APOD: Icelandic Legends and Aurora (2015 Dec 08)

[spider72]

Yes I know Chris. I was only making a point proving that there is discrepancy between landscape and sky and that it's not a real picture. Picture like this can never be seen from that location unless we will be hit with large asteroid which will tilt the Earth axis. But I guess there would be nobody to watch it after that event .

[Chris Peterson]

Yes I know Chris. I was only making a point proving that there is discrepancy between landscape and sky and that it's not a real picture. Picture like this can never be seen from that location unless we will be hit with large asteroid which will tilt the Earth axis. But I guess there would be nobody to watch it after that event ;).

I would suggest you plan a trip to that location next March. Apparently only your own eyes will convince you that you're wrong.

[geckzilla]

Oh really ? Can you see The Plough over the South-East horizon there ?

This picture is a fake without a doubt.

It matches up perfectly. Keep in mind that the photographer used a wide angle lens, which is most apparent given the distortion of Jupiter in the upper right corner. Ursa Major is toward the southwest, but it is nearly over head. Were you standing there, you would have to look almost straight up. Here's an overlay of a Stellarium screenshot and the APOD. Click the image to swap back and forth. There is no evidence the photo is not real or that the photographer set out to deceive. Please apologize.
http://www.geckzilla.com/apod/AuroraIce ... _swap.html

[spider72]

Ha, ha, no it is not, just take closer look on the star charts, there is about 90 degree discrepancy.

BTW I wish this picture was true, but is not.

[geckzilla]

Just as an FYI spider72 will no longer be able to view or respond to the posts in this thread.

[gmPhil]

Chris v spider72: it's simple enough to resolve - presumably APOD know who the photographer is. So grab him (her), and waterboard them until they confess or die. If they die, we can presume the photo is real. If they confess, we drown them for wasting everyone's time.
Now can someone please answer my question? (Earlier.)

[Chris Peterson]

Does anyone know what that rectangular formation in the rock at lower left of the photo is?

It looks like columnar basalt.

[Boomer12k]

Explosions from the Sun.....oh, come on.....get real...

Nice image. I am sure the splendor of nature inspired many a lore around a camp fire on a cold winter's night...back to my cuppa hot tea on this totally rainy day in Oregon. Had to cancel my dental appointment, my dentist has flooding at his house... Never build near a river.....


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[Boomer12k]

If you have trouble with this timed exposure, thus the slight star trails, the elongation of Jupiter, and the highlighted foreground.....click on Elizabeth's name and email her. Simple.....

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[neufer]

FYI spider72 will no longer be able to view or respond to the posts in this thread.

What No binding spider72 with the entrails of one of his kids and
placing a serpent to drip venom from above causing him to writhe in pain
(The moderators are really getting soft.)

[heehaw]

It is clearly a picture of Hell, taken from Mars.

[geckzilla]

FYI spider72 will no longer be able to view or respond to the posts in this thread.

What No binding spider72 with the entrails of one of his kids and
placing a serpent to drip venom from above causing him to writhe in pain
(The moderators are really getting soft.)

That is an oddly specific punishment. I'd never force a snake to participate in something like that.

[Boomer12k]

You mean you cannot see aurora at all from that position?????

You mean like THIS aurora picture taken around the same area????

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[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

You mean you cannot see aurora at all from that position?????

You mean like THIS aurora picture taken around the same area????

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Beautiful photograph Boomer! Is it real? How did the aurora know it was Christmas?

[locobonobo]

Gosh, that's all very clever guys. But in questioning the photos' veracity shouldn't you also consider that the aurora appears to be directly illuminating the surface of the sea. Is this possible from 10000 feet?

[Chris Peterson]

Gosh, that's all very clever guys. But in questioning the photos' veracity shouldn't you also consider that the aurora appears to be directly illuminating the surface of the sea. Is this possible from 10000 feet?

These auroras are far higher than 10,000 feet. More like 100 kilometers or more. We will see them reflected off water as long as the light reaches the ground... which it obviously does, or there would be no picture.

[geckzilla]

Stars over 10,000 light years away still cause reflections on the surface of water. What's to stop an aurora from doing the same? I feel like I have permanently lost a piece of my sanity on this day.

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF]Aurora Borealis (Frederic Edwin Church, 1865)[/color][/b]

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<<Aurora Borealis is an 1865 painting by Frederic Edwin Church of the aurora borealis and the Arctic expedition of Dr. Isaac Hayes. The painting measures 56 × 84 1/2 in. and is now owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The iconography of the painting suggested personal and nationalistic references. The peak in the painting had been named Mount Church during Hayes's expedition. Aurora Borealis incorporated details of Hayes' ship, drawn from a sketch he brought back upon returning from his expedition. Contrasting with his earlier works The North and The Icebergs (1861), the intact ship highlights Hayes' achievements in navigating this space, as well as the state of the nation in navigating this contentious historical moment. Presenting the ship's safe passage through the eerie experience, Church suggested optimism for the future with a tiny light shining out from the ship's window.>>

[tjerome]

Oh really ? Can you see The Plough over the South-East horizon there ?

This picture is a fake without a doubt.

It matches up perfectly. Keep in mind that the photographer used a wide angle lens, which is most apparent given the distortion of Jupiter in the upper right corner. Ursa Major is toward the southwest, but it is nearly over head. Were you standing there, you would have to look almost straight up. Here's an overlay of a Stellarium screenshot and the APOD. Click the image to swap back and forth. There is no evidence the photo is not real or that the photographer set out to deceive. Please apologize.
http://www.geckzilla.com/apod/AuroraIce ... _swap.html

Wow--that's an impressive demonstration. I gather you used some sort of plate solve to superimpose the star names over the photo, but how did you make the second slide match up perfectly and package it into a clickable demo? I'd love to know how to make a comparison like that.
Ted

[geckzilla]

http://www.geckzilla.com/apod/AuroraIce ... _swap.html

Wow--that's an impressive demonstration. I gather you used some sort of plate solve to superimpose the star names over the photo, but how did you make the second slide match up perfectly and package it into a clickable demo? I'd love to know how to make a comparison like that.
Ted

It is easy if you already know how but could be fairly difficult without some skills built up in a few different areas first. I took the screenshot in Stellarium knowing the location and date using a perspective projection since that most closely matches the single exposure camera shot. Then, with the two images in Photoshop, I use something called a puppet warp on the screenshot and pin matching stars in place. I try to do the most obvious stars/planets that are far apart first and then match up the smaller details. The web page is just some simple css, html, and javascript.

Since I already did most of the work matching the screenshot with the photo a few nights ago for the annotation, I didn't mind putting this together quickly, especially for the sake of destroying the accusations made against the photographer. I probably would have done it anyway... nothing pushes my buttons more than new users who pop in here just to try to bring someone down.

[tjerome]

Thank you, geck! I appreciate the description, and of course, agree with your motivation!
Clear skies,
Ted

[Chris Peterson]

I probably would have done it anyway... nothing pushes my buttons more than new users who pop in here just to try to bring someone down.

Makes you wish you could use the puppet warp tool on them, does it?

[geckzilla]

I probably would have done it anyway... nothing pushes my buttons more than new users who pop in here just to try to bring someone down.

Makes you wish you could use the puppet warp tool on them, does it?

Maybe, if I could fix their brain with it to fire more calming neurons and less agitating ones.