Search found 2484 matches
- Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:00 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Cassini's Last Ring Portrait at Saturn (2017 Sep 26)
- Replies: 19
- Views: 6367
Re: APOD: Cassini's Last Ring Portrait at Saturn (2017 Sep 26)
Note the tinge of blue in parts of Saturn's limb. I take back what I said about the color of Saturn's limb. I looked at the APOD at work, and my computer there made it look blue. My home computer doesn't. In fact the colors don't overlap, and Saturn's left limb is red, with a blue arc just inside i...
- Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:23 pm
- Forum: The Asterisk Café: Discuss Anything Astronomy Related
- Topic: Planet Destruction
- Replies: 31
- Views: 3265
Re: Planet Destruction
What happens to planets and the elements they are made of when they are engulfed by stars becoming Red Giants? I found an article at Science Daily that talks about the far future of our Solar System. It gives some sense of what happens -- which, of course, depends on how close the planet is to its ...
- Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:27 pm
- Forum: Open Space: Discuss Anything
- Topic: Weather!
- Replies: 2868
- Views: 1108018
Re: Weather!
Thanks Art.
Rob
Rob
- Mon Sep 18, 2017 8:24 pm
- Forum: Open Space: Discuss Anything
- Topic: Weather!
- Replies: 2868
- Views: 1108018
Re: Going for the spare
https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/90000/90952/virginislands_oli_2017253.jpg Irma Turns Caribbean Islands Brown Earth Observatory Sept. 12, 2017 <<These natural-color images, captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite, show some of Irma’s effect on the ...
- Sun Sep 17, 2017 1:12 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Bright Spiral Galaxy M81 (2017 Sep 17)
- Replies: 20
- Views: 7114
Re: APOD: Bright Spiral Galaxy M81 (2017 Sep 17)
This photo is the first instance of seeing a yellow cone at the 12 o'clock position. It appears like a flashlight (torch) shining upwards and the source appears to be a single bright star. Is this an illusion? Has anyone else noticed this before? It sure looks interesting. There appears to be a bri...
- Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:59 pm
- Forum: Open Space: Discuss Anything
- Topic: Weather!
- Replies: 2868
- Views: 1108018
Re: Weather!
... For all of July and August, we had temperatures in the high teens, with a maximum of 21°C, and rain nearly every day- around 20 cm for the two months. Perfect weather, so much better than recent summers that were warmer and drier. ... Perfect weather!? Nova Scotia could always use a couple of n...
- Wed Sep 13, 2017 6:53 pm
- Forum: Open Space: Discuss Anything
- Topic: Weather!
- Replies: 2868
- Views: 1108018
Re: Weather!
... For all of July and August, we had temperatures in the high teens, with a maximum of 21°C, and rain nearly every day- around 20 cm for the two months. Perfect weather, so much better than recent summers that were warmer and drier. ... Perfect weather!? Nova Scotia could always use a couple of n...
- Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:07 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Calm Waters and Geomagnetic Storm (2017 Sep 09)
- Replies: 26
- Views: 7648
Re: APOD: Calm Waters and Geomagnetic Storm (2017 Sep 09)
Fascinating reading! My idea of a good time waster.
Thanks.
Rob
Thanks.
Rob
- Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:41 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Calm Waters and Geomagnetic Storm (2017 Sep 09)
- Replies: 26
- Views: 7648
Re: APOD: Calm Waters and Geomagnetic Storm (2017 Sep 09)
Um, jus' a minute ... I know I've got an equation for that around here somewhere ... ... ...heehaw wrote:How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Rob
- Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:20 pm
- Forum: The Communications Center: Breaking Science News
- Topic: Cassini's Last Hurrah
- Replies: 34
- Views: 7191
Re: Cassini's Last Hurrah
And you, saturno2, are a poet.
Rob
Rob
- Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:18 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Calm Waters and Geomagnetic Storm (2017 Sep 09)
- Replies: 26
- Views: 7648
Re: APOD: Calm Waters and Geomagnetic Storm (2017 Sep 09)
... The Sun is indeed big. Its diameter is some 110 times the Earth diameter, so the projected, two-dimensional surface area of the Sun is ~38,000 times the projected, two-dimensional surface of the Earth, unless my shaky math is failing me. ... I went the pedantic route, using A=4πr 2 for the Sun,...
- Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:35 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: The Climber and the Eclipse (2017 Sep 06)
- Replies: 36
- Views: 20958
Re: APOD: The Climber and the Eclipse (2017 Sep 06)
Apropos of which...Chris Peterson wrote:... Yes, different motivations. But they are all operating with the same epistemological defect, a refusal to accept convincing photographic evidence if it conflicts with their existing biases.
Rob
- Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:40 pm
- Forum: Open Space: Discuss Anything
- Topic: garden
- Replies: 383
- Views: 453521
Re: garden
Now don't be prejudiced. Squirrel tastes just fine.Ann wrote:Yum for tomatoes! No for the squirrels!
Rob
- Tue Aug 22, 2017 4:39 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Total Solar Eclipse over Wyoming (2017 Aug 22)
- Replies: 18
- Views: 6547
Re: APOD: A Total Solar Eclipse over Wyoming (2017 Aug 22)
So I pulled off my glasses again, and noticed there wasn't much apparent light reduction (nor would there be even when the sun was 70% eclipsed). It was no darker than if there'd been a passing cloud. But the effect was nothing like cloud diffusion. The light was somehow harsh and unpleasant. It re...
- Sat Aug 19, 2017 2:19 pm
- Forum: The Library: Information Desk and Educational Resources
- Topic: Eclipse Question
- Replies: 13
- Views: 92278
Re: Eclipse Question
I'd say coincidence. But hey, maybe if it was possible to look at all technological civilizations that ever existed in the Universe, we'd find that they all have to have a satellite that closely matches their parent star in size to allow for fancy eclipses. Throw that in your Drake Equation and see...
- Sat Aug 19, 2017 2:13 pm
- Forum: The Library: Information Desk and Educational Resources
- Topic: Eclipse Question
- Replies: 13
- Views: 92278
Re: Eclipse Question
Quite a few discussions here at the Asterisk devolve into definition games, as each of us has a sense of how we like to use certain words. That's how languages evolve, of course. In this case coincidence has two common meanings... 1. a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without appare...
- Sat Aug 19, 2017 12:01 am
- Forum: The Library: Information Desk and Educational Resources
- Topic: Eclipse Question
- Replies: 13
- Views: 92278
Re: Eclipse Question
The Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago, not long after the Earth. It is gradually getting farther away from the Earth. (For an explanation of why this is happening, see the Tidal Evolution part of the Orbit of the Moon Wikipedia page.) Now, 4.5 billion years after the Moon formed, we happen to ...
- Tue Aug 15, 2017 12:52 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Day in the Life of a (mostly)... (2017 Aug 12)
- Replies: 37
- Views: 12060
Re: APOD: A Day in the Life of a (mostly)... (2017 Aug 12)
Fun F**ts: ... A three-country poll conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion in July 2010 found that Canadians swear more often than Americans and British when talking to friends. ... ... Functionally similar behavior can be observed in chimpanzees, ....>> From which I conclude that Canadians are mor...
- Sun Aug 06, 2017 12:57 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Milky Way and Exploding Meteor (2017 Aug 06)
- Replies: 10
- Views: 5482
Re: APOD: Milky Way and Exploding Meteor (2017 Aug 06)
The Sunday APOD image is almost always a repeat; it has been so for many years.keesscherer wrote:It is the same picture as the 12 aug 2015 APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150812.html
I was not aware that APOD used the same image more than once. It is an awesome image though!
Rob
- Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:55 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Pluto Flyover from New Horizons (2017 Jul 31)
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5413
Re: APOD: Pluto Flyover from New Horizons (2017 Jul 31)
Are the features exaggerated? Caption says the colors are enhanced, but what about the vertical relief? The mountains look much higher than they ought to given the scale. Craters look too deep. I was wondering that myself, and found this on the "featured two-minute time-lapse video" page ...
- Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:05 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Sagittarius Triplet (2017 Jul 27)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 3792
Re: APOD: A Sagittarius Triplet (2017 Jul 27)
That looks a lot like my signature. (Really, it does!) But I was never there, honest.Catalina wrote:Anyone have a explanation for the very well-defined, tightly convoluted, squiggly lines going across the front of NGC 6559? They are like dust lanes I have never seen.
Rob
- Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:56 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: A Hybrid Solar Eclipse over Kenya (2017 Jul 24)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 6408
Re: But who is in the photo?
A great image, but I don't understand the caption. The caption states that the person being photographed in front of the eclipsed sun died a week before the eclipse he was photographed in front of. What am I missing here? I'm going to take a wild leap into the unknown, and posit that the person in ...
- Sat Jul 22, 2017 3:17 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Apollo 11: Catching Some Sun (2017 Jul 22)
- Replies: 19
- Views: 4072
Re: APOD: Apollo 11: Catching Some Sun (2017 Jul 22)
I knew it!Chris Peterson wrote:Those are the marks left behind from dragging the body of one of the camera operators off the sound stage when he threatened to go public. ...rstevenson wrote:I'm curious about the dragging marks, from bottom-center up to the right, along with the sideways footsteps accompanying the marks.
Rob
- Sat Jul 22, 2017 11:21 am
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Apollo 11: Catching Some Sun (2017 Jul 22)
- Replies: 19
- Views: 4072
Re: APOD: Apollo 11: Catching Some Sun (2017 Jul 22)
I'm curious about the dragging marks, from bottom-center up to the right, along with the sideways footsteps accompanying the marks. I'm guessing something like dragging a sample bag, but I'd love to know for sure. I imagine there's a log somewhere detailing the astronauts' tasks for that day. It wou...
- Fri Jul 21, 2017 2:00 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Phobos: Moon over Mars (2017 Jul 21)
- Replies: 19
- Views: 8861
Re: APOD: Phobos: Moon over Mars (2017 Jul 21)
That's faster than a Mars rotation, which corresponds to about 24 hours and 40 minutes. So on Mars, Phobos can be seen to rise above the western horizon 3 times a day. Still, Phobos is doomed . “Still”? Shouldn’t that be “therefore,” Phobos is doomed? adverb: still 2. nevertheless; all the same. &q...