4/6 Reflector PLL-DLR

Nasa

Rocket Transits Rippling Sun

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 May 31

The featured image shows a Falon 9 rocket transiting in front of the Sun in mid May. The heat from the rocket's exhaust makes the Sun's outline appear to ripple. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Rocket Transits Rippling Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Cain
Explanation: The launch of a rocket at sunrise can result in unusual but intriguing images that feature both the rocket and the Sun. Such was the case last month when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying 53 more Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. In the featured launch picture, the rocket’s exhaust plume glows beyond its projection onto the distant Sun, the rocket itself appears oddly jagged, and the Sun’s lower edge shows peculiar drip-like ripples. The physical cause of all of these effects is pockets of relatively hot or rarefied air deflecting sunlight less strongly than pockets relatively cool or compressed air: refraction. Unaware of the Earthly show, active sunspot region 3014 — on the upper left — slowly crosses the Sun.

 

Tomorrow’s picture: unexpected meteors 

< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Apollo 16 Moon Panorama

Apollo 16 Moon Panorama
Image Credit: Apollo 16, NASA; Panorama Assembly: Mike Constantine

Explanation: Fifty years ago, April 20, 1972, Apollo 16’s lunar module Orion touched down on the Moon’s near side in the south-central Descartes Highlands. While astronaut Ken Mattingly orbited overhead in Casper the friendly command and service module the Orion brought John Young and Charles Duke to the lunar surface. The pair would spend nearly three days on the Moon. Constructed from images (AS16-117-18814 to AS16-117-18820) taken near the end of their third and final surface excursion this panoramic view puts the lunar module in the distance toward the left. Their electric lunar roving vehicle in the foreground, Duke is operating the camera while Young aims the high gain communications antenna skyward, toward planet Earth.

Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220421.html

Crescent Moon HDR

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 August 24

Made from 14 light frames by Starry Sky Stacker 1.3.1. Algorithm: Mean

Crescent Moon HDR
Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva) (posted with permission)

Explanation: How come the crescent Moon doesn’t look like this? For one reason, because your eyes can’t simultaneously discern bright and dark regions like this. Called earthshine or the da Vinci glow, the unlit part of a crescent Moon is visible but usually hard to see because it is much dimmer than the sunlit arc. In our digital age, however, the differences in brightness can be artificially reduced. The featured image is actually a digital composite of 15 short exposures of the bright crescent, and 14 longer exposures of the dim remainder. The origin of the da Vinci glow, as explained by Leonardo da Vinci about 510 years ago, is sunlight reflected first by the Earth to the Moon, and then back from the Moon to the Earth.

Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200824.html

Planetary Transit Time Chart

Image by Cathy Kinnaird

Source: Channels by Type 4 – Understanding the Transit Program

Except that we don’t use the 29.5 days synodic cycle in Human Design, but the 27.3 days tropical cycle.
See calculations here: Lunar Cycle Calculations

And Mercury and Venus are off too, the mistake is around the Wheel (Earth) vs around the Sun, improved here: https://www.mcha.nl/2022/09/03/do-you-even-orbit/