APOD: Mont Blanc, Meteor, and Milky Way (2018 Sep 15)

[APOD Robot]

Mont Blanc, Meteor, and Milky Way

Explanation: Snowy Mont Blanc is near the center of this atmospheric night skyscape. But high, thin clouds fogged the skies at the photographer's location, looking south toward Europe's highest peak from the southern Swiss Alps. Still, the 13 second exposure finds the faint star fields and dark rifts of the Milky Way above the famous white mountain. Bloated by the mist, bright planet Saturn and Antares (right), alpha star of Scorpius, shine through the clouds to flank the galaxy's central bulge. The high-altitude scene is from the rewarding night of August 12/13, so it also includes the green trail of a Perseid meteor shooting along the galactic plane.

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[Boomer12k]

Another awesome view of this stunning place.... but no goat this time...

:---[===] *

[neufer]

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<<In 1890, Pierre Janssen, an astronomer and the director of the Meudon astrophysical observatory, considered the construction of an observatory at the summit of Mont Blanc. Gustave Eiffel agreed to take on the project, provided he could build on a rock foundation, if found at a depth of less than 12 m below the ice. In 1891, the Swiss surveyor Imfeld dug two 23-metre-long horizontal tunnels 12 m below the ice summit but found nothing solid. Consequently, the Eiffel project was abandoned. Despite this, the observatory was built in 1893. During the cold wave of January 1893, a temperature of −43 °C was recorded on Mont Blanc, being the lowest ever recorded there. Levers attached to the ice supported the observatory. This worked to some extent until 1906, when the building started leaning heavily. The movement of the levers corrected the lean slightly, but three years later (two years after Janssen's death), a crevasse started opening under the observatory. It was abandoned. Eventually the building fell, and only the tower could be saved in extremis.

Recent temperature rises and heatwaves, such as that of summer 2015, have had significant impacts on many climbing routes across the Alps, including those on Mont Blanc. For example, in 2015, the Grand Mulets route, previously popular in the 20th century, was blocked by virtually impenetrable crevasse fields, and the Gouter Hut was closed by municipal decree for some days because of very high stonefall danger, with some stranded climbers evacuated by helicopter.>>

[aildoux]

Artsy. Love it. Could be a painting.

[Holger Nielsen]

"...looking south toward Europe's highest peak...".
Mont Blanc (4810 m) is not the highest peak in Europe. That distinction belongs to Mt. Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains (5642 m).
Quick question: In which European country lies the top of Mont Blanc?
The answer might be the Netherlands, as a Dutch mountaineer once chopped off the very top,
which is now on display in a Dutch museeum

[pferkul]

What is the bright area on the mountain? (Circled in red.) A very large climbing party?

[bystander]

What is the bright area on the mountain? (Circled in red.) A very large climbing party?

Glacier?

[neufer]

What is the bright area on the mountain? (Circled in red.) A very large climbing party?

• The Aiguille du Midi ski center.

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The Aiguille du Midi Skywalk, "Step into the Void", is a tourist attraction owned and operated by the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc. It opened to the public on 21 December 2013 and can be accessed for free with a lift pass to Chamonix - Aiguille du Midi 3777m.

The “Step into the Void” is a glass room with a glass floor, situated off the uppermost terrace of the Aiguille du Midi at an altitude of 3842 metres. It claims to be "the highest attraction in Europe".

Three glass walls, the glass floor and glass ceiling panels, allow the visitor a unique experience enhanced by 1000 meters of free air directly under their feet, in total safety! Look around and admire the highest peaks in Western Europe, and view the Bossons Glacier - with the greatest descent in Europe (4810m - 1440m), from a dramatic perspective!

[pferkul]

Thanks, now I want to visit the Aiguille du Midi Skywalk, it sounds spectacular!

• The Aiguille du Midi ski center.

[neufer]

Thanks, now I want to visit the Aiguille du Midi Skywalk, it sounds spectacular!

Be sure to go at night when the drop off cliff is lit up.