Starship Asterisk*

King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way

Explanation: This rock structure is not only surreal -- it's real. Perhaps the reason it's not more famous is that it is smaller than one might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so, the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer rock. Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching overhead.

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Yes, that's a fine picture!


I think this hoodoo looks like a mythical creature, dressed in a coonskin hat with a particularly long tail. He used to drive across the desert on his motorbike(?), the tail of his coonskin hat pointing straight out in the wind draft, until he suddenly turned into stone. His coonskin tail froze in position, pointing horizontally away from him. His nose points in the other direction, and his eyes, partly hidden under his coonskin hat, are fixed on the distant horizon.

Well, so much for pareidolia! Tell me though, what does it take to create a formation like this hoodoo? Could it exist on any other planet or moon in the solar system?

And is that a prehistoric skeleton on the ground below that magnificent rocky "tail"?

What are those two bright lights at top right in this picture? They are not stars. You might almost think that the top one is Antares, because it is so red, but it's not. If it was Antares, we'd see a lot of nebulosity and other stars around it. So could it be Mars? We are in Scorpius, so it's possible. And the whiter, fainter but still bright light to the lower right of it, could that be, say, Saturn?

Ann

Edit: GAAAHH!!! I asked Google if Mars was in Scorpius in 2016, and I got all these astrology answers. Except they, of course, all told me about the significance of Mars being in Scorpio!!! Oh, and yes, it appears that Mars really was in Scorpius in 2016. Maybe Saturn too. I couldn't spend too much time on these astrology pages!

Deja Vue? https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170328.html

Pit wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 12:41 pm Deja Vue? https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170328.html

Yes. Sundays are the traditional day for presenting repeat (or with slightly altered text) APODs. Everyone needs a day off once a week.

I wonder how sturdy that overhang is. And I'm surprised it hasn't been broken by "adventurers" standing on it while trying to take selfies.

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 12:50 pm I wonder how sturdy that overhang is. And I'm surprised it hasn't been broken by "adventurers" standing on it while trying to take selfies.

It's rather like the diving board on a pool. You could comfortably stand on the ground underneath the overhang and put your hands on its base. It extends a few meters. I've seen pictures of people sitting on it, but not out at the end.

I was there last year to shoot the October 2023 annular solar eclipse. The landscape is littered with hoodoos like this (below is the Three Wings). I thought about trying to set up an eclipse sequence shot with one or more of them in the frame, but decided it would have been too difficult to haul all my equipment to a good spot.
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Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 1:09 pm

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 12:50 pm I wonder how sturdy that overhang is. And I'm surprised it hasn't been broken by "adventurers" standing on it while trying to take selfies.

It's rather like the diving board on a pool. You could comfortably stand on the ground underneath the overhang and put your hands on its base. It extends a few meters. I've seen pictures of people sitting on it, but not out at the end.

I was there last year to shoot the October 2023 annular solar eclipse. The landscape is littered with hoodoos like this (below is the Three Wings). I thought about trying to set up an eclipse sequence shot with one or more of them in the frame, but decided it would have been too difficult to haul all my equipment to a good spot.
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PXL_20231014_193118373p.jpg

Nice. Is the "softer rock" still slowly eroding nowadays, perhaps by wind-blown sand? Or was most of the erosion done long ago in a time when maybe there was rushing water all around? (sorry, my geologist creds are even less notable than my astronomer creds)

Ann wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:50 am Well, so much for pareidolia! Tell me though, what does it take to create a formation like this hoodoo? Could it exist on any other planet or moon in the solar system?

You need some kind of system that allows for the deposition of rock layers over time, where those layers have different compositions. The most common on Earth is sedimentation (so, the deposition of sand and silt on seabeds) followed by volcanism (the deposition of lava or ash on the older sediments). Then you need a period of weathering and erosion, either by water or (more commonly on Earth) wind. Sedimentary rock typically erodes much faster than igneous rock. Mars could conceivably have the remnants of such structures, as it appears to have produced both sedimentary layers and volcanic ones. With lower gravity, more extreme hoodoos might form since they could extend further before reaching the limits of the strength of the rock.

What are those two bright lights at top right in this picture? They are not stars. You might almost think that the top one is Antares, because it is so red, but it's not. If it was Antares, we'd see a lot of nebulosity and other stars around it. So could it be Mars? We are in Scorpius, so it's possible. And the whiter, fainter but still bright light to the lower right of it, could that be, say, Saturn?

Indeed, the bright red object on the right edge is Mars, and the bright white object to its left is Saturn. Antares is directly below Mars, which puts it just outside the frame. Otherwise it would make a pretty little triangle with the two planets.

What I love about Milky Way images is how they remind us that we are seeing a galactic arm edge-on, in every way similar to distant edge-on galaxies. Especially in this APOD, I find, maybe because of the straight tapered aspect of the arm extending from the bulgy center. (NGC 4013, Hubble)

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 12:50 pm I wonder how sturdy that overhang is. And I'm surprised it hasn't been broken by "adventurers" standing on it while trying to take selfies.

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this picture. I hope it doesn't become well known.

Christian G. wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:59 pm What I love about Milky Way images is how they remind us that we are seeing a galactic arm edge-on, in every way similar to distant edge-on galaxies. Especially in this APOD, I find, maybe because of the straight tapered aspect of the arm extending from the bulgy center.
KingOfWings_Pinkston_960-3.jpg
NGC 4013.jpg
(NGC 4013, Hubble)

And not even the same view or arm, depending on location and time of year.

zendae wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 3:19 am

Christian G. wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:59 pm What I love about Milky Way images is how they remind us that we are seeing a galactic arm edge-on, in every way similar to distant edge-on galaxies. Especially in this APOD, I find, maybe because of the straight tapered aspect of the arm extending from the bulgy center.

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

(NGC 4013, Hubble)

And not even the same view or arm, depending on location and time of year.

Not the same galaxy, either.

The first time I saw a picture of NGC 4013, I was sure that the bright star apparently located smack in the middle of the dust lane had to be a supernova. Because that's where we expect to find by far most supernovas, in the central dust lane of spiral galaxies.

Well, alas - this is just a foreground star, and you find it in every picture of NGC 4013!

Ann