Stella orientation.

[Thorodin]

Please excuse my ignorance while I try to get my bearings. Many photos I've seen show the Milky Way, looking from Earth, as a vertical image. Is this actual or a representation? Are 'we' at an angle of 90 degrees to the perpendicular? If one was at the pole would the MW be horizontal?

[Beati Dogu]

The Milky Way is inclined at about 60 degrees to the earth's orbital plane.

If you look towards the constellation of Sagittarius, you're also looking towards the centre of our galaxy.

[Simpo Two]

Stellar.

'Stella' is a nasty expensive drink

[mybrainhurts]

Simpo Two said:

Stellar.

'Stella' is a nasty expensive drink

Rubbish, she's Paul McCartney's daughter.

[Thorodin]

Thanks for the replies.

Er, it's my (our) bedroom ceiling. The drop to the picture rail is Sky Blue. The thread is to enable me to place the bed in the right inclination if you know what I mean. Right, now for the turkey.

[eharding]

The OP's other half is going to be delighted to find that he's taken advantage of the Boxing Day sales at B&Q to buy enough timber to have the bed jacked up on one side at 60 degrees to the horizontal. I predict there may be duvet alignment issues though.

[Eric Mc]

The angle the line of the MIlky Way shows in the night sky is also dependent on the time of night your are looking at it, the time of the year you are looking at it and also whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

The angle the line of the MIlky Way shows in the night sky is also dependent on the time of night your are looking at it, the time of the year you are looking at it and also whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere.

Which reminds me of a question that came to mind last night - are there Southern Lights as well as Northern ones? (yes I could google it but answers here are more fun!)

[Thorodin]

Not from today. The northern ones are now back in the loft.

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Eric Mc said:

The angle the line of the MIlky Way shows in the night sky is also dependent on the time of night your are looking at it, the time of the year you are looking at it and also whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere.

Which reminds me of a question that came to mind last night - are there Southern Lights as well as Northern ones? (yes I could google it but answers here are more fun!)

Simple answer - yes there are. The Northern Lights are more properly known as the Aurora Borealis and the Southern Lights as Aurora Australis.

Any planet that possesses an atmosphere and a magnetic field will have an aurora at both poles. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all have aurorae. The ones at Jupiter are the biggest and brightest -

[Thorodin]

Thanks for that. Those pics are beautiful beyond words. It's probably just me but does anyone else get just a bit giddy when looking at pics like that? A bit sort of vertigious?

Edited by Thorodin on Wednesday 27th December 12:05

[Eric Mc]

Not me - and I've got a rubbish sense of balance.

I'm sure it won't be long before they start picking up signs of auroral activity on Exo-Planets.

Some of the most stunning shots of the earth's aurorae (north and south) have come from Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station. In fact, both the Shuttle and the ISS orbit at such a relatively low altitude (300 miles or so) that they frequently pass ("passed" when referring to the Space Shuttle of course) through the aurorae.

[Tempest_5]

I stack my Stella in the fridge in a horizontal orientation.

[Eric Mc]

And horizontal is also the position assumed after consuming a few cans.