Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: wolfnowl on January 15, 2010, 02:19:35 am
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Hi There: There's an interesting image here (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100115.html) from NASA showing the same constellation taken roughly at the same time, from two different hemispheres. Although it makes sense when you think about it, I was initially quite surprised to see the same constellation reversed and inverted when viewed from the other hemisphere.
Mike.
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They forgot to mention that the southern hemisphere photographer had to hold onto a tree to avoid falling off the planet.
For those who know the constellations pretty well the inverted sky is a startling at first. Something that struck me is the different appearance of the constellation Sagitarius, AKA The Teapot. We Northerners see it near the horizon which makes it look sort of medium sized, but Ozzies see it much more overhead, which makes it seem tiny by comparison. One thing's for sure, the most impressive night sky views are Down Under, especially when the center of the Milky Way looms right overhead with its wings stretching from horizon to horizon. Now that's awesome.
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They forgot to mention that the southern hemisphere photographer had to hold onto a tree to avoid falling off the planet.
For those who know the constellations pretty well the inverted sky is a startling at first. Something that struck me is the different appearance of the constellation Sagitarius, AKA The Teapot. We Northerners see it near the horizon which makes it look sort of medium sized, but Ozzies see it much more overhead, which makes it seem tiny by comparison. One thing's for sure, the most impressive night sky views are Down Under, especially when the center of the Milky Way looms right overhead with its wings stretching from horizon to horizon. Now that's awesome.
Yes. As I understand it, the northern hemisphere of the planet faces away from the centre of our galaxy, so while we can get some pretty amaing stellar views, the views from the southern hemisphere make the northern views look 'blank'. Almost justifies a trip to AU or NZ just to see the stars!
Came across this today. It shows a few size comarisons, starting with the earth/moon and on up to comparing our sun to the largest known star (W Cephal, 1900 suns in diameter). Does make one feel a little small... http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4934/spacebz.jpg (http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4934/spacebz.jpg) You need to zoom in on the image to make anything from it.
Mike.
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Great stuff Mike.
I just showed my two boys (8+11.5) and they spent about 10 minutes going back and forth. Their responses?
Awesome and really cool.
Andrew
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Mike, that was a good one posted by APOD,, been a daily viewer of their site for many a year,, always my first morning click for viewing,,
they have a history file you can view about 15 years worth of photos,, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)
for some who have never thought about those folks in the Southern Hemisphere of this planet, yes they are standing opposite to our position and when viewing the sun or other objects the Northerners see they are looking at it up side down,,
the Southern Hemisphere also offers many beautiful constellations the people on the North side never get to see,,
Derry