A Higher Dimensional Universe? (APOD 18 Mar 2007)

[DavidLeodis]

I used to look forward each day to seeing an Astronomy Picture of the Day. Increasingly however it is becoming an Astronomy Movie of the Day, but I would prefer that APOD's are a single selected image (with a link if needed to a movie for those who want to see/know more).
I also think that the APOD of March 18th is far too scientifically advanced for what I thought was a website that was supposedly aimed at the casually interested layperson. I may be the only one that thinks the APOD should be a single image but even if so I hope that my thoughts could be borne in mind by the APOD authors (hopefully they do get to see this Forum).

Dave.

[Andy Wade]

I used to look forward each day to seeing an Astronomy Picture of the Day. Increasingly however it is becoming an Astronomy Movie of the Day, but I would prefer that APOD's are a single selected image (with a link if needed to a movie for those who want to see/know more).
I also think that the APOD of March 18th is far too scientifically advanced for what I thought was a website that was supposedly aimed at the casually interested layperson. I may be the only one that thinks the APOD should be a single image but even if so I hope that my thoughts could be borne in mind by the APOD authors (hopefully they do get to see this Forum).

Dave.

Hi David,
Yeah it was a bit deep for me too. Pretty though, I had a play with the various buttons and made it spin around and speed up and down.
Unfortunately I have no idea what I was actually doing, or why.

I like seeing the occasional movie, such as the ring plane of Saturn and that huge 'hurricane vortex' at Saturn's south pole. Now that was mind blowing.

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks for your response Andy.

I also tried fiddling with the buttons, but I remained totally baffled as to what I was seeing! I did however try red/blue glasses and the resulting 3D effect was very good.

Dave

[Andy Wade]

Thanks for your response Andy.

I also tried fiddling with the buttons, but I remained totally baffled as to what I was seeing! I did however try red/blue glasses and the resulting 3D effect was very good.

Dave

Oh yeah I did the 'red blue glasses thing' too.
I have some of the snazzy 'Shark Boy' glasses that I got from Ebay.
The spinny thing is quite clever I thought, but still baffling.

[BMAONE23]

interesting idea about the red/blue glasses. I'll have to try it tomorrow

[kovil]

Thanks, I missed that day !

I for one do like an occasional stretching of the grey matter, for if all the world is mundane every day, how humdrum.

Read Robert A. Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House" a short story, which may help to understand what you are seeing. Also try clicking on the blue words. Now it is true, not all subjects are interesting to all people, so dismay not, something of interest will come along shortly.

[JohnD]

All,
As the APOD says, on its header, "Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured"

This was an image that was very different, fascinating and about understanding our Universe, so I say full marks to APOD for putting it up!

Not that I understood it!

John

[BMAONE23]

tried the red/blue galsses trick

nifty

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks kovil for your response, from which I quote “Also try clicking on the blue words. Now it is true, not all subjects are interesting to all people, so dismay not, something of interest will come along shortly”.

I do click on virtually all of “the blue words” in APOD’s to find out more, despite that the number of those links seem to be increasing all the time! I did not say that I found the APOD uninteresting. It’s simply that I would prefer APOD’s to be a single image. I believe that APOD’s are meant for international viewing, but I wonder how many people are put off when they access the site and then find they cannot see an APOD because it is a movie and they do not have the necessary viewing format and/or internet connection speed or that they find APOD’s becoming increasingly too scientific. NASA alone must have tens of thousands, or more, of single images that could be used.

Thanks JohnD for your response. In it you state “As the APOD says, on its header, "Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured" This was an image that was very different, fascinating and about understanding our Universe, so I say full marks to APOD for putting it up!”

But that illustrates my point. It was not an “image or photograph”, it was an animation which it would not have been if it had followed APOD’s own header. Perhaps somebody (probably NASA) could consider providing an ‘Astronomy Imagery of the Day’ website.

Clearly I have a difference of opinion to others as to what APOD’s should show. It seems that I'm likely in a very tiny minority (possibly the only person! ) to want a single daily image.

Hi BMAONE23. Glad you tried the red/blue glasses. The result is most effective.

Cheers all

Dave 8)

[JohnD]

Dave,
You have your opinion, but you're splitting hairs when you say 'it's not an an image'. This certainly was not a photograph, but the header says either or.

An 'image' can be a representation of something by other means, and what is a movie but a series of still photographs? Movement can add much to an image. The recent occullation of Saturn by the Moon would have been better shown by an animation than the rather cluttered picture that appeared.

John

[BMAONE23]

John,
I for one would like to see that movie (speeded up of course) I wouldn't have time to download a 21 minute movie. If you were to use 1 out of every 10 frames, it would be a 2 minute movie. Spectacular!!

[Dr. Skeptic]

http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php

For further insight on this topic. (not an endorsement)

[DavidLeodis]

http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php

For further insight on this topic. (not an endorsement)

Thanks for that link Dr. Skeptic. The ten dimensions text and its accompanying illustrations were certainly mind exercising. Though I can understand up to the fourth dimension (Height, Width, Depth and Time) I do start to get baffled (easily done I admit) after that. I think I may be right in saying that the dimensions mean that there will be an infinite number of infinities.
Time is certainly interesting. I sometimes have the feeling that I have previously been somewhere, but I never have a feeling that though I have yet to go somewhere I have forgotten that I did (I think I may have misunderstood some of the time concepts)! My brain hurts for some reason (it's clearly not used to deep thinking!).

[JohnD]

If we are going to recommend anything in the field of making information accessible by visual means, the work of Prof. Edward Tuft is pre-eminent.

See: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

John

[Pete]

For those without red-blue glasses, click the 'stereo' button twice to see two similar figures rotating side by side, then cross your eyes just enough so that you see three images, and focus on the middle one, which will be formed by an overlap of the two original images. (The stereographic effect may or may not be cross-eyed, but I see something that has depth, and that's good enough for me!)

[Dr. Skeptic]

http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php

For further insight on this topic. (not an endorsement)

Thanks for that link Dr. Skeptic. The ten dimensions text and its accompanying illustrations were certainly mind exercising. Though I can understand up to the fourth dimension (Height, Width, Depth and Time) I do start to get baffled (easily done I admit) after that. I think I may be right in saying that the dimensions mean that there will be an infinite number of infinities.
Time is certainly interesting. I sometimes have the feeling that I have previously been somewhere, but I never have a feeling that though I have yet to go somewhere I have forgotten that I did (I think I may have misunderstood some of the time concepts)! My brain hurts for some reason (it's clearly not used to deep thinking!).

I don't believe in infinity, this is an over simplified exercise excluding necessary limits.

[NoelC]

If the image is supposed to prime us to try to imagine dimensions beyond the 4 we can easily sense (length, height, width, and time), it has done so, though I for one failed... I find visualizing dimensionality beyond our space-time impossible. How could a mere human hope to do so?

Nor can I fathom the relevance of the actual image. I pressed the 'stereo' button twice and crossed my eyes (good thing I can touch type)... It's a cute little animation, but all I perceive are two cubes (rectangular prisms?) connected by lines and and moving about in relation to one another. How's this supposed to imply another dimension?

I believe in what I see. If I can't see it there'd better be a darned compelling reason to believe it's real.

-Noel

[kovil]

David,

Here's a site that has a photo of the day, and they are interesting too.
I just wandered on to this site today, and it has lots to offer.

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/00current.htm

[DavidLeodis]

David,

Here's a site that has a photo of the day, and they are interesting too.
I just wandered on to this site today, and it has lots to offer.

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/00current.htm

Thanks for that kovil. It is a new site to me. It does look interesting, so I have now bookmarked it.

[Martin]

NoelC -"I believe in what I see. If I can't see it there'd better be a darned compelling reason to believe it's real."

What an unusual concept. Has history not taught us time and time again that we are in a never ending cycle of realization? How empty one must feel if they feel they are truly alone and there is nothing more than what they can touch, see or falsify.

The MAJORITY of the universe -we will never observe or touch. Any one advance in understanding reveals to us the inevitable path of more complex structures and truths. Simple denial will not make the mysterious disappear. And whether or not a concept is falsifiable –it does not grant one the authority to proclaim that it’s not possible or that its not worthy of scientific investigations/discussion. For our greatest achievement is:

Our imagination.

[ta152h0]

Mr Leeds ,
casually interested layperson ???? you have not met Mr Harry yet

[harry]

Hello All

" You talking to me"

Are " You talking to me"

Which movie.

==============================

Hello Kovil, did you read the links from thunderbolt.