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APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02)
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:05 am
by APOD Robot
Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales
Explanation: What's that below the Milky Way? First, across the top of the
above image, lies the faint band that is our planet's sideways view of the central disk of our home
Milky Way Galaxy. The
Milky Way band can be seen most clear nights from just about anywhere on
Earth with a
dark sky. What lies beneath is, by comparison, is a much less common sight. It is the striking peak of Castildetierra, a rock formation located in
Bardenas Reales, a natural
badlands in northeast
Spain. Standing 50 meters tall, the
rock spire includes
clay and
sandstone left over from thousands of years of
erosion by wind and water. The
astrophotographer waited months for the sky to appear just right -- and then took the 14 exposures that compose the
above image in a single night.
Before you respond: Yes, it's real. No, it's not Castildetierra, it's a different cabezo. Yes, we know what it looks like.
[/b]
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:19 am
by Gage
Spiral galaxies are more or less planar. Why does the Milky Way appear severely curved in this image? I've seen this before but less pronounced I think.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:41 am
by geckzilla
Gage wrote:Spiral galaxies are more or less planar. Why does the Milky Way appear severely curved in this image? I've seen this before but less pronounced I think.
It's a nice looking way to fit a
360 180 degree spherical view of the sky onto a plane.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:50 am
by Gage
So you are saying that the Milky Way would normally be a straight "line" (band) but the photographer used a special effect lens?
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:56 am
by geckzilla
Gage wrote:So you are saying that the Milky Way would normally be a straight "line" (band) but the photographer used a special effect lens?
Yes, it would be a straight line. You'd look in front of yourself and see the left side and then have to look more or less straight up* to see the center of the arc and then look behind yourself to see the right side.
Special effect lens, no. Wide angle, yes. Imagine yourself with your camera on its tripod and then rotating the camera a few degrees in one direction until you've taken several photos of the whole horizon. Then you take all those photos and composite them into a single panorama, usually with a special imaging program suited for such tasks.
* possibly way less depending on the date and location.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:27 am
by Chris Peterson
Gage wrote:Spiral galaxies are more or less planar. Why does the Milky Way appear severely curved in this image? I've seen this before but less pronounced I think.
Why do he Earth's lines of longitude appear curved on most maps?
BTW, the Milky Way only looks linear to most people when it is high overhead. When it is lower it is obviously not parallel to the horizon, and our brains tend to treat the horizon as a straight line (although it doesn't project as a straight line on our retinas).
The photographer here made a deliberate aesthetic decision to constrain the horizon to a straight line in the final image (which does not usually happen automatically when you make a very wide field image). She could as easily have chosen to constrain the Milky Way to a line, which would have been just as accurate, but would also create a very different impression on the viewer.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:30 am
by Guest
that spire is rather phallic
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:31 am
by Gage
Chris and Geckzilla: Thanks for the very informative responses, and esp for the photo.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:38 am
by geckzilla
Guest wrote:that spire is rather phallic
It could be discretely called a monument to Jupiter.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:32 am
by drollere
it's pretty, but it needs some smurfs in it ... maybe some smurfs having a picnic.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 8:27 am
by Boomer12k
Wonderful shot...
Going to have to straighten out the Milky Way someday...somebody got it all bent...
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:22 am
by ThePiper
Gage wrote:Chris and Geckzilla: Thanks for the very informative responses, and esp for the photo.
Yes - and, Gage, thanks for the good question.
The appearance of the Milky Way will - for ever -be stress and challenge for my tortured brain...
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:41 am
by JohnD
What an extraordinary object!
And what an extraordinary view to choose, when most other aspects do not make the pinnacle look so, how can I put this, male? I suppose that this was demanded by the direction to get the Milky Way centralised?
See:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=casti ... 24&bih=585
John
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:49 am
by Ann
In ancient Greece, they talked about Father Sky and Mother Earth.
Looks like the other way round here.
Ann
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 10:58 am
by hownow
Guest wrote:that spire is rather phallic
And into Pegasus the Horse!
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 11:32 am
by orin stepanek
Reminds me of Chimney Rock in western Nebraska!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Image from wiki:
I am a Nut!
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:16 pm
by neufer
Ann wrote:
In ancient Greece, they talked about Father Sky and Mother Earth.
Looks like the other way round here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess) wrote:
[img3="
The Sky Goddess Nut arched protectively over the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Nut was seen as a friend and protector of the dead, who appealed to her as a child appeals to its mother: "O my Mother Nut, stretch Yourself over me, that I may be placed among the imperishable stars which are in You, and that I may not die." Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine: "I am Nut, and I have come so that I may enfold and protect you from all things evil." She was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the deceased. The vault of tombs often were painted dark blue with many stars as a representation of Nut."]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ss_nut.jpg[/img3]
<<Nut or Neuth (also spelled Nuit or Newet) was the goddess of the sky in the Ennead of Egyptian mythology. She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the earth, or as a cow. Nut and her brother/husband, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother (or Mother Nature), she personified the sky and he the Earth.
Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut. Her name is translated to mean 'sky' and she is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the nighttime sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in nude human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, a sycamore tree, or as a giant sow, suckling many piglets (representing the stars).
A sacred symbol of Nut was the ladder, used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the deity of the dead.
Ra, the sun god, was the second to rule the world, according to the reign of the gods. Ra was a strong ruler but he feared anyone taking his throne. When he discovered that Nut was to have children he was furious. He decreed, "Nut shall not give birth any day of the year." At that time, the year was only 360 days. Nut spoke to Thoth, god of wisdom, and he had a plan. Thoth gambled with Khonshu, god of the moon, whose light rivaled that of Ra's. Every time Khonshu lost, he had to give Thoth some of his moonlight. Khonshu lost so many times that Thoth had enough moonlight to make 5 extra days. Since these days were not part of the year, Nut could have her children. She had 5: Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nepthys. When Ra found out, he was furious. He separated Nut from her husband Geb for all eternity. Her father, Shu, was to keep them apart. Still, Nut did not regret her decision.
Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the after life. According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies—such as the sun and moon—would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn.
Nut is also the barrier separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos in the world. She was pictured as a woman arched on her toes and fingertips over the earth; her body portrayed as a star-filled sky. Nut’s fingers and toes were believed to touch the four cardinal points or directions of north, south, east, and west.>>
Art Neuthendorffer (separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos)_
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:04 pm
by owlice
Congratulations, Maria Rosa, for a splendid APOD!!
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:38 pm
by Ann
owlice wrote:Congratulations, Maria Rosa, for a splendid APOD!!
Yes, congratulations! Speaking of males - and it is hard not to do that when we look at your photo, Maria Rosa, as you know - but for me as a lover of astrophotography even though I am, unfortunately, a non-photographer myself - it is great to see all the wonderful astroimages posted by all those great male astrophotographers out there. I have to say, though, that it is
really nice to see a great APOD taken by a woman, too!
Way to go, Maria Rosa!
Ann
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 6:57 pm
by Juantoday
Shouldn't this be southeastern rather than northeastern Spain?
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:58 pm
by neufer
Juantoday wrote:
Shouldn't this be southeastern rather than northeastern Spain?
The
Bardenas Reales is a semi-desert natural region, or badlands, in southeast
Navarre:
an autonomous community in northern Spain.
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:41 pm
by Cousin Ricky
Chris Peterson wrote:
BTW, the Milky Way only looks linear to most people when it is high overhead. When it is lower it is obviously not parallel to the horizon, and our brains tend to treat the horizon as a straight line (although it doesn't project as a straight line on our retinas).
Photoshop ain't got nothing on the human brain.
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 10:54 pm
by Boomer12k
Guest wrote:that spire is rather phallic
Maybe all that Heavenly Glory turn him on...
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 11:13 pm
by Mizar
It's good to see that there are still places in Europe dark enough to take images of this degree of detail of the galaxy.
JohnD wrote:What an extraordinary object!
And what an extraordinary view to choose, when most other aspects do not make the pinnacle look so, how can I put this, male? I suppose that this was demanded by the direction to get the Milky Way centralised?
Interesting to note also that this very phallic object at this particular angle, was chosen by a woman.
![Laughing :lol2:](./images/smilies/asterisk_laugh.gif)
Re: APOD: Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales (2013 Sep 02
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:04 am
by Guest
neufer wrote:Juantoday wrote:
Shouldn't this be southeastern rather than northeastern Spain?
The
Bardenas Reales is a semi-desert natural region, or badlands, in southeast
Navarre:
an autonomous community in northern Spain.
Ah, thanks.