Starship Asterisk*

Yet another wonderful picture with a very tenuous astronomical connection. Is APOD becoming a photographers gallery, or what?

I could put a picture of a coal face down a mine and claim it was once part of a nebula therefore astronomical.

It almost makes yah feel like someone is being retaliatory at yah, don't it?

If retaliatory is the case then I have two P’s for their behavior, petty and pathetic.

Great photo, and something I knew nothing about in present time. Huell Howser did a PBS California's Gold program on this lighthouse, which I watched, tho I didn't know (or forgot) they did a once a year 'keep it in operating condition' run with the original style light! It sure looks great!!!

Perhaps neutron stars, er I mean pulsars, are like this lighthouse in that they have a multiple beam shining out into the heavens. In this way they wouldn't have to have such a rapid rotation rate for us to see the flashes. Instead, only 1/24th of 300 times a second or 12.5 times a second, then it might not have to be 'neutronium' ! (LOL) BBT is desperate to survive, it is hanging on by its fingernails to the edge of the chasm. [is this what you mean by retaliation?] Perhaps I should keep quiet and let yous guys makes the jokes.

Variety is the spice of life, adrianxw.

It's a wonderful photo, and for those of us who look up at night the light made by people is a very important subject. If, in the context of an astronomy picture of the day, people look at man-made light and see that it blocks out all but the moon, perhaps they'll think twice about turning on another few thousand watts that serve to help disconnect us from our view of the universe.

I honestly have no idea what any of you might mean by "retaliation", but from everything I see the APOD guys are objective and proper when it comes to something as subjective as choosing a "picture of the day".

There's an old saying that starts with, "If you can't say something nice..."

-Noel