Giveaway of the Day Forums » General discussion

1. RunesageMagik
   Member

   You wrote: "That sparked an interest in Astronomy with my son; which was about the same age as when I got into it. I remember my dad buying me a telescope for Christmas, which is what I’ve done for him this year, although he obviously doesn’t know it yet. He’s had to put up with a weak pair of binoculars in the mean time which is okay for watching the moon, but nothing else."

   Great gift, wabbit, even as humans are erasing the skies with night lighting and smog. I still have fond memories of sitting in a newly constructed snow fort late on a freezing night waaaay back in 1960(?) sketching a winter lunar eclipse with my then new telescope. Hope your kid gets a chance to see Comet Holmes before it fades. It was amazing even with binocs back in October.
   http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10775326.html

   FWIW - IMHO, the best free skywatcher appl is Stellarium - www.stellarium.org/

   Another really good planetarium appl is Asynx' Planetarium, though it lacked for user-friendly intuitiveness. I believe they've tried to rectify that somewhat in the latest version, but I've not yet downloaded it. http://www.asynx-planetarium.com/index.php

   Posted 7 months ago #

2. qb7894
   Member

   Thank you for such great links....

   Posted 7 months ago #

3. Whiterabbit-uk
   Member

   I have to agree, Stellarium is fantastic. As a scout I joined the local Astronomical Society, (as part of my Duke of Edinburgh Award) which was brilliant as it gave me access to much larger reflecting telescopes. I remember my first sight of Saturn with a 12 inch reflecting telescope; simply awesome. The telescope I have for Cal is only a budget refracting telescope, but you can see the main band of clouds on Jupiter, (just about), and some of the larger galaxies. I fondly remember sitting out late on a winter’s night at the clubs 'shed', which was a few miles from any street lighting.

   I do agree with the light pollution problem. I can't remember the last time I saw a decent night sky where I live as the lights from Manchester, which is about 15 miles away drowns out the Northern part of the sky. The last time I actually watched the night sky was while me and my then girlfriend (who I later married) were camping, which coincided with one of the August Meteor swarms. That was a great night as we spent virtually the whole night with out heads stuck out of the tent watching the display (we were in the middle of Exmoor in the UK at the time, so light pollution was at a minimum. I do wish all lights had those shades that direct the light onto the ground instead of in all directions as the night sky really is something to behold when there's real darkness.

   I'm looking forwards to staying up with my son. I hope he takes to it like I did, but if not, “Cest la Vie”.

   I tried to build a 6" reflector, but couldn't afford to buy a ready made mirror, and to grind one was beyond my abilities at the time. Although I remember the kits were a lot cheaper than buying a ready made one. Sheesh, I'm really in a reminiscent mood tonight. I’ll try the Asynx planetarium link you posted above. Thank you.

   White Rabbit

   Posted 7 months ago #

4. RunesageMagik
   Member

   Wabbit, this should keep you busy -
   http://freeware.intrastar.net/astronmy.htm

   Posted 5 months ago #

5. Whiterabbit-uk
   Member

   Thanks, got this via Email, lol.

   Posted 5 months ago #

6. RunesageMagik
   Member

   First GAOTD Total Lunar Eclipse Party?

   When will it be coming to your neighborhood time zone?
   Maximum eclipse, and maximum beauty, occurs -

   21FEB 03:26 GMT

   20FEB 22:26 EST :-( supposed to be cloudy with flurries

   20FEB 19:26 PST

   http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/13feb_lunareclipse.htm

   Posted 5 months ago #

7. graylox
   Member

   yes. let's have a party that night !
   I'll serve my obscured black potato salad

   http://www.esa.int/images/TLE2008Feb21-Map1_H.GIF

   Posted 5 months ago #

8. RunesageMagik
   Member

   Did you space junkies know that NASA will celebrate their 50th year of trying to copyright the slogan "Houston, we have a problem" by launching a new interactive web site? Take a TOUR.

   Or, skip the docent's monologue and head right to the SITE.

   Be sure to drag the rugrats away from their gameboys and cell phones to play educational space games. Who knows what they might learn? Fun things like how to juggle books to hide overruns, miscalculate orbital trajectories and thus overshoot objects in space, or maybe how to build incredibly ungainly and costly tin can white elephants that circle the globe every 90 minutes dodging debris and solar radiation instead of establishing a base on a perfectly good moon just a quarter million miles away.

   Personally, I never felt they give Barbara Eden nearly enough credit for all her tummy did to popularize the early space program.

   Posted 4 months ago #

9. funkymom
   Member

   oh man- i had such a crush on major anthony nelson when i was a kid, i wonder if that had anything to do with me wanting to be an astronaut? and some of you know about my childhood belief that i was a "jeannie"/genie sent to live with mortals until my powers developed.

   :D

   Posted 4 months ago #

10. bluhoteyes
    Member

    lol oh my funky me too loved i dream of jeannie it was an excellent show and me too i wanted to be an astronaut as a kid along with wanting to be a ballarina was neither in the end:)

    Posted 4 months ago #

11. maizeydaze
    Member

    Google Sky is now available on the web. The historical overlay is a nice touch. Use the slider to adjust overlay transparency.

    Posted 4 months ago #

12. RunesageMagik
    Member

    Thanks for the heads up, Maizey. That's a keeper.

    Posted 4 months ago #

13. maizeydaze
    Member

    Sure thang there, Royal Squidy!

    Posted 4 months ago #

14. RunesageMagik
    Member

    That's YMRS (yer majestikal royal squidness) to my many vassals and supplicants. Those who use the familiar risk being turned into something, er, logical !

    Uh oh, I can't believe I did that. Funky's gonna have a field day.

    Posted 4 months ago #

15. maizeydaze
    Member

    POOF!

    Posted 4 months ago #

16. funkymom
    Member

    oh rune, rune, rune. the only logical thing about that is that it's a comic and therefore obviously a joke.

    just as the smoke started coming out of my ears i saw the picture of me. where did you get that!?! that's personal and private. very few beings have ever seen my true form and now you've posted it for the world to see. tomorrow it'll be on tmz or perez hilton.

    thanks alot!

    Posted 3 months ago #

17. RunesageMagik
    Member

    NASA's going to let everybody fly up to the edge of space, no need to cough up $20million for a ticket. BYOAB (bring your own airsickness bag)

    Posted 2 months ago #

18. maizeydaze
    Member

    "WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe."

    "Choose from a growing number of guided tours of the sky by astronomers and educators from some of the most famous observatories and planetariums in the country. Feel free at any time to pause the tour, explore on your own (with multiple information sources for objects at your fingertips), and rejoin the tour where you left off. Join Harvard Astronomer Alyssa Goodman on a journey showing how dust in the Milky Way Galaxy condenses into stars and planets. Take a tour with University of Chicago Cosmologist Mike Gladders two billion years into the past to see a gravitational lens bending the light from galaxies allowing you to see billions more years into the past."

    Posted 2 months ago #

19. Deserthead47
    Member

    Looks like interesting software,downloaded and have had a quick tour of the galaxy.Will definately keep this one.Thanks for the link.Another site worth checking out is www.spacetelescope.org. for images from the Hubble telescope.

    Posted 2 months ago #

20. graylox
    Member

    Stephen,
    are you waiting on flex gif too ?
    in the meantime try to puzzle this one:

    http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA10634_modest.jpg

    WHAT'S WAITING ON MARS?
    http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/08/998587.aspx

    Posted 2 months ago #

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