Re: Night Sky : Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:01 pm  

anyone checked out http://scaleofuniverse.com/ good for learning how insignificantly small we all are

anyone checked out http://scaleofuniverse.com/ good for learning how insignificantly small we all are

Re: Night Sky : Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:24 am  

Three rocky planets, all "super-Earths" have been confirmed lying in the "habitable zone" around the star Gliese 667C where liquid water could exist. This makes them candidates for the presence of life. Only 22 light years away, you could send a message and get a reply within a human adult lifetime! Astronomy magazine article Well you could if anyone smart enough was listening, but even microbes would be sensational. Meanwhile, in one of NASA's coolest stjnts, here's the link to the "Billion-Pixel View" from the Mars rover, Curiosity, at theRocknest site. Go full-screen, and pan around and zoom in to the smallest of pebbles in astonishing detail.

Three rocky planets, all "super-Earths" have been confirmed lying in the "habitable zone" around the star Gliese 667C where liquid water could exist. This makes them candidates for the presence of life. Only 22 light years away, you could send a message and get a reply within a human adult lifetime! Astronomy magazine article Well you could if anyone smart enough was listening, but even microbes would be sensational. Meanwhile, in one of NASA's coolest stjnts, here's the link to the "Billion-Pixel View" from the Mars rover, Curiosity, at theRocknest site. Go full-screen, and pan around and zoom in to the smallest of pebbles in astonishing detail.

Re: Night Sky : Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:31 pm  

the cal train wrote: anyone checked out http://scaleofuniverse.com/ good for learning how insignificantly small we all are On which point, what about today's awesome image from the Cassini probe, of the Earth and moon as seen from Saturn? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23419543

the cal train wrote: anyone checked out http://scaleofuniverse.com/ good for learning how insignificantly small we all are On which point, what about today's awesome image from the Cassini probe, of the Earth and moon as seen from Saturn? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23419543

Re: Night Sky : Tue Jul 23, 2013 6:10 pm  

Don’t forget the Perseids start tonight, peaking 11/12th August .

After years of getting giddy only to be thwarted by the weather, I’m off to Crete this year, so hoping for a decent show.

Re: Night Sky : Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:34 pm  

The Devil's Advocate wrote:

Don’t forget the Perseids start tonight, peaking 11/12th August .

After years of getting giddy only to be thwarted by the weather, I’m off to Crete this year, so hoping for a decent show.

Well, I presume you will be able to find a dark sky without going too far off the coast, and the best news is - no moon for you that night - so a comfy recliner, an mp3 player and headphones, and a case of cold beer or wine should see you right. I'm jealous.

Also if you're there on 7 August you will see the ISS go over from the W towards the NE bet. 701pm - 708pm

Re: Night Sky : Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:18 pm  

The Indian military has spent six months investigating 'Chinese spy drones' violating its air space - only to discover they were in fact Jupiter and Venus. Article

The Indian military has spent six months investigating 'Chinese spy drones' violating its air space - only to discover they were in fact Jupiter and Venus. Article

Re: Night Sky : Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:25 pm  

Rare treat- meteor shower and a clear sky - if you're not out then DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Night Sky : Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:32 pm  

any idea where i could buy a map/chart of the stars. we ve had some good clear nights recently and stepping out into our garden we have ursa major just on the right of us and i d like to learn other formations .

thanks in advance

Re: Night Sky : Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:31 pm  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24026153 Voyager 1 finally leaves the solar system, can't believe a craft launched a full two months prior to "Star Wars: A New Hope" hitting UK cinemas and the fact it travels away from us at 1.4 million km per day is only entering interstellar space around this time!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24026153 Voyager 1 finally leaves the solar system, can't believe a craft launched a full two months prior to "Star Wars: A New Hope" hitting UK cinemas and the fact it travels away from us at 1.4 million km per day is only entering interstellar space around this time!

Re: Night Sky : Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:27 am  

CORNISH wrote: any idea where i could buy a map/chart of the stars. we ve had some good clear nights recently and stepping out into our garden we have ursa major just on the right of us and i d like to learn other formations . thanks in advance To start, I would recommend a Planisphere. WH Smith do one, this is the basic planisphere for UK latitudes, for an extra fiver they do a glow in the dark one but I recommend the plain one and a red torch. Then I recommend a free resource: http://www.heavens-above.com You need to register, and when you put in your approximate location then each time you log on, you can get the info for your particular sky. So if you were going out to see what you could see tonight, you go to the Sky Chart, change the time to whatever time you will be out, and print off your own personalized chart. As a great alternative to preview what you can see outside, a must-have is Stellarium, a brilliant free program which you can download here: http://stellarium.org/ - just click on your OS at the top of the screen. In fact, whenever it is cloudy, just fire Stellarium up - you won't miss a thing! However Heavens Above will give you as much info as you want; for example it'll tell you if and exactly when you can see the ISS (space station) cross over. Or get a list of every single satellite that will be flying over. Or Iridium flashes. You'll be surprised how much action there is, and Heavens Above tailors it to your actual sky view.

CORNISH wrote: any idea where i could buy a map/chart of the stars. we ve had some good clear nights recently and stepping out into our garden we have ursa major just on the right of us and i d like to learn other formations . thanks in advance To start, I would recommend a Planisphere. WH Smith do one, this is the basic planisphere for UK latitudes, for an extra fiver they do a glow in the dark one but I recommend the plain one and a red torch. Then I recommend a free resource: http://www.heavens-above.com You need to register, and when you put in your approximate location then each time you log on, you can get the info for your particular sky. So if you were going out to see what you could see tonight, you go to the Sky Chart, change the time to whatever time you will be out, and print off your own personalized chart. As a great alternative to preview what you can see outside, a must-have is Stellarium, a brilliant free program which you can download here: http://stellarium.org/ - just click on your OS at the top of the screen. In fact, whenever it is cloudy, just fire Stellarium up - you won't miss a thing! However Heavens Above will give you as much info as you want; for example it'll tell you if and exactly when you can see the ISS (space station) cross over. Or get a list of every single satellite that will be flying over. Or Iridium flashes. You'll be surprised how much action there is, and Heavens Above tailors it to your actual sky view.