Moon Over Antarctica

[whimsicaldeb]

Astronomy Picture of the Day
2005 November 25
Moon Over Antarctica
Credit & Copyright: James Behrens (IGPP, Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

Explanation: Last week, the nearly Full Moon set along the northern horizon - as seen from Davis Station, Antarctica. The squashed orange pumpkin shape just silhouettes the peak of a distant iceberg in this stunning view. The Moon's apparently squashed shape is due to atmospheric bending of light or refraction - an effect which is more severe closer to the horizon. Skimming low along the stark features of the frozen landscape, the Moon's lower edge appears noticeably more distorted than the upper limb. Along with about 70 others present at Davis Station, Dr. Jim Behrens had a chance to enjoy the view while studying the ongoing detachment of a large iceberg known as "Loose Tooth".

Source: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051125.html

[Sober Duck]

What I would give to see such a sight! One of my dreams is to spend a month in Barlow Alaska to experience what you captured. I want to see darkness for weeks. I want to see the Northern lights in that lighs void. I want to taste the cold, breath the ice ladened air. I want to feel the great white north.

[whimsicaldeb]

Oh my No SD, I didn't take this picture! Wish I had that type of talent! I agree with you though, about wanting to see some like this in person, for myself, for 'real' ~ guess I'm not alone, eh?


This moon photo is from one of my favorite websites:
Astronomy Picture of the Day

link:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I love that website; I love our universe; I love looking at our moon in all its phases ... I also love seeing pictures of our univserse, it makes me feel ... (oh~words won't do it)

example: this is today's picture
2005 December 11


R136: The Massive Stars of 30 Doradus
taken by:
Credit: J. Trauger (JPL), J. Westphal (Caltech), N. Walborn (STScI), R. Barba' (La Plata Obs.), NASA

Explanation: In the center of star-forming region 30 Doradus lies a huge cluster of the largest, hottest, most massive stars known. These stars, known as the star cluster R136, and part of the surrounding nebula are captured here in this gorgeous visible-light image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Gas and dust clouds in 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, have been sculpted into elongated shapes by powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these hot cluster stars. The 30 Doradus Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, located a mere 170,000 light-years away.

----

a fun thing to do; look up the what picture of the day was being shown on your birthdate

mine was:


2005 September 1
One-Armed Spiral Galaxy NGC 4725
Credit: R. Kennicutt (Univ. Arizona), SINGS Team, JPL-Caltech, NASA

Explanation: While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have two or more spiral arms, peculiar galaxy NGC 4725 has only one. In this false-color Spitzer Space Telescope infrared image, the galaxy's solo spira mirabilis is seen in red, highlighting the emission from dust clouds warmed by newborn stars. The blue color is light from NGC 4725's population of old stars. Also sporting a prominent ring and a central bar, this galaxy is over 100 thousand light-years across and lies 41 million light-years away in the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. Computer simulations of the formation of single spiral arms suggest that they can be either leading or trailing arms with respect to a galaxy's overall rotation.

.....

what's yours?

[Sober Duck]

Oh, I knew you didn't take that shot but your post of the photo still
stirred my hopes of one day seeing such a sight.
I once saw the sun setting at the same time the full moon crested the horizon. Impossible to photo such an event .
I also saw a sunrise where I could see the sun through the oceans water before it crested the horizon.

Sunrise over the York River.

[mtmynd]

Deb... good picks of pics. I, too, enjoy the astro-photos... so ''heavenly'.

Duck - enjoyed, as usual, you eye.

[Arcadia]

beautiful photos!

[whimsicaldeb]

Oh Duck ... what a beautiful photo; and special moment! You've captured William Wordsworth's referenced Spirit exposed in his poem "Tintern Abbey" (90-110)

For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear,--both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.


~~~beautiful ....
another picture that speaks a thousand + words ...
thank you