Apart from the pic of the LM I posted below (see "That Thing'll Neve Fly!!"), it's got a bit samey the last few months - anyone else think the site should be renamed "lotsofpicsoftheleonids.com"?

__________________
Red

"Go to Blue Alert!"
"Is that really necessary Sir? It will mean changing the bulb..."

I don't. Sure, there were a lot of Leonid pics in November (maybe a third of them), but the APOD archive list has only about twelve Leonid related pics since Nov. 1--and there hasn't been one since Dec. 12.

One of my favorites is the not-very-colorful Hubble view of Saturn's auroras.

I for one have been pleased with APOD's selections. What I have wondered about is the Earth Science Picture of the Day site's fondness for astronomy.

What does everybody have against the Leonids? The EPOD archive seems to have only half a dozen astronomy related pics since Nov. 1--and half of them are Leonids. I even counted the picture of the solstice sunset on December 12.

Oops!! Me and my mouth!!

I have nothing against the Leonids per se (I particularly liked their last album) - I'm sure they're a jolly fine bunch of guys, and an example to stellar debris everywhere, it's just that APOD seemed to have a run on them recently, and hey - there's a whole load of great stuff rolling off the Hubble presses every day, I just thought a bit of variety was called for...

__________________
Red

"Go to Blue Alert!"
"Is that really necessary Sir? It will mean changing the bulb..."

Depends upon what you mean by recently, I guess.

The APOD and EPOD have got to be pretty selective--I'd imagine there are thousands of images every day that are worthy. The Leonids are a meteorological phenomenon, of course, right? So, the EPOD "astronomy" count is even less.

I just wonder why they have any. I'd think there'd be plenty of more down-to-Earth (pun intended) phenomena for them to cover.

Hmm, we may have simulposted, but I'll check into this again, going back to the first of November. The Leonids are an atmospheric phenomenon, so they are certainly earth science. The other astronomy pics are the blue moon one of Nov. 30, which talks about the Farmer's Almanac, the Solstice Sunset on Dec. 26, which talks about the equation of time and the length of day, and the International Eclipse Observation...OK, I'm stuck. Why is that last one there?

Out of place EPOD entries (?):

http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=74496 - Halloween full moon

http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=72224 - October aurora

http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=76192 - Heiligenschein

http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=66144 - Shuttle photo

http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=63648 - Mars (!?)

http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=63680 - the X-15 (!!??)

(I think it may have been those last two - on consecutive days - that really started me wondering.)

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Still...

Maybe I just have a more inclusive definition of earth science. Do you all remember the IGY? I do. The shuttle pic mentions a GPS experiment, Mars talks about comparative planetology, the X-15 was involved in upper atmosphere study, the aurora is an earth-based phenomenon though caused by sun--but then, so is daylight. I'm not going to try to justify the halloween moon by tieing it to tides, but hey...you have to have some fun!

Part of the problem may be that I visit the EPOD immediately after I visit the APOD (this is one of the things I do to get going in the morning instead of drinking coffee), so I'm expecting something different, not just another photo of the Leonids.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

That's one of my all time faves too. The data were taken using the camera I worked on (STIS). When they were taken, the Principal Investigator sent them to my boss for help in calibrating them. I walked into his room and saw that awesome image and knew it would be pretty popular.

What's really cool is that in the original image (and not the ones you see in public) you can see two streaks, which are from two of Saturn's moons. The exposure times were fairly long, so the moons moved and left the streaks.

All that, in the ultraviolet. Amazing.

Here I am for a hit and run post, but did anybody think it was funny that the full moon pic (first fo teh earth science) was contributed by Micheal Myers?

Ben

This post was about Halloween and it's place between equinox and solstice. Earth's position relative to the Sun and the marking of the astronomical seasons are part of Earth Science.

Aurorae are Earth Science phenomena.

Optical phenomena like Heilignschein are well established topics in meteorology - which is encompassed by Earth Science.

This photo was taken during a mission with a GPS evaluation experiment. GPS is becoming an indispensable and integral part of Earth Science.

Comparative geology is one of the main goals of planetary exploration - to gain a better insight into how Earth's systems behave by comparing and contrasting them to other worlds' systems.

High altitude/high speed atmospheric flight occurs in Earth's atmosphere. The results of the X-15 flight made contributions to atmospheric research.

__________________
Two years ago moved from my town
I was looking up past the city lights
But the city lights got in my way

See the constellation ride across the sky
No cigar, no lady on his arm
Just a guy made of dots and lines

-from "See The Constellation"
by They Might Be Giants

And now, APOD is doing earth science!

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Wow! Think that's the first time I've seen the Aurora and lava in the same picture!

__________________
. . . My moustache is touching my brain!!!!

And, they ask, ObAstronomy, is Earth the only planet that has both aurora and lava?

Would Io have both? (It definitely has lava.)

Of course, they've restricted their attention to planets, and there are not many of those with active volcanoes. We're lucky that Pluto doesn't have one, or we'd have one more argument.

Breathtaking...

__________________
"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." [Carl Sagan]