Starship Asterisk*

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:19 pm**

I wasn't guessing, though I'm pretty sure I know the answer. I'll let someone else puzzle it out.

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:27 pm**

γ Velorum A?

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:28 pm**

Ann wrote:

Better?

(Forget about the "inmagine" stuff... what's the red thing?)

The red thing is an upside down L, and sails catch wind, that blows snow around, but I'm not catching your drift. I don't want to mention that the red upside down L, could also be a broken Tee, because that would greatly hinder a golf game and really tee someone off. Also... i have no idea as to why my reply is showing up between your two pictures.
Edit: Ah, your words at the bottom didn't show up in the posting window, so i didn't realize i was typing in your post. Oh well.

And as for my second picture, it's not the mast that is the important thing. Is this picture clearer?

Ann

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:35 pm**

The Gamma Velorum system is composed of at least six stars.[citation needed] The brightest member, γ² Velorum or γ Velorum A, is actually a spectroscopic binary composed of a blue supergiant of spectral class O7.5 (~30 M☉), and a massive Wolf-Rayet star (~9 M☉, originally ~35 M☉) Wiki

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:44 pm**

stephen63 wrote:γ Velorum A?

: Click to view full size image

Yes, component A of the visual double, Gamma Velorum, is indeed the correct answer, stephen63!

The picture shows Gamma 2 Velorum to the upper left of Gamma 1 Velorum. Gamma 2 (or component A) is a double star, an O star (possibly O7.5e), plus a Wolf Rayet star, classified as WC 8. A Wolf Rayet star is very hot, but relatively small, since it has shed much of itself due to its own incredible wind. Very massive and hot stars are believed to pass through the Wolf-Rayet phase on its way to a supernova explosion.

"Vela" as in constellation Vela means the sails. The third letter of the Greek alphabet is gamma, of course!

Ann

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:53 pm**

Ann wrote:
stephen63 wrote:γ Velorum A?

Click to view full size image
Yes, Gamma Velourm is known as component A of the visual double, Gamma Velorum. That is indeed the correct answer, stephen63!

The picture shows Gamma 2 Velorum to the upper left of Gamma 1 Velorum. Gamma 2 is a double star, an O star (possibly O7.5e, plus a Wolf Rayet star, Classified as WC 8. A Wolf Rayet star is very hot, but relatively small, since it has shed much of itself due to its own incredible wind. Very massive and hot stars are believed to pass through the Wolf-Rayet phase on its way to a supernova explosion.

"Vela" as in constellation Vela means the sails. The third letter of the Greek alphabet is gamma, of course!

Ann

Aha

No wonder i couldn't get the meaning of the "3". It's Greek to me, and i no speckenze Greek.That goes to everything else you said in this post Ann, whether it's actually greek or not.

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:57 pm**

Would you care to give us another puzzle, Ann? You are far more knowledgeable than I!

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:03 pm**

stephen63 wrote:Would you care to give us another puzzle, Ann? You are far more knowledgeable than I!

Perhaps tomorrow, because I'm off to bed now. But perhaps someone else would like to post a puzzle? Margarita? Moonlady?

Ann

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:16 pm**

OK. Since it's Friday, and I gotta go, here's an easy one........!

I'm bigger than anything else you'll see
But I still make appearances on TV
I'll leave you all with one more clue
I was once mistaken for bird doodoo!

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:24 am**

stephen63 wrote:OK. Since it's Friday, and I gotta go, here's an easy one........!

I'm bigger than anything else you'll see
But I still make appearances on TV
I'll leave you all with one more clue
I was once mistaken for bird doodoo!

Id Ann:

Super-Ego Ann:

Id Ann, why are you crying?

Id Ann: Because I'm stupid!

Super-Ego Ann: There, there. Talk to me about it.

Id Ann: 'Cause stephen63 gave me a puzzle and said it was easy and I can't figure it out!!!

Super-Ego Ann: Hrmphh. What was the puzzle?

Id Ann:

I'm bigger than anything else you'll see
But I still make appearances on TV
I'll leave you all with one more clue
I was once mistaken for bird doodoo!

Super-Ego Ann: Oh! That was... interesting. Let's see. Bigger than anything else you'll see... that could be... the Sun.

It is quite big. Id Ann, do you know how big it is?

Id Ann: Noooo!!!!

Super-Ego Ann: Its radius is more than a hundred times the diameter of the Earth, so its volume is more than a million times the volume of the Earth. That's big. On the other hand...how could it possibly be mistaken for, hmm, bird "doodoo"? It couldn't!

Id Ann: Waaahhh!!!!

Super-Ego Ann: Hush, Id Ann. Let's approach this sensibly. Now. We can see stars in the sky, and stars are very big.

Of course, the Sun is a star, since all stars are suns, and the Sun is fairly big as stars go. Most stars are smaller than the Sun. On the other hand, the stars that we actually see in the sky with our naked eyes are almost all bigger than the Sun. But stars are luminous, and bird poop doesn't emit its own visual light. The Moon

is big, although much smaller than the Sun, and also smaller than the Earth. The Moon is intrinsically dark, but it looks bright to us, since it reflects the light of the Sun. Could the dark markings of the lava lakes on the Moon be compared with bird poop? I find that unlikely. Could it be... the Earth?

The Earth is big, and the biosphere of the Earth, which we are a part of, is fed by feces, no doubt. But could you really mistake the Earth for bird droppings?

Well... I.... I'm stumped. I feel... stupid.

Id Ann: Waaahhh!!!!

Super-Ego Ann:

Ann

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 12:10 pm**

stephen63 wrote:I'm bigger than anything else you'll see
But I still make appearances on TV
I'll leave you all with one more clue
I was once mistaken for bird doodoo!

Maybe, just maybe, it's the universe, sort of.

"appearances on TV" could be "snow" on old tube TV screens, or image breakup on our digital screens, both of which could be evidence of something like high-speed particles from beyond (but not our Beyond). Or this clue could simply refer to science programs in which they talk about the universe.

"mistaken for bird doodoo" - Wasn't the cosmic microwave background radiation thought to be the result of bird droppings or other mess in the cone of a radio telescope? And the CMBR could be thought of as the voice of the universe being born.

Rob

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 2:18 pm**

rstevenson wrote: "mistaken for bird doodoo" - Wasn't the cosmic microwave background radiation thought to be the result of bird droppings or other mess in the cone of a radio telescope? And the CMBR could be thought of as the voice of the universe being born.Rob

By Jove, I think he's got it!
Ann, I didn't think you would have to give it a second thought!

I'm bigger than anything else you'll see- The cosmic microwave background is a remarkable phenomenon: light, all at almost exactly the same energy, fills the universe, coming from every direction.

But I still make appearances on TV- A small percentage of the noise on an unused channel is CMBR. Remember when there was no cable TV, and an antenna was necessary? The cable shields the signal from spurious noise.

I was once mistaken for bird doodoo!- In 1964, well after theorists had first proposed its existence, the cosmic microwave background was discovered by two astronomers in Holmdel, New Jersey. Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. They assumed that the noise must be originating on Earth. They tried cleaning the instrument, taping over irregularities (such as rivets) in the telescope's surface, and removing a pair of pigeons that had nested in the antenna. (Penzias famously referred to the pigeon droppings as a "white dielectric material.")

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 2:31 pm**

Okay, my turn again. This may be more a test of how well you can use Google's find images feature...

I'm blue and gold, and a wonder to behold.

: puzzle_pair.jpg (12.56 KiB) Viewed 1352 times

Rob

PS
I'll reveal the image source when the puzzle is solved.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:50 pm**

Albireo?

Ann

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:54 pm**

stephen63, your puzzle was brilliant and your explanation excellent.

For myself, I'm now donning the official Swedish "dumstrut"
(stupidity hat) for failing to solve it!

Ann

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:58 pm**

Ann wrote:stephen63, your puzzle was brilliant and your explanation excellent.

For myself, I'm now donning the official Swedish "dumstrut" (stupidity hat) for failing to solve it!

Ann

Thank you, Ann!
In your case, one uh oh hardly removes a thousand atta boys(or atta girls)!
Take that cap off!!!

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:07 pm**

I thought of Alberio as well, however, there doesn't seem to be as much separation there.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:17 pm**

Okay, stephen63, I just removed the hat!

: Click to view full size image

Photo: Panagiotis Xipteras

If that binary isn't Albireo, I don't have that many other suggestions to offer.

But there is Gamma Andromedae, too.

Ann

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:29 pm**

I think Gamma Andromedae is correct. Start thinking of a puzzle, Ann.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:39 pm**

Ann wrote:But there is Gamma Andromedae, too.

You got it!

I picked the image up from Eagle Creek Observatory. Lots of binaries there.

Rob

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2013 9:14 pm**

I'll do it tomorrow. Gotta go to bed now!

Ann

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2013 5:32 am**

Okay, here is my question:

: Click to view full size image

Source: http://www.astronomers.net/gs4-lifescie ... poster.htm

Extra clue: I'm BLUE!

Ann

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2013 5:37 am**

Here's another clue. There are TWO totally different but equally correct answers to my puzzle above (and they depend on how you interpret this).

Both answers are blue!

Ann

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2013 6:32 am**

the only connection I can make is that I only know one place that has a zoo and is blue: Earth
But can be the answer that simple? No, because Ann wants more fun and more hurting heads

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2013 6:39 am**

No, it's not the Earth, Moonlady!

Here's a clue. At the moment, things are a bit

But that clue is not the answer to the puzzle, do you get it?

Ann

Starship Asterisk*

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