APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5587
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:09 am

Image Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir

Explanation: If you can find Orion, you might be able to find the Winter Hexagon. The Winter Hexagon involves some of the brightest stars visible, together forming a large and easily found pattern in the winter sky of Earth's northern hemisphere. The stars involved can usually be identified even in the bright night skies of a big city, although here they appeared recently in dark skies above the Manla Reservoir in Tibet, China. The six stars that compose the Winter Hexagon are Aldebaran, Capella, Castor (and Pollux), Procyon, Rigel, and Sirius. Here, the band of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through the center of the Winter Hexagon, while the Pleiades open star cluster is visible just above. The Winter Hexagon asterism engulfs several constellations including much of the iconic steppingstone Orion.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>
[/b]

Tsukalos

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Tsukalos » Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:41 am

Contrived asterism is contrived.

But it is it a pretty picture with a small Gandalf in front conjuring some cheap tricks over the water. :lol2:

mfavret
Ensign
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 5:56 am

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by mfavret » Mon Jan 23, 2017 6:46 am

I'm french and I hope that you will excuse my poor English.

When I learned the winter sky, many years ago, my astronomers friends teached me another asterism including ALL the brightest stars of this part of the sky, including the Orion's "shoulders" Bellatrix and Betelgeuse.

This is the "big G" of winter : starting with Aldebaran, then Capella and it's neighbour Menkalinan (Bet Aur, that's produce a more "round" shape), Castor and Pollux, Procyon and Sirius, Rigel, and last the right line of the "G" formed with Bellatrix and Betelgeuse.

You can see it on the simple sky map included my "the monthly sky" (Le ciel du mois), the most visited page of my professionnal web site (I teach the sky in schools with an inflatable planetarium as you can read in the others pages -in French, sorry-) :

http://www.constellationsetgalaxies.org/cielmois.html

I don't know if it's a specific way to draw the winter sky in France or Europe ?!?

Michel FAVRET

Boomer12k
:---[===] *
Posts: 2691
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:07 am

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Boomer12k » Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:09 am

I see 7 sides, and angles, though the one is very short... a heptagon... a 7 sided Polygon...

Or is it just me and the short piece, lower left, is not counted?

Hope to have some clear but cold weather...
:---[===] *

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13833
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Ann » Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:13 am

Tsukalos, I tried to spot Gandalf, but I think I failed!

And Michel Favret, I like your G, but I'm sorry to see you missed the Pleiades!

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
Holger Nielsen
Ensign
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:45 am

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Holger Nielsen » Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:39 am

"Gandalf" is standing at the bottom centre of the picture with his back to the viewer...

ta152h0
Schooled
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:46 am
Location: Auburn, Washington, USA

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by ta152h0 » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:30 am

I like this. Some Sirius imaging
Wolf Kotenberg

heehaw

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by heehaw » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:42 am

Ah, how I remember back when, long ago, as a young boy, I looked out of my window: and suddenly realized that I was actually SEEING what was in my book: I pronounced it "Ory - On!"

Guest

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Guest » Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:23 pm

Ann wrote:Tsukalos, I tried to spot Gandalf, but I think I failed!

And Michel Favret, I like your G, but I'm sorry to see you missed the Pleiades!

Ann
I don't see Gandalf as well; either not enough imagination or not enough beer. But I do see what looks like a 'red' emission nebula just to the right of center that looks like a giant tadpole in space. Maybe multiples that kind of line up just right?

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18594
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:01 pm

Ann wrote:Tsukalos, I tried to spot Gandalf, but I think I failed!
gandalf.jpg
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13833
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by Ann » Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:49 pm

Thanks, Chris!

And welcome, Holger! (Well, it's your second post, not your first, but still...)

You're a Dane, like Chris, aren't you?

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21592
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by bystander » Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:52 pm

Boomer12k wrote:I see 7 sides, and angles, though the one is very short... a heptagon... a 7 sided Polygon...

Or is it just me and the short piece, lower left, is not counted?

Castor should not be included in the Winter Hexagon. The segment should go directly from Capella to Pollux.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by neufer » Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:20 pm

bystander wrote:
Castor should not be included in the Winter Hexagon. The segment should go directly from Capella to Pollux.
Mortals get no respect.

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable?
Quite easily, I should think.
All nonsense questions are unanswerable.
- C. S. Lewis
Art Neuendorffer

ta152h0
Schooled
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:46 am
Location: Auburn, Washington, USA

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by ta152h0 » Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:01 pm

mere mortals even less, and I am being Sirius here
Wolf Kotenberg

saturno2
Commander
Posts: 763
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:05 pm

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by saturno2 » Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:01 am

Beautiful Image

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by MarkBour » Tue Jan 24, 2017 1:24 am

neufer wrote:
bystander wrote:
Castor should not be included in the Winter Hexagon. The segment should go directly from Capella to Pollux.
Mortals get no respect.

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable?
Quite easily, I should think.
All nonsense questions are unanswerable.
- C. S. Lewis
Okay, Clive, but in that case "unanswerable" is made unsatisfyingly fuzzy.
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir (2017 Jan 23)

Post by neufer » Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:00 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
MarkBour wrote:
neufer wrote:
Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable?
Quite easily, I should think.
All nonsense questions are unanswerable.


- Clive Staples Lewis
Okay, Clive, but in that case "unanswerable"
is made unsatisfyingly fuzzy.
Art Neuendorffer

Post Reply