Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Pleiades to Hyades

NASA ^ | November 17, 2011 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: This cosmic vista stretches almost 20 degrees across the gentle constellation Taurus. It begins at the Pleiades and ends at the Hyades, two of the best known star clusters in planet Earth's sky. At left, the lovely Pleiades star cluster is about 400 light-years away. In a familiar celestial scene, the cluster stars shine through dusty clouds that scatter blue starlight. At right, the V-shaped Hyades cluster looks more spread out compared to the compact Pleiades and lies much closer, 150 light-years distant. Of course, the Hyades cluster stars seem anchored by bright Aldebaran, a red giant star with a yellowish appearance. But Aldebaran actually lies only 65 light-years away, by chance along the line of sight to the Hyades cluster. Faint dust clouds found near the edge of the Taurus Molecular Cloud are also evident throughout the remarkable 12 panel mosaic. The wide field of view includes the youthful star T Tauri and Hind's variable nebula about four degrees left of Aldebaran on the sky.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo]

[cripplecreek]

Cool fotergraph

[SunkenCiv]

Great, now I've got "Cassilda's Song" running through my head.

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[Zuben Elgenubi]

That reddish star in the lower right of your photo is, of course, Aldeberan, a red giant:

[Christian Engineer Mass]

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Job 38:31

Most constellations are not gravitationally linked - they are very far apart along our line of sight. Pleiades and the bands of Orion are 2 of very few that actually are gravitationally bound.

Strangely, the first book written in the Bible, written some 3000 years ago, directly alludes to that fact.

Modern science had no way of knowing that until very recently.

[cripplecreek]

PPhhht, that all you got?

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I am humbled by the disparity of your orbs.

[colorado tanker]

Lessee, how does that go? Oh yes.

Waltzing Cassilda, waltzing Cassilda . . .

[SunkenCiv]

• Biblos.com, Job 38:31 -- A somewhat curious use has been made of the reference to the stars in the book of Job, by an attempt to determine the time when he lived. Supposing the principal stars here mentioned to be those of Taurus and Scorpio, and that these were the cardinal constellations of spring and autumn in the time of Job, and calculating their positions by the precession of the equinoxes, the time referred to in the book of Job was found to be 818 years after the deluge, or 184 years before the birth of Abraham. "This calculation, made by Dr. Brinkley of Dublin, and adopted by Dr. Hales, had been made also in 1765 by M. Ducontant in Paris, with a result differing only in being forty-two years less." The coincidence is remarkable, but the proof that the constellations referred to are Taurus and Scorpio, is too uncertain to give much weight to the argument.

[cripplecreek]

Canis Majoris holds the record of being the biggest known star.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[Christian Engineer Mass]

Interesting. That’s a different issue to the one I was alluding to of course.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Nice stats here.

[cripplecreek]

Here’s a good video of size comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNiNpQXcGg&feature=related

[Zuben Elgenubi]

That’s really terrific, cc! Thanks!

[DJ MacWoW]

Day 48 Of The FReepathon
Do You Know Why?

There are loyal posters that donate every FReepathon. Some donate several times during every 'thon. But others never donate. Why?

1 My enemies haven't been zotted.
2 The owner doesn't support my candidate.
3 FR won't "upgrade" to "Like" buttons and blinky crap.
4 Someone else will donate.
5 My friend was zotted.
6 I lost my job and have no income.

Only one of those is a legitimate reason.

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[Bellflower]

Thank you. I had wondered what this meant out of the book of Job. What other interesting knowledge out of The Bible might you possess concerning such topics?

[RedMDer]

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[Christian Engineer Mass]

There’s so much incredible material in the Bible. Where to even begin. Chuck Missler is a good study of these interesting topics - he was an engineer and CEO of large engineering companies before he was well known for Bible studies so he quite often goes into these science-related issues.

[TheOldLady]

A progression from our moon to the largest star in the visible universe, as you said, VY Canis Majoris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20eJJSQvgwE&feature=player_embedded