Astronomy Picture of the Day

NASA ^ | 10/12/09 | Stéphane Guisard (Los Cielos de Chile)

[sig226]

Stars Over Easter Island
Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Guisard (Los Cielos de Chile)

Explanation: Why were the statues on Easter Island built? No one is sure. What is sure is that over 800 large stone statues exist there. The Easter Island statues, stand, on the average, over twice as tall as a person and have over 200 times as much mass. Few specifics are known about the history or meaning of the unusual statues, but many believe that they were created about 500 years ago in the images of local leaders of a lost civilization. Pictured above, a large stone statue appears to ponder the distant Large Magellanic Cloud before a cloudy sky that features the bright stars Canopus and Sirius.

[sig226]

[cripplecreek]

This one is cool.

[TheZMan]

It’s odd. There is so much in our night sky that we can’t see without photographic tricks or high-end electronics. It’s amazing that the entire sky is nothing but stars.

Seems like a big waste of space. :)

[cripplecreek]

Not really that high end on the electronics. Probably less than $1000 worth of equipment can get a photo like that. I’ve got a $500 camera and a tripond and can get close to that.

A motor for tracking and a remote shutter release would put me over the top.

[TMSuchman]

The problem I have is that it either rains or snows [both 4 letter words in our home] here in S.E. Mi.. So it is almost always cloudy here! But I do love the photos though of exotic places!

[SES1066]

There is so much in our night sky that we can’t see without photographic tricks or high-end electronics.

I agree but with the proviso that a lot of the reason is our modern lighting grid. Can you imagine pre-electric countryside conditions? Now days, it takes a trip to these special areas where population and pervasive lighting is low to absent. That famous composite picture of the night-time Earth shows just how much the night has changed.

On a side note, I wonder if an association can be made for the reduction in religious belief in the so-called 'first world' because we no longer see the real night sky? From the dawn of humanity, our ancestors were reminded EVERY Night of just how awesome the universe is; "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; ..." (Psalm 8.3). Just wondering ...

[cripplecreek]

I would love to spend a week on the lake Superior shore photographing the night sky. Long exposures of the waves and waterfalls are always fun as well.

[Scythian]

I would love to see floating billboards in space ... You know, for Coke, Lipitor and things like that ...

[cripplecreek]

I’m here in the southeast corner of Jackson county. I was hoping for a sunny day for a trip to Hidden Lake Gardens for some fall color photography. These cloudy days just don’t do the colors justice.

[MEG33]

Love it!

[null and void]

I would love to see floating billboards in space ... You know, for Coke, Lipitor and things like that ...

They would need Levitra to get it up...

[VaRepublican]

you can’t say that, can you? lol btw

[proudofthesouth]

Living where city lights affect the night sky one forgets just how many stars there are out there. Thanks for the reminder! This is a beautiful pic!

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks sig226. Why were the statues on Easter Island built? No one is sure. What is sure is that over 800 large stone statues exist there. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[tarawa]

You know, I think you might be on to something with that theory.

[SES1066]

You know, I think you might be on to something with that theory.

Thanks, I have been thinking about this for some time now and I am thinking of expanding on this theme. An irony here might be that Thomas A Edison, a personal hero of mine, was/is the best friend of the atheists and agnostics with his invention of the practical electric light. This would be a real case of the 'ripple effect' where no one could imagine an effect from the invention.

[Nowhere Man]

I agree but with the proviso that a lot of the reason is our modern lighting grid. Can you imagine pre-electric countryside conditions? Now days, it takes a trip to these special areas where population and pervasive lighting is low to absent. That famous composite picture of the night-time Earth shows just how much the night has changed.

On a side note, I wonder if an association can be made for the reduction in religious belief in the so-called 'first world' because we no longer see the real night sky? From the dawn of humanity, our ancestors were reminded EVERY Night of just how awesome the universe is; "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; ..." (Psalm 8.3). Just wondering ...

One of the other amateur radio operators I've talked with served on the USS Melvin, a destroyer in World War II in the Pacific. He was an electrician's mate. He told me they had to keep all the lights off aboard the ship so the Japanese subs cannot see them and they had to use flashlights with slits to walk on deck at night. He remarked that when he was out in the middle of the Pacific, how bright and remarkable the stars and Milky Way were and they were very easily seen. He also told us of the time he lost 256 shipmates when the Japanese torpedoed his ship. My father experienced the same thing with the stars and Milky Way when he was on a U.S. Army ship bound for Korea in 1955.