Starship Asterisk*

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Each image is available in a larger size; please click on an image to enlarge it.

Please vote for up to three images you think would make the best APOD.

Thank you!
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<- Poll: Recent Submissions #21


Iris Nebula and Open Cluster NGC 7023
http://www.starrywonders.com/irisst8300.html
Copyright: Steve Cannistra First seen here.

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Noctilucent Clouds
http://www.kost973.narod.ru/images/nlc20100108-50.html
Copyright: Konstantin Poezjaev First seen here.

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APOD Mandala
Copyright: Zachary Cummings First seen here.

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NGC 663: Open Cluster in Cassiopeia
http://helixgate.net/canon/ngc663F_MSiniscalchi.jpg
Copyright: Mike Siniscalchi First seen here; related lecture here.

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Venus, Mars, Saturn and the Crescent Moon at Arches National Park
http://www.jwestlake.com
Copyright: Jimmy Westlake First seen here; related lecture here.

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Two Red Spots of Jupiter with a Side of Europa
Credit & Copyright: Jean-Luc Dauvergne (http://astrophotography.fr/), Ivan Testart (http://i.testart.free.fr/), IMCCE/S2P (http://www.imcce.fr/langues/fr/), Obs. Midi-Pyrénées (http://ezomp.omp.obs-mip.fr/) First seen here; related lecture here.

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Perseid!
http://www.leguideduciel.net/lgdc/lgdctextes/lgdc44.php
Copyright: Guillaume Callet First seen here; related lecture here.

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NGC 6960
http://observatoriagullo.files.wordpres ... e_full.jpg
Copyright: Pere Gil Rodríguez First seen here.

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Sagittarius Milky Way Road Map
http://www.castillosdesoria.com/astropi ... d_prod=246
Copyright: Jaime Fernandez First seen here; related lecture here.

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ISS Transitting the Moon
http://astronomiapampeana.com.ar/
Copyright: Leonardo Julio First seen here; related lecture here.

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The Wall in NGC 7000
http://www.outters.fr/thewall-rcos-16u-s2Hao3.html
Copyright: Nicolas Outters First seen here.

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The Volcano under the Milky Way
http://www.lucperrot.fr/apod/volcano_un ... y_way.html
Copyright: Luc Perrot First seen here.

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Blue Sun
http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_p ... ment2.html
Copyright: Alan Friedman First seen here; related lecture here.



<- Poll: Recent Submissions #21

Just three? That's tough.

It would have been two had I made the poll with fewer images, but it was tough to narrow it down to thirteen! A lot of very fine images have been submitted in the past several weeks. It hurt to leave so many out!

Hmmm... I'd love to know what images others would have included; if anyone would like to let me know, I'd be most grateful!

Each Recent Submissions thread has a link to the previous submissions thread, so it's pretty easy to page through the threads.

So many beauties I can barely make a choice. I do try to avoid voting for an image just because it's gorgeous, but in the case of the Iris Nebula -- yes, we've seen many, many previous versions of that one! -- I just couldn't help myself. It's got to be among the finest renditions I've seen. So I gave it a click.

What are other people's philosophies for picking images? For me visual appeal is always first, but I also give points to novelty and especially to the wow factor. And then there's the didactic angle -- one of the many purposes of these images is to educate us, to expand our horizons, to give us new perspectives, to teach us new ways of thinking.

The best APODs seduce us into enlightenment.

And in fact my brain got into such a ferment over this gallery of wonders that I FORGOT TO VOTE FOR THREE! I picked only two, and they were both beauties -- I voted for the noctilucent clouds as well as the Iris Nebula. My third pick would have been NGC 6960, another very tasty piece of eye candy. Runners up were Jupiter and NGC 7000.

Requests for future APODs -- in clicking through the various links above, I saw a picture of Venus in false color by Fabio Carvalho. That one meets most of my criteria -- beauty, novelty, education (though not necessarily a wow). So I strongly recommend that one for a future poll.

And here's an object I don't think I've ever seen in APOD -- and it's a very significant astronomical target indeed: the Hyades Cluster, the nearest rich open cluster in our local neighborhood. Here's my request for the most gorgeous possible picture of the Hyades.

ruprecht147, you should be able to add your third vote; if not, my apologies, for it means I didn't set the poll to allow people to change their selections, as I usually do.

My philosophy for choosing... I look at the images and ask myself, "How much would I learn if this image were an APOD?" It's hard to tell, of course, given the depth and breadth of the APOD editors' knowledge (to say nothing of their vocabulary, creativity and senses of humor!), but that is foremost in my mind. Sometimes, though, an image appeals to me so much that I cannot resist selecting it regardless of anything else.

Thanks for your suggestion of the false color Venus for a future poll; I really appreciate it! I'd run a whole poll of "Voters' Choices" if enough images were suggested! I'll add that to the list for future polls.

Also, I hope one or more of our astrophotographers will shoot the Hyades Cluster and send in the results!