Explanation: Leo's royal star Regulus and red planet Mars appear in a colorful pairing just above the horizon in this starry skyscape. The photo was taken on June 4th from Oraman, a mountainous region of Kurdistan in western Iran near the border with Iraq. The marked color contrast between Mars and the bright blue star was easy to discern by eye, but is further enhanced in the picture through the use of a diffusion filter. Otherwise dominating the western evening sky, brilliant Venus has already set below the mountains in the scene. Saturn still shines in the night though, farther eastward along the ecliptic plane. Sliding your cursor over the picture will identify the planets, the stars of Leo, and a long-recognized star cluster in Coma Berenices.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:43 am
by neufer
Rēgulus is Latin for 'The Little King'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_King wrote:
<<The Little King was a comic strip created by Otto Soglow, famously telling its stories
in a style using images and very few words as a mostly pantomime comic strip.
Soglow's character first appeared in 1931 in The New Yorker and soon showed signs of becoming a successful strip. The Little King began publications in comic book issues from 1933, was licensed for a 1933-34 series of animated cartoons by Van Beuren Studios and featured in an advertising campaign for Standard Oil.
It became evident early on that William Randolph Hearst was determined to add The Little King to his King Features Syndicate newspaper strips, but he was hindered by Soglow's contractual obligations with The New Yorker. While seeing out the final period of the contract, Soglow produced a placeholder strip for King Features, The Ambassador, quite similar to The Little King in characters, style and story situations. One week after its final publication in The New Yorker, The Little King resumed as a King Features Sunday strip, on September 9, 1934.
The strip is notable for having virtually no dialogue; the title character never speaks. The Ambassador was nearly identical in format, and the main characters of the two strips were similar. When The Ambassador gave way for The Little King in 1934, the reader could not be certain if it was the Little King who had arrived into Hearst syndication or the Ambassador who had removed some disguise.
The strip continued a successful run with several more animated cartoon appearances and advertising campaigns, and Soglow was awarded the 1966 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for the strip. The Little King ran until Soglow's death in 1975.>>
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:33 am
by SelfLearningUniverse
This is great, last night I was looking exactly at those fellows using my new binoculars. It was one of my first starry nights when I was trying to recognise what exactly do I see in the night sky. The satisfaction after revealing each constelation/star/planet is tremendous And today I can see the same on APOD
LUV U COSMOS
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:00 pm
by orin stepanek
I love the picture! wish I could fit it as a wallpaper.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:18 pm
by bystander
Maybe if you rotated it 90° and looked at your screen sideways.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:06 pm
by biddie67
RE: The Little King ---- I remember this cartoon in the Sunday Funny papers from when I was a kid!! What a pleasant surprise to be reminded of him -- it was one of my favorites!
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:11 pm
by biddie67
Babak Tafreshi seems to have a magic ticket that allows him to travel to just the right spot at the right time - he does such a marvelous job capturing an image. I really like the supplied overlay that helps identify the stars in the base image.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 2:22 pm
by Beyond
It must be that high, dry, mountain air because the colors of those two were very much lighter than the other things on my screen.
I two remember The Little King - a little.
When i first saw the Title of today's Apod, i thought -- Regulus 9. For some reason i remember that from the original Star Trek series, WAIT, it was a movie that was made with original Star Trek crew. Its really strange how a very little bit of information will pop-up when keyed off by a word or sound or something.
WAIT........it might have been Regulus 1. Long ago memories can be so -------- iffy.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 3:25 pm
by neufer
beyond wrote:When i first saw the Title of today's Apod, i thought -- Regulus 9. For some reason i remember that from the original Star Trek series, WAIT, it was a movie that was made with original Star Trek crew. Its really strange how a very little bit of information will pop-up when keyed off by a word or sound or something. WAIT........it might have been Regulus 1. Long ago memories can be so -------- iffy.
That's what Google is all about
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Regulus_VIII wrote:
<<M-113 (also known as Regulus VIII and Fotialla) was the fourth planet of a star system orbiting UFC-113, a yellow dwarf star. The planet was once home to an advanced humanoid civilization, as well as an indigenous species of creature known as the M-113 creature or "salt vampire". (ST reference: The Worlds of the Federation)
By the 23rd century, the civilization had long-died out and only ancient ruins remained on the planet, and only one "salt vampire" was known to have lived, as the planet turned into a hot and arrid wasteland. The only plant life that survived on the planet were a type of dry bush and the poisonous Borgia plant. Because of the hot and arrid environment, anyone who visited the planet needed to bring a large supply of salt so that they could survive.
In 2261, Professor Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy arrived on the planet, and established an archaeological dig around some of the ruins on the planet. Over the next four years they exported many fascinating discoveries off the planet, but in 2265, the number of items being exported dwindled immensely when Nancy was killed by the last remaining "salt vampire", although this was not discovered until 2266.
Instead of killing the creature, Crater took pity on the creature and it assumed the shape of Nancy and lived with Crater for a year. However, the truth was revealed in late 2266 when the USS Enterprise arrived to perform routine medical examinations of the Craters'. During the encounter several Enterprise crewmen were killed by the vampire before it was ultimately revealed and killed. (TOS episode & novelization: The Man Trap)
-------------------------------------------
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Regulus wrote:
<<In the 2150s, Regulus was located inside Vulcan territory, near the Andorian border. In 2154, for the preemptive strike against Andoria planned by Administrator V'Las, the Vulcan High Command amassed a fleet of twelve cruisers at Regulus. Regulus was chosen because it lay outside the range of Andorian listening stations. (ENT: "Kir'Shara")
-------------------------------------------
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Regulus wrote:
<<Early in the 23rd century, one of the worlds of Regulus was governed by Romulans, as an outpost of the Romulan Star Empire. A population of Regulan humanoids lived under Romulan rule, including the unlucky J'Onn, who was exiled to Nimbus III with his wife after being convicted of embezzlement. (TOS novelization: The Final Frontier)
By the 2280s, Regulus was the location of a Starfleet Intelligence base. part of the Starfleet Intelligence sector 3 command based at nearby Starbase 15. (ST roleplay module: Star Fleet Intelligence Manual)
Regulus III was home to a humanoid civilization who had established relations with the United Federation of Planets. These Human-descended inhabitants had developed a different naming system for the astronomical bodies in the system, naming their home star as Ra and their homeworld as Khepri. The other planets in the system were also given the names of various Egyptian deities. (TOS - Star Trek II Short Stories short story: "The Blaze of Glory")
In the 2260s, Regulus was the site of a battle between the USS Intrepid and the Klingon flagship, IKS Hakask. Suvuk, the captain of Intrepid, scored a decisive victory after offering himself as a hostage, when he escaped from his Klingon captors and stole the entire library computer database from Hakask, shortly before the Organians intervened and disabled weapons on both sides. Suvuk won the Pentares Peace Commendation and a promotion to admiral for his action at Regulus. (TOS novel: My Enemy, My Ally)
During the invasion of the Borg Collective in 2381, Starfleet established its last line of defenses at Regulus. There was no core planet evacuation plan developed by Starfleet should the Borg break through the Regulus defenses. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)
The Regulus system has been listed as a home to the Caitians, although their home system has been identified as 15 Lyncis in other sources.
System
* Regulus I (Horus)
* Regulus II (Arodi/Osiris)
* Regulus III (Khepri)
* Regulus IV (Khonsu)
* Regulus V (Ptah)
* Regulus VI (Rhamses)
* Regulus VII (Nefertari)
* Regulus VIII (M-113, fourth planet from UFC-113)
* Regulus IX
* Regulus X
* Regulus XI
* Regulus XII
* Regulus XIII
* Babylon 5 television series. Regulus is the site of the Earth Alliance's first extrasolar colony.
* BattleTech wargame and related products. Regulus is the capital system of the Duchy of Regulus, one of the founding states of the Free Worlds League.
* Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War, computer game. Regulus is the greatest stronghold of the Neo-Terran Front during their rebellion against the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance.
* Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. In the Frontier series, Regulus has no permanent settlements. Minor mining operations do occur within the system, however.
* Tékumel, books and games by M. A. R. Barker. Regulus is the solar system from which originate the nonhuman species called the Vléshga, or Shunned Ones, Stinking Ones.
------------------------------------
Art "Vléshga" Neuendorffer
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:00 pm
by Ann
I love all your comic strip and obscure Star Trek references, Art! <jumping up and down shouting with joy>
So glad to see you back here, for whatever reason! We sure need someone with a terrific sense of nerd humour here! <thumbsup> <thumbsup> <thumbsup>
For myself, let me just say that
//beginning of lecture//
I love the color contrast between Regulus, Mars and Saturn, although the overall color balance of the image is a bit too blue. Eata Leonis, the middle star of the Sickle of Leo, should look yellower than this.
//end of lecture//
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:08 pm
by orin stepanek
I thought the landscape was great! It was almost like a scene from Mars itself.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:31 pm
by Beyond
Hey neufer -- your stamp picture of Nancy reminded me that about 45+ years ago, my sister put a likeness of your avatar that was stamp sized on an envelope and mailed it to herself. It went through, so she had an offical U.S. Goverment cancelation of your avatar. I forget if it was before or after He ran for President. The way things are today, if He ran again, He just might win! HEY, you could be his campaign manager
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:38 pm
by neufer
beyond wrote:Hey neufer -- your stamp picture of Nancy reminded me that about 45+ years ago, my sister put a likeness of your avatar that was stamp sized on an envelope and mailed it to herself. It went through, so she had an official U.S. Government cancellation of your avatar.
beyond wrote:I forget if it was before or after He ran for President. The way things are today, if He ran again, He just might win!
HEY, you could be his campaign manager
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 12:22 am
by Beyond
No wonder i did not remember Alfred had a campaign manager, He was not around much. No wonder Alfred lost!!
I still think you would make a good campaign manager for him and you could get Spy vs Spy to do the polling and other stuff. That way you would get the answers to both sides of the question for an unbiased balanced veiwpoint. Waddayathink
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:02 am
by neufer
beyond wrote:No wonder i did not remember Alfred had a campaign manager, He was not around much. No wonder Alfred lost!!
I still think you would make a good campaign manager for him and you could get Spy vs Spy to do the polling and other stuff. That way you would get the answers to both sides of the question for an unbiased balanced veiwpoint. Waddayathink
I'm just another Mad plant:
http://www.bookrags.com//wiki/Arthur_%28plant%29 wrote:
<<Arthur was a running gag in-joke in MAD magazine; a potted plant approximately a yard (one meter) tall, with only two leaves, right at the tip, who showed up in various scenes. Arthur was reportedly inspired by an actual avocado plant in the MAD office; plants grown from avocado pits do have the property of growing in such a fashion until the top is pruned. Arthur still appears occasionally, although it has since grown more leaves. During the first two seasons of MADtv Arthur the plant was featured next to the green door where the cast would usually enter and exit.>>
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:51 am
by Beyond
Hey Art -- that 60' video was pretty neat! A.E.N. looks GOOD in that Patriotic uniform!! Makes Him look younger!
The clip also shows how far things have come since then. The rest of the world has gone way past where "MAD" used to be and now "MAD" seems to be rather "Normal".
The ones who started the magazine sold it a long time ago and it ended up being owned by Time Warner, who apparently ignore the fact that they own it and do not even go to vist and just let the former owners go on as they have been. Kinda reminds me of this country except for the fact that "MAD Magazine" makes a profit!! and this country just makes Debt!! OH, it just came to me, Nancy's guy friend's name is "Sluggo", if i spelled it wright?
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:25 am
by orin stepanek
I kind of remember a a character called Melvin Mole in a mad magazine when I was a kid. Seems as though that was in a What Me Worry? (Mad) magazine! Dug his way to the electric chair.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:31 am
by Beyond
Orin - you mean that melvin "moled" himself to death
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:41 am
by orin stepanek
They didn't take his hair nostril; so he dug his way out of prison with it straight to the fryer. Kind of gets me how he always had a machine gun whenever he saw the law. Amazing hoe that story stuck with me over the years.
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:53 pm
by emik12
What a wonderful site. Does anyone the link that I can use as my home page that will take me to the present day picture each day? When I use tools and set my home page by choosing "current" my system pulls up the actual picture I was looking at when I set my home page. It would be nice to have my home page be the present day picture each day.
I agree with others - the overlay is a super addition.
Thanks!
Re: APOD: Regulus and the Red Planet (2010 Jun 10)
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:45 pm
by bystander
emik12 wrote:What a wonderful site. Does anyone the link that I can use as my home page that will take me to the present day picture each day? When I use tools and set my home page by choosing "current" my system pulls up the actual picture I was looking at when I set my home page. It would be nice to have my home page be the present day picture each day.
I agree with others - the overlay is a super addition.
Thanks!