The Night Sky

[Scurra]

However, concrete evidence of the Apollo landings is probalby harder to spot.

Obviously because we never went there


(Whereas I can understand why some people think there was a conspiracy to kill JFK, or even to kill Diana, that anyone can believe we didn't go to the Moon utterly baffles me.)

[Bunnylump]

Thanks SparkOut, they look brilliant, but I don't dare download anything or it will probably finish this computer off. I SO badly need a new one.

[MBH]

That looks interesting sparkout - that's the sort of thing that might re-ingite my interest in space

FAR too bright here - especially with all of us dog owners having outdoor lights for the garden - except when I went out at 1am NONE of them came on Lovely clear sky and no breeze so the air was still warm. Lovely and peaceful.

[SparkOut]

This is a hefty download but I made a short clip of Stellarium in basic use here. It's also lousy quality graphics because I cut the palette down to reduce the file size a bit - in real operation it's not all broad stripes of colour like this.
You can drag the screen around and see the view of the sky, click on objects and get names and information about them, turn captions and constellation lines on and off etc etc. I showed a few stars and Merak and Dubhe, the pointers to Polaris, then set it off on a timer basis. You can see how the sky changes over a period of time - and you can speed the clock up to advance hours like lightning and watch the stars change over time.
Stellarium is brilliant for a view of "what's up there now" and/or helping to identify what you can see, or find a given star/planet. Encyclopedia Galactica is a little more technical and needs a bit more getting used to but you can click on (say) the Horsehead Nebula and get detailed images from some of the best telescopes in the world (or space, for that matter).

[Bunnylump]

I'm definitely going to need that new computer. That sounds exactly what I want. Oh well, I'll have to go and sell my body or something so I can afford one. (By the pound, obviously, I'd make a lot more that way!)

[Scurra]

I use Celestia myself.

[SparkOut]

That's nice, I just downloaded it and had a look. Seems brilliant for exploring the universe - but does it have a mode for "looking up and seeing what's visible from here now" rather than travelling about in a virtual spacecraft type mode? I couldn't see how to get a view of (say) Jupiter from my current latitude and longitude.

[Scurra]

You can "goto" a lat/long setting and then switch to a view that is like a telescope. But I can't remember off-hand what else you need to do. (It's good fun to go to Mars and do the same thing though )

[Bunnylump]

Can't see it. But I'm interested in all this stuff. Boo hoo. I'm going to have to ban you talking about it or I'll get all huffy.

[katsmom]

Many many years ago I found myself in the terrible position of needing a science course to finish my undergrad degree. Since I had no desire to cut up poor innocent cats, I took Astronomy. I figured it would be easy to read the books, cut the classes and show up for the finals. Being smart in my plan, I guessed I'd have to show up for the first couple of classes so the prof could get to know my face for when I turned up again for that last class 4 months later. Little did I imagine I would love that class! I was there every night-or should I say morning That class ran from 10 pm to 2 am.

It bit into my social life just a bit and I was dead tired that entire semester. The Uni had a small observatory that we went to on occasion, but most nights we just took the telescopes out around town and country to look at the sky. The best part was for one FULL YEAR we could borrow a telescope from the uni to investigate on our own. I loved it! My boyfriend at the time did too-he turned into a bit of a peeping tom though You would be surprised what you can see through a telescope.

If any of you young ones are lucky enough to have that class offered, I would highly recomend it. Even if it is a late night class.

On another note, there was an eclipse this morning-or maybe night for you guys. Did any of you see it? It was way too sunny here for it to make much difference. I guess it was supposed to be the best in 300 years (at least according to the news)

[SparkOut]

I knew of the eclipse, but it wasn't visible from Britland.

[MBH]

Laughing at katsmom's early boyfriend Her observation notes are very scientific and precise, but I think I'd rather read HIS

Tales from the Astronomy Tower eh? {blatent Hogwarts reference}

[Bunnylump]

OK here's something to look out for coming up soon.

12th August very early in the morning is the best chance in the UK to see the Perseid meteor showers. These are the ones which are debris from the Swift Tuttle comet. Usually well worth a look (weather permitting).

Venus and Mars should also be visible this month.

Also... some geeky night sky facts for you just in case you're sad like me...
An astronomer has spotted a "scar" or dark spot in the night sky. The boffins think this means that Jupiter has been hit by a smaller celestial body again.

AND

Epsilon Aurigae is about to begin to fade from view over the next 6 months. It will stay faint for about a year before gradually returning to brightness. It does this every 27 years, and nobody knows why.

[Looby]

I love lying on my back on the hammock watching the perseids. I won't be at home this year on the 12th - I'll be down in Bristol at my daughter's - but there's usually still enough around for the next couple of evenings to see one every couple of minutes or so.

[Bunnylump]

As long as it doesn't rain between now and then I can lie on the sofa in the back garden and watch!!

Glad it's not just me that's mental and does this.

[kingsley]

When I was on my D of E camping, the night was clear and we could see hundreds of stars. It was a very pretty sight! Because the night was clear though, it was very cold, so we settled into our tents when we were quite warm so we didn't freeze. At about 10pm a shout outside came up 'Come and look at the stars!' so stupidly me and my friend left the tent to look at them. They were well worth going out to look at, but we were shivering for the rest of the night!

[SparkOut]

I remember (many hundreds of years ago) on an "expedition" hike where we travelled light, packing only the tent flysheet, plus personal groundsheets. We were lying in the sleeping bags with our heads out under the gap at the bottom of the flysheet, watching the stars and Perseid meteors. A magical night.

[clvrlad]

i remember doing the residential bit of an OU course i was on at durham university all the students where laying flat out on the grass in the middle of the night looking up and not because we'd all just been thrown out the bar....
(it was a science course so we were all science geeks )

[Bunnylump]

Maybe next time we have a puzzlebrains meet we should insist everyone brings a ground sheet and a sleeping bag? We could all so some star gazing. What do you think?? (I may not be able to stand up again in the morning due to my crap back, but probably given sufficient red wine I wouldn't be able to get up anyway...)

[SparkOut]

Perhaps you should bring a groundsheet, sleeping bag and funnel? You can just lie down with the funnel in your mouth and we'll* just tip the wine down your neck.

*odd word from someone who hasn't been to a "meet", but you know what I mean