find the almost sun-less winter days difficult to cope with? I was born in Luleå, but we moved to Malmö when I was nine. So we moved some 1,500 kilometers away, mostly to the...
- Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:24 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Mars Panorama 360 from Curiosity (2021 Sep 14)
- Replies: 24
- Views: 6020
Re: APOD: Mars Panorama 360 from Curiosity (2021 Sep 14)
Kitty stuck in between two pillows! :shock: Great picture, Orin. Nice example of horizontal compression. :-) I vote that it go farther to the left (I know my vote won't get counted). I'm intrigued by that feature that looks like a sand cornice way over at the left of the image. It's a 360° panorama...
- Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:10 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Rings and Seasons of Saturn (2021 Sep 19)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 3333
Re: APOD: Rings and Seasons of Saturn (2021 Sep 19)
Great sequence of beautiful shots. 3 questions come to mind: Does this show the greatest angle at which we ever see the rings (from Earth)? I've never seen them tilted further than the end images shown, but I've not been observing Saturn for very long. It looks like the images toward the middle some...
- Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:09 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Mars Panorama 360 from Curiosity (2021 Sep 14)
- Replies: 24
- Views: 6020
Re: APOD: Mars Panorama 360 from Curiosity (2021 Sep 14)
Great picture, Orin. Nice example of horizontal compression.
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I vote that it go farther to the left (I know my vote won't get counted). I'm intrigued by that feature that looks like a sand cornice way over at the left of the image.