APOD: Night at the Drive In (2013 Sep 20)

[APOD Robot]

Night at the Drive In

Explanation: Colorful stars trail through this late summer, night skyscape from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The picture was composed by stacking 12 consecutive 1 minute long digital camera exposures to follow the trails, a reflection of our fair planet's daily rotation. It also records faint clouds of the Milky Way in the clear sky, stretching above a local drive-in movie theater. In fact, watching movies from cars at the drive-in was once a more common night time activity. But while the stars still shine, drive-in theaters have faded from the American landscape over the decades since the 1950s. Still, this recent scene includes a short exposure made as the projector beamed a space age image to the movie screen, and drive-in skygazers watched a view of the Earth below the International Space Station, under the stars above.

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[ta152h0]

I do miss the Duwamish drive-in where I saw Star Wars and Squadron 633, with my wife-to-be and my dad, in that order.

[Beyond]

Geeze, just can't get away from that space stuff It even shows up on a drive-in movie screen. GADS It's all over da place

[geckzilla]

Another HDR style image to mess with our brains. Hopefully the movie screen isn't 6.5 times its actual size in this scene.

[Nitpicker]

Nice photo.

Another HDR style image to mess with our brains. Hopefully the movie screen isn't 6.5 times its actual size in this scene.

It is possible that in the 1950s, drive-in movie screens were closer than they are today. That might explain why hardly anyone is attending the drive-in in this picture.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Chris Peterson]

It is possible that in the 1950s, drive-in movie screens were closer than they are today. That might explain why hardly anyone is attending the drive-in in this picture. :)

I think it has more to do with the ubiquity of bucket seats.

[Ann]

The sky show in this picture is fantastic. I hope the movie was that good.

Ann

[fausto.lubatti]

Really nice composition and great shot!

[Phiphreak]

Maybe I'm just old fashioned but shouldn't Polaris be about 42 degrees above the horizon judging the latitude in this picture I would estimate it at 5 to 10 degrees below the equator.

[neufer]

Maybe I'm just old fashioned but shouldn't Polaris be about 42 degrees above the horizon judging the latitude in this picture I would estimate it at 5 to 10 degrees below the equator.

The screen is to the South.

[Fish918]

It won't be long before a lot of the last drive-ins will be gone. After dec. 31 they have to have a digital projector, or else they won't be able to show movies anymore. One of the drive-ins that is in bad weather is owned by a friends parents. They really need your vote for a chance to win a digital projector. Would you please consider voting for them at www.projectdrivein.com/#vote_21 ? Thank you!

[Boomer12k]

Somebody still has a Drive-in???? Wow...takes me back...Oh, the memories...

The Milky Way in the background is very interesting too.

:---[===] *

[Phiphreak]

Duh!!

[Joe Stieber]

I was curious about the specific stars and constellations in this picture, so I labeled a copy of it:



Click here for a larger version.

[neufer]

I was curious about the specific stars and constellations in this picture, so I labeled a copy of it:



Click here for a larger version.

Might also mention:

• 1) The far left car with its headlights on to illuminate the other cars
  2) The 'backwards' car to block "chrome glare" caused by the first car.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had never thought much about M24 & M7 before.

<<The Sagittarius Star Cloud (also known as Delle Caustiche, Messier 24, IC 4715) is a star cluster in the constellation of Sagittarius, approximately 600 light years wide, which was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. It is sometimes known as the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud to distinguish it from the Great Sagittarius Star Cloud located to the north of Gamma Sagittarii and Delta Sagittarii. The stars, clusters and other objects comprising M24 are part of the Sagittarius or Sagittarius-Carina arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Messier described M24 as a "large nebulosity containing many stars" and gave its dimensions as being some 1.5° across. M24 fills a space of significant volume to a depth of 10,000 to 16,000 light-years. This is the most dense concentration of individual stars visible using binoculars, with around 1,000 stars visible within a single field of view.>>

<<Messier 7 or M7, also designated NGC 6475 and sometimes known as the Ptolemy Cluster, is an open cluster of stars in the constellation of Scorpius. The cluster is easily detectable with the naked eye, close to the "stinger" of Scorpius. With a declination of -34.8°, it is the southernmost Messier object. M7 has been known since antiquity; it was first recorded by the 1st-century Greek-Roman astronomer Ptolemy, who described it as a nebula in 130 AD. Italian astronomer Giovanni Batista Hodierna observed it before 1654 and counted 30 stars in it. In 1764, French astronomer Charles Messier catalogued the cluster as the seventh member in his list of comet-like objects. English astronomer John Herschel described it as "coarsely scattered clusters of stars". Telescopic observations of the cluster reveal about 80 stars within a field of view of 1.3° across. At the cluster's estimated distance of 980 light years this corresponds to an actual diameter of 25 light years. The tidal radius of the cluster is 40.1 ly and it has a combined mass of about 735 times the mass of the Sun. The age of the cluster is around 200 million years while the brightest member star is of magnitude 5.6. In terms of composition, the cluster contains a similar abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium as the Sun.>>

[Lordcat Darkstar]

Its sad to see the drive-ins disappering. But I'm glad that we can still watch movies under the stars. A lot of communities in the US have started offering free "movies in the park"events in the summertime so not all is lost

[neufer]

Its sad to see the drive-ins disappearing. But I'm glad that we can still watch movies under the stars.
A lot of communities in the US have started offering free "movies in the park"events in the summertime so not all is lost

I missed seeing Avatar in the theatre but got to see it outside for free in Alexandria down by the docks.

[Beyond]

heh, i haven't seen it at all, free or otherwise, docks or anywhere else. Same with Green Lantern, the last few Star trek movies, and a bunch of others i can't think of the names of.
Dats just the way it goes in this neck-of-the-woods. By the time i get to see them, I've forgotten they were made in the first place.

[Anthony Barreiro]

I was curious about the specific stars and constellations in this picture, so I labeled a copy of it: .

Thanks Joe! Everything falls into place!

[Guest]

I feel so fortunate that those skies and that drive-in are in my hometown.
Dave

[r9brown]

I don't understand this picture. Polaris is clearly far below the horizon, yet at Cape Cod Polaris is always 41 degrees (Hyannis) above the horizon and should be always visible.

Love your website!

Bob
Tallahassee

[Chris Peterson]

I don't understand this picture. Polaris is clearly far below the horizon, yet at Cape Cod Polaris is always 41 degrees (Hyannis) above the horizon and should be always visible.

Yeah, it's so far below the horizon that it's come back up into the sky behind the photographer!

[BMAONE23]

I don't understand this picture. Polaris is clearly far below the horizon, yet at Cape Cod Polaris is always 41 degrees (Hyannis) above the horizon and should be always visible.

Love your website!

Bob
Tallahassee

Scorpius extends towards the southern hemisphere so since it is in the image, the image is looking south, away from Polaris
Scorpius contains the Red Giant star Antares(labeled in the image)



Antares is a massive star compared to our Sun

Here is an interesting Constellation finder program
http://www.topastronomer.com/StarCharts/3DNightSky.aspx

[OriEri]

The thing I don't get about this picture is how a sharp single image of the movie projection was produced by 12 one minute exposures. Maybe 12 one minute exposures and one one second (or shorter ?; couldn't be much shorter because the does not look smeared) exposure?

Somebody still has a Drive-in???? Wow...takes me back...Oh, the memories...

:---[===] *

There is a nice one in southern San Jose. As of 2003, there was one in Denver someplace too.