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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
 Posted - 11/01/2001 : 18:09:49
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There is a Full Moon tonight (97%) -- last night's moon was only (96%), so it did not count as a Full Moon (no cigar). On November 30, 2001 there will be another Full Moon (99%), making it a Blue Moon (the second Full Moon in a given month). Therefore, we can all celebrate on the 30th of November.
However, do not forget the Leonid Meteor Shower on Saturday, November 17, 2001 (if the sky is clear). Hopefully, the Leonids will not let us down. Regardless, meteor showers are great parties (if it is not too cold). Dress very, very, very warmly, because frozen tootsies, etc., are not very pleasant. Where I live, it means wearing many layers of everything -- extra pairs of socks, boots with fleece linings, etc. Dark sites can be very unpleasant when one is sitting/standing around and hardly moving.
ljbrs    (getting colder!!)
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2001 : 19:03:06 [Permalink]
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quote:
Dress very, very, very warmly, because frozen tootsies, etc., are not very pleasant. Where I live, it means wearing many layers of everything -- extra pairs of socks, boots with fleece linings, etc.
I plan on wearing very little. I have a hot tub! This should be pretty cool. I may call the local volunteer fire department and assure them that space aliens will not attack. They have those gawd awfull all-direction-light-up-the-sky-lights.
Oh, totally off topic, but still cool, check this out. The other night, me and a friend had nearly an all-night bull secession. When we went outside (about 0500) I saw the "northern lights" for the first time! We were both totally transfixed. We were like a couple of kids at christmas as we would see a new glowing streak. We were giggling like a couple of teenagers!
A sad note: While I was in Dallas/Ft. Worth, I had to describe to my nieces what the Milky Way looks like. One of them wants to come up here to see that.
Hey, you try to describe the Milky Way to someone who was born in an extremely light-infested environment!
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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ZaphodBeeblebrox
Skeptic Friend
USA
117 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2001 : 19:34:39 [Permalink]
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quote:
Hey, you try to describe the Milky Way to someone who was born in an extremely light-infested environment!
Imagine a Star. Now, Imagine 10, Stars. Now, Imagine 100, Stars. Still with me? Good, now Imagine 1,000, Stars, all laid out, like a Rainbow!
How's That!
If you Ignore Your Rights, they WILL, go away. |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2001 : 23:32:07 [Permalink]
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Not enough stars Zaphod. More like sit next to a cold window with the lights off and blow on the window so your breath condenses, then imagine that glow with little pinpricks of light - that's the milky way spilling across the night sky.
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. |
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2001 : 18:21:07 [Permalink]
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I remember first seeing the Milky Way when I was three years old. My physicist father was explaining *infinity* to me and blew my mind! I will never forget that night. I have been in love with astronomy ever since.
Nowadays, just try to find the sky in most areas. Fat chance...
[Actually, the blue moon will vary depending upon one's location. Some parts of the world have different calendars completely and no blue moons. Some folks live in areas where both full moons occur in October. On the other hand, in Michigan (where I live) both full moons will be in November. Of course, with the leap seconds which are added from time to time, some people have an advantage over others. Perhaps the designation of *blue moon* refers to the full moons which are viewed from the Royal Observatory Greenwich and not to others. Whatever. A full moon makes for bad astronomical viewing and is, in many places because of severe light pollution, the only astronomical object (other than the Sun on a clear day) which can be observed in the sky.]
ljbrs 
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2001 : 00:51:37 [Permalink]
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Even with a full moon, ljbrs, I can get to where I can still see the milky way. Gotta love the mountains with their high thin air. Great for star gazing.
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. |
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2001 : 00:50:56 [Permalink]
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I'm jealous! In spite of having spent many many nights outside with a telescope as a young astronomy buff, I've never seen the Milky Way. In the Philadelphia suburbs seeing it just wasn't on, I'm afraid.
And now I live in L.A., where the light and air pollution make it a rare occasion when I can see enough stars to recognize any of the constellations I was so friendly with as a kid.
Oh Well. I'll just have to console myself by remembering that not only do I get a blue moon this month but it's also one of the four months each year with five paydays in it.
Anybody know of a good place for good seeing in reasonable driving distance of the eastern San Fernando Valley?
Boris Karloff died for your sins. |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2001 : 15:46:08 [Permalink]
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You might try Tim Thompson thru his own e-mail or at the Bad Astronomy web board....
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/bb_profile.php?mode=view&user=72
For general star gazing you'd have to travel away, of course, several dozens of miles from the glare of city lights. Here in Austin I can make out the Milky Way only about 10 out of town, IF the humidity is low enough!
-Randy
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2001 : 17:06:21 [Permalink]
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Kbestios,
Try going up to Sequoia Natl Park or Mammoth Lakes or even Bakersfeild is pretty dark. You really shouldn't have to travel much more than an hour sans traffic. (I know the 2am traffic jams are a real pain. Tho, I was in Orange County - I usually went out to Indio or up to Big Bear.)
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. -Mark Twain |
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2001 : 17:56:15 [Permalink]
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quote:
Even with a full moon, ljbrs, I can get to where I can still see the milky way. Gotta love the mountains with their high thin air. Great for star gazing.
I live near a large metropolitan area. Real mountains are a never-to-be-realized dream.
You lucky so and so. I do get to see the Milky Way at my astronomy club's observatory, but civilization is encroaching and it has become a dark cloud across the sky, hardly the brilliant thing of my youth.
I decided to get my interest in astrophysics and cosmology so that I would not always be disappointed by the sky obliterated by city lighting.
I am much too old to go galavanting around bleak mountaintops graced with observatories. The great ones have air so thin that I would not survive. I can still dream. (I have been a member of International Dark Sky Association (IDA) for many years. Perhaps someday there might be great dark night skies instead of what we have at present. I am a dreamer...
ljbrs
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
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gezzam
SFN Regular
Australia
751 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2001 : 20:38:42 [Permalink]
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My girlfrind and I went to the desert near Broken Hill to watch the Leonoid meteor shower. Well worth the 45 minute drive.....a sensational night.
Two hours of a fantastic skyshow sitting on a rug in front of the car, listening to Pink Floyd and smoking a funny cigar...
Life doesn't get any better.
"Damn you people. Go back to your shanties." --- Shooter McGavin |
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