Lunar Screen Background ("Radiance") is backwards!

R

Robin Colgrove

Has anyone else commented on the fact that the Windows screen background,
Radiance, is mirror-reversed? It is a photograph of the Northern edge of the
Mare Imbrium (the Left eye of the Man in the Moon). If you have very sharp
vision (or a decent pair of binoculars) you can see this for yourself.
Presumably this is a photo taken through a reflecting telescope with an odd
number of mirrors, but still, the moon is a real, physical, easily visible
object, and it is not trivial -I think- to get it backwards. I mean, what if
one of the backgrounds showed a telescopic picture of the Earth taken from
space and had the continents flipped over? Does anyone know where this
picture came from and if it has always been backwards? I know it's a bit OCD,
but I "fixed" the image on the computers where I work ;^) .
 
R

Robin Colgrove

:
It is a photograph of the Northern edge of the
Mare Imbrium (the Left eye of the Man in the Moon).

Oops, sorry, typing faster than I was thinking. It's the _right_ eye (or, if
you prefer, the hump on the back of the Rabbit in the Moon, which I like
better). I think being left-handed makes me more prone to mirror-reversal
errors, which is partly why I was interested in this one.
 
1

1776

Robin said:
Has anyone else commented on the fact that the Windows screen
background, Radiance, is mirror-reversed? It is a photograph of the
Northern edge of the Mare Imbrium (the Left eye of the Man in the
Moon). If you have very sharp vision (or a decent pair of
binoculars) you can see this for yourself. Presumably this is a photo
taken through a reflecting telescope with an odd number of mirrors,
but still, the moon is a real, physical, easily visible object, and
it is not trivial -I think- to get it backwards. I mean, what if one
of the backgrounds showed a telescopic picture of the Earth taken
from space and had the continents flipped over? Does anyone know
where this picture came from and if it has always been backwards? I
know it's a bit OCD, but I "fixed" the image on the computers where I
work ;^) .

Most celestial telescopic images are presented as inverted (upside-down) and
reversed left-for-right. However your point that the desktop image is
reversed of what we see looking into the sky, and should be corrected, has
merit.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top