BA on APOD!

[Hat Monster]

Today's APOD (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/) contains bad astronomy! Wow!
"The bright star left of center is Aldebaran."
Look at the Hyades. Look at "Aldebaran". Go outside and look at Taurus.
It's Saturn!!!
Aldebaran is the second brightest star in the field, just below Saturn, which they're calling Aldebaran.

Edit:
Clicking this link will show you that star field with Saturn in a different place. Note Aldebaran in the Hyades, not above the cluster.
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"We want a few mad people now. See where the sane ones have landed us!" - George Bernard Shaw

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Hat Monster on 2001-11-20 08:29 ]</font>

[Marco]

The text was talking about the Hyades star cluster just before, and Aldebaran is indeed the bright star left of center of that cluster.
So it'probably not Bad, but only Confusing Astronomy.

[Ktulhu]

I am confused. What is the BA in that? Saturn is to the left and above (at least to me) of Aldeberan.

So Confused.

[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

K

[SeanF]

They fixed it.

It now reads "Just left of center is the bright planet Saturn, and the bright star below Saturn is Aldebaran."

It originally said simply "The bright star left of center is Aldebaran," with no mention of Saturn at all . . .



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SeanF

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SeanF on 2001-11-20 14:38 ]</font>

[Ktulhu]

On 2001-11-20 14:37, SeanF wrote:
They fixed it.

It now reads "Just left of center is the bright planet Saturn, and the bright star below Saturn is Aldebaran."

It originally said simply "The bright star left of center is Aldebaran," with no mention of Saturn at all . . .
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Ahhh....I see that would do it. I always look at APOD every morning, but I couldnt today, so maybe I missed it when it was the confusing wording.

K

[Irishman]

Here's the link to the pic in question.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011120.html

My problem is with long exposures I can't recognize anything in the picture.

Really.

I've seen pictures of Orion that I didn't know what it was till someone spelled it out for me, and then I could find the signature stars.

Orion being one of the most distinctive and identifiable constellations, and the one I'm probably most familiar with.

[GrapesOfWrath]

Irishman

Do you observe a lot in light polluted skies? Then, have you gone to very dark skies, and been overwhelmed by the number of visible stars? Same problem, the constellations are not as distinct in the dark skies.

[ToSeek]

On 2001-12-04 04:09, GrapesOfWrath wrote:

Do you observe a lot in light polluted skies? Then, have you gone to very dark skies, and been overwhelmed by the number of visible stars? Same problem, the constellations are not as distinct in the dark skies.

I definitely have that problem.

ToSeek
(observing between Washington and Baltimore, if you can call it that)

[GrapesOfWrath]

LOL. I was talking about the observing in dark skies "problem."

[ToSeek]

On 2001-12-04 12:10, GrapesOfWrath wrote:
LOL. I was talking about the observing in dark skies "problem."

No, I understand. When I see a dark sky I can't deal with it. Orion can be hard to make out where I live. When I see more than fifty stars in the sky I think I'm on another planet.

[GrapesOfWrath]

I used to live in Wyoming, by Yellowstone Park. The only problem is that in the summer (when it's warm enough to actually haul out a telescope), the sun doesn't get far below the horizon for long enough. Everybody has something to complain about, I think that's why they call it astronomy.