ASTRONOMERS!! I need help!!!?

Question

I need to find out what time of year this star pic was taken, then I need to find out the location on earth.. PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!!

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x95/RicardJulianti/Possibly.jpg

could this be a pic taken recently from africa?

Answer 1

The incorrect lines and labels make it more difficult to see what's actually there. If you added them, I suggest you remove them and re-post. If you have cropped the image, uncrop it; the more of the sky you show, the easier it will be for someone to recognize it. If you have a higher resolution version, that would also help.

Here's a link to a 4megapixil image of the whole sky from Mt Graham, AZ. There's a 50% chance your stars are in there.

But, as has been pointed out already, you have no chance of pinning down a time unless something in the image is not a star. Even if you identify a planet, there is no way to determine where on Earth the picture was taken.

Answer 2

The stars in that picture do not match the constellation outlines drawn on the picture. See the source for what the real stars of the Orion area look like. And the picture does not look like any real astrophoto I ever saw. It looks more like one of those X-ray pictures in false color.

And you cannot tell where a photo of the sky was taken just by looking at the stars in the photo. The stars look the same from all places on Earth. The only important difference is that stars near one celestial pole never get above the horizon from places on the opposite side of the equator from the pole in question. That is, stars near the south celestial pole cannot be seen from places north of the equator. But stars near the celestial equator can be seen from everywhere on Earth. If the horizon does not appear in the image, and you do not know the time and date the image was taken, it is impossible to determine where it was taken.

Answer 3

What you presented is not a photo (which you implied it was by saying "..star pic was taken..."). It appears to be a drawing or a screenshot from a computer program or a combination of both. And, from the info you've given, it's impossible to tell what time of year it represents or the location from Earth it represents.

And, Eri, whoa! You can't see Orion from Africa?! It's a northern winter constellation?! Please do your homework before responding with comments like these. Orion is on the celestial equator, which means it's visible from most of the populated world. And it's quite visible from Africa during the right seasons and at the right time of night.

Answer 4

Hate to disapoint you, but you posted this a few days ago. Unless these stars are very oddly scaled, that's not Orion. The belt stars should be much brighter and there definitely shouldn't be all those bright stars in Lepus. Plus, Monoceros isn't right there, Canis Major and Minor are where you have Monoceros. I think you still haven't identified your star region.

EDIT: As the guy below me correctly pointed out, Orion should be visible from Africa, yes. However, that is certainly NOT Orion. You still have the wrong region.

Answer 5

Why do people who want hard answers not give hard clues.

Too little info. But as people pointed out, this is a winter view, and Orion is so obvious in the winter sky that you would have to be nearly blind to miss it.

Probably not Africa, especially the equator, as Orion would be overhead in this position. This is probably a view from Mid-States orSouthern Europe. But to know for sure, the position of the horizon should at least be in the view.

Otherwise, how would anyone be able to determine how high Orion is in the sky? You should have at least figured that out.

Answer 6

That is not Orion. The bright star below Orions belt doen´t look like Saif al Jabbar. And the angle between Bellatrix and Betelgeuse are really off. And where is the Orion nebula?
And the picture is either a computer generated image or it has been seriously processed. Stars aren´t usually violet in nature.

Answer 7

depends on what part of africa and which way the camera was facing.

however i find your constellation lines to be incorrect. looking at an actual chart i can see that eridanus should be further south, taurus isn't in the right place, and there is way too many stars in lepus. (well too many bright ones at least).

i think you or someone is trying to make some random picture of stars look like the constellations and is failing, i would not say that it is right at all. it looks more like it was taken through a telescope or something.

Answer 8

As several people have pointed out, the constellation labels in that picture do not match the stars in the picture.

Unless someone just by luck happened to identify something in the picture, there is no way to determine where, when, or to what purpose the picture was made.

You will get much more satisfaction and enlightenment from listening to your best friend's stomach gurgling.

Have fun.

Answer 9

Hi
This star pic you can see in Europe in January. It stands exactly in the south and moves slowly to the right hand side. In March, April it disappears.
Kind regards from Switzerland

Answer 10

You could have seen this view from a lot of places. This is a foolish waste of time. And, of course, you don't even state the reason why this is so urgent. I get the impression this is childish over-reaction.