Big Dipper is directly over my house (for a bit)

[Mahnarch]

As some of you remember, I'm a huge Astro-nerd.
I don't think I ever mentioned it here, but on the site I ventured from to here I think I posted several NEOs and stellar facts.

For years I could never find Orion but, ever since I did find him, I can't NOT find him.

Well, I just went outside and looked straight up.
After I rubbed my shin from running into the lawn mower I realized that, at this exact moment the Big Dipper is directly over my house.
It'll probably be there for about an hour then it'll belong to my neighbor. (When you buy a house....how far UP do you own? )

Speaking of which; how many Lewa members have actually looked to the stars with a telescope and viewed with their own eyes the ridges and meteor pockets on a crescent moon? (a crescent is best. It gives the most detail as, a full moon is just a bright blur with little detail.)

How many of you have found Jupiter and, at least, 4 of it's moons during a nice autumn evening on an 8 inch 'looker'? (continuously lurching toward winter - which is too cold to star gaze on the roof. Not to mention too slippery.)

I've never caught Venus as both my old job and my current one finds me in bed at early dawn.

I hope I'm alive to see the first man step foot on Mars.

***

An aside:
NASA is worried about the long term effects of radiation poisoning and what-not on the astronauts for deep space exploration...

Why not give terminal patients who need chemo, or have a short life span live the ultimate dream? To be the first person to step on Mars and start to build a habitat?

If the patient is willing, and they need chemo, anyway....
And, they have less than 'x' years to live and little or no family.

Send a couple of patients on a scouting mission and, if they're strong enough, have them atleast put up some framing for a habitat while sending up supplies every few weeks, or so on smaller, lighter rockets.

Once a week send up a couple boards/rods/whatever, water, oxygen tanks, a new DVD or two, some booze, and letters from family and friends on a smaller, cheaper rocket.
When they die of natural causes, have a proper burial/memorial and send the next crew.

I figure, within 3 crews there could be a nice start to a building where healthy astronauts could close it up, O2 it up and call it home as they expand.

It's not mean. They are going to die, anyway. And a lot of people would like to go out knowing they did something with their life.
Imagine having an entire habitat bloc named after you and going down in the history books for centuries!
And, it'll be completely voluntary. If they don't want to go, then they don't have to.

***

And, if botanists could figure out how to hybrid plants to breathe Martian atmosphere and give out Oxygen, terraforming will be a cinch.

[tractakid]

I had the chance to study astronomy after school but I turned it down for the following two reasons:

1) Give up mondays after school for 2 years
2) I'd have to do 2 extra courseworks.

Being a lazy person, this was not for me.

Go on then, give me all the reasons why I should have done it! (you will not change my mind )

It must be a satisfying feeling though. Looking at Mars.

[GetZ]

I own an 80mm f/7 apochromatic refractor and an 200mm f/6 reflector. I've seen Venus a number of times, including in the daytime as a slender crescent only 20° or so from the sun (it's quite big at that point: About 1 arcminute. Use a dark blue/violet filter). I've also spent a lot of time taking pictures of the moon and making sketches of Mars.

That was a few years ago now though. My mind is on many other things and my astro-interest has waned. Sometimes I pop outside with my binoculars (8x40) and give a quick check around just to make sure that everything is still where I left it.

Cancer patients... That's kind of how I think of things sometimes but have fun trying to convince the masses of an idea like that.

[Phil]

It's always good to notice heavenly bodies.

I don't always see the constalations the dippers are easy and so is the north star but I don't usualy see the bear or the lion, how many are there anyway?

GetZ I didn't forget the other thing I've just been hectic lately.

[Pumpkin]

I have an 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector that does a pretty good job. I had some good views of Mercury earlier this year as well as Venus when they were in the pre-dawn sky.

Jupiter and Saturn are good viewing as well, and Saturn is placed well in the evening sky now near Regulus. Mars is fading in brightness in Gemini.

I think I have seen the 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter. The cloud belts are easily seen on big Jupe.

I agree with Mahnarch that the moon is best viewed at a crescent phase. The topography is illuminated and contrasted nicely with shadows.

I spotted Uranus (no jokes please ) last year. I mean the planet, not a portion of your anatomy.

[Blastgirl]

Can you actually see Saturn's Rolling rotation? It's liek Saturn is on its side and rolling rather than a rotation similar to Earth.

[tractakid]

hehe uranus. *giggles*

The axis of Uranus is fascinating, though.

[Phil]

Heh heh.

How often is it that you can see Mars, Jupiter and Saturn? That happened a few years back but I dont' remember how often that takes place.

[grape]

I remember I once looked at Saturn, really amazing. Makes me feel tiny, but in a way that makes me feel like there will never be a way to have nothing left to discover.

[Blastgirl]

Why do you say that? I bet there's many galaxies out there to be discovered. I would say that Star Trek and other Space Shows are not as far fetched as some people think they are.

[Phil]

If other systems are light years away, as sci-fi shows, then you would have to travel through time warps to retain your time. Otherwise by the time you got back to earth and 100,000 years would have elapsed. Kirk and company always knew how to do it though.

It would be interesting to talk to 1 of the astronauts that have actually been to the moon or even in space for days in a row. Imagine having actually been off the planet earth for parts of your life. Whole days even.

[Mahnarch]

Can you actually see Saturn's Rolling rotation? It's liek Saturn is on its side and rolling rather than a rotation similar to Earth.

You're thinking of Uranus....or is it Neptune...I always get those two mixed up.
Mercury. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. Neptune. Pluto....(Pluto IS a planet, dang it!! )

Yeah, it's Uranus. The rotation is vertical instead of horizontal.

***

Phil, keep in mind that there are 3-6 people in low earth orbit at all times aboard the ISS.
And, they're making great time, too!!!

One hour they're in South America. Another they're over Africa!
And the gas mileage is awesome.

I'll have to dig up my old ISS map link....hang on...

From NASA - it's not like it was, before..though...
Another one - it's better but, still fuzzy.

The NASA one was really cool when I first found it.
It was like an Atlas type of map with the ISS superimposed over it in real time.

***

I've watched many a moon and planet but, my most hilarious-est moment was when I found a new comet!!!

I was stargazing and swinging the scope here and there when I came across a fast moving object.
I watched it for 15 minutes before I could make it out clearly and realized.......comets don't have landing gear.....

Grand Rapids International is just East of me, about 25 miles.

Of course, I was still new to actual star gazing at the time and all my previous experience with celestial bodies was from pictures in a text book.

***

Cancer patients... That's kind of how I think of things sometimes but have fun trying to convince the masses of an idea like that.

First off, the public doesn't have to know the specifics;

A person is intelligent.
People are idiots.

If you could sit each person in the world down and explain it all out, they'd get it.
But, if the press gets wind and lets it out to the masses, you'd have mob hysteria - even though the Astronauts are willing and able.

You'd have to do 'pre-recorded post-landing' tapes from the fallen astronauts....

Wait...that doesn't work because I must[/i] properly honor them posthumously..
It's the only way.


OK. The public will know but, under my conditions and with affidavits from my courageous crewmen.
I don't need some liberal nutjob twisting everything out of context and making it look like I forced them into it.

....yeah....I went on another "If I were Prez" rant, again.


I tell ya, it's meant to be.

[im_an_alien]

When the full lunar eclipse came a few months ago, we took the telescope in the backyard and looked at it. We also looked at Regulus and Saturn, which were right next to it. Even with our small, low-power telescope, we could see the rings. It was really awesome.

[Classicblast]

That is awesome that you can see the legendary rings of Saturn that is hundreds of millions of miles away. That is just fascinating.

[Mahnarch]

AWWW!!! I missed out on Saturn because I was working at the time - and I always forget.

My favorite still has to be Jupiter, though.
I love seeing the Red Spot with my own eyes.
And the orange and white bands.

The inner moons are just little specks of light for me, though.

Meade is a good brand but, I think I may upgrade in a year or two.
Maybe something with an auto tracker.
I hate having to scootch my tripod around to keep the moon in view.

[Blastgirl]

Jupiter's enormous size is and always has been a favorite reference in my Family. A Jupiter year is just under twelve earth years.

My Dad always compares his age to how young he really in in Jupiter terms.

He is 56 years old sometimes he says "On some Planets I'm not even five years old yet. So I'm only a kid."

I guess that makes me only about two or so. ;D

[Mahnarch]

HA!

Ohh...don't use the inner most planets for scale.......(unless you're a minor trying to buy booze).

[fartinggurl]

That was cool about the Big Dipper being above your house. I've also seen the Big Dipper, and I've also seen the Little Dipper, Mars, the Hale-Bopp comet when it was first discovered, and a couple lunar ecpipses. Also a couple years ago, I saw a moon dog, and you could see it at about midnight for a few days, which was pretty interesting.