Comments on: APOD

APOD

ztdavis — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 06:59:57 -0800

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is simply amazing.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:04:29 -0800

I was thinking, what are the chances of those happening all at the same time and someone taking a picture right then. I then saw that it was a stiched panorama. Still... prodigious!

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:05:18 -0800

And tomorrow has the promise of an exploding sun...

By: defenestration

defenestration — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:09:44 -0800

Fantastic. I, too, await the exploding sun.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:12:34 -0800

I'd rather see Jupiter ignite. I've kind of grown used to having Solaris around.

By: twine42

twine42 — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:15:13 -0800

By: Milkman Dan

Milkman Dan — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:19:11 -0800

Clearly an ad for Adidas. Look at those three guys in the central foreground. This photo is amazing. I love it. Thanks for posting it, ztdavis.

By: chillmost

chillmost — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:20:58 -0800

Cool!... Dugg!

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:22:39 -0800

I was getting all het up, about to let loose a volley of choice perjoratives and vulgarities at he unmitigated audacity of the poster in their choice to post a one-link fpp to a commonly-known resource. And then I clicked the link. Beautiful. Good Show, ztdavis, Good Show.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:29:43 -0800

I was getting all het up, about to let loose a volley of choice perjoratives and vulgarities at he unmitigated audacity of the poster in their choice to post a one-link fpp to a commonly-known resource. Yeah, it's worth it even if APOD has been a post here a dozen times, even if it is a composite shot. It's nice work, and an amazing view of our extremely dynamic planet and cosmos.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:30:47 -0800

And frankly I almost posted it myself, but I figured it would make it here soon enough, and I could continue trolling for rarer fruit.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:32:31 -0800

I'd rather see Jupiter ignite. IT'S SHRINKING!!! IT'S SHRINKING!!!! I still think 2010 was a cooler movie than 2001. But then I wasn't on acid when I saw 2001.

By: Phantomx

Phantomx — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:36:52 -0800

That is an incredible photo - but seeing how it's a composite shot, couldn't someone have done some photoshopping of the people rather than just superimposing the versions on top of each other? It's beautiful, but it could have been so much more... I don't understand this comment. I ask because it must be something my less-than-expert eyes don't see. The only problem with the people I see is due to their motion while the shutter is open. I can't find any stitching lines or anything. Just looking for clarification.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:37:11 -0800

Ah, Lucifer in the Sky with Diamonds, how doth thy diamondoid gravity-well dwell?

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:39:22 -0800

couldn't someone have done some photoshopping of the people rather than just superimposing the versions on top of each other? Shots of lightning (and fireworks, for that matter) are usually 15 to 30 second exposures. While I'm sure that some of the crowd's blurriness is stitching things together, most of it comes from movement over the course of the exposure. Particularly blurry things, like people moving, barely show up and give you the feeling of things being superimposed. (blatant self link to illustrate point: Here's a 90 minute exposure for an example of what I'm talking about.)

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:40:42 -0800

If you look really closely, there is a volcano erupting in the background, and Mothra is rising from the sea.

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:40:48 -0800

For some reason I immediately thought of Bad Day on the High Sea. Great picture. Thanks, ztdavis. I need to visit that page more often. Like, every day.

By: homodigitalis

homodigitalis — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:42:01 -0800

The Universe is pure beauty ... sometimes ...

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:47:18 -0800

I need to visit that page more often. Like, every day. Its my homepage on every browser. It's non-commercial. It has a beautiful photo every day. It also usually has some interesting facts about our Universe. Really, what more could you ask for?

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:49:44 -0800

Its looks really processed, like an HDR photo.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:51:35 -0800

Also, anyone know why there are so many McNaught comet photos out there? Either its the most visible comet ever, or we've reached the point where everyone has a digicam.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:58:49 -0800

One stop phenomena shopping.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:08:59 -0800

Its looks really processed, like an HDR photo. It's not HDR, just a long exposure. I think people are saying it's stiched just because it's really wide. I don't consider that sort of thing to be "altering" the photo because it's not really altering, you're not showing anything that wasn't really there...

By: dnash

dnash — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:16:58 -0800

I think people are saying it's stiched just because it's really wide. No, they're saying it's stitched because the APOD site says it's stitched: "The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework."

By: dseaton

dseaton — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:18:50 -0800

Either its the most visible comet ever, or we've reached the point where everyone has a digicam. It's one of the brightest comets in recent history.

By: now i'm piste

now i'm piste — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:20:02 -0800

I think people are saying it's stiched just because it's really wide. The last line of the caption reads: "The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework." So, right above the promise of an exploding sun tomorrow, it says it's been stitched together from three individual photos. Here's the rightmost individual photo and the where it fits in with the whole composited shot. Both are located at the photographer's site.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:20:38 -0800

No, they're saying it's stitched because the APOD site says it's stitched: "The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework." Which leads to the HDR-like quailties of the imagery, because the reflections are kinda screwy and the eye/mind intuitively knows something odd is afoot. Still gorgeous.

By: Phantomx

Phantomx — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:23:37 -0800

damn dirty ape- There are so many pictures of it because it is incredibly bright, the brightest in the past 30 years and because of the proliferation of cameras. At its peak brightness you could snap a pic of it with only one or two second exposures. That and it is mighty big. Go back a few days on the astronomy pic of the day for an awesome image that is a northern and southern hemisphere view of the comet. you can see how far the tail is stretching. truly awesome.

By: tehloki

tehloki — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:38:28 -0800

Thanks for linking to the actual website, instead of pulling a digg and just hotlinking to the image. At least mefi still has some class.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:48:24 -0800

So, ladies and gentlemen, the candles are lit, the band plays softly and as the force-shielded dome above us fades into transparency, revealing a dark and sullen sky hung heavy with the ancient light of livid swollen stars, I can see we're all in for a fabulous evening's apocalypse! ~posted by Max Quordlepleen at The End of the Universe EST [+] [!]

By: Rumple

Rumple — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 09:21:01 -0800

It just seems a tiny bit sad that you have this extraordinary celestial event and yet we still blow off the shiny things right in front of it.

By: cubby

cubby — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:13:41 -0800

I actually had the good fortune to witness a simultaneous lightning storm/fireworks show in Providence once. The smoke from the fireworks built up to the point where all you could see was flashes of white and colored light interspersed through clouds and smoke, with explosions and thunder and driving rain. For a while there, it was like some kind of cosmic battle, then they ran out of fireworks and the just storm kept going. An amazing experience that I won't soon forget.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:40:36 -0800

My favorite part: "Tomorrow's picture: sun explodes"

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:40:40 -0800

Everyone seems to be missing out on the left-hand cloud formation depicting that facelift scene in Brazil .

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:55:14 -0800

Tomorrow's picture: sun explodes *looks out the window nervously, stockpiles canned food*

By: oMoses

oMoses — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:25:03 -0800

The good demonstration of natural wonders!

By: Salmonberry

Salmonberry — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:35:43 -0800

So the comet heralds an exploding sun, symbolically rendered in the exploding fireworks of the...uh.....stuff. And meanwhile here, every damn time there's a comet, meteors, eclipse, ANYTHING, it gets cloudy. Not. Fair. (though maybe the clouds will help when the sun explodes)

By: theora55

theora55 — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:03:02 -0800

Salmonberry, me too. There's an uncanny correlation between cloud cover and aurora borealis. It used to puzzle me, and then I remembered that I live in Maine, and cloud cover is the norm. but what's the use of living in a cold climate if you miss the aurora?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:05:51 -0800

Aww, it's pretty amazingly spectacular....I guess. I would enjoy a picture of our asploding sun for at least 8 minutes.

By: true

true — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:54:04 -0800

If you have a means of getting that picture 8 minutes in advance I know a bunch of physicists who'd be interested in talking to you.

By: tehloki

tehloki — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:12:04 -0800

quantum entanglement polaroid film?

By: rougy

rougy — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:25:08 -0800

That was a good shot - lights from three different sources: Man, earth, and the cosmos.

By: Chanther

Chanther — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 18:55:35 -0800

One of my sixth graders discovered APOD a few weeks back, and every day during their 15-minute break breathlessly asks me, "Can I go see today's astronomy picture?" He always asks this with the air of someone saying "I know I'm asking a lot of you, but ..." Heh. As if I'm ever going to say no.

By: dminor

dminor — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:53:07 -0800

is that a comet verily?

By: grateful

grateful — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:15:37 -0800

7:59...7:58...7:57... **frantically looks for sunscreen**

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:26:01 -0800

Wonderful image, thanks ztdavis.