Thursday, April 19, 2007

Actual astronomy


Enough bitching about politics & news.

Here's a pictoral atlas of the universe, designed to give you that visceral understanding of where your "YOU ARE HERE" dot fits in the great big universe.

Bonus for amateur astronomers: it marks the positions in our Galaxy of famous nebulae and stars you know and love.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, I love that atlas. I used to have a multi-page printed-out copy hanging next to my desk. I wish they'd make it in book form.

Foobar said...

Tee hee. I got it from you. Every time I stare at it, I learn something new. Especially where shit is in the Milky Way.

C W Magee said...

I think some of the positions are dodgy.

For example, in the 5k light year diagram, isn't Orion opposite the glactic center in the sky?

It certainly isn't on the opposite side of the Sun as polaris- it should be at a 90 degree angle, since the equator bisects Orion.