APOD: Matterhorn, Moon, and Meteor (2019 Jan 24)

[APOD Robot]

Matterhorn, Moon, and Meteor

Explanation: Fans of planet Earth probably recognize the Matterhorn in the foreground of this night skyscape. Famed in mountaineering history, the 4,478 meter Alpine mountain stands next to the totally eclipsed Moon. In spite of -22 degree C temperatures, the inspired scene was captured on the morning of January 21 from the mountains near Zermatt, Switzerland. Different exposures record the dim red light reflected by the Moon fully immersed in Earth's shadow. Seen directly above the famous Alpine peak, but about 600 light-years away, are the stars of the Praesepe or Beehive star cluster also known as Messier 44. An added reward to the cold eclipse vigil, a bright and colorful meteor flashed below the temporarily dimmmed Moon, just tracing the Matterhorn's north-eastern climbing route along Hornli ridge.

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[Ann]

I just have to comment on the fact that there have been 99999 posts commenting on The Astronomy Picture of the Day. And I guess I just made the 100,000th post.

Nice APOD today.

Ann

[Uli Bastian]

Grin! Good to see that at least one meteoroid missed the moon.

[orin stepanek]

Very nice picture!

[Guest]

typo... dimmmed

[Indigo_Sunrise]

typo... dimmmed

No, you read that right: the Mmmmmoon is dimmmmmmed!

[Osh]

It looks like something else (another meteor? Satellite?) directly above the moon about half of the distance between the moon and the top of the frame.

[neufer]

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There wasn't enough room for Matterhorn, Moon, Meteor, and M44

[neufer]

I just have to comment on the fact that there have been 99999 posts commenting on The Astronomy Picture of the Day.

And I guess I just made the 100,000th post.

When I was a kid there was always great anticipation in watching the mechanical odometer roll over from all nines to all zeros at 100,000 miles.

[MarkBour]

I just have to comment on the fact that there have been 99999 posts commenting on The Astronomy Picture of the Day. And I guess I just made the 100,000th post.

Nice APOD today.

Ann

Congratulations!

[alcor]

I just have to comment on the fact that there have been 99999 posts commenting on The Astronomy Picture of the Day. And I guess I just made the 100,000th post.

Nice APOD today.

Ann

Congrat's!

[Boomer12k]

Awesome...

On the left face, about 1/2 down the mountain...in brownish color...is a FACE...of a bearded "caveman" SMILING....my pareidolia kicking in...

:---[===] *

[Fred the Cat]

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There wasn't enough room for Matterhorn, Moon, Meteor, and M44

In '22 they'll go 4 4 and get their kicks on 66

[Nitpicker]

Neufer, the 4th "m" can be found in "dimmmed". Mere minor mistake methinks.

[neufer]

Neufer, the 4th "m" can be found in "dimmmed". Mere minor mistake methinks.

• The "manger" M44 is the only truly "astronomical" object in the APOD

The donkeys Dionysos & Silenus rode into battle against the Titans

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Silenus on a donkey (c. 1500) by Piero di Cosimo

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<<Praesepe (Latin for "manger"), M44, NGC 2632, or Cr 189), is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. Ancient Greeks and Romans saw this object as a manger from which two donkeys, the adjacent stars Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis, are eating; these are the donkeys that Dionysos and Silenus rode into battle against the Titans. Aratus (c.260-270 BC) calls the cluster Achlus or "Little Mist" in his poem Phainomaina. Hipparchus (c.130 BC) refers to the cluster as Nephelion ("Little Cloud") in his star catalog. Ancient Chinese skywatchers saw this as a ghost or demon riding in a carriage and likened its appearance to a "cloud of pollen blown from willow catkins". It was also known by the somewhat less romantic name of Jishi qi, the "Exhalation of Piled-up Corpses". Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest includes Praesepe as one of seven "nebulae" (four of which are real), describing it as "The Nebulous Mass in the Breast (of Cancer)." It was among the first objects that Galileo studied with his telescope and was able to resolve it into 40 stars. Charles Messier added it to his famous catalog in 1769.

Age and proper motion coincide with those of the Hyades, suggesting they may share similar origins. Both clusters also contain red giants and white dwarfs, which represent later stages of stellar evolution, along with many main sequence stars. Age estimates of around 600 million years, equivalent to about 625 million years, for the Hyades. The diameter of the bright inner cluster core is about 7.0 parsecs.

Like many star clusters of all kinds, Praesepe has experienced mass segregation. This means that bright massive stars are concentrated in the cluster's core, while dimmer and less massive stars populate its halo (sometimes called the corona). Altogether, the cluster contains at least 1000 gravitationally bound stars, for a total mass of about 500-600 Solar masses. A recent survey counts 1010 members, of which 68% are M dwarfs, 30% are Sun-like stars of spectral classes F, G, and K, and about 2% are bright stars of spectral class A. Also present are five giant stars, four of which have spectral class K0 III and the fifth G0 III. So far, eleven white dwarfs have been identified, representing the final evolutionary phase of the cluster's most massive stars, which originally belonged to spectral type B. Brown dwarfs, however, are extremely rare in this cluster, probably because they have been lost by tidal stripping from the halo.>>

[Nitpicker]

• The "manger" M44 is the only truly "astronomical" object in the APOD

meh

[MarkBour]

Awesome...

On the left face, about 1/2 down the mountain...in brownish color...is a FACE...of a bearded "caveman" SMILING....my pareidolia kicking in...

:---[===] *

I definitely see him, Boomer. He looks calm and sheltered from the snow. (Although some of his features are made by snow.) Probably no daylight image gives that appearance.