I titled a poem I once wrote "July 20, 1969." (p.s. It was about the moon! )I will be in the Grand Canyon that day, so hopefully the skies will be clear.
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I titled a poem I once wrote "July 20, 1969." (p.s. It was about the moon! )I will be in the Grand Canyon that day, so hopefully the skies will be clear.
ISS and Space Shuttle viewers in SoCal:
Check the heavens at 9:52PM PDT tonight. ISS and Shuttle will be traversing from the NW to NE lickety-split until 9:54PM PDT at about 45º above the northern horizon. It might be a tad bit brighter since the Shuttle is docked with the ISS. It's a quick two minute view tonight, so be ready!
:glasses:
Another cool viewing last night of the ISS's NW-SE trajectory during our annual picnic of our local chapter of the National Weather Association (yes, I'm a weather geek!) last night.
We also have our local astronomical association (who also tend to be weather geeks) come out with their menagerie of impressive telescopes. Nice views of the moon and Jupiter last night.
BTW: Why is it we call it the Moon, but it's not just Moon? Example: We're traveling to Mars, but we travel to the Moon, not travel to Moon? Why not travel to the Mars?
Things that make you go "hmmm.....
While in various parts of AZ, I could NEVER SEE THE BLEEPING NIGHT SKY!!! :mad: :upset: Stupid rain clouds at night! (but it did help their drought conditions, sorry) I want to see stars, dangit! And not the limited view that CA gets due to massive light pollution, either.
You have to get up to a higher altitude and away from city lights. I'm sure there's some observatory's in California and Arizona you could go to, or camping in California mountain parks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bel-Cam Jos
You could go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array
Radio astronomy huh? :o Low energy, long wave lengths and a highly polluted spectrum. :bored: :o :zzz: :zzz:Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue2th
This likely isn't relevant to most people here, but we've had some aurora action around here. I haven't seen it myself, but some friends have. The really odd thing is this being near the solar minimum there hasn't been a flare or corneal mass ejection or other sign to indicating an impending aurora.
You can sure see the stars above 6,000 ft., dry air and virtually no air or light pollution, I imagine Montana is the same without the elevation?Quote:
Originally Posted by LusiferSam
I saw the Northern Lights when I lived in Yakima Wash as a very young boy. :cool:
The Grand Canyon is around 7000 ft., and there aren't too many lights once night comes, but the last several times I've been out of the area (or out of the state/country) on trips there have been "unexpected" clouds. Grr. :upset: That made my decision easy for me to avoid their star party there then, too.
Sure, I can drive an hour or so north and see open skies in our high desert, but I don't want to make a trip just to see what is my Constitutional right to view ("... the right to night lights, life, liberty, and Trivial Pursuit..." :D ) anytime I wish. :p
You'd imagine wrong. Western Montana (where I live) is quite high in elevation. Most of the major cities are at 3,000 ft and in all but one, you can reach 6,000 ft pretty quickly. My town is at 5,100 and my house is just below 5,600. Light pollution is a problem in the cities. Many have an urban sprawl thing going on and lights are everywhere. In town the city is finally starting to work on the problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue2th
Today's APOD is of the aurora in Canada.
Yeah I live just above 5,000 ft in the heights, so I get a clear view weather and pollution permitting. It's more awesome outside of town and higher up. The dry climate helps.
I woke up today at the butt-crack of dawn, and there was a huge planet on the eastern horizon. (not sure which one it was but it wasn't twinkling so I assumed it was a planet)