A bit of astro cartography

After making a 5 foot print for a friend of mine of this image from Goblin Valley, he kept asking about all the objects and structures he could see. I keep most of them in my head, but he was asking about a chart that showed everything. After poking around Google for some time, we found there wasn't a decent comprehensive chart of most of the summer Milky Way (as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere of course). So I set about to make my own. This is the result of last weekend's project. I had a lot of fun putting it together, and it really helps to show just how much is up there when you know where to look. :)

http://uilleann.org/Temporary-Files/...abelsSMALL.jpg

Too awesome.

Do you ascribe to an open or closed shape of the universe?

Hey, settle a bet. In optometry school I was publicly humiliated for saying that one can see galaxies with a naked eye. I think I'm right.

I will say, though, that I was incorrect in my assumption at that time, that the planets would appear as "discs" in a telescope, not merely points of light. So I'm learning.

P.S. I know those rocks are from the Jurassic because I see a dinosaur head!

(PPS: what do you think about this?)
https://www.livescience.com/41537-t-...ft-tissue.html

Impressive!

Very cool. Nice job!

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Originally Posted by drk

Hey, settle a bet. In optometry school I was publicly humiliated for saying that one can see galaxies with a naked eye. I think I'm right.

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You are right. The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object observable with the naked eye, and the two Magellanic Clouds are small galaxies, both visible from the Southern Hemisphere.

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I will say, though, that I was incorrect in my assumption at that time, that the planets would appear as "discs" in a telescope, not merely points of light. So I'm learning.

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Larger and closer planets do appear as discs in even small telescopes and more powerful binoculars. Jupiter and Saturn are particularly spectacular. Actually, planets appear as discs even to the naked eye (albeit tiny ones), in contrast to the pinpoint sizes of much-more-distant stars. That's why planets don't "twinkle" the way stars do; their larger appearance defeats the turbulence of the atmosphere.

What's always amazed me is how bright reflected light can be.

Stars, yeah. They're light factories. But planets? Bright reflections from atmospheres? Wow.

And think of the moon. No atmosphere. Light reflected from a bunch of dust.

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Originally Posted by drk

Too awesome.

Do you ascribe to an open or closed shape of the universe?

Hey, settle a bet. In optometry school I was publicly humiliated for saying that one can see galaxies with a naked eye. I think I'm right.

I will say, though, that I was incorrect in my assumption at that time, that the planets would appear as "discs" in a telescope, not merely points of light. So I'm learning.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by drk

P.S. I know those rocks are from the Jurassic because I see a dinosaur head!

(PPS: what do you think about this?)
https://www.livescience.com/41537-t-...ft-tissue.html

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Doc, I'm not actually sure about open or closed at this point. I wrote a paper way back last century in High School on the very subject. Back then, the open theory seemed most likely. But science marches on, and data changes. So now, I'd say: "SHRUG?"

And yes, the Andromeda Galaxy is just visible naked eye. So is the Milky Way, and that counts too! The Magellanic Clouds are two small galaxies near the Milky Way - which used to be thought to be gravitationally bound "satellite galaxies" to our own. But new research seems to indicate they may just be passing through space on their way somewhere else entirely. Regardless of where they came from, or where they're headed, you can see them too. So that's technically 4 galaxies visible with the unaided eye. You win that bet!

And yes, most planets DO appear as discs (or in the case of Mercury and Venus, as crescents), and not just pinpoints of light. Pluto is very difficult to resolve into a disk from ground or space based imaging. But that's why we have New Horizons. What an amazing mission that was!

And yeah - dinosaurs. :) Jurassic ones. NOT T-Rexes though. The articles I've seen (including yours here) on the potential for soft tissue proteins being preserved all fascinate me! I don't know what long term implications that may have for Paleontology, but it's almost as exciting as astronomy to me!

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Originally Posted by AngeHamm

You are right. The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object observable with the naked eye, and the two Magellanic Clouds are small galaxies, both visible from the Southern Hemisphere.

Larger and closer planets do appear as discs in even small telescopes and more powerful binoculars. Jupiter and Saturn are particularly spectacular. Actually, planets appear as discs even to the naked eye (albeit tiny ones), in contrast to the pinpoint sizes of much-more-distant stars. That's why planets don't "twinkle" the way stars do; their larger appearance defeats the turbulence of the atmosphere.

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Spot on - on all points!! :)

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Originally Posted by mervinek

Impressive!

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Thank you very much indeed!

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Originally Posted by Steve Machol

Very cool. Nice job!

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Thanks as always Steve - I have a lot of fun sharing this stuff.

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Originally Posted by drk

What's always amazed me is how bright reflected light can be.
Stars, yeah. They're light factories. But planets? Bright reflections from atmospheres? Wow.
And think of the moon. No atmosphere. Light reflected from a bunch of dust.

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It's amazing. What's more amazing to me, is that those little bundles of energy we love to abuse and shove around all day with our fancy lenses, can travel from our own sun and into our eyes with the same ease that photons can travel 13 billion light years across the known universe! They just go until they hit something. And as we know - space is really big, and mostly empty! (Or...is it??) :)