Posted on 03/18/2016 10:51:58 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: A familiar, zigzag, W pattern in northern constellation Cassiopeia is traced by five bright stars in this colorful and broad mosaic. Stretching about 15 degrees across rich starfields, the celestial scene includes dark clouds, bright nebulae, and star clusters along the Milky Way. In yellow-orange hues Cassiopeia's alpha star Shedar is a standout though. The yellowish giant star is cooler than the Sun, over 40 times the solar diameter, and so luminous it shines brightly in Earth's night from 230 light-years away. A massive, rapidly rotating star at the center of the W, bright Gamma Cas is about 550 light-years distant. Bluish Gamma Cas is much hotter than the Sun. Its intense, invisible ultraviolet radiation ionizes hydrogen atoms in nearby interstellar clouds to produce visible red H-alpha emission as the atoms recombine with electrons. Of course, night skygazers in the Alpha Centauri star system would also see the recognizable outline traced by Cassiopeia's bright stars. But from their perspective a mere 4.3 light-years away they would see our Sun as a sixth bright star in Cassiopeia, extending the zigzag pattern just beyond the left edge of this frame.
[Credit and Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)]
A familiar, zigzag, W pattern …They sure it isn’t an M? or a capital sigma (Σ)? (j/k)
You can just barely make out the faint glow of the vertically orientated band of the Milky Way below.
The "ecliptic plane", for those that don't know, is the the flat disk of the solar system. The MW Galaxy of course is also basically a flat disk.
You can’t see it in smaller cities like Savannah either.
In fact, if you wish to join the “Urban Astronomers” club from the Astronomical League, you have to observe in an area where you can’t see the Milky Way even on really clear nights.
I worked hard to get in that club. It’s not easy.
If you follow the lower bend in the “W’’ it leads straight to the Andromeda Galaxy in Andromeda.
I love astronomy and I love my cabin at 8500 ft in central Utah. With my old C8 the viewing on a moonless night is phenomenal. I’ll take a gander at this the next time we’re up there.
8500, that’s up there!
That big pile of money from the robbery is *buried* under a big W...
In the Rockies. The altitude starting in the valley below is 6000 feet already. Peaks are 12,500 +/-. I love it. A bytch to get to in the winter though.
It’s a mad mad mad mad universe!
-Especially- during an election year.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
