Page 1 of 1
APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:08 am
by APOD Robot
Shoreline of the Universe
Explanation: Against dark rifts of interstellar dust, the ebb and flow of starlight along the Milky Way looks like waves breaking on a cosmic shore in this night skyscape. Taken with a digital camera from the dunes of Hatteras Island, North Carolina, planet Earth, the monochrome image is
reminiscent of the time when sensitive black and white film was a popular choice for dimmly lit night- and astro-photography. Looking south, the bright stars of Sagittarius and Scorpius are near the center of the frame.
Wandering Mars, Saturn, and
Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) form the compact triangle of bright celestial beacons farther right of the galaxy's central bulge. Of course, the evocative black and white beach scene could also be from that vintage 1950s scifi movie you never saw, "
It Came From Beyond the Dunes."
[/b]
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:30 am
by Boomer12k
Reminds me very much of the shot of the Dunes, in....Invasion From Mars...1953....right down to the Stick fence and grass....
A boy witnesses a saucer landing, out in the dunes....
Great looking shot...
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:41 am
by alter-ego
Boomer12k wrote:Reminds me very much of the shot of the Dunes, in....Invasion From Mars...1953....right down to the Stick fence and grass....
A boy witnesses a saucer landing, out in the dunes....
Great looking shot...
:---[===] *
Wasn't that the one where, at the end of the movie, he wakes up only to realize it was all a dream and then he witnesses the same landing for real?
I liked that one.
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:43 am
by Boomer12k
alter-ego wrote:Boomer12k wrote:Reminds me very much of the shot of the Dunes, in....Invasion From Mars...1953....right down to the Stick fence and grass....
A boy witnesses a saucer landing, out in the dunes....
Great looking shot...
:---[===] *
Wasn't that the one where, at the end of the movie, he wakes up only to realize it was all a dream and then he witnesses the same landing for real?
I liked that one.
Yes, it IS that one...great movie...
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:19 pm
by richard schumacher
It is lovely, but, "dimly", please, not "dimmly".
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:13 pm
by VPD
And two meteor trails too!
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:46 pm
by Flubberly Delicious
Is that glow off to the far right coming from the Hatteras light house?
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 11:03 am
by DavidLeodis
It's an excellent image. Nice also to see a black & white one.
I have a query. In the explanation it states "Wandering Mars, Saturn, and Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) form the compact triangle of bright celestial beacons farther right of the galaxy's central bulge". I take it therefore that this is triangle of stars to the right of a triangle of stars nearer the bulge. If so, then as in information from the Zubenelgenubi link states that is the second brightest star of the constellation Libra then is the bright star above the triangle the brightest star of Libra? I hope that makes sense!
![Cowboy :cowboy:](./images/smilies/cowboy.gif)
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 11:28 am
by Nitpicker
DavidLeodis wrote:It's an excellent image. Nice also to see a black & white one.
I have a query. In the explanation it states "Wandering Mars, Saturn, and Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) form the compact triangle of bright celestial beacons farther right of the galaxy's central bulge". I take it therefore that this is triangle of stars to the right of a triangle of stars nearer the bulge. If so, then as in information from the Zubenelgenubi link states that is the second brightest star of the constellation Libra then is the bright star above the triangle the brightest star of Libra? I hope that makes sense!
![Cowboy :cowboy:](./images/smilies/cowboy.gif)
Yes, the bright star above the triangle is Beta Librae (or Zubeneschamali, derived from Arabic meaning "the northern claw"). Along with Alpha Librae (or Zubenelgenubi, "the southern claw", which is actually a binary, the brighter of which is
just dimmer than Zubeneschamali), they were originally considered part of the Scorpius asterism, before the modern constellation boundaries were defined.
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 12:17 pm
by DavidLeodis
Thanks Nitpicker for your very helpful reply.
I'm glad I checked before posting as I had initially put your name as Nipticker.
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
Re: APOD: Shoreline of the Universe (2014 Sep 20)
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:46 pm
by Ann
As a Color Commentator, I obviously prefer (RGB) color pictures over black and white ones. But this one has a stark beauty which reminds me strongly of the feeling I got when, as a novice, I read Burnham's Celestial Handbook. It was full of old, black and white photos which seemed to originate, in some cases, from the dawn of photographic astronomy.
There is indeed a "shoreline" feeling to this image - a sense of shorelines between past and present, poetry and science, observation and art.
I'm strongly reminded of page 1862 of Burnham's Celestial Handbook. That page features a lovely black and white image of the Pleiades, framed by the slender branches of, perhaps, a willow tree. The caption is a quote of a part of a poem by Tennyson,
.....The Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fireflies
Tangled in a silver braid....
I was incredibly moved by the stark beauty of that page, and how it seemed to echo through the times.
The APOD of September 20 is beautiful, too.
Ann