Skywatch

[Palehorse]

I certainly hope that doesn't happen.  It's supposed to be brightest after perihelion.  If it doesn't escape the sun, the show will be over before it ever starts.

If it does make it past the sun, I too will be out with my big telescope. (Which reminds me, I have to get that 35mm adapter I've been meaning to acquire, so I can take some pictures. . . )

[libby]

The tube of my big telescope is in a corner of my bedroom, the tripod is in a basement room, and part of the eyepiece went missing during a move, but the mirror is in good shape (it's a reflector).  I will probably end up using a smaller, easier to handle one.

[Locutus]

The tube of my big telescope is in a corner of my bedroom, the tripod is in a basement room, and part of the eyepiece went missing during a move, but the mirror is in good shape (it's a reflector).  I will probably end up using a smaller, easier to handle one.

Well you have a year and a month to get the big boy ready if you want to. 

[libby]

Well you have a year and a month to get the big boy ready if you want to. 

That would be somethin'. Hadn't thought about getting it out in quite a while, but your post made me stop and think about it. 

[Locutus]

If that turns out to be as bright of an event as they think it might, it will probably be well worth the effort.  Especially with such advance notice. 

[libby]

If that turns out to be as bright of an event as they think it might, it will probably be well worth the effort.  Especially with such advance notice.

Yes, indeed! In the meantime, we can hope for a meteor shower or two (Orionids) later this month -- peak 20-21st.

[Locutus]

Yes, indeed! In the meantime, we can hope for a meteor shower or two (Orionids) later this month -- peak 20-21st.

I'll have to check those out.  I typically only look for the Leonids and the Perseids. 

Did you have a full view of this year's Harvest Moon on Saturday night?

[libby]

I'll have to check those out.  I typically only look for the Leonids and the Perseids. 

Did you have a full view of this year's Harvest Moon on Saturday night?

I honestly cannot remember.     I think I probably went to sleep on the couch. (Saturday was a long hectic day for me.)

[libby]

The topic of this thread and our recent conversations about skywatching -- including Olias's comment about the ancient Mayans' dire predictions and Palehorse's submission of Isaac Asimov's thoughts about rejection of scientific fact in favor of ancient beliefs -- made me think about a little clipping from the Washington Post dated Jan 20, 2000.

I woke up this morning thinking about that clipping, went to my desk, and found it in a file of things I keep to think about now and then.

SEEING RAIN IN THE STARS

For generations, farmers in the drought-prone Peruvian and Bolivian Andes Mountains in South America have watched the Pleiades constellation in June to forecast how much rain they could expect in the growing season. The brighter the stars, the more likely there would be rain from October to May, they believed.

Researchers from the University of California at Davis and the Lamont-Doherty Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades, N.Y., decided to study this traditional meterological method to see if it has a scientific basis.

When wispy clouds high in the atmosphere make it difficult to see the Pleiades in June, that indicates the El Nino weather phenomenon, which comes every two to seven years, is occurring, the researchers found. Rainfall records show that means there probably will be less rain during the growing season and several months afterward.

"Our results suggest that this centuries-old method of seasonal rainfall forecasting may be based on a simple indicator of El Nino variability," the researchers wrote in the Jan 6 issue of the journal Nature."

[libby]

If the sky is clear tonight where you live, look to the east to see the very bright planet Jupiter close to the moon. Jupiter rises about 10 PM. 

[Locutus]

Unfortunately, too much light pollution here around South Florida. 

[Palehorse]

Unfortunately, too much light pollution here around South Florida.

Too much rain and clouds to see it in central Indiana too. 

[libby]

I guess I'm lucky, considering where I live -- in the Northern VA D.C. metro area. My home is in a townhouse community with a lot of trees. There's  a stand of trees across the street in front of my house, and the same out back, which block a lot of light, so sometimes, on dark cloudless low-humidity nights, I can look straight up and get some good views. Kinda reminds me of where I grew in in southern WV. We lived in a 'holler' with hills and trees to the east and west. I could see a little more sky to the north and south, but not much. So it  was a real thrill when a good friend had the time to take me to places where I could see more sky. The first ti me he took me to a high mountaintop near Beckley it almost took my breath away.

As for where I live now, sometimes I can't tell if I'm seeing a plane or a star (or UFO) twinkling through gaps in leaves. That's the way it was last night. As I was getting ready for bed, I looked out and saw the moon above the treetops and a light behind the trees. But the next time I looked,  a little later, there it was, bright Jupiter above the moon. Of course, it looks a lot brighter when there's no moon.

[Henry Hawk]

Plans for extreme athlete and skydiver Felix Baumgartner to make a death-defying, 23-mile free fall into the southeastern New Mexico desert are expected to GO around 9am this morning....
Baumgartner will take a bunny-style hop from a pressurized capsule into a near-vacuum where there is barely any oxygen to begin what is expected to be the fastest, farthest free fall from the highest-ever manned balloon.

Among the risks: any contact with the capsule on his exit could tear the pressurized suit. A rip could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as 70 degrees below zero. It could cause potentially lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids, a condition known as "boiling blood."

He could also spin out of control, causing other risky problems.

[Palehorse]

A skydiver's historic free-fall from the edge of space was put on hold Tuesday morning amid concerns about the weather, raising the possibility that it could be put off to another day.