Starship Asterisk*

Planet Aurora Borealis

Explanation: Illuminated by an eerie greenish light, this remarkable little planet is covered with ice and snow and ringed by tall pine trees. Of course, this little planet is actually planet Earth, and the surrounding stars are above the horizon near Östersund, Sweden. The pale greenish illumination is from a curtain of shimmering Aurora Borealis also known as the Northern Lights. The display was triggered when a giant solar coronal mass ejection (CME) rocked planet Earth's magnetosphere on January 24th and produced a strong geomagnetic storm. Northern hemisphere skygazers will also recognize the familiar orientation of stars at the left, including the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters and the stars of Orion. Increasing solar activity has caused recent auroral displays to be wide spread, including Aurora Australis, the Southern Lights, at high southern latitudes.

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What a cold and snowy little planet, and oh, what heavens it has!

This is an old picture==not impressed with a recycled shot. {sorry, Owlice}. As a self-appointed solon, I invoke the right to vetch.

islader2 wrote:This is an old picture==not impressed with a recycled shot. {sorry, Owlice}. As a self-appointed solon, I invoke the right to vetch.

You would think solons would get their facts straight. This is not an old picture, it is from only 4 days ago and it's the first time it's been seen on APOD.

APOD Robot wrote: on January 24th

Magnificent!

Congratulations to the photographer, it must have been a wonderful sight to have seen, especially on his birthday, very beautifully presented and now selected as his third APOD!

An unusual picture; very well done.
I also liked the vimeo of the Southern lights.
http://vimeo.com/35630244

So I guess we should just check Spaceweather.com to see what you will post in a few days. You guys seem on a slide for the past few months.

I must confess, these overtly digitally-manipulated shots give me the creeps. They seem almost entirely antithetical to what APOD is really about, IMO, as if some person's Photoshop skills are more noteworthy than what's really up there...

So much to complain about a no-cost, daily-updated, volunteer-driven, ad-free website with high quality space pictures and well written explanations! Geez

Yes, the picture is up on Spaceweather, another amazing free space resource, and yes, it's the second manipulated 'little world' APOD in recent memory, but personally I'm willing to overlook those details, not like anybody forces me to check the pictures every day!

@ BYSTANDER The APOD of 18 Mar 2011 did not have much redeeming social value {IMHO}. Goran will get another APOD publication because of his photocreative art. Read my post at that time in the future. (Nothing personal==Goran==you surely are creative and well-positioned in northern latitudes.)

@ ANONYMOUS+++ There is no doubt that APOD is a work of art provided by dedicated {and sometimes testy volunteers}. But==Someone has to take on the onerous task of sifting the grain from the chaff at the risk of getting "chaffted."

A projection of a photo is not a manipulation is just a geometrical projection of a real photo. If you can understand an image flipped then you can understand it projected in a sphere.
It's a fantastic photo, the human figure gives it a touch of magic and also some sense of humor.

Congrats to another great APOD.

Joe_L wrote:I must confess, these overtly digitally-manipulated shots give me the creeps. They seem almost entirely antithetical to what APOD is really about, IMO, as if some person's Photoshop skills are more noteworthy than what's really up there...

i was thinking this is from a fish-eye lens, and the only photoshopping is to get rid of the tripod. Or maybe the camera was attached to a balloon! {Why do people have to whine so much. Oh, this is the internet.}

Obviously this photo isn't a leading-edge technological exploration of some element of the Universe.

BUT ...

It does give rise to the possibility to, first, enjoy an unexpected perspective of our home, the Earth, in this Universe.

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, it encourages those folks dealing with the raw data from those leading-edge technologies to take different and unexpected perspectives in their analysis ~~ an alternate view just might discover some surprising and valuable information. (After, of course, persuing their standard rigorous analysis.)

I like the photography technique used for making the landscape look like a small planet that the photographer is standing on.

anonymousalternative wrote:So much to complain about a no-cost, daily-updated, volunteer-driven, ad-free website with high quality space pictures and well written explanations! Geez

There are those who do, and then there are those who vetch. Ne're the twain shall meet...

islader2 wrote:@ ANONYMOUS+++ There is no doubt that APOD is a work of art provided by dedicated {and sometimes testy volunteers}. But==Someone has to take on the onerous task of sifting the grain from the chaff at the risk of getting "chaffted."

islader2, since you think you are the one to "take on the onerous task of sifting the grain from the chaff," please do, by creating your own website and separating the grain from the chaff to your heart's content there. I would be most interested to see what you would come up with. Kindly post the URL when you're ready to share your selections. Looking forward to it; thanks!

Apologies for being off topic, but...

islader2: Could you please just make an account on the forum and stop posting as a guest? You've made well over 100 posts already. I would like to communicate with you via PMs about something.