Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote:I admire the lovely composition and the wonderful tranquility and also majesty of the scene. And because I am a color nerd, I also admire the lovely colors of the Milky Way. Note the yellow color of the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud, the bright yellow patch at between ten and eleven o'clock. Note the blue color of the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud at about eleven o'clock. Note the pink color of the Lagoon Nebula to the left of the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud and M16 and M17 to the right of it.

Indeed, that's a lovely image!

Ann

Guest wrote:Why does the central band of the Milky Way typically appear arching? I would think that from Earth it would appear as a flat line since we are looking at the disc straight on.

eltodesukane wrote:

ThePiper wrote:Why is the Pipe nebula BELOW the center of the Milkyway? Normally (in my brain) it shoud be on top!

Image was taken from the Piton de l'Eau on Reunion Island, which is in the southern hemisphere.

ThePiper wrote:

eltodesukane wrote:

ThePiper wrote:
Why is the Pipe nebula BELOW the center of the Milkyway? Normally (in my brain) it shoud be on top!

Image was taken from the Piton de l'Eau on Reunion Island, which is in the southern hemisphere.

Oh no - something is wrong here. Today there's a picture of the Milkyway over Australia where the Pipe nebula is on top (northern) of the galactic Center, as it should be.
Reunion and Australia - both are located southern of the Equator.

So: This picture is a joke - isn't it?

ThePiper wrote:Oh no - something is wrong here. Today there's a picture of the Milkyway over Australia where the Pipe nebula is on top (northern) of the galactic Center, as it should be.
Reunion and Australia - both are located southern of the Equator.

Chris Peterson wrote:

ThePiper wrote:
Oh no - something is wrong here. Today there's a picture of the Milkyway over Australia where the Pipe nebula is on top (northern) of the galactic Center, as it should be.
Reunion and Australia - both are located southern of the Equator.

This has nothing to do with which side of the equator you're on. The Pipe Nebula is a bit north of the center of the Milky Way. If you make a Milky Way image when you are facing ~west, you'll see the nebula on top; if you're facing ~east, you'll see it on the bottom. "Top" and "bottom" aren't astronomical directions. Imagine a moonrise with a conjunction of Jupiter rising first. You'd say that Jupiter was "above" the Moon, right? But when you get to moonset, on the opposite horizon, Jupiter will appear "below" the Moon. Or for any Moon, the Man (bunny, grandmother, etc) will be flipped in the opposite direction between moonrise and moonset.

• Looking South at the Pipe Nebula: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110524.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Horse_%28astronomy%29 wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Looking South at the Great Dark Horse's B-hind[/color][/b]

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<<The Dark Horse Nebula or Great Dark Horse is a large dark nebula, which as seen from Earth, obscures part of the upper central bulge of the Milky Way. The Dark Horse lies in the southern constellation Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer), near its borders with the more famous constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius.

This region of dark nebulae is called Dark Horse because it resembles the side silhouette of a horse and appears dark as compared with the background glow of stars and star clouds. It is also known as "Great" because it is one of the largest (in apparent size) groups of dark nebulae in the sky.

The rear of The Great Dark Horse (its rump and hind legs), is also known as the Pipe Nebula, which itself carries the designation B77, B78, and B59. (The 'B' numbers named after the astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard, who catalogued dark nebulae.) The Snake Nebula extends from the Dark Horse to the Rho Ophiuchus nebulosity.>>

neufer wrote:Looking South at the Pipe Nebula: