Hi All I've been growing in affection for the term NQ2 (I think originally coined by acdw) as another way to refer to the virtual space that is the gemisphere/gemspace/geminispace/geminiverse/etc. And the wikipedia page for Gemini, says it is in NQ2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(constellation) I was then curious to see what is the definition of a galactic quadrant which led me to the wikipedia page about those. And on that page, it shows Gemini being in NGQ3 (NGQ3 - North Galactic Quadrant 3), together with a diagram which seems to indicate it clearly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant#/media/File:Galactic_quadrants.png Could it be the shocking truth one of these pages on wikipedia is wrong? Also its not unknown for my understanding to be deeply flawed. I'm inclined to go with the page about galactic quadrants as it has a diagram, but to be honest if anyone has expertise in this area, it would be great to clear this up, so normal service can continue. Best wishes - Luke
On 2020-09-04 (Friday) at 11:47, Luke Emmet <luke at marmaladefoo.com> wrote: > Hi All > > I've been growing in affection for the term NQ2 (I think originally > coined by acdw) as another way to refer to the virtual space that is the > gemisphere/gemspace/geminispace/geminiverse/etc. And the wikipedia page > for Gemini, says it is in NQ2. Hey! I think it was me --- I'm glad others have found it a useful shorthand :) > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(constellation) > > I was then curious to see what is the definition of a galactic quadrant > which led me to the wikipedia page about those. And on that page, it > shows Gemini being in NGQ3 (NGQ3 - North Galactic Quadrant 3), together > with a diagram which seems to indicate it clearly. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant#/media/File:Galactic_quadrants.png > > Could it be the shocking truth one of these pages on wikipedia is wrong? > Also its not unknown for my understanding to be deeply flawed. I'm > inclined to go with the page about galactic quadrants as it has a > diagram, but to be honest if anyone has expertise in this area, it would > be great to clear this up, so normal service can continue. I had no idea about this, and lo and behold you're right -- though, with more research, I *think* (the astonomical writings I'll put below are hard to figure out) that it's due to a difference in frames of reference. Apparently, most astronomical observations are made from the "equatorial coordinates" -- which are extensions of the terrestrial equator out into space. I'm guessing "NQ2" refers to Gemini with that system. However, "galactic coordinates" use the plane of the galaxy (mostly) as the equator, which means that from that perspective, things are in different quadrants -- I think in this system, Gemini is in NGQ3. I personally like NQ2, since it's a character shorter. But if everyone starts calling it the NGQ3 (or NQ3), I'll hop on the bandwagon! REFERENCES https://www.astro.rug.nl/~sctrager/teaching/OA/PositionalAstronomy.pdf ^ a presentation that walks through the different coordinate systems https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/coordinate.html ^ a webpage that explains the differences https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Tools/convcoord/convcoord.pl?CoordVal =gemini&CoordType=J2000&Resolver=GRB%2FSIMBAD%2BSesame%2FNED&NoCache=on&Epoch= ^ a NASA tool that ... does something? This just looked cool. I have no idea how to read it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_coordinate_system ^ Wikipedia page on celestial coordinate systems. -- ~ acdw acdw.net | breadpunk.club/~breadw
A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/plain i think it's more "obvious" to the reader if words like "gemspace", "geminisphere", or whatnot are used. nq2 at first glance doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the protocol, and not all of us are particularly astronomically inclined. - meff Size: 2784 bytes Desc: not available URL: <https://lists.orbitalfox.eu/archives/gemini/attachments/20200904/58bc effd/attachment-0001.bin>
On 04-Sep-2020 16:16, acdw wrote: > On 2020-09-04 (Friday) at 11:47, Luke Emmet<luke at marmaladefoo.com> wrote: >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant#/media/File:Galactic_quadrants.png >> >> Could it be the shocking truth one of these pages on wikipedia is wrong? >> Also its not unknown for my understanding to be deeply flawed. I'm >> inclined to go with the page about galactic quadrants as it has a >> diagram, but to be honest if anyone has expertise in this area, it would >> be great to clear this up, so normal service can continue. > I had no idea about this, and lo and behold you're right -- though, with more research, I *think* (the astonomical writings I'll put below are hard to figure out) that it's due to a difference in frames of reference. > > Apparently, most astronomical observations are made from the "equatorial coordinates" -- which are extensions of the terrestrial equator out into space. I'm guessing "NQ2" refers to Gemini with that system. > > However, "galactic coordinates" use the plane of the galaxy (mostly) as the equator, which means that from that perspective, things are in different quadrants -- I think in this system, Gemini is in NGQ3. Yes you're right there are different reference systems, so coordinates will vary accordingly. What I couldn't get from those links is anything to resolve the naming question or whether a constellation could be both in quadrants named both "NQ2" and "NGQ3" in different schemes. In 50 years time the historians will wonder why there was a fundamental naming quirk within the hypertext system that replaced the web. No one will know about the wikipedia pages and the naming convention will become re-mythologised to take on other cultural symbolism. Or maybe not. - L
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