Jupiter Over the Mediterranean (APOD 2009 September 7)

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090907.html

<<Cape Gelidonya near Finike, Turkey was the site of the wreck [located by a sponge diver in 1954] of a Phoenician merchant ship from about 1200 BC, which sat at about 27 m depth on irregular rocky bottom. Excavations by Throckmorton, Bass, and Dumas [found] Mycenaean ceramics and copper and tin ingots.>>

<<Mycenaean Greece (c. 1600 BC – c. 1100 BC) is a cultural period of Ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. The last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece is the historical setting of much Ancient Greek literature and myth, including the epics of Homer.>>

1) How is it possible for the sun to descend so sadly?

2) How can a night be so blue?

3) How beautiful can the flirting of the trees with the wind under the sun or within the blue of the night be?

[apodman]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090613.html

At what latitude would one stand to see the Milky Way directly vertical like that?

Looks like today's APOD photographer - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090907.html - knew at least one answer.

---

The photographer just barely got the whole "J" of the Scorpion above the horizon in the shot.

[geckzilla]

I love the magentas and indigos in this image. It's definitely one of the most beautiful Milky Way compositions in recent memory.

Though I'd actually prefer it to be a bit more like this. Little more dark in the atmosphere.

[joshai58]

How odd.

Just Sept 4th Jupiter was right next to the Moon, and it wasn't that large at all.

At GLP, somebody's been yelling about a huge star that nobody could identify,for about a week.

I wonder what's the deal.

[apodman]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090907.html

How odd.
Just Sept 4th Jupiter was right next to the Moon, and it wasn't that large at all.

The large size of Jupiter in the picture is from the time exposure.

At GLP, somebody's been yelling about a huge star that nobody could identify,for about a week.
I wonder what's the deal.

The bright object in the photo is Jupiter, and yelling and wondering won't change that.

[orin stepanek]

Beautiful photo. 8) Are some of Jupiter's moons visible in this picture?

Orin

[Chris Peterson]

Beautiful photo. 8) Are some of Jupiter's moons visible in this picture?

Not possible. Jupiter is so overexposed in the image that its saturated diameter is about a full degree (twice the size of the Moon!) The outermost Galilean moon, Callisto, never gets more than about 11 arcminutes from Jupiter, and the other moons are always closer than that. So in this image, any potentially visible moons are hopelessly lost in the glare of Jupiter.

[Qev]

What's that little pink cloud below and somewhat to the left of Jupiter? I was thinking it was an ordinary cloud being illuminated by ground lights or something, but there are other clouds near it that are dark. Or is it an astronomical object?

[DavidLeodis]

Great image.

The final sentence in the explanation is however confusing me. Currently at least it states "On the right, the band of the Milky Way Galaxy fades into distant atmospheric haze above the Jupiter is nearing the closest part of its elliptical orbit to the Sun and so will appear even brighter during its next opposition in 2010 September." I think something may be missing after the "above the" and that the "Jupiter is" may then be the start of a new sentence.

[Chris Peterson]

What's that little pink cloud below and somewhat to the left of Jupiter? I was thinking it was an ordinary cloud being illuminated by ground lights or something, but there are other clouds near it that are dark. Or is it an astronomical object?

It looks like a bit of cloud being lit up. You can see unilluminated clouds around there, too. This was a panorama, so it was taken over a time interval that might have allowed for different lighting conditions in the same image.

[Chris Peterson]

The final sentence in the explanation is however confusing me. Currently at least it states "On the right, the band of the Milky Way Galaxy fades into distant atmospheric haze above the Jupiter is nearing the closest part of its elliptical orbit to the Sun and so will appear even brighter during its next opposition in 2010 September." I think something may be missing after the "above the" and that the "Jupiter is" may then be the start of a new sentence. :?

I'd say the intent was to say "above the sea" and that, yes, the next sentence begins with Jupiter...

[canopia]

It is a small cloud lit by the light of rising Moon, waning gibbous in phase. It is interesting, only that small cloud gets moonlight and no others. The lighthouse is on a headland rising about 230 meters over Mediterranean Sea. To the east, south and west is the sea; to the north is lower hills of Taurus Mountains. There was a thunderstorm in the afternoon and the clouds were still lingering earlier in the evening. That only little cloud lit up must have been receiving the moonlight through other clouds further east. As it is a remote headland, there is little light pollution, which was one of the reasons I chose to be there. It was the evening of 12th August 2009, I was also keeping an eye on the Perseids and trying my chances to catch a few of them.

Tunç Tezel

[quote="Chris Peterson"]It looks like a bit of cloud being lit up. You can see unilluminated clouds around there, too. This was a panorama, so it was taken over a time interval that might have allowed for different lighting conditions in the same image.[/quote]

[quote="Qev"]What's that little pink cloud below and somewhat to the left of Jupiter? I was thinking it was an ordinary cloud being illuminated by ground lights or something, but there are other clouds near it that are dark. Or is it an astronomical object?[/quote]

[geckzilla]

Lighting and clouds are tricky indeed. If you pay more attention to them even in daylight you can see similar effects. Sometimes I can't figure out why a certain cloud is shaded and others near it are not. Clouds are interesting to me as an artist because you can paint them almost any way and they still look good.