APOD: Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning (2011 May 29)

[APOD Robot]

Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning

Explanation: Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

<< Previous APOD

Discuss Any APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[Beyond]

Poor comet. It's about the littlest event taking place there, especially in the full panoramic view. But at least its steady viewing and not just popping off like everything else.

[Razvan]

Beautiful picture, but I have one question. Hasn't this image already beed posted on apod some time ago.
I'm sure I saw it before and I belive it was here, but not 100% sure

Anyway, sure wish I was there.

[bystander]

Actually, it's been used twice before, 2008 Jul 05 and 2007 Feb 05

[orin stepanek]

I always liked comet pictures; and they can show repeats of them any time as far as I'm concerned.
One thing I noticed that I wasn't aware of; and I never paid attention to before; was the city of Perth, Australia. It is a most modern looking city.

Click to view full size image

[Chris Peterson]

One thing I noticed that I wasn't aware of; and I never paid attention to before; was the city of Perth, Australia. It is a most modern looking city. 8-)

It's true. Running water, flush toilets... they've got it all!

[Noldorin]

This is an incredible picture. One of the best terrestrial APODs I've seen in some time. While the comet is hardly the focus of the picture, the lighting effects are incredible. A real work of art, in my view.

[zeroagenow]

They do seem to repeat pictures alot, surely they have enough that they don't have to.

[owlice]

From the APOD FAQ:

Q4: Have some APOD pictures been run more than once?
A4: Yes. Many of our readers have been with us less than a year and are unaware of some really spectacular or important astronomy pictures. New information about old pictures is becoming available over the WWW. The text and links for rerun pictures will make use of this newly available information. So although the picture might be old, some of the text and links of each APOD will be new. Also, more web surfers have larger bandwidth connections, which allows us to post higher-resolution image files that can be transferred conveniently. Software to handle more sophisticated image file formats has also become more common, so the picture's size and/or format might be new. Lastly, rerunning APODs saves us time and helps us update our archive. In general, our rerun policy currently is to only rerun APODs more than one year old to keep the pictures relatively "new" to new APOD viewers. We will almost never rerun more than two pictures in any given week. So when you load the current APOD,it is still, most probably, a new picture.

[NoelC]

Many of our readers have been with us less than a year

Surely these newcomers can follow the "Previous" link, or use the search facilities if they want to see more APODs. From what I can see, all the images are still out there online.

The APOD staff do a wonderful job of bringing us great things to look at, but the one thing done totally wrong, in my opinion, is repeat old photos. There are new discoveries - or better-than-ever new views of old discoveries - happening all the time.

-Noel

[owlice]

I think it's okay to use the occasional repeat. I know I have certainly missed APODs, and even if I haven't, I appreciate the opportunity to revisit some, especially if the editors have deemed them worthy in some way of being repeated. Some images are better than others in some way -- more important, more beautiful, more fun, more educational, etc. -- and the repeats let us know which they are. Nothing wrong with that.

[Beyond]

Owlet, i agree with you.

[owlice]

Beyond, with me about repeated images, or with the tall child about kumquats?

[Beyond]

The Kumquats, of course. I've heard about them, but have no idea what they are about. I also have no idea about children, but we don't want to get into that.

[Noldorin]

I agree with Owlet here. Who is *actually* going to click previous a few hundred times or trawl through the archives to find some of the gems? The odd repeat really doesn't hurt anyone.

[owlice]

Beyond, ah! Thanks for letting me know, and I'll let the tall child know you agree with him.

[Funky]

One thing I noticed that I wasn't aware of; and I never paid attention to before; was the city of Perth, Australia. It is a most modern looking city.

I think we're doing pretty well considering the closest place one could consider a city is ~3000km away...

If you paid attention the first time you could've visited on the cheap . These days I think Australia is a bit expensive for Americans .

[orin stepanek]

One thing I noticed that I wasn't aware of; and I never paid attention to before; was the city of Perth, Australia. It is a most modern looking city.

I think we're doing pretty well considering the closest place one could consider a city is ~3000km away...

If you paid attention the first time you could've visited on the cheap . These days I think Australia is a bit expensive for Americans .

Hi Funky! Welcome to Starship Asterisk!
It's a bit expensive for me anyway. So I visit a lot of places via the inexpensive Internet. I think Australia would be a fun place to visit though.

[Tyrone Tower]

The last 10 or so pictures have been rubbish ! Waste of time

[bystander]

So, don't waste your time (and ours).