APOD: Inverted City Beneath Clouds (2016 Nov 07)

[APOD Robot]

Inverted City Beneath Clouds

Explanation: How could that city be upside-down? The city, Chicago, was actually perfectly right-side up. The long shadows it projected onto nearby Lake Michigan near sunset, however, when seen in reflection, made the buildings appear inverted. This fascinating, puzzling, yet beautiful image was captured by a photographer in 2014 on an airplane on approach to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The Sun can be seen both above and below the cloud deck, with the later reflected in the calm lake. As a bonus, if you look really closely -- and this is quite a challenge -- you can find another airplane in the image, likely also on approach to the same airport.

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[stowaway]

Actually, I had already spotted the other plane before I read the challenge. ;-P

[heehaw]

OOOHHH ... suddenly I did see the other plane! Neat!

[heehaw]

Another inversion - today's ESPOD is astronomical! http://epod.usra.edu/blog/

[Guest]

OK, I feel dumb. Where is the second plane?

[Guest]

forget it...found it.

[Stevie]

I searched the sky above the cloud deck. there was a speck I thought was it, but it turned out to be a speck on my monitor. Then I searched the sky of the reflection. I almost thought I could see waves on the water surface. But no plane. Then I thought it might be in the cloud deck itself. And then I saw it... :-p It was fun looking for it...

[neufer]

[b][i][size=135]I saw... I saw a city in the clouds.[/size][/i] ―Luke Skywalker[/b]

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Cloud City was a completely man-made Tibanna gas mining colony of a few million tourists, workers and support staff hovering over the gas giant Bespin. Being located in Bespin's Life Zone, the station had no need of airlocks or life-support systems, with the atmosphere being comprised mostly of oxygen and acceptable levels of gravity and temperature. The station was situated 59,000 kilometers above Bespin's core, while its disk was approximately 16.2 kilometers in diameter. 36,000 repulsorlift engines and tractor beam generators kept the giant city floating above the planet. It contained 392 levels, along with platforms and rooms for residents and visitors. The top 50 levels of the city were used as a luxury resort, renowned for its famous casinos such as Yarith Bespin and Pair O'Dice, while the lower levels were used as worker housing and for the mining and processing of Tibanna gas. Popular tourist activities included gambling, hiring a cloud car for sightseeing the city and occasionally touring the local mining operations. With luxury resorts oftentimes charging as much as 5,000 Imperial credits a night. The Ivax Syndicate also maintained gaming houses on the station. In the months following the Battle of Endor, Cloud City had become the destination to procure rare implants such as brand new oculars and custom-made hands, or entire organ systems for a multitude of alien species. However, following the Empire's occupation of the Anoat sector and subsequently, Cloud City, the distribution of implants was temporarily put on hold.>>

[MarkBour]

It wasn't that hard to find the plane. I recall previous APODs where the phrase "quite a challenge", would seem appropriate. Such as, say, http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160320.html with the challenge of finding the road and address from which that photo was taken.

[Pschawable]

Challenge? Pschaw. About as much challenge as a baby loving a bottle of warm milk. Who writes these silly things anyway? Give us a REAL challenge .. like why is there SUDDENLY 10 times as many galaxies in the universe as there was a month ago when all that was to be known was known? Pschaw. Nice photo, however, and it takes a lot to impressive Me, Pschawable.

[geoffrey.landis]

I don't quite understand. "The long shadows it projected onto nearby Lake Michigan near sunset, however, when seen in reflection..."
It doesn't seem to make sense to say we're looking at the reflection of the shadows (if these are shadows projected on the late, what is reflecting them?) Are we looking at the reflections of the buildings? Or the shadows of them?

[neufer]

I don't quite understand. "The long shadows it projected onto nearby Lake Michigan near sunset, however, when seen in reflection..."

It doesn't seem to make sense to say we're looking at the reflection of the shadows (if these are shadows projected on the la[k]e, what is reflecting them?) Are we looking at the reflections of the buildings? Or the shadows of them?

If an annular or partial solar eclipse happened to be taking place at the same time it certainly would be proper to say:

The long [penumbral] shadow the Moon projected onto Lake Michigan near sunset when seen in reflection, made the Moon appear inverted.

[deathfleer]

cuoldnt find no planes . challenge is real