What did you see in the sky tonight?

[owlice]

I went out to look up into the sky, but all I saw were clouds and lightning. The rain that was promised all weekend has finally arrived.

[rstevenson]

fog, brume, cloud, effluvium, gloom, haze, miasma, murk, pea soup, smog, steam, vapor, wisp

Other than that, the viewing was fine.

Rob

[BMAONE23]

fog, brume, cloud, effluvium, gloom, haze, miasma, murk, pea soup, smog, steam, vapor, wisp

Other than that, the viewing was fine.

Rob

It IS tough to see the stars through mulligan stew

[owlice]

We had a stupendous storm come through last night! Lightning, thunder, lashing wind and rain, internet outage, and I'm frankly surprised we managed to keep power. It was fabulous!

[wonderboy]

I don't wanna be funny but to the east maybe two nights ago, there was a bright "star" in the sky. It may still be there I'll check tonight. But i've never seen it before and its not familiar to me. Its even visible just as it is starting to tunr to night.


Paul

[owlice]

Oooh, it was raining when I got home, and a tornado warning (not just a watch) not terribly far away. After that and the severe thunderstorm warning ended, I went outside to look at the sky, as I really really wanted to take a short bike ride, even though it was much later than I have ridden in the past. Clouds, which are fine, and lightning, which isn't; no ride for me. No stars, either.

wonderboy, did you find out what your "star" was?

[wonderboy]

Nah, I didn't I'm always looking up as well and it seemed strange to me, I hadn't seen it before. I'm assuming it was venus, because it was definetly the brightest thing in the sky I'll tell you.

I should add that it was close to the horizon!? What does that mean?

[Chris Peterson]

Nah, I didn't I'm always looking up as well and it seemed strange to me, I hadn't seen it before. I'm assuming it was venus, because it was definetly the brightest thing in the sky I'll tell you.

Venus is in the early evening sky in the west. If you saw something in the east, it wasn't Venus. The most common thing people see close to the horizon as a new star is an airplane flying towards them with its landing lights on. That can look like a bright, unmoving star and last for several minutes (the plane might be 50 miles or more away). Of course, if you see it on another night, it probably is something astronomical.

[neufer]

Four inches of fresh snow. And still coming down this morning.

Dang that global warming

It's a very warm snowstorm. Warmer than yesterday, when the Sun was out. Well above freezing.

<<_Bartholomew and the Oobleck_ is a 1949 book by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel). It follows the adventures of a young boy named Bartholomew, who must rescue his kingdom from a sticky substance called oobleck. The book is a sequel of sorts to The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Unlike most of Geisel's books, which are written in anapestic tetrameter, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, like its predecessor, is a prose work. Geisel said he drew inspiration for the book from a conversation he overheard while stationed in Belgium during World War II. During a rainstorm, one of his fellow soldiers remarked, "Rain, always rain. Why can't we have something different for a change?"

• 

The book opens with an explanation about how people in the Kingdom of Didd still talk about "The year the King got angry with the sky," and how Bartholomew Cubbins, King Derwin of Didd's page boy, saved the Kingdom. Throughout the year, Bartholomew sees the king getting angry at rain in spring, sun in summer, fog in autumn, and snow in winter. The king explains he's angry because he wants something new to come down from the sky, but when Bartholomew points out that "even kings can't rule the sky," the king vows to prove Bartholomew wrong.

One spring night, as he's getting ready for bed, the king gets the idea that ruling the sky is the task of his Royal Magicians so he orders Bartholomew to summon them. After expressing his wish to the magicians, they announce they can make something called Oobleck which won't look like the regular weather the king doesn't want. The magicians soon return to their secret cave on Mount Neeka Tave to make the oobleck.

After watching the cave all night, Bartholomew sees the first sign that the oobleck has been made and is falling the very next morning. When the king wakes up and sees the oobleck, Bartholomew tries to caution him on how big the falling oobleck is getting, but the king orders Bartholomew to tell the Royal Bell Ringer that today will be a holiday.

Bartholomew does as he's told, but when the bell ringer tries to ring the bell, it doesn't ring because oobleck has gotten into it. When Bartholomew and the bell ringer see a mother bird trapped in her nest by the oobleck, they see that it could be dangerous, so Bartholomew makes the decision to warn the kingdom.

First, Bartholomew warns the Royal Trumpeter about the oobleck, but when the trumpeter tries to sound the alarm, oobleck gets into the trumpet and the trumpeter gets his hand stuck trying to remove the oobleck. When Bartholomew tries to tell the Captain of the Guards to warn the kingdom, the captain instead, thinking the oobleck to be pretty, tries to prove to Bartholomew that he's not afraid by scooping some oobleck up with his sword and eating it, only to get his mouth stuck and breathe out green bubbles. Bartholomew tries to go to the Royal Stables for a horse to warn the kingdom himself, but even the stables are covered in oobleck.

As Bartholomew goes back inside, the falling blobs of oobleck, now as big as buckets full of brocolli, start to break into the palace, creating even more mess inside than outside. Bartholomew runs around warning everybody to stay undercover, but the palace servants and guards are soon stuck in the oobleck.

In the throne room, the king, now covered in oobleck himself, orders Bartholomew to summon the magicians to stop the storm, but when Bartholomew brings up the bad news that even the cave is covered in oobleck, the king gets the idea to use the magicians' magic words ("Shuffle Muffle Muzzle Duff") to stop the oobleck. Bartholomew finally gets the courage to tell the king off for making such a foolish wish and tells him to use simple words, like "I'm sorry," instead of magic words. At first, the king insists that he never says sorry, but once after Bartholomew states that he's no sort of king if he's covered in oobleck does the king finally admit his mistake and say "I'm sorry."

Straight after the king says those simple words, the Oobleck Storm breaks up and the sun melts away all the oobleck, freeing everybody in the process. At this point, the narrator states that maybe those simple words the king said were the magic words to stop the storm. After the oobleck is gone, Bartholomew takes the king to the bell tower and the king rings the bell proclaiming the day a holiday, dedicated not to oobleck, but to rain, sun, fog, and snow, the four things that have, and always should, come down from the sky.>>

<<The word "Oobleck" has since been adopted to describe a substance used to demonstrate the dilatant property of non-Newtonian fluids. Oobleck can be made by addition of 1.5 to 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water. Mixing may take several minutes, and excess force should not be required. Applying excess force to Oobleck makes the non-Newtonian fluid harden.>>

• oobleck on a subwoofer:

[wonderboy]

Nah, I didn't I'm always looking up as well and it seemed strange to me, I hadn't seen it before. I'm assuming it was venus, because it was definetly the brightest thing in the sky I'll tell you.

Venus is in the early evening sky in the west. If you saw something in the east, it wasn't Venus. The most common thing people see close to the horizon as a new star is an airplane flying towards them with its landing lights on. That can look like a bright, unmoving star and last for several minutes (the plane might be 50 miles or more away). Of course, if you see it on another night, it probably is something astronomical.

I seen it a few nights in a row, I'll check if its there tonight and let you know. It definetely wasn't a plane with its lights on Chris.

Thanks.


Paul.

[owlice]

Last night, I took a bike ride; the trail I ride is mostly through the woods, with an option to go around a small lake. I took that option, and as I came out of the trees and turned south, I saw the full moon in the east just over the treetops; it was reddish. As it rose, it turned orange, then yellow, and when I finally returned to my car, it was white.

Tonight, the kid and I were in the car returning from procuring camp supplies ("camp supplies" = many pounds of sugar in various forms, a new toothbrush (thank goodness!), and seven or eight rolls of duct tape [in various colors]), and saw the moon very low in the eastern sky, big, and a very dark red. The color was amazing!

[owlice]

I took a bike ride yesterday, in time to have at least some daylight for nearly all of it. The darkness was gathering when I got back to my car, and by the time I got home, it was fully dark. The half moon, high overhead, had a stunning corona around it, large and well-formed. It was lovely, and gone later in the evening when I went out to fight off raccoons feed the feral cats.

[Ann]

Tonight half to gibbous Moon and Jupiter make a pretty pair. And the sky is clear and starry - yay!

Ann

[Jeff]

Hi, I'm a complete beginner and my family recently gave me a pair of Celestron binoculars as we'd read in Terence Dickinson's book 'Nightwatch' that binoculars are a good first step prior to purchasing a telescope. Me and my brother have been having a lot of fun stargazing. Especially I love pointing out the moon and inspecting the various details, it's really amazing.

But as I said, I'm a complete beginner, and so far as identification of stars and so on... I didn't notice it with the naked eye but with the binoculars, I noticed a star that was a blending of two colors, red and yellow. It really stood out to me. This was at 11:30pm or so.

We live in Melbourne, Australia.

[Orca]

In the wee hours on the morning of the 14th, I happened to catch a bright Geminid streaking by.

I wasn't looking for it. Not only was it an off chance that I was looking in that direction, there happened to be a rare break in the clouds. It's been raining a lot lately. But then it's always raining this time of year in the Pacific Northwest; I don't ever make plans to see the Geminids.

But hey, I saw one this year!

[neufer]

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

[geckzilla]

Checked on the moon before the eclipse happens and there's a great halo around it here in NYC tonight.

[owlice]

I woke up in time to see totality.

[bystander]

I got to watch the moon black out and then turn red (totality beginning). Then I watched totality end. I think the beginning was more impressive.

[Beyond]

I got to watch the moon black out and then turn red (totality beginning). Then I watched totality end. I think the beginning was more impressive.

I think the beginning of just about everything is the most impressive part. It's the start of a new experience. After that, it becomes more or less - 'normal.'

[owlice]

I looked at the moon a couple o' other times, the last when it appeared as a bright cookie someone had taken a bite out of. And when I went back to bed I noticed how bright the room and tree outside were from moonlight, in stark contrast to the darkness when I awoke.

[BMAONE23]

EEEEK lips

[rstevenson]

Alas, we were (and still are) having a Nor'easter. The whole universe could be eclipsed and I wouldn't know it.

Rob

[Beyond]

Alas, we were (and still are) having a Nor'easter. The whole universe could be eclipsed and I wouldn't know it.

Rob

Rob -- You are IN your own Eclipse Enjoy it while you can. It won't be long before you are out of it and have to grab a snow shovel

[owlice]

I saw iridescent clouds this afternoon from my office window. The iridescence was not widespread, but what was there was very pretty.