Starship Asterisk*

I regularly have to correct people when they call me an astrologer instead of astronomer, and now APOD decides to call the constellation Scorpius by its astrological name, Scorpio. What were you thinking?

(I know that Scorpio is sometimes considered synonymous with Scorpius, but it goes against astronomical convention to call it that, and with so many people taking astrology seriously, I think the former should be avoided in any serious astronomical discussion.)

Here's the link
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070911.html

Here is another close-up view of Antares
(also another APOD)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040809.html


I think that scorpio is allowable since it IS a zodiacle constellation

I agree with Chris. Scorpius is a zodical constellation and Scorpio a zodiacal sign. To many beginners have been influenced by the astrologers and I have to keep on correcting them.
Randy John
p.s. It's Capricornus, not Capricorn.

Chris, you are absolutely correct. Getting people to use the correct name Scorpius is an ongoing battle. You would expect people on this site to know better. But then they use stupid terms like "anti-corpuscular rays" - we need people like Chris to try educate them.

BMAONE23 wrote:I think that scorpio is allowable since it IS a zodiacle constellation

Of course, it's a matter of opinion whether Scorpio is an allowable synonym for Scorpius. But it shouldn't be based on the fact that the constellation is Zodiacal. Zodiacal just means that it is one of the twelve (really thirteen) constellations that lie on the ecliptic, it doesn't necessarily have an astrological sense. Twelve of the Zodiacal constellations also correspond to astrological signs. In two cases, Scorpio and Capricorn, the signs are named differently from the constellations, Scorpius and Capricornus. I was just pointing out that I think there's some value in maintaining that distinction as a mechanism for distancing astronomy from astrology.

I would like to point out something interesting about this picture. Antares is usually the brightest object in scorpius. to our naked eye, it is a red pulsating star, positioned right about the heart of the scorpion.

It took me a few moments to find, but Antares is actually the bright Yellow Star in this image, and I think that the extremely bright, white object that is seen just above Antares is probably Jupiter. This summer Jupiter has been very close to the constellation Scopius.

Thank you, Chris. Somebody's got to notice these things!

I registered to this forum today just because I was surprised no mention was made of our largest planet, and the brightest multi-defraction spiked object in this most awesome photo. (I would have posted this comment sooner, but have been waiting all day for the registration activation e-mail! )

This photo has so much detail it is almost difficult to make out the objects that I am most familiar with in our dark Kansas night sky.

Great work on the photo Mr. Guisard!

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UPDATE: Cool! I see that additional comments were added to point out Jupiter. Thanks!!
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Chris Ketron
Volunteer Explainer
Lake Afton Public Observatory
http://webs.wichita.edu/lapo/default.htm
Wichita, KS

rigelan wrote:This summer Jupiter has been very close to the constellation Scopius.

Jupiter moves quite slowly: pretty close to Antares for the whole of 2007. The precise position of Jupiter among the background stars suggests the APOD was taken around the beginning of August, at the end of the retrograde motion.

The correct, anatomical name for your thumb is 'pollux'.
But you call it a thumb.
A surgeon would too, though they would use 'pollucis' (of the thumb) of the muscles that move the thumb.

It's all in the context, don't you think? In a formal paper, nothing other than 'Scorpius' will do, but unless the writer/speaker attaches astrological meaning to the constellation, does it matter?

John

JohnD wrote:The correct, anatomical name for your thumb is 'pollux'.
But you call it a thumb.
A surgeon would too, though they would use 'pollucis' (of the thumb) of the muscles that move the thumb.

But thumb doesn't also carry a meaning that is otherwise contrary to modern medicine. If the term had been invented and was primarily used by homeopaths, for instance, it would be reasonable for physicians to use a different word.

It's all in the context, don't you think? In a formal paper, nothing other than 'Scorpius' will do, but unless the writer/speaker attaches astrological meaning to the constellation, does it matter?

Maybe, maybe not. But APOD claims to present astronomical material written by professional astronomers. It seems quite reasonable to take some care to use proper astronomical terminology in that case. Presumably the APOD editors agree, since the wording did get changed.

Chris Peterson wrote:APOD claims to present astronomical material written by professional astronomers. It seems quite reasonable to take some care to use proper astronomical terminology in that case. Presumably the APOD editors agree, since the wording did get changed.

As a layperson with a healthy interest in the subject I'm always reminded of my hero Patrick Moore's opinion on the subject and he is always careful to make the distinction between the science of astronomy and the gobbledegook of astrology.
The APOD should be correctly worded at all times or confusion will reign. And we can't have that because most of us (I reckon) come here to learn and wonder.

Case wrote:Jupiter moves quite slowly: pretty close to Antares for the whole of 2007. The precise position of Jupiter among the background stars suggests the APOD was taken around the beginning of August, at the end of the retrograde motion.

Good. But being 42 degrees north, I really only see Scorpius during late spring, summer and early fall. So to me, it really is only there during summer.

But thanks for the clarification.