The COLBERT & ISS Over Earth (APOD 2009 October 5)

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091005.html
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colber ... ce-odyssey

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090902.html

• ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "And he had scaled that wondrous stair
  That soars from earth to upper air,
  Where rich and poor alike must climb,
  And walk the treadmill for a time"
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  - Lewis Carroll's first published work, The Lady of the Ladle,
  appeared in the Whitby Gazette in August, 1854.

[grump]

I think this picture is upside down.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091005.html

[blastoff]

I second that. although its all relative, id want to see the mountains of new zealand right side up! (its an earthling thing)

[rstevenson]

I second that. although its all relative, id want to see the mountains of new zealand right side up! (its an earthling thing)

Agreed, it's all relative. And since I have none in New Zealand, I like it as is, with the sunlight coming from upper-left.

Does anyone know if that brown smudge just off the coast is a bit of dirt somewhere in the process, or maybe a bit of southern-fried pollution.

Rob

[apodman]

Does anyone know if that brown smudge just off the coast is a bit of dirt somewhere in the process, or maybe a bit of southern-fried pollution.

Looks to me like it's on the shuttle window. The window frame appears in the large version of the photo.

[rstevenson]

Where's a squeegy-kid when you need one?

Interesting thought... How do you clean the outside of an ISS window?

Rob

[lewgee]

How can there be clouds above the ISS?

[apodman]

How do you clean the outside of an ISS window?

The final shuttle mission to the ISS will include the astronaut chosen by the redneck-in-space program who will retrofit all of the ISS windows with NASCAR-style mylar windshield tear-offs. Seriously, they use them for military helicopters so why not? And after you tear them off, you can leave them around like floating fly paper to collect dangerous space debris.

[apodman]

How can there be clouds above the ISS?

There aren't any, unless you mean above like higher up in the picture. Forgetting about the orientation of the picture and using above to mean further from the center of the Earth and below to mean closer to the center of the Earth, all the clouds in the picture are below the ISS, between the ISS and the surface of the Earth. The camera is above the ISS, the ISS is above the clouds, and the clouds are above the Earth.

[soupphysics]

What is "above", when weightless?

[rstevenson]

... mylar windshield tear-offs. ... And after you tear them off, you can leave them around like floating fly paper to collect dangerous space debris.

Should have patented that idea rather than posting it in a public forum. It's too good to throw away like that.

Rob

[rstevenson]

What is "above", when weightless?

Further from the center of the nearest large mass?

Rob

[neufer]

What is "above", when weightless?

Further from the center of the nearest large mass?

• ABOVE, prep. [OE. ABOVE, aboven, abuffe, AS. abufon; an (or on) on + be by + ufan upward; cf. Goth. uf under.]
  In or to a higher place; higher than; on or over the upper surface; over; -- opposed to below or beneath.
  
  • "Fowl that may fly ABOVE the earth." Gen. i. 20.

[zbvhs]

To think the idiot politicians are thinking, nay planning, on deorbiting the whole lot in 2016. Is that nonsense or what?

[apodman]

To think the idiot politicians are thinking, nay planning, on deorbiting the whole lot in 2016. Is that nonsense or what?

The self-destruct countdown on the Enterprise didn't go all the way to zero on the first try, and neither will the ISS. (See also Galaxy Quest.) When it finally comes time to scuttle the ISS, I hope they have explosive bolts to unjoin the sections and that the sections are just the right sizes to maximize the show and minimize getting hit on the head.

[soupphysics]

Why were these two threads merged?

That makes it completely unreadable, and nothing makes sense.

The moderation here is horrible! How could anyone think it was a good idea to merge them?

[neufer]

Why were these two threads merged?

That makes it completely unreadable, and nothing makes sense.

It is standard operating procedure to have ALL posts about a single APOD on one thread.

It minimized duplication of ideas if nothing else.

If you would like your own personal thread you should consider posting to the CAFE.

Was your question answered to your satisfaction?

[bystander]

Why were these two threads merged?

That makes it completely unreadable, and nothing makes sense.


The moderation here is horrible! How could anyone think it was a good idea to merge them?

It is standard operating procedure to have ALL posts about a single APOD on one thread.

It minimized duplication of ideas if nothing else.

If you would like your own personal thread you should consider posting to the CAFE.

Was your question answered to your satisfaction?

If there is already a discussion thread on an APOD, please keep all posts on that APOD in it; if not, feel free to start a new thread. Second (third, etc) threads on an APOD will be merged.

That wouldn't have worked, either. If he had posted a thread about this apod in the Café, it would have been merged here, too.

BTW: Flattery of the mods does not earn you any brownie points.

[neufer]

That wouldn't have worked, either. If he had posted a thread about this apod in the Café, it would have been merged here, too.

I sort of thought it might...
but I figured a little 'razzle dazzle' might keep 'the soupphysics Nazi' from taking a swing at me.

BTW: Flattery of the mods does not earn you any brownie points.

I've never heard about Asterisk "brownie points." How does one earn them?

[bystander]

I've never heard about Asterisk "brownie points." How does one earn them?

I can't tell you, it's a Sidhe secret. But sputnick can tell you how not to ...

[mnmcallister]

I am deeply curious as to where the ISS in the APOD dated 2009 October 5 was taken (Earth geographicaly)
I'd like to place the landmass in the photo.
TIA,
Marl N. McAllister

[rstevenson]

I am deeply curious as to where the ISS in the APOD dated 2009 October 5 was taken (Earth geographicaly)
I'd like to place the landmass in the photo.

Up above, in the third post in this thread, someone says it's New Zealand. I take them at their word, even though they're upside down.

Rob

[neufer]

I am deeply curious as to where the ISS in the APOD dated 2009 October 5 was taken (Earth geographicaly)
I'd like to place the landmass in the photo.

Up above, in the third post in this thread, someone says it's New Zealand.
I take them at their word, even though they're upside down.

As are the high snow covered mountains on the bottom right (upside down).

While New Zealand does have high snow covered mountains in September it could also be in Southern Chile.

It's all that water on both sides of the mountains that makes it something of a mystery.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/ima ... 10004.html

[Chris Peterson]

I am deeply curious as to where the ISS in the APOD dated 2009 October 5 was taken (Earth geographicaly)
I'd like to place the landmass in the photo.

The landmass on the lower right is New Zealand's South Island. You can see Banks Peninsula poking up at the right side of it, with Christchurch at its base. The waterway in the center is the Cook Strait, separating the North and South islands. North Island is at the left, with Wellington right on the tip extending into the Cook Strait. "Up" in the image is southeast. The entire stretch of coastline ranges from Hawke Bay on the left to nearly Timaru on the right, a total distance of perhaps 750 km.

[jerbil]

Right at the beginning of this thread Neufer penned a little 4 line ditty, which reminded me of another one of which the authorship is unknown to me.

"As I was walking up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish to hell he'd go away!"