Starship Asterisk*

The Great Wall by Moonlight

Explanation: Last Friday, an almost Full Moon rose as the Sun set, over this mountainous landscape north of Beijing, China. Also near apogee, the farthest point in its elliptical orbit around planet Earth, it was this year's smallest and faintest Full Moon. The Jiankou section of the Great Wall of China meanders through the scene, the ancient Great Wall itself the subject of an older-than-the-space-age myth that it would be visible to the eye when standing on the lunar surface. But even from low Earth orbit, the large scale artifact of human civilization is very difficult to identify. At its farthest from our fair planet, the Moon shines brightly in the twilight sky though, posing in the faint, pinkish band known as the antitwilight arch or the belt of Venus.

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Well, it's Friday the 13th but other than that it seems today's APOD has nothing to do with the number 13.

Maybe there was too much fear of the number 13, so they went for an image from China, where the the number 4 is feared, instead. Nice picture.

I think I prefer this image over another version of the much-photographed, impressive but somewhat "feature-less" globular cluster, M13.

It is not hard to believe that the Great Wall is not visible from the Moon when you see this picture. But from much closer to home, and from the position of the photographer, the wall looks quite stunning. Tell me, does the wall climb up the peaks that are seen in silhouette against the sky? I guess not.

Ann

geckzilla wrote:Well, it's Friday the 13th but other than that it seems today's APOD has nothing to do with the number 13.

Fear of the Mongol hoards was the motivation for building the Great Wall, which obviously took an extraordinary effort. Does the number 13 have anything to do this history?

Beautiful picture, Thank you APOD! Just out of sheer interest: Does anyone know, whether it's possible to walk along (parts of) the wall?

Uwe wrote:Beautiful picture, Thank you APOD! Just out of sheer interest: Does anyone know, whether it's possible to walk along (parts of) the wall?

Yes, it is.

BDanielMayfield wrote:

geckzilla wrote:Well, it's Friday the 13th but other than that it seems today's APOD has nothing to do with the number 13.

Fear of the Mongol hoards was the motivation for building the Great Wall, which obviously took an extraordinary effort. Does the number 13 have anything to do this history?

It was built on and off over the centuries. Once the nomadic tribes united and the Mongol Empire was founded, the wall couldn't stop them. It's a common misconception among Westerners that the horde were mere barbarians. Far from it. (I know you didn't say they were barbarians but I thought I'd head off that topic before it could begin.)

Ann wrote:I think I prefer this image over another version of the much-photographed, impressive but somewhat "feature-less" globular cluster, M13.

It is not hard to believe that the Great Wall is not visible from the Moon when you see this picture. But from much closer to home, and from the position of the photographer, the wall looks quite stunning. Tell me, does the wall climb up the peaks that are seen in silhouette against the sky? I guess not.

Ann

I think both are fantastic! In my opinion, Omega Centauri appears more featureless compared to M13.

Also nice continuation of yesterday's theme of walls, we have gone from the cosmic to the terrestrial in the space of a day.

I don't believe that the myth was ever that "the great wall of china is visible from the moon". The saying is that "it is visible from space" i.e. orbit.
At some point someone got confused about the saying and changed the word "space" to "moon".

The mountains remindme of The Cygnus Wall.....


:---[===] *

Thirteen seems unlucky but I'm going to leave it to a statistician to figure out the real odds. In a month it will be 45 years since Apollo 13 was launched. Perhaps from the evening of April 13th when Apollo 13 "had a problem.", NASA could still be a little triskaidekaphobic.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/24441/fo ... -apollo-13

Even Asterisk has analyzed this before from a slightly more positive viewpoint.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=19099&p=120226

As for the Great Wall, it looks like for some reason in the 13th century, no wall was being built from the Wiki link. In the end I'd bet looking for mysterious 13's is easier than proving it. Don't know if I'd choose to be the thirteenth moonwalker though. Might find "some" kind of wall.

I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post.

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post.

Well, lucky for you I've removed two posts, so you're safe!

owlice wrote:

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post.

Well, lucky for you I've removed two posts, so you're safe!

You usually "chews" wisely Owlice so thanks for for being on top of you moderator role. My nails appreciate it!

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:

owlice wrote:

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I'm doomed. That was the thirteenth post.

Well, lucky for you I've removed two posts, so you're safe!

You usually "chews" wisely Owlice

Don't owls swallow things whole?

No, no; we rip the flesh off bunnies and other beasties that are too big to swallow whole, but can also deal with the morsels that fit down the hatch mostly complete.

Mice usually go down the 'hatch' whole. Speaking of which, owlice's poor cats have to go to the neighbors to get theirs. There's none left at her place.

owlice wrote:No, no; we rip the flesh off bunnies and other beasties that are too big to swallow whole, but can also deal with the morsels that fit down the hatch mostly complete.

That sounds delightful! You're a hoot!