Comments on: Cosmic Coathanger

By: Buzz Parsec

Buzz Parsec — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:40:36 +0000

1) I always find it hard to see things properly in any photograph of an astronomical object. I’ve come to think this is due to images having a greatly compressed dynamic range compared to eyeballs. The stars comprising the coat hanger really look distinctively brighter IRL compared to the background stars and it stands out much more clearly when viewed in binoculars. (BTW, astronomers usually worked off negatives, at least before everything went digital, and I found those much easier to see. However, virtually everything released to the public or printed in popular books were positive images, because that’s what everyone expects.)

2) I for one welcome our new cosmic coat hanger overlords!

By: icemith

icemith — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:47:42 +0000

Hi there Thomas Siefert,

Yes if were home, I’d be able to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge too. But I’m in Perth , Western Australia with family. But you know what? I can still remember it after three days away, and I concur that the star cluster DOES remind me of a coat hanger. Easily. And we still hear our bridge referred to as a coat hanger. Doesn’t worry me a bit either.

Ivan.

By: John Phillips, FCD

John Phillips, FCD — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 06:20:27 +0000

AJ, think of a wooden coat hanger with a wire hook, i.e. a straight or slightly curved piece of wood ~300mm x ~15mm x ~6mm. Or padded coat hangers which are often just a straight wooden bar with padding. I have a few of each in my wardrobe, mind, I live in that strange land on the other side of the Atlantic, the one who’s language the US insists on mangling .

Happy monkey everyone.

By: Scott Smith

Scott Smith — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:39:38 +0000

looks more like a recumbent lion to me. a miniature version of Leo

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:50:37 +0000

“That bunch of stars doesn’t look at all like a coat hanger. I even went to my closet and took out a coat hanger to check. You know, just in case I had forgotten what a coat hanger looked like. In any case, it doesn’t look like a bunch of stars.

I guess it takes a lot more visual skill than I have to be an astronomer.”

Yeah, me too… I can vaguely see a hook fo the hanger, but then it’s just more or less a straight-line bar across under it.

What kind of weird coathangers are you using, Phil?

By: Kristin C

Kristin C — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:38:35 +0000

Wow! Asterism. I learn new words every day. (I studied astrophysics and I never heard of it called that!)

By: kuhnigget

kuhnigget — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:28:07 +0000

@ Johnny V:

Wow, I never knew that about Burnham. How sad. I grew up poring over those books. My copies are so dog-eared and marked up you can hardly read the text. But I wouldn’t part with them for anything.

Wow. Just…lower case wow.