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Rev 148 - Apr 29-May 30, 2011 - Titan T76
AndyG
post May 31 2011, 08:47 AM
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Oi! We do drive on the correct side of the road.

It, urrrmm, keeps our sword arms free. rolleyes.gif

Andy
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Stu
post May 31 2011, 09:21 AM
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QUOTE (stevesliva @ May 31 2011, 03:34 AM) *
and the British will drive on the correct side of the road soon, too.


Oh, we do drive on the right side... the side that lets us have a good view of the dragons, Red London buses and CorBlimeyMaryPoppins! chimmernee sweeps that are just everywhere... laugh.gif


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S_Walker
post May 31 2011, 11:57 AM
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QUOTE (john_s @ May 27 2011, 07:56 PM) *
For those who aren't familiar with the conventions, amateur astronomers often display telescopic planetary images with south at the top, to approximate the view through the eyepiece of many telescopes (for observers in the Earth's northern hemisphere). Professional astronomers, and planetary scientists (professional and amateur) working with spacecraft images, usually put north at the top unless there's a good reason not to do so. Personally, I'd like to see the amateur astronomers change their convention, in this digital age, so we can all look at the solar system the same way...

John


It's not a big deal, really. After all, there is no "up" in space...
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NGC3314
post May 31 2011, 01:24 PM
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QUOTE (S_Walker @ May 31 2011, 05:57 AM) *
It's not a big deal, really. After all, there is no "up" in space...


Most folks here may not be old enough to recall that there were once two conventions for east and west on the Moon's surface - the astronomical convention corresponded to which limb faced which horizon (matching celestial east and west). That yielded to the astronautical convention, matching the terrestrial sense, about the time it appeared people might be going there and such agencies as the USAF got into the lunar cartography business. I suspect this switch saved more confusion that we can easily imagine. The switch was institutionalized by the IAU in 1961.

A quick Google check shows that, for example the 1953 Questar map reproduced on the telescope barrel labels the western limb on the side of Mare Crisium.
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john_s
post May 31 2011, 07:57 PM
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And of course Mare Orientale is in the middle of the moon's western hemisphere...

Meanwhile, there are still two conflicting definitions of "North" on Pluto and other retrograde-spinning worlds, and for planetary satellites, scientists use west longitudes while engineers sometimes use east longitudes, so all is not yet harmonious.

John
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ilbasso
post Jun 1 2011, 05:39 PM
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This was of course before Lunar Orbiter took pictures of the East and West Poles, laying the controversy to rest.


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Jonathan Ward
Manning the LCC at http://www.apollolaunchcontrol.com
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S_Walker
post Jun 1 2011, 07:18 PM
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I may be too young to remember the flipping of east/west for lunar coordinates, but am reminded of it every other month while editing our lunar columnist.
For planetary images, scientists prefer north up images, while all the planetary groups (BAA, ALPO, etc) require south up for the images.
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