Starship Asterisk*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_apple wrote:
<<Juno’s sacred golden apple tree is an apple tree that grows apples made entirely of gold. Jupiter gave it to her as a gift. The dragon Ladon was sent to guard it from anyone who might try to steal the apples. The golden apple is an element that appears in various national and ethnic folk legends or fairy tales. Recurring themes depict a hero (for example Hercules or Făt-Frumos) retrieving the golden apples hidden or stolen by a monstrous antagonist. Alternatively, as part of the mysterious apple branch of Otherworld in Irish mythology.

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Golden Apples of the Hesperides

Atlas and Hercules

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After Heracles completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra did not count (because Iolaus helped Heracles), neither did cleaning the Augean Stables (either because he was paid for the job or because the rivers did the work).

The first additional labour was to steal three of the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shapeshifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located.

Heracles finally made his way to the garden of the Hesperides, where he encountered Atlas holding up the heavens on his shoulders. Heracles persuaded Atlas to get the three golden Apples for him by offering to hold up the heavens in his place for a little while. Atlas could get the apples because, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides. This would have made the labour – like the Hydra and the Augean stables – void because Heracles had received help. When Atlas returned, he decided that he did not want to take the heavens back, and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him by agreeing to remain in place of Atlas on the condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily while Heracles adjusted his cloak. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away with the apples.

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Atalanta

Atalanta and Melanion, Guido Reni, c. 1622–25

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The first case concerns a huntress named Atalanta who raced against a suitor named Melanion. Melanion used golden apples to distract Atalanta so that he could win the race.

Though abandoned by her father as an infant, Atalanta became a skilled hunter and received acclaim for her role in the hunt for the Calydonian boar. Her father claimed her as his daughter and wished to marry her off. However, Atalanta was reluctant to marry due to a prophecy that marriage would be her downfall. Because of her beauty, she gained a number of suitors and finally agreed to marry, but under the condition that her suitor was obligated to beat her in a footrace. Competitors who failed to beat her would be put to death. As Atalanta could run extremely fast, all her suitors died.

Realizing that Atalanta could not be defeated in a fair race, Melanion prayed to Aphrodite for help. The goddess gave him three golden apples and told him to drop them one at a time to distract Atalanta. Sure enough, she quit running long enough to retrieve each golden apple. It took all three apples and all of his speed, but Melanion finally succeeded, winning the race and Atalanta's hand.

Eventually they had a son Parthenopaios, who was one of the Seven against Thebes. Their marriage ended in misfortune when they were transformed into lions (which the Greeks believed were unable to mate with their own species, only with leopards) for offending the gods.

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Golden Apple of Trojan War Fable

Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited for her troublesome nature, and upon turning up uninvited, she threw a golden apple into the ceremony, with an inscription that read: "ΤΗΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗΙ" (Ancient Greek: τῇ καλλίστῃ, romanized: tē(i) kallistē(i), Modern Greek: τη καλλίστη ti kallisti; "for/to the most beautiful" – cf. Callisto). Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They brought the matter before Zeus. Not wanting to get involved, Zeus assigned the task to Paris of Troy. Paris had demonstrated his exemplary fairness previously when he awarded a prize unhesitatingly to Ares after the god, in bull form, had bested his own prize bull. Zeus gave the apple to Hermes and told him to deliver it to Paris and tell him that the goddesses would accept his decision without argument. As each goddess wanted to receive the apple, they each stripped off their own clothing and appeared naked before Paris. Each of the goddesses also offered Paris a gift as a bribe in return for the apple; Hera offered to make him the king of Europe and Asia Minor, Athena offered him wisdom and skill in battle, and Aphrodite offered to give to him the love of the world's most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta, who was already married to King Menelaus. Paris chose Aphrodite, a decision that caused the Trojan war, and ultimately the destruction of both Paris and his city, Troy.>>

APOD Robot wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:09 am The Galaxy, the Planet, and the Apple Tree

Explanation: The Old Astronomer's Milky Way arcs through this peaceful northern sky. Against faint, diffuse starlight you can follow dark rifts of interstellar dust clouds stretching from the galaxy's core. They lead toward bright star Antares at the right, almost due south above the horizon. The brightest beacon in the twilight is Jupiter, though. From the camera's perspective it seems to hang from the limb of a tree framing the foreground, an apple tree of course. The serene maritime nightscape was recorded in tracked and untracked exposures on June 16 from Dover, Nova Scotia, planet Earth.

THE OLD ASTRONOMER.

REACH me down my Tycho Brahé,—I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then till now.

Pray, remember, that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data, for your adding, as is meet;
And remember, men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,
And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.

But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learnt the worth of scorn;
You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn;
What, for us, are all distractions of men's fellowship and smiles?
What, for us, the goddess Pleasure, with her meretricious wiles?

You may tell that German college that their honour comes too late.
But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate;
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.

What, my boy, you are not weeping? You should save your eyes for sight;
You will need them, mine observer, yet for many another night.
I leave none but you, my pupil, unto whom my plans are known.
You "have none but me," you murmur, and I "leave you quite alone"?

Well then, kiss me,—since my mother left her blessing on my brow,
There has been a something wanting in my nature until now;
I can dimly comprehend it,—that I might have been more kind,
Might have cherished you more wisely, as the one I leave behind.

I "have never failed in kindness"? No, we lived too high for strife,—
Calmest coldness was the error which has crept into our life;
But your spirit is untainted, I can dedicate you still
To the service of our science: you will further it? you will!

There are certain calculations I should like to make with you,
To be sure that your deductions will be logical and true;
And remember, "Patience, Patience," is the watchword of a sage,
Not to-day nor yet to-morrow can complete a perfect age.

I have sown, like Tycho Brahé, that a greater man may reap;
But if none should do my reaping, 'twill disturb me in my sleep.
So be careful and be faithful, though, like me, you leave no name;
See, my boy, that nothing turn you to the mere pursuit of fame.

I must say Good-bye, my pupil, for I cannot longer speak;
Draw the curtain back for Venus, ere my vision grows too weak:
It is strange the pearly planet should look red as fiery Mars,—
God will mercifully guide me on my way amongst the stars.

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:40 am APOD: The Galaxy, the Planet, Apple Tree, Water, and Moon Reflection!

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:03 pm

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:40 am APOD: The Galaxy, the Planet, Apple Tree, Water, and Moon Reflection!

Moon reflection? Don't you mean Jupiter?

Blaze wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:10 pm Some of the composite photos offered on your website are a little squiffy in their verisimilitude, but this one demonstrates truly lazy and/or sloppy image fiddling. Whoof!

emp1953 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:51 pm If you zoom in the photo, is that a comet in the upper left corner?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair wrote:

Direct image of Altair, taken with the CHARA array

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<<The angular diameter of Altair was measured interferometrically by R. Hanbury Brown and his co-workers at Narrabri Observatory in the 1960s. They found a diameter of 3 milliarcseconds. Although Hanbury Brown et al. realized that Altair would be rotationally flattened, they had insufficient data to experimentally observe its oblateness. Altair was later observed to be flattened by infrared interferometric measurements made by the Palomar Testbed Interferometer in 1999 and 2000. Altair is one of the few stars for which a direct image has been obtained. In 2006 and 2007, J. D. Monnier and his coworkers produced an image of Altair's surface from 2006 infrared observations made with the MIRC instrument on the CHARA array interferometer; this was the first time the surface of any main-sequence star, apart from the Sun, had been imaged. The false-color image was published in 2007. The equatorial radius of the star was estimated to be 2.03 solar radii, and the polar radius 1.63 solar radii—a 25% increase of the stellar radius from pole to equator. The polar axis is inclined by about 60° to the line of sight from the Earth.>>

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:19 pm

emp1953 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:51 pm If you zoom in the photo, is that a comet in the upper left corner?

Constellation Aquila with its Alpha star, Altair. Photo: Larry Landolfi/Science Photo Library.

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Summer Triangle Lodriguss.png

The Summer Triangle with Altair, Alpha star of
constellation Aquila, at center right. Photo: Jerry Lodriguss.

I cannot say for certain, but perhaps emp1953 was referring to the bright short streak or the longer faint streak circled in red on the image below.

sorry for the poor upload image size; you'll have to zoom in yourself on the APOD image to make them out.

















No, that's Altair, Alpha star of the constellation Aquila and one of the bright-looking A-type stars that make up the Summer Triangle.

Altair looks a bit like a comet in the APOD, because the star images are a bit smeared near the perimeters of the image.

Ann

sp0ck wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:45 pm

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:19 pm

emp1953 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:51 pm If you zoom in the photo, is that a comet in the upper left corner?

Constellation Aquila with its Alpha star, Altair. Photo: Larry Landolfi/Science Photo Library.

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The Summer Triangle with Altair, Alpha star of
constellation Aquila, at center right. Photo: Jerry Lodriguss.

No, that's Altair, Alpha star of the constellation Aquila and one of the bright-looking A-type stars that make up the Summer Triangle.

Altair looks a bit like a comet in the APOD, because the star images are a bit smeared near the perimeters of the image.

Ann

I cannot say for certain, but perhaps emp1953 was referring to the bright short streak or the longer faint streak circled in red on the image below.

sorry for the poor upload image size; you'll have to zoom in yourself on the APOD image to make them out.

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:05 pm
Hi, Sp0ck!

You're right, there are a pair of interesting streaks there. The longer, fainter streak looks like some kind of imagery flaw or mistake to me, and the shorter, brighter streak baffles me. Well, maybe it's a satellite.

MarkBour wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:14 pm

Today's APOD is the picture of serenity on a lovely, peaceful night.

(... Well, except for those starships coming from Altair to vaporize our planet, that is.)