Starship Asterisk*

Posted: **Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:03 am**

While driving to the concert hall to perform Beethoven 6 I saw the sun setting, due west, into the street,
and almost due south, a just-past-quarter moon with its terminator in line with the road.
My cheerful feelings were, appropriately, awakened.
(And the obsessive-compulsive within me briefly satisfied.)

--
Sam

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:02 am**

This thread needs to be woken up! This evening just after sunset I saw a beautiful conjunction of Jupiter and the Moon. Actually, I saw it while the Sun was still up, which made seeing Jupiter in the daytime easy. But I took this picture a bit later. The sky was still a little blue, but that isn't apparent in the image.

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:54 am**

You're right, Chris, and thanks for reviving it.

I haven't seen much this winter, because either it has been overcast or else bitterly cold. I've stayed on my balcony and looked out, until the windows have been competely fogged up. Anyway, in two months or so my apartment house (wonder if you would say condominium building) will be completely wrapped plastic, since the roof must be repaired. Two other buildings have had their roofs repaired, and they were wrapped in colored plastic for months. (The first house was wrapped in green plastic, the second in red. They can't have seen a thing in the sky from their apartments.)

Very early yesterday - circa 3.30 a.m. - I saw a nice line of brilliant lights in the west. They were Procyon, Betelgeuse and Jupiter. Betelgeuse made me start, because it was so amazingly red, more so than I can remember ever seeing it before. That was nice!

When I arrived at work circa 6.30 a.m., two lovely blue stars could be seen in the southwest. They were Rigel and Spica. So yesterday was an M&M night in the sky, minus the green, yellow and brown pieces!

Ann

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:06 pm**

If only I could see something! I'm taking Introduction to Astrophysics this semester, and at least two of the three assignments are observing assignments. But the weather here makes observing a very hit or miss activity, especialy if you need to use the Burke-Gaffney Observatory (which we must do for at least one of the assignments) since it's only open to us lowly undergrads on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. So far, all our Wednesday and Thursday evenings have been cloudy, and this week is forecast to be the same. Oh well, I'll work on the other assignment, keeping my fingers crossed for next month.

Rob

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:03 pm**

And here we are just a couple of hours later, when Jupiter and the Moon were at their closest- under a degree as seen from Colorado (and just over a half degree from Jupiter to the limb of the Moon).

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:39 am**

Chris Peterson wrote:
CRW_6565p.jpg
And here we are just a couple of hours later when Jupiter and the Moon were at their closest- under a degree as seen from Colorado (and just over a half degree from Jupiter to the limb of the Moon).

OH! Thank you for posting that, Chris! I had this conjunction noted in my diary so that I could ensure that I went outside to see it - and then we had massive cloud cover...

I saw the conjunction between Jupiter and The Moon on Christmas Day evening, quite by chance. It outshone all the Christmas decorations on our neighbour's houses.

Margarita

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:51 am**

I saw COLD! Below 0'F cold, Orion, and a few bright spots that the 3/4 moon wasn't hideing. Orion was shivering so much, that i thought his sword was going to fall off.

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:58 pm**

Beyond wrote:I saw COLD! Below 0'F cold, Orion, and a few bright spots that the 3/4 moon wasn't hideing. Orion was shivering so much, that i thought his sword was going to fall off.

Then he woulda been runnin around with his Wee Dirk exposed

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 10:30 pm**

BMAONE23 wrote:
Beyond wrote:I saw COLD! Below 0'F cold, Orion, and a few bright spots that the 3/4 moon wasn't hideing. Orion was shivering so much, that i thought his sword was going to fall off.
Then he woulda been runnin around with his Wee Dirk exposed

Aye, laddie... if he be a Scotsman. But the name Orion seems to be missing a wee bit o' the Scottish manner of nameing.

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:03 pm**

Beyond wrote:
BMAONE23 wrote:
Beyond wrote:I saw COLD! Below 0'F cold, Orion, and a few bright spots that the 3/4 moon wasn't hideing. Orion was shivering so much, that i thought his sword was going to fall off.
Then he woulda been runnin around with his Wee Dirk exposed
Aye, laddie... if he be a Scotsman. But the name Orion seems to be missing a wee bit o' the Scottish manner of nameing.

Can ye not see that he is IRISH? O'Rion, begob.

MMc

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:38 am**

MargaritaMc wrote:Can ye not see that he is IRISH? O'Rion, begob.

........begob

........

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:07 am**

Beyond wrote:
MargaritaMc wrote:Can ye not see that he is IRISH? O'Rion, begob.
........begob ........

I had never heard it, either. Wonder what it means? I tried to say it backwards: bogeb!

Doesn't work!

But begob sounds fun, however!

Ann

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:27 am**

O'Rion?

O'Ryan?

Ann

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:59 am**

Ann wrote:
O'Rion?
O'Ryan?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_%28surname%29 wrote:
<<Ryan is a common Irish surname, as well as being a common given name. In certain cases it can be a simplified form of Mulryan. In some cases the surname may be derived from the Irish Gaelic Ó Riagháin (modern Irish Ó Riain), meaning "descendant of Rían"; or Ó Maoilriain "descendant of Maoilriaghain", or Ó Ruaidhín "descendant of the little red one". The old Gaelic personal name Rían is of uncertain origin. It may be derived from the Gaelic rí, meaning "king".>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devlin_O%27Ryan wrote:
<<Devlin O'Ryan, occasionally codenamed Reflex, is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He became a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century.

Devlin O'Ryan is a native of the planet Xanthu. His mother was the Xanthu bureau chief of the Daily Planet, and Devlin decided to follow in her footsteps and become a journalist. Obtaining an internship with the Interstellar Press, he soon found himself working out of the Metropolis offices of the Daily Planet, alongside its star reporter Iris West Allen (the widow of Barry Allen, the 20th century superhero known as the Flash). Devlin and Iris were the first reporters to expose the Dominators' covert influence (and effective control) of Earth's government. His investigation led him to Winath as the Legion of Super-Heroes was being reformed by Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy) and Rokk Krin (Cosmic Boy), and he decided to accompany them.

When the Earth's moon was destroyed by the Dominion's Triple Strike program, detonating powerspheres all over Earth, Devlin was bombarded with null radiation. This triggered his dormant Metagene, granted him the ability to reflect virtually any physical or energy attack.

Devlin was the primary journalist carrying the story when Earth was destroyed, in a disaster reminiscent of the destruction of Krypton over a millennium earlier. Afterward, he remained with the Legion until he was de-aged into childhood by the time mistress Glorith.>>

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 3:35 am**

Ann wrote:
O'Rion?

O'Ryan?

Ann

Ah! a Meg-a star.

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:38 am**

Beyond wrote:
MargaritaMc wrote:Can ye not see that he is IRISH? O'Rion, begob.
........begob ........

Irish
—a mild oath
Variants of BEGOB

be·gob or be·gobs
Origin of BEGOB

euphemism for by God

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/begob

begob

(dated, dialectal, Ireland) by God
1894, Arthur Morrison, Martin Hewitt, Investigator[1]:
I spake to the polis, an' they laff at me, begob.
1922, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves[2]:
Two Irishmen, Pat and Mike, were walking along Broadway, and one said to the other, 'Begorrah, the race is not always to the swift,' and the other replied, 'Faith and begob, education is a drawing out, not a putting in.'"
1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Episode 12, The Cyclops
So anyhow Terry brought the three pints Joe was standing and begob the sight nearly left my eyes when I saw him land out a quid O, as true as I'm telling you

http://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/begob
]

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:56 pm**

Methinks I'm waiting for all this begob stuff to begone.

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:02 pm**

I saw raindrops in the sky tonight.

Earlier I saw Luna, stars, and some clouds! The clouds won!

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:45 pm**

I saw a large bird with square tipped wings flying directly overhead, just about sunset. Probably some sea bird going to roost inland. But I could not recognise it. It was probably a heron or even a crane, tho my book of Birds of Tenerife doesn't give cranes for living here.

All my bird books have pictures of birds from the side or above - only the birds of prey warrant a view as seen from below. Does anyone (Owlice?) know of any bird recognition websites that might give some useful pictures?

Margarita

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:51 pm**

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

I don't know how well Cornell covers European birds, as I've never had occasion to check, but it is one of the best bird sites on the web.

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:53 pm**

And though it's an excellent site, I perhaps could have done without this tidbit of info:

The Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks.

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:11 pm**

owlice wrote:And though it's an excellent site, I perhaps could have done without this tidbit of info:
The Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks.

It probably likes the smell!

Skunk oil is used in making perfume!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... 4429,d.dmQ

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:50 pm**

owlice wrote:http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

I don't know how well Cornell covers European birds, as I've never had occasion to check, but it is one of the best bird sites on the web.

Many thanks.
I found my bird - it was a crane.
There is a good photo in Wikipedia which shows the blunt end to the wings. (The image link says it is invalid, so it isn't posted here)

A common genera is called Grus - which constellation appears in today's Apod. Nice, huh?

By the way, geographically Tenerife is Africa, not Europe. Spain conquered it as a useful stepping stone to Turtle Island back in the fifteenth century. (Strictly speaking, to the land mass south of Turtle Island...)

Margarita

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:18 pm**

owlice wrote:And though it's an excellent site, I perhaps could have done without this tidbit of info:
The Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks.

No problemento, O' Gardian of the Codes.
GHO's not only look nice, but they get rid of the little stinkers in both the physical and cyber world. The cyber world's little stinkers being called spam.

WAY TO GO, GHO. RAH-RAH!!

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:40 pm**

It's been a terrible winter for star-watching; the sky has been overcast for what feels like months on end, and when the clouds on rare occasions have parted it has been absolutely brutally cold.

But this night was semi-clear - well, it was a tremendous improvement from overcast, that much is certain. And it was only sort of chilly, nowhere near so cold that you had to run for cover. Jupiter shone bright through the mist, and Orion rose, large but sickly pale, to the left of the King of the planets. Sirius rose in the east, too, looking subdued. Aldebaran was keeping Jupiter company, and with averted vision I could just barely make out the Pleiades.

Since it had been so long since I'd seen the clear sky, I had no idea what phase the Moon was in. So it was fantastic to spot the full Moon rise in the east, large, fat, round, yellow, and surrounded by a huge yellow "reflection nebula" of mist, almost like supergiant star Antares.

The night sky was obviously blue, which made the contrast between the luminous yellow mist and the blue night sky even more striking.

David Malin, the great RGB astrophotography pioneer, has pointed out that the moonlit night sky is blue. And indeed, it is.

Ann

Starship Asterisk*

What did you see in the sky tonight?

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight? Begob!

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight? Calling Owlice.

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