Starship Asterisk*

Interesting that this, or these, issues are up for debate instead of settled science - realizing of course that "settled science" can in so many cases be an oxymoron. Perhaps Chris can elucidate, as he is so well-informed, careful, and exact... And for those who dare, Happy Messier Maratho...

The destination of Discovery One in Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey . This got rewritten in the sequel 2010: Odyssey Two to agree with Stanley Kubrick's film version. Clarke and Kubrick worked together on the book, which resolves a bit differently than the movie, which ends at a poin...

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 8:53 pm

zendae wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 8:39 pm Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true...

I believe it's 'do' not 'true', with a comma after 'answer'.

Yah, "true" ends the first line in the 2nd stanza, not the first.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true...

The APOD poem sounded like one of Commander Data's poetry readings (which I guess it should). One from King Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield, somewhat applicable to all this (somewhat): Night: her sable dome scattered with diamonds Fused my dust from a light year Squeezed me to her breast Sowed me wit...

Related, and fun:

https://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/ ... torial.jpg

I can understand the frustration with the relevancy of the traditional full moon names for people that live in the Southern Hemisphere. For example what do Australians make of the Harvest Moon falling at the beginning of springtime when farmers are more likely planting seeds instead of harvesting? ...

Thank You Forever, Dr. Sagan. The first time I saw this photo I cried like a baby, and am tearful now. Thank you APOD scientists for the best thing you could have posted, and Happy New Year to all.

Gosh, I imagine this will be adorning some home pages...

Could we not use the mars helicopter to fly over and clear the panels of dust ? It is important to keep in mind that all of these exploration missions have planned lifetimes, and this one has already gone twice as long as it was intended to. We have been very lucky (and benefited from great enginee...

Is there an artist's depiction of what the Galactic Center of a typical spiral galaxy would look like if a camera were, say, a couple of light years from it? Not so much the very center, but the overall hazy glow of stars that are a few hundred to a couple thousand light years across?

Why was the five-year adventure around the inner Solar System unplanned? What was it supposed to accomplish instead?

The star Eta Carinae apparently does something no other star that has been observed can do. It emits UV laser light; the only star that does this. It also has done other strange things. What is going on within ( or from without) this star to cause things that no other star has accomplished? ".....

That was so spectacular that we need to have more. As 3D as it gets! How about the Jupiter and Saturn families?

the glowing gas filaments cover nearly 3 degrees -- 6 full moons -- on the sky. I have read similar descriptions for other objects in the cosmos. Is there a nice, poster-quality artists' rendition of how the night sky might look to us if all these phenomena spanning perhaps >= .5 degrees were visib...