APOD sun

[Peter Ward]

Nice to get an unexpected NASA gong :)

link is here:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250104.html

[Anth10]

Unexpected maybe but clearly well deserved/ spectacular image of our great glowing orb.
Congrats Peter.
PS. Interesting to tour through the obsy presentation via the link.
Pro setup which most of us backyarders would dream about.
All the best for 2025.
Anth

[Peter Ward]

Ta.... As for the Observtory. well.. the process started with in Perth WA with a 2.5" Royal Refractor I'd received for my birthday... in the Jurassic epoc (1969)

I pointed it at every bright point in the sky...to my amazement one had
rings around it. Saturn! I was hooked. :lol:

[Anth10]

Seems like a familiar scenario Peter.
Mine similar.
My surveying lecturer way back in 1994 (Cretaceous Period) helped me learn gaining azimuth from using the sun and stars using observational tracking whilst using the old almanac and UTC via dial up from Greenwich.
After one late evening prac , pointed the theodolite to Saturn - I remember the rings phase was edge on, just as it is now….I too was hooked!

[rmuhlack]

Congrats Peter (it seems my PM was perfectly timed ;) )

[John W]

Great image Peter - well done.
Regards, John W.

[Pierre_C]

A beautiful picture, Peter.
Well done.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks gents for your kind comments.

I think the Perihelion solar display was more interesting, but I'll take
an APOD for the solstice just the same :D

[TrevorW]

:thumbsup: well done

[Merlin66]

Well done!


I'm interested. What does " The Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is based upon work supported by NASA under award No. 80NSSC17M0076." mean?
You get NASA support? Financial?

[Peter Ward]

Absolutely! $US1500.00 per APOD :lol:

In reality, you get about 2 million views....sadly no $ per click.

[OzEclipse]

Congratulations Peter.
Lovely image, well deserved.

Joe


Ken,

The statement very likely means that a portion of the salaries of the two scientists who run it and any other associated costs, are paid by a particular pot of money within NASA. It may not be a full time job but I'm sure it takes up a substantial amount of time and that time needs to be accounted/covered not just taken out of some other project's funds.

Fred Espenak's "day job" at NASA had nothing to do with calculating solar eclipse circumstances although it was related. But NASA supported his eclipse calculations and publications and no doubt, there would have been a budget code to pay for that work.

cheers

Joe

[Peter Ward]

Ta Joe. FYI the NASA APOD website has been updated and now shows an image
of the Sun actually taken at Perihelion (i.e. not the initial solstice rendition)

[Bodon]

Wow very nice. Well done and deserved.

[Benjamin]

Stunning image I keep returning to over and over again. So much to see and to try to grasp what’s happening in that wonderful moment.