Hobby Thread - June 22, 2024 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Do not adjust your interweb. This thread is going to be out of this world. A spin of the Ace of Spades "wheel of hobbies" has come up with astronomy.

TRex has always been intrigued by the night sky. What is out there? What can you see? Planets and moons, meteors, comets, and galaxies are tantalizingly close but ever so far away. The sceince is compelling, the artistry is dramatic, and the vast unknown challenges everything we think we know about space and time.

Are you intrigued by astronomy? Do you gaze upward to the heavens? Are planetariums playgrounds for you? Do you have your own telescope equipment? Do you shoot photos of the moon, star trails or the Milky Way? Have you seen the northern lights?

Do you track satellites or the space station?

Do you have a cool telescope? Have you poured a ridiculous amount of money into fancy glass or are you finding amazing things with low-cost simple solutions? Are you computerized? How did you get started? Did someone show you Saturn's rings in a telescope?

While the constellations are named and have their own lore, let's keep the theme to astronomy rather than astrology. Maybe another time...

As usual, keep this thread limited to hobbies. Politics and current events can wait for other threads.

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Let's get started. Sing it, Frank:

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Top photo - The hubble telescope was launched in 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31). Discovery is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space annex near Dulles Airport outside of Washington, DC. The original plan envisioned a lifespan of about 15 years. Its life was extended thanks, in part, to five servicing missions with other Space Shuttle flights (1993, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2009).

Hubble is showing age and parts are faltering. It isn't dead yet and expected to run into the 2030s. NASA recently considered and rejected a SpaceX proposal to re-boost the telescope to a higher altitude and extend its life.

NASA has a sequence of videos from the Hubble telescope mission control facility at the Goddard Space Flight facility. Spin each video around for a 360 degree view.

NASA's gallery of Hubble images is vast.

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Ten tips for beginners:

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The worlds largest home-built amateur telescope?

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Amateur astronomers took up the challenge of tracking the US military's classified X-37B orbital test vehicle since it was first launched in 2010.

Amateur Satellite Tracker Spots US Military's Classified Space Plane (2024 story)

X-37's Next -- and 7th -- Launch Could Be Its Last (2023 story)

Air Force's Mysterious X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Astronomers (2015 story)

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Amateur astronomers have identified a lot of celestial bodies, including moons of Jupiter:

Jupiter may have dozens or even hundreds of undiscovered moons orbiting around it. This massive planet boasts a substantial gravitational field that allows it to capture space debris into its orbit. Jupiter currently hosts at least 79 moons, and the number continues to grow.Amateur astronomer discovers a tiny moon around Jupiter (2021 story)

Apparently the 79 count is outdated. NASA's website says 95 moons of Jupiter have been officially recognized.

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The space station is a science project. Shooting photos of the space station is also a science project:

NASA also has a real-time space station tracking map. On a clear night, if you know where to look, you can see the point of light transiting the night sky with the naked eye.

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If you like science, space, engineering, and generally trying to figure out how things work, you should know Destin and his SmarterEveryDay Youtube channel. He asks questions, finds answers, meets experts, and explains how it all works and why. His channel has dozens of great videos, but the one he did in May after the ecplipse is amazing. He didn't just watch the eclipse - he took an epic photograph:

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory posts a four to five minute video each month for stargazers pointing out features in the sky for that month. This one is for the current month of June, but the one for July will be along shortly.

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The galaxy of Centaurus A is around 11 million light years away in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. This photo is believed to be the deepest view ever obtained of Centaurus A and likely the deepest image ever taken with amateur equipment. It took over 100 hours of exposure. This is "amateur" but well down the rabbit hole. Lots of great photos and knoweldge on the website - read more from Rolf Alsen photography.

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Always good to know your neighbors. Andromeda is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way. It is 2.5 million light years away. The Milky Way and Andromeda merge in about 4.5 billion years and will probably form a huge elliptical galaxy. Andromeda is a popular target for astronomers and you don't need fancy equipment to see it.

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If astronomy is not your thing and you can't find something in the content that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different hobby next time around. Send thoughts or suggestions to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. The truth is out there. Thanks for being here.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Ein

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 22, 2024 05:40 PM (MoZTd)

2 We have tens of thousands of telescopes scanning the heavens 24/7 and not one identified alien flying object. They must all have cloaking devices.

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2024 05:41 PM (SHMXB)

3
*strikes heroic pose next to fluttering personal flag*

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 22, 2024 05:41 PM (MoZTd)

4 If you're interested in astronomy, as I am, I strongly recommend NASA's web site "Astronomy Picture of the Day" (apod.nasa.gov). Each day, a different astronomy-related picture, with a brief description by an astronomer. Good stuff!

Posted by: Nemo at June 22, 2024 05:42 PM (S6ArX)

5 I've always found astronomy fascinating. I've bought a telescope or two over the years but you really need someone knowledgeable to set them up properly.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at June 22, 2024 05:43 PM (CHHv1)

6 Well there you are you no-noodniks you

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:44 PM (DPF2W)

7 The Night Sky app (or a similar app) is essential if you have an amateur interest in astronomy.

It shows all of the visible stars, planets, and even tracks satellites and ISS.

It's pretty cool.

I used it earlier this year during the solar eclipse to witness the alignment of all of the planets.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 22, 2024 05:45 PM (BpYfr)

8 They must all have cloaking devices.
Posted by: polynikes

Or we are under interdiction

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:47 PM (DPF2W)

9 Eh. You look at a pretty picture of a galaxy far, far away, and then you read in the description that the galaxy is 100 light years away. What does it matter what happened 100 years ago?

Posted by: mrp at June 22, 2024 05:48 PM (rj6Yv)

10 My hobby is motorcycles. I spent today riding about 200 miles. It was only 92 and didn't feel too bad when moving. Drank a lot of water, and now I'm making up for that with some Makers. Cheers.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at June 22, 2024 05:49 PM (Aoykm)

11 Orion 8" reflector.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 22, 2024 05:49 PM (Q4IgG)

12 I am fascinated by the size and numbers associated with space. A light year is almost 6 trillion miles.

The fastest manned vehicle speed is about 25k mph. Speed of light is about 670 million mph.

The observable universe diameter is about 93 billion light years.

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2024 05:50 PM (SHMXB)

13 There are two spots where I love to camp because of just how brilliant the stars are; Grand Mesa, Colorado and the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. I will spend hours lying on my back just looking, sometimes using my binoculars.

The Yukon has beautiful night skies as well, but that is too far away.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Ready for the Cart at June 22, 2024 05:51 PM (hZc6Q)

14 Posted by: Jak Sucio at June 22, 2024 05:49 PM (Aoykm

What are you riding?

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2024 05:51 PM (SHMXB)

15 Hijack?
As in ride it like you stole it.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 22, 2024 05:52 PM (cOq4q)

16 We are tag-alongs today to KTE's hobby of watching Ballet - today we watched Onegin in NYC
I had the hardest time staying awake for Act 1

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:53 PM (DPF2W)

17 publius gonna stroke out when sees this thread.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2024 05:53 PM (RIvkX)

18 I have determined a way to turn a Colt 1892 38 Long Colt revolver with its Rube Goldbergian guts, into a single shot trainer. I'm waiting on a 10mm brass rod in shipping, it's a fun idea.
I know, but it's not really a Gun Thread thing it's a hobby thing.
So I'm pretty satisfied, it's taken a while to figure out how to lock the cylinder. The old Colts are really a clockwork mechanism and the 1892s are a masterpiece of Fin De Siecle elaboration and should NEVER have been distributed as you know 'guns' that someone might really need.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 05:54 PM (bFId9)

19 I posted my latest landscape oil painting I did based on a photo posted on the Cafe thread or ONT a while ago. Stuppleart.com.

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2024 05:54 PM (SHMXB)

20 7 The Night Sky app (or a similar app) is essential if you have an amateur interest in astronomy. It shows all of the visible stars, planets, and even tracks satellites and ISS.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 22, 2024 05:45 PM
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I marvel at the amount of information we have at our fingertips on such a wide range of things. This is a good example. Hard to believe that anyone would have imagined a few decades ago that amateurs armed with a mobile phone would have such information available at relatively low cost.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 05:54 PM (IQ6Gq)

21 The smarter our phones are the dumber we get

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:56 PM (DPF2W)

22 I gave my 10" dobson to my oldest boy so he see the Southern Hemisphere when I picked up a used 9" meade with a whole bunch of accessories.

I've been enjoying meteor showers in recent years so I just picked up pair of Orion 2x54 Ultra Wide Angle Binoculars. These gather an amazing amount of light and I can't wait for the next major shower or really any good shower: the Aug 12 Perseid comes to mind.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 05:56 PM (UC3nL)

23 Looking thru a telescope and seeing planets and nebulae and such is a magical thing that can't be duplicated thru pictures. It gives you a sense of your minuscule place in the universe.

Posted by: fd at June 22, 2024 05:57 PM (vFG9F)

24 My newest hobby is trying to walk straight

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:57 PM (DPF2W)

25 They must all have cloaking devices.
Posted by: polynikes

Or we are under interdiction
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:47 PM (DPF2W)

the first "human" they picked up was a feral tomcat, and from the contact they labeled the entire system: "can't be bargained with, can't be reasoned with, doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not give up, ever."

Posted by: Kindltot at June 22, 2024 05:58 PM (D7oie)

26 There are no aliens. The distances are astronomical.

Posted by: No one of any consequence at June 22, 2024 05:58 PM (VuZH8)

27 23 Looking thru a telescope and seeing planets and nebulae and such is a magical thing that can't be duplicated thru pictures. It gives you a sense of your minuscule place in the universe.

Posted by: fd at June 22, 2024 05:57 PM (vFG9F)
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Yes. This. Perspective is priceless.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 05:58 PM (IQ6Gq)

28 A couple years ago the ISS (space station) was due to be over our place and be visible. Our grandson and us went out to view. Pretty cool.

But not as cool as the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 2021 or 2022?

Those photos were the bomb.

But... being able to see the aurora from the solar storms earlier was cooler.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 22, 2024 06:00 PM (Q4IgG)

29 I have a new to me teardrop trailer, a 2017 T@g. I haven't taken it out yet but will be this week. I want to do some overnighters in this area. And if I just hang out in it a lot at home, that's okay too.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 22, 2024 06:00 PM (xjTDL)

30 My newest hobby is trying to walk straight
Posted by: vmom stabby

Now that right there is funny.
May your world not spin!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 06:00 PM (UC3nL)

31 Back in middle school and high school I was bigly interested in all things space related. Even got admitted to an astrophysics honors program at Big University. First real astronomy class killed any interest in that stuff.
Went for computer science next. Got to third CS class and lost interest. The two classes for Pascal should have clued me in...
Finished out with a degree in civil (geotech and structural) engineering. Found myself doing bricks and mortar stuff at Cape Canaveral about 15 years years. Welp, that was a big circle.
Still live in the area, sometimes I will even go outside and watch a rocket launch.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 22, 2024 06:01 PM (cOq4q)

32 My racist neighbors are listening to Frank Sinatra.

But the charcoal grill needs inspiration for these racks of babybacks and tri-tip roast.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at June 22, 2024 06:02 PM (dmXQN)

33 I spent several hours yesterday pulling a three position switch out of a junked window fan to put into an old box fan with a bad switch.
It worked for about 5 minutes, and then I decided to pull it apart to put in the cord from the junked fan as well, and it stopped working.

I need to find another couple of hours and a lot of connectors to rewire the durned thing.

For those five minutes I was feeling pretty proud of myself, though. I didn't pop a breaker or release the magic smoke!

Posted by: Kindltot at June 22, 2024 06:02 PM (D7oie)

34 Amateur astronomy literally set the direction for my career.

When I was ~5y.o., I discovered two items that became very important in my life: one was my parents' pair of opera glasses, and the other was a book on stargazing called "The Stars" by H.A. Rey (still in print), who is best known for his Curious George books. His book on the stars made the night sky understandable. From the first time I used it outside at night, I was hooked. I could also see (using the opera glasses) craters on the moon and four of the moons of Jupiter, which changed place relative to the planet on a single evening.

I graduated from there to using a telescope that was motorized to track the stars as they spun overhead due to the Earth's rotation. I also bought an early SLR camera, which I piggybacked on to the telescope so that I could take hours-long exposures of the galaxies and nebulae.

Because of all that, I wanted to be an astronomer but thought that too narrow a college major. So I majored in physics, intending to get back into astronomy after my formal education was done, but ended up liking physics more. I'm now close to retirement and still remember how I got my start.

Posted by: crisis du jour at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (Q5kPc)

35 I am reading, catching up, and with the Jewish contributors here, having been accused of singling out. I refute this claim but yes lately I've been reading Kabbalah stuff, the concepts of which are by no means restricted to Hebrews; and hence a problem.
It's a hobby thread but hobbies, are often small experiments that can lead to great things.
So I've been going back over my extensive library of Russian Alchemy, retained in my own Orthodox Church, to examine concepts of Energy and Force which can be easily reproduced

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (bFId9)

36 A cub scout leader asked to bring my dobson to let the scouts check out Saturn (years ago!). It was a mob scene so I lined them up and each got some time viewing. The parents arrived at the end of the meeting; but, instead of grabbing their scout they all got in line for a view. It was priceless.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (UC3nL)

37 >>>The fastest manned vehicle speed is about 25k mph. Speed of light is about 670 million mph.

The observable universe diameter is about 93 billion light years.
Posted by: polynikes
----------------------

Worm Hole futures, that's where it's at.

Posted by: Braenyard at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (mP6Ur)

38 And I'm going to try some Boro. This is essentially Japanese mending. Came about when they did not have warm clothes and used the patches and stitching to make them a bit warmer. I have patched a lot of jeans and overalls in my day. This should be more fun.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (xjTDL)

39 I very often look up tje Space Station tracking and go see it at peak times. Usually wait for high and longest viewing times. Best when it's just before or after sunset

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 06:05 PM (fwDg9)

40 36 A cub scout leader asked to bring my dobson to let the scouts check out Saturn (years ago!). It was a mob scene so I lined them up and each got some time viewing. The parents arrived at the end of the meeting; but, instead of grabbing their scout they all got in line for a view. It was priceless.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (UC3nL)
***
Love this.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:05 PM (IQ6Gq)

41 Awesome picture of all the money we wasted doing the same thing over and over again.
_cue Nathan Sykes

Posted by: Braenyard at June 22, 2024 06:05 PM (mP6Ur)

42 Love the thread topic and the cool content you have provided. Thanks much.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at June 22, 2024 06:06 PM (mH6SG)

43 The best place for viewing stars that I've ever encountered is at sea out of sight of land. No natural light and the horizon is 360 degrees. On a clear night it's a spectacular sight.

There's an observatory down the coast in Rhode Island that is open to the public on select nights. Been meaning to check it out.

https://frostydrew.org/observatory/

Posted by: JackStraw at June 22, 2024 06:06 PM (LkLld)

44 I've been reading the treatises of Russian Cosmologists, pre Bolshevik.
There is a lady who summed them up nicely, one Sophie Y Andarovna, did a paper.
Very well done. You can find her paper in pdf, very highly recommended.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:06 PM (bFId9)

45 We were on a cruise many years ago. On a lark I went up on deck... well some deck where I could see the sky and was amazed.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 22, 2024 06:07 PM (Q4IgG)

46 The best place for viewing stars that I've ever encountered is at sea out of sight of land. No natural light and the horizon is 360 degrees. On a clear night it's a spectacular sight.

There's an observatory down the coast in Rhode Island that is open to the public on select nights. Been meaning to check it out.

https://frostydrew.org/observatory/
Posted by: JackStraw at June 22, 2024 06:06 PM (LkLld)

I would love, love, love to see the sky from the ocean. I also want to see the southern hemisphere sky.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Ready for the Cart at June 22, 2024 06:08 PM (hZc6Q)

47 Nothing too exciting but this is inside one of my wine cabinets I have made.
tinyurl.com/d7jsjw9r

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 06:08 PM (fwDg9)

48 Ace has a shocking number of really abstract Space and Aeronautics people.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:08 PM (bFId9)

49 34 Amateur astronomy literally set the direction for my career.

Posted by: crisis du jour at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (Q5kPc)
***
Thanks for sharing. Good stuff. I knew astronomy involved math as a kid, but didn't realize for a while that "professional" astronomers aren't really looking through an eye piece all day. They're sifting data, running calculations looking for anomalies, and testing the laws of physics.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:09 PM (IQ6Gq)

50 The best place for viewing stars that I've ever encountered is at sea out of sight of land. No natural light and the horizon is 360 degrees. On a clear night it's a spectacular sight.
Posted by: JackStraw

2 cruises courtesy of Uncle Sam one of which was mostly in the South China Sea. Beautiful star gazing.
Sitting on the bow of an aircraft carrier at night you get that weird feeling that you're not even a speck in the universe.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 06:10 PM (UC3nL)

51 There's an observatory down the coast in Rhode Island that is open to the public on select nights. Been meaning to check it out.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 22, 2024 06:06 PM (LkLld)
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We have a 16" telescope on the campus where I work. They sometimes open it up for public viewing nights. I went once when I was an undergrad student. It was pretty neat to see the rings of Saturn, the ice caps of Mars, and the mountains on the Moon.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 22, 2024 06:13 PM (BpYfr)

52 Eventually anyone dealing in Big Think, has to ask, and answer, the question of, Is there an input.

Is the Universe finite with only Energy swirling around like a roller derby, or is there an outside input?

I was thinking about this working on my antique revolver as to turn the cylinder introduces Time. That is, you can test the lockup but every time you do it, it is a different moment in Time.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:13 PM (bFId9)

53 38 And I'm going to try some Boro

--
oh I saw a book on Boro - it looks really cool

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 06:13 PM (DPF2W)

54 I grew up reading in the encyclopedias about the planets and the Sun. One of my Golden Books tomes focused on the Solar System, and their painting of Mars as it would look from Phobos or Deimos has always stuck with me: It hinted at the infamous canals, while the story made it clear that they were mythical. (I had a volleyball around the same time that looked very much like it.)

Early SF focused on the planets, of course. In 1944 or whatever, Mercury and Mars were very exotic to readers, as much as the extra-solar worlds of Trek were twenty-odd years later. To this day, Heinlein's Luna City seems not only comfortable and familiar, but exotic and alien as well.

In one of his Known Space stories, Larry Niven postulated there would be several trans-Plutonian planets unknown to us today. Ice balls, no doubt, where the Sun would be not much more than a bright spark in the sky.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:15 PM (omVj0)

55 38 And I'm going to try some Boro. This is essentially Japanese mending. Came about when they did not have warm clothes and used the patches and stitching to make them a bit warmer.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 22, 2024 06:03 PM (xjTDL)
***
Never heard of boro but just did a search. Apparently the term comes from the Japanese word for "tatters" - as in your clothes are in tatters. Have you ever tried to make lace?

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:15 PM (IQ6Gq)

56 Nice, Skip!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 06:15 PM (DPF2W)

57 The night sky on the outskirts of Denver twenty-five years ago, even with the light pollution from the city, was astonishing. Almost no clouds, thinner drier air. You could imagine someone actually using starlight to see by.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:17 PM (omVj0)

58 The best place for viewing stars that I've ever encountered is at sea out of sight of land.
********************
Haven't had the opportunity to view stars from sea, but as a city girl, my trip to Crater Lake OR was quite the experience. I never saw so many stars in my life. Even woke up at 2:30am so I could continue viewing them...

Posted by: Grateful at June 22, 2024 06:17 PM (IQ6Gq)

59 In one of his Known Space stories, Larry Niven postulated there would be several trans-Plutonian planets unknown to us today. Ice balls, no doubt, where the Sun would be not much more than a bright spark in the sky.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:15 PM (omVj0)
---
In Moron Author Patrick Chiles' Frozen Orbit, the main characters set out on an expedition to visit one of these objects...and find something completely different.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 22, 2024 06:17 PM (BpYfr)

60 Boro isn't hard. It's mostly running stitch, done with a thick thread. I'm thinking about a couple of yhrow pillows for the trailer.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 22, 2024 06:17 PM (xjTDL)

61 I actually have a project that's keeping me interested. I've done around a minute or so of animation this week.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at June 22, 2024 06:17 PM (CHHv1)

62 17

Publius:

Finally! They've come to understand me-

Hissy Fit: You're not Len.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:18 PM (bFId9)

63 56 Nice, Skip!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 06:15 PM (DPF2W)
***
Seconded! Thanks for posting. Enjoy filling and emptying!

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:19 PM (IQ6Gq)

64 61 I actually have a project that's keeping me interested. I've done around a minute or so of animation this week.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at June 22, 2024 06:17 PM (CHHv1)
***
Drawing individual pictures like old cartoons?

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:20 PM (IQ6Gq)

65 >>>Ace has a shocking number of really abstract Space and Aeronautics people.

Posted by: LenNeal

>I stopped looking at the stars when I saw a UFO prospecting a missile silo and a train moving nuclear material and nobody confirmed that the object existed.

There is nothing in this human world that can defy our concept of propulsion and physics as we perceive them that I have seen in 50 years later.

I must have had a bad childhood dream.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at June 22, 2024 06:20 PM (dmXQN)

66 Sadly at one point had well over a hundred bottles here. Those few are quick if needed. Under my basement stairs have Rd a rack that does have a number of very old bottles still.

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 06:21 PM (fwDg9)

67 I didn't read the story at Legalinsurrection.com but a super Nova is expected at some point soon?

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 06:22 PM (fwDg9)

68 61

Props.

Animation is HARD. Somewhere there might be 15 seconds of a drawn horse running I did with plastic film, over layed to keep register, recorded on an 8mm BH camera bought at a rummage sale for a dollar. It had a single exposure feature.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:23 PM (bFId9)

69 We do have a telescope but haven't used it in a while. It's an Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dobsonian reflector. Some of the views we got, especially of the moon, were spectacular but seeing planets was a problem. Now that I've had cataract surgery we should get it out again when the weather is cooler, less buggy, and have a longer dark period.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 06:23 PM (zudum)

70 If I look at that picture of the space-station crossing the sun, it appears as if the sun is shrinking. Anyone else experience this phenomenon?

Posted by: Angzarr the Cromulent at June 22, 2024 06:23 PM (XMwZJ)

71 The names Niven chose in his "The Borderland of Sol" novelette for the trans-plutonian planets were Persephone, Caina, Antenora, and Ptomelaia. He tells us that Persephone is tilted at *120 degrees* to the plane of the ecliptic, and retrograde. Ninety degrees I can picture, but 120 is hard for me to visualize.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:24 PM (omVj0)

72 Top tip - don't miss the hidden links in the content! Check the photos for more.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:25 PM (IQ6Gq)

73 >>I would love, love, love to see the sky from the ocean. I also want to see the southern hemisphere sky.

I've been fortunate enough to see the start from the southern hemisphere a number of times. My two favorites were in a game preserve in Africa and in a park that sits on a bluff overlooking Perth, Australia. The city was below the park and even with the light it gave off the sky was spectacular.

The Southern Cross is pretty damn cool.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 22, 2024 06:25 PM (LkLld)

74 stars

Posted by: JackStraw at June 22, 2024 06:26 PM (LkLld)

75 65

I'm re reading Jack Lindsay, the Aussie Brit Communist, who wrote BLAST POWER AND BALLISTICS, and being able to discern where his dialectal might have been insufficient.

Explains a lot about how current people are less interested in observation and more into things like colonization of Mars and Queering Space.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:26 PM (bFId9)

76 49 Thanks, TRex

I still do some occasional stargazing and teaching of astronomy, which is great fun, and take the occasional snapshot of a night-sky object or happening ... like the shots the last couple nights of the full moon rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Unfortunately, the digital censors here at the HQ won't let me link to it, so if you go to the photo-sharing site whose logo is one blue and one pink ball and search on my username, you'll see them as the first two photos in my (G-rated, family-friendly) stream. Username: nrg_crisis

Posted by: crisis du jour at June 22, 2024 06:26 PM (Q5kPc)

77 The observable universe diameter is about 93 billion light years.
Posted by: polynikes

-------------

The generally-accepted number for the age of the universe since the Big Bang is 14+ billion years. So you can look back less than 14 billion years, since light could not have been traveling toward us for longer than that.

I get that the universe is continuously expanding, but I don't see how expansion could account for an observable universe of 93 billion light years.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 06:28 PM (i+HwW)

78 71

At a certain BAC, at 120 lean I usually fall over, so if that helps Science

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:29 PM (bFId9)

79 If you live in a metro area, where can you operate a potato gun, the one you make with pvc pipe and fittings and a grill igniter?

And load with har spray?

Don't they sound like a deer rifle, when they fire?

Asking for my grandsons.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at June 22, 2024 06:30 PM (ZtgZZ)

80 I loved space matters since childhood. The thrill of seeing the first Alan Shepard Mercury launch has never faded. During the Apollo moon landing I didn't sleep as long as there was TV coverage.

I still watch as many SpaceX launches as I can. The YT SpaceFlightNow channel does an excellent job with details and camera work. And the upright landing and recovery of the booster remains amazing. I wish my target shooting was as accurate as those landings on the barge.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 06:30 PM (zudum)

81 47 Nothing too exciting but this is inside one of my wine cabinets I have made.
tinyurl.com/d7jsjw9r
Posted by: Skip
---------

Nice touch.

Posted by: Braenyard at June 22, 2024 06:32 PM (mP6Ur)

82 77

That's demanding proof of God, which any monotheism will inform you would be a catastrophe as it would eliminate Faith, a belief in the unseen.

I'm not telling you to doubt, I'm just saying it's not much of a question and after what millenia? Don't worry about it and go have a coffee.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:33 PM (bFId9)

83 I use heavens-above.com to track the ISS. Easy to use. Basically you want brightness in high negative numbers (like, -2.8, for example). Positive brightness numbers aren't visible to the naked eye.

It's dorky fun to read the approach direction and try to spot it as soon as you can. It looks like a big bright star moving horizon-to-horizon in about 90 seconds. The times listed on the website are exact.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at June 22, 2024 06:33 PM (CJpqq)

84 "The Milky Way and Andromeda merge in about 4.5 billion years and will probably form a huge elliptical galaxy..."

aka Cosmic Recycling

Posted by: gourmand du jour at June 22, 2024 06:33 PM (MeG8a)

85 SpaceX followers might want to know Everyday Astronaut posted a walking tour of starbase with Elon Musk recorded the day before the last Starship flight. Part 2 is comes next week. Look for it on YT.
https://tinyurl.com/4tw466sf

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:35 PM (IQ6Gq)

86 Still doing the two Robyn SB-510Ds project. Got one that works fine, the other one is just frickin' weird. Sometimes, very rarely, I can make it work. Most of the times it just doesn't.

I thought maybe I had left a floating pin on one of the chips I had put in there, but no, that's not it. Thought maybe it could be heat related, but freezing the chips didn't make any difference. So now I'm in a position of having to remove everything and starting over. If it's not something I did in the wiring, then it's a defective bit of hardware. Either way, it's all coming out.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at June 22, 2024 06:35 PM (dZVON)

87 71 The names Niven chose in his "The Borderland of Sol" novelette for the trans-plutonian planets were Persephone, Caina, Antenora, and Ptomelaia. He tells us that Persephone is tilted at *120 degrees* to the plane of the ecliptic, and retrograde. Ninety degrees I can picture, but 120 is hard for me to visualize.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:24 PM (omVj0)
----

Thanks for the jump on the Book Thread! It's now in my library queue.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Transneptunian Pride at June 22, 2024 06:35 PM (0BdN4)

88 A sad note for those who enjoy shooting black powder cartridge and hand loading for military surplus rifles. Mike Venturino passed away earlier this month. I have several of his books and read his magazine articles for many years. He will be missed. Mike's writing was what got me interested in BP cartridge shooting for 45-70 and 45 Colt.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 06:36 PM (zudum)

89 79

Not that loud and it's usually not a gun so find a park.
Most municipal outfits have their ordinances online these days, check first.
It's how I leaned it's illegal in my town to throw snowballs at passing cars.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:36 PM (bFId9)

90 I love looking at the stars but I can't tell the big dipper from any other cluster. It's just so amazing to see all of the stars and know we are the only ones looking at them. I dont believe there are any other humanoid life forms. I think we were a one in a million chance.

Posted by: Megthered at June 22, 2024 06:36 PM (49Sxk)

91 I get that the universe is continuously expanding, but I don't see how expansion could account for an observable universe of 93 billion light years.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 06:28 PM (i+HwW)

Confusing semantics. In this case observable is not the same as visible. It’s based on objective calculations.

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2024 06:37 PM (SHMXB)

92 83 Positive brightness numbers aren't visible to the naked eye

Positive star magnitudes up to 3 are visible to the naked eye pretty much anywhere there's a clear sky. To get the +4s and +5s visible we need dark, moonless skies away from cities, but they are visible to just the eye under the right conditions.

Posted by: crisis du jour at June 22, 2024 06:37 PM (Q5kPc)

93 Andromeda is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way. It is 2.5 million light years away. The Milky Way and Andromeda merge in about 4.5 billion years and will probably form a huge elliptical galaxy.

*looks at train set*
Goes looking for beer.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2024 06:37 PM (W/lyH)

94 I only recognize the Big Dipper

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 06:38 PM (DPF2W)

95 Great thread, TRex. Nothing to contribute but I am enjoying the content.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 06:38 PM (8i5Iz)

96 Most places allow model rocketry.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:38 PM (bFId9)

97 Haven't had chance to use my home made black powder thinking I will be able to make some blank cartridges and do a few firing here on tje 4th of July

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 06:40 PM (fwDg9)

98 I've always liked the name Polaris. Seeing it in the night sky was a comfort. I'd always find my way home.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2024 06:40 PM (W/lyH)

99 Hey there Ben Had, I bet you get some mighty pretty stars in your part of TX...

Posted by: Grateful at June 22, 2024 06:41 PM (IQ6Gq)

100 Top tip - don't miss the hidden links in the content! Check the photos for more.
Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:25 PM (IQ6Gq)

====
No Facebook.
No Twitter.
No Instagram.
No clicking the mystery links.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2024 06:41 PM (RIvkX)

101 Wyoming, on 85. I stopped the car turned everything off and laid in the road. There was a slight glow from Denver but that was it.

I was stunned at what people used to see.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:42 PM (bFId9)

102 I heard about Mike Venturino. Nice guy.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:43 PM (bFId9)

103 Peyote and stargazing at the TexMoMee! Who's with me?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Transneptunian Pride at June 22, 2024 06:43 PM (0BdN4)

104 46 ... "I would love, love, love to see the sky from the ocean."

The best views of the Milky Way I ever saw was over the Atlantic. JackStraw will know when I mention Ocean Drive. Don't know what it's like now but 50-plus years ago that area had no light pollution and on a clear night the brightness of the Milky Way cast a sheen of diamonds on the water. Spectacular.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 06:43 PM (zudum)

105 Wyoming, on 85. I stopped the car turned everything off and laid in the road. There was a slight glow from Denver but that was it.

I was stunned at what people used to see.
Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 06:42 PM (bFId9)
***

Around Christmas Eve in Saudi Arabia, during the buildup for Desert Storm. A mostly moonless night and the sky was stunning.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2024 06:45 PM (W/lyH)

106 76 49 Thanks, TRex

if you go to the photo-sharing site whose logo is one blue and one pink ball and search on my username, you'll see them as the first two photos in my (G-rated, family-friendly) stream.

Posted by: crisis du jour at June 22, 2024 06:26 PM (Q5kPc)
***
I don't have an account so can't look, but thank you. Will see if I can figure out a solution. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and sign up.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:45 PM (IQ6Gq)

107 Thanks for the jump on the Book Thread! It's now in my library queue.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Transneptunian Pride at June 22, 2024

***
Eris, that novelette is in Niven's collection Tales of Known Space. It's the fifth of the stories about Beowulf Shaeffer, the interstellar tourist and reluctant adventurer. You'll find the others in his Neutron Star collection, which I love and recommend.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:46 PM (omVj0)

108 on a clear night the brightness of the Milky Way cast a sheen of diamonds on the water. Spectacular.
***********
That is incredible imagery. Would love to see it.

Posted by: Grateful at June 22, 2024 06:46 PM (IQ6Gq)

109 100
No Facebook.
No Twitter.
No Instagram.
No clicking the mystery links.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2024 06:41 PM
***
The mystery links do not go to any of those places.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:47 PM (IQ6Gq)

110 When we were using the telescope, I was shocked at the colors revealed looking at some star clusters. Now that my astigmatism and color perception is at normal levels, the thread got me thinking about what I might see. Hmmm!

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 06:48 PM (zudum)

111 The road up the former Mount Evans, NW of Denver, has to be one of the astronomically most 'romantic' spots on the continent. There was an artist-rendition restaurant there 60 years ago, that suffered an explosion and was never rebuilt. As of this year, the observatory down the road just a bit was closed due to "lack of interest" and light pollution, mostly the interest thing. Very sad.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at June 22, 2024 06:49 PM (zdLoL)

112 93 *looks at train set*
Goes looking for beer.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2024 06:37 PM (W/lyH)
***
Bwahahahahahaha!

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 06:49 PM (IQ6Gq)

113 >>The best views of the Milky Way I ever saw was over the Atlantic. JackStraw will know when I mention Ocean Drive. Don't know what it's like now but 50-plus years ago that area had no light pollution and on a clear night the brightness of the Milky Way cast a sheen of diamonds on the water. Spectacular.

Still beautiful, JTB. More developed than you remember but still pretty nice. It's a bit darker over on this part of the Bay.

Heading out to Block for the week after Labor Day to do some fishing. Another great place to see the stars

Posted by: JackStraw at June 22, 2024 06:49 PM (LkLld)

114 46 The best place for viewing stars that I've ever encountered is at sea out of sight of land. No natural light and the horizon is 360 degrees. On a clear night it's a spectacular sight.

I would love, love, love to see the sky from the ocean. I also want to see the southern hemisphere sky.

Seen both many times, the view of the stars from ~10k ft elevation far exceeds the view from the ocean thousands of miles from land. If you have any chance to drive up a mountain and look to the sky . . . take it! International dark sky parks (darksky.org) for the win!

Posted by: Build your own damn stadium!!! at June 22, 2024 06:50 PM (fIRVI)

115 At my location I would estimate I get less than a dozen clear evenings per year. I wanna go a road trip to some desert location where I can see the stars like in the famous Milky Way photographs.
I have seen it on a ship way out in the Pacific, tho'.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at June 22, 2024 06:51 PM (MeG8a)

116 Crisis d j,
Very similar path for me but I took my physics degrees and was able to pass myself off as an Engineer after some tweaking. I kept up with the astronomy world in the local clubs which I recommend to anyone interested in astronomical hardware and observation.

I ended up spending a lot of my career working on the Shuttle program at KSC. Brevard County has an amazingly active Astronomy Club btw

My greatest thrill was down in the Keys where I got to look at the Orion Nebula thru a 24 in f3 reflector with bino eyepieces. My son said I squeeled like a little girl.

Posted by: pawn at June 22, 2024 06:53 PM (rLHDH)

117 Confusing semantics. In this case observable is not the same as visible. It’s based on objective calculations.
Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2024 06:37 PM (SHMXB)

----------

I get that there is an absolute limit to what can hypothetically be observable in the universe. While you can look back in time by looking far, far out into space (given appropriate technology), you can't look back farther than the point in time at which photons themselves were created, since photons are the mediating particle for the transmission of electromagnetism, and hence, visible light. "Observable" hits a solid wall.

My question was, has the expansion of the universe multiplied the distance to the wall by a factor of more than six times since the Big Bang? This seems excessive.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 06:53 PM (i+HwW)

118 stargazing at the TexMoMee! Who's with me?
Posted by: All Hail Eris,

I'm with you for the stargazing... I don't need any additives.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 06:54 PM (UC3nL)

119 Oh, and you don't have to spend big $$ on a telescope, bring your binoculars, amazing views with simple 6x or 10x magnification.

Posted by: Build your own damn stadium!!! at June 22, 2024 06:54 PM (fIRVI)

120 The road up the former Mount Evans, NW of Denver, has to be one of the astronomically most 'romantic' spots on the continent. There was an artist-rendition restaurant there 60 years ago, that suffered an explosion and was never rebuilt. As of this year, the observatory down the road just a bit was closed due to "lack of interest" and light pollution, mostly the interest thing. Very sad.
Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at June 22, 2024

***
I never got to drive up there, or to Pikes Peak. The closest I got to Pikes was the "North Pole/Santa's Workshop" on the shoulder of the mountain. A beautiful amusement park.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 06:56 PM (omVj0)

121 85 SpaceX followers might want to know Everyday Astronaut posted a walking tour of starbase with Elon Musk recorded the day before the last Starship flight. Part 2 is comes next week. Look for it on YT.
https://tinyurl.com/4tw466sf
Posted by: TRex
-------------------

Musk, father of third child from Shivon Zilis his NeuroLink exec.
Eleven children he has. Doing his part to fight population implosion.

Posted by: Braenyard at June 22, 2024 06:57 PM (mP6Ur)

122 Eris , you were here when we saw the satellites being released weren't you?

Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 06:57 PM (8i5Iz)

123 I'm about 2/3 through a tin of Peterson's Elizabethan Mixture. A major Red Virginia hit and (for me) a significant nicotine jolt. I like it, and I'm glad I bought two tins.

Posted by: mrp at June 22, 2024 06:59 PM (rj6Yv)

124 ". I think we were a one in a million chance."

Given the number of planets in the universe, that still gives you tens of thousands of intelligent species.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at June 22, 2024 07:00 PM (Lo1jV)

125 We were staying far out in County Donegal, Ireland....went down a dark lane towards the ocean, and were just snapping photos of the night sky. Could see some of the Milky Way with the naked eye, but once they were downloaded, since the camera let in alot more light, the Milky Way was clearly spread across the sky. Makes one wonder what else is out there that we can't see.

Posted by: Grateful at June 22, 2024 07:00 PM (IQ6Gq)

126 67 a super Nova is expected at some point soon?

Yes, a supernova should be seen soon. The star that's about to go kablooey is ordinarily too dim to see. When it explodes, it will be equal to the top 20-25 brightest stars, but it won't be an huge blaze of light.

To see it: first, get used to the star field where it will flare up. The supernova will erupt in the constellation Corona Borealis (Northern Crown), which to me looks like a tiara. Most people can see 5 stars in the tiara on a clear night; the supernova will be the 6th when it happens.

To find Corona Borealis: Go out on a clear night (higher altitudes are better if you can) and stand facing northeast. Point both of your arms so that they make a right angle to each other with your line of sight facing NE in the middle. The bright orange-tinted star that your right hand is pointing to is called Arcturus, and the bright white-ish star that your left hand is pointing to is called Vega. Corona Borealis is about halfway between them. Seeing it beforehand will make identifying the supernova easier.

Map at nasa.gov

Posted by: crisis du jour at June 22, 2024 07:01 PM (Q5kPc)

127 I'm about 2/3 through a tin of Peterson's Elizabethan Mixture. A major Red Virginia hit and (for me) a significant nicotine jolt. I like it, and I'm glad I bought two tins.
Posted by: mrp at June 22, 2024

***
Mrp, you're a pipe smoker like JTB and me? Glad to hear it. Thanks for the warning about Elizabethan; I've had troubles with Sherlock Holmes blend, for instance, and i hear their Irish Flake is strong. Stirling Flake is reputed to be tough as well. I mix it with other things.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2024 07:02 PM (omVj0)

128 This morning was a very good opportunity to see the Space Station

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 07:02 PM (fwDg9)

129 Mo Meets past, I have set up my Vortex Razor HD, 27x60x85, angled viewfinder spotting scope, to take in the beautiful night sky, there.

One year, the moon was SO bright, you could actually risk eye damage from the reflected sunlight off of the moon's surface.

But the level of DETAIL available through the scope, is simply, astonishing.

So, I'll set it up again, this year. And also invite any other of the shooters with 'scopes, to do the same.

Let's get a lot of Horde looking through some SUPERB glass, this time around. And, yes. The quality of the scopes makes a shocking difference.

If you've never looked through Top End Glass at anything, ever.... then brace yourself. It's gonna be breathtaking.

Unless.... there's clouds.

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at June 22, 2024 07:03 PM (e6UQI)

130 My question was, has the expansion of the universe multiplied the distance to the wall by a factor of more than six times since the Big Bang? This seems excessive.
Posted by: Cicero'

This is old speculation, people did it looking at the Giant Bowl of stars in Central Asia millennia ago. You're not asking anything new. Mathematics is codifying cosmology. Math followed speculation, belief, did not guide it.
It is really up to you, as an individual, to decide if the Universe has an origination point, or not. You're into cosmology and philosophy here.
The Universe is either infinite or it is finite. If you believe it's infinite, then be a monotheist. If you think it isn't, then be an Alchemist. It's not that hard. I have a very good Mexican friend who is an Alchemist and does not believe in a Creator-God.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 07:04 PM (bFId9)

131 FYI, Wikipedia puts the radius of the observable universe at 45.7 light years in any direction.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 07:05 PM (i+HwW)

132 Hi Grateful. When the sun sets so do I, so not much stargazing done here.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 07:05 PM (8i5Iz)

133 129
Sounds great! I'm pulling for a clear night, as this would be a new experience for me!

Posted by: Grateful at June 22, 2024 07:05 PM (IQ6Gq)

134 BILLION light years.

45.7 billion light years.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 07:06 PM (i+HwW)

135 Given the number of planets in the universe, that still gives you tens of thousands of intelligent species.
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto'

My cat outsmarted me regularly, so what does that tell you...

Posted by: LenNeal is barely sentient at June 22, 2024 07:06 PM (bFId9)

136 Cat just brought in snake #13 for the season. Just a plain jane garter snake.

I am happy it is snakes and not mice. Mice get into the pantry.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 22, 2024 07:07 PM (D7oie)

137 Jim, what a nice idea. Thank you for offering.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 07:07 PM (8i5Iz)

138 If you are ever in the Keys and you have a hankering for some stellar entertainment, my good buddy SpaceyJay puts on regular star parties. Check out with the bulletin boards at the state parks or ask the rangers.

The Keys have really dark sky’s and excellent seeing.

Posted by: pawn at June 22, 2024 07:08 PM (TdeNT)

139 Even before I bring out the telescope, I should set up the 10x50 binoculars attached to a good tripod. My hands aren't as steady as they used to be and the tripod really helps. There are brackets available to connect the binos to the tripod. Even a suitably tall monopod helps. That has the added benefit of quick adjustment. I'm about a foot and a half taller than Mrs. JTB and being able to easily vary the height of the support would be nice.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 07:09 PM (zudum)

140 Your snakes are eating bugs and mice

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 07:09 PM (fwDg9)

141
122 Eris , you were here when we saw the satellites being released weren't you?
Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 06:57 PM (8i5Iz)
------

I can't tell if I was there or if I'm having a false memory from other people talking about it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Transneptunian Pride at June 22, 2024 07:09 PM (0BdN4)

142 122 Eris , you were here when we saw the satellites being released weren't you?
Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 06:57 PM (8i5Iz)
We were too! Mrs. E was in the stands at a baseball game and the 747 carrying the shuttle flew over. They were taking it back to Florida.

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2024 07:09 PM (LHPAg)

143 129 So, I'll set it up again, this year. And also invite any other of the shooters with 'scopes, to do the same.

Let's get a lot of Horde looking through some SUPERB glass, this time around.

Posted by: Jim at June 22, 2024 07:03 PM (e6UQI)
***
Thanks much Jim. Great idea! Anyone else want to bring your own equipment?

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:11 PM (IQ6Gq)

144 I thought it was a romantic touch in my SF tale, where Phil K takes his unexpectedly sentient android companion, Claire IX, on a date to 'look at the stars'.

And then he actually does!

Posted by: LenNeal is barely sentient at June 22, 2024 07:11 PM (bFId9)

145 It is really up to you, as an individual, to decide if the Universe has an origination point, or not. You're into cosmology and philosophy here.

------------

Given that time and space came into existence at the Big Bang and are merely effects experienced from within our universe, isn't it reasonable to say that our universe, beginning middle and end, existed at the moment of the Big Bang, even if the future isn't accessible by us from WITHIN the universe?

The idea makes an interesting case for predestination.

CALVINISTS, YOU'RE UP!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 07:12 PM (i+HwW)

146 35 plus years ago, the original non flying Space Shuttle Enterprise was parked at Dulles (before Udvar Hazy opened). My buddy, a law enforcement officer with the Airports Authority took me out back and we climbed around on it.

Posted by: actually inside the beltway at June 22, 2024 07:12 PM (ntk8v)

147 I can't tell if I was there or if I'm having a false memory from other people talking about it!
Posted by: All Hail Eris'

That's the mass false memory about that buxom girl having braces when Jaws meets her in MOONRAKER. It's common. Go brush your teeth.

Posted by: LenNeal is barely sentient at June 22, 2024 07:13 PM (bFId9)

148 BTW, Taro Tsujimoto - great nic.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:14 PM (IQ6Gq)

149 Trump's up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4QUTSgkdxw

Posted by: Braenyard at June 22, 2024 07:15 PM (mP6Ur)

150 Given that time and space came into existence at the Big Bang and are merely effects experienced from within our universe, isn't it reasonable to say that our universe, beginning middle and end, existed at the moment of the Big Bang, even if the future isn't accessible by us from WITHIN the universe?

The idea makes an interesting case for predestination.

CALVINISTS, YOU'RE UP!
Posted by: Cicero'

Alchemy accounts for circular spiral motion. It's an entirely different way of thinking and is not in any way linear. I don't believe it myself but it's become an issue for me in the last year.

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 07:15 PM (bFId9)

151 I wanted to bring my 8 in newt to Texas for the momeet a couple years ago but I got sick. I have a bunch of binos I hand out to folks at the star parties here that I could bring too but I am super busy right now making money which I need badly.

Sorry, things could change.

Posted by: pawn at June 22, 2024 07:16 PM (yCxCL)

152 Ben Had, I remember that string of brightly lit "pearls" hurtling though the dark night sky.

They traversed a path roughly from the far-left edge of the back patio driveway, moving East-ish, with a bit of Northward azimuth into the heading. I'd estimate the relative "length" of the string would've been about 1/6th of the sky, with that string maintaining formation, from into view to out of view, all in about a 90 second span.

It was dazzling, spectacular, and awe-inspiring.

And no one had to have dropped any peyote into my bourbon, for me to have been gobsmacked by the view!

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at June 22, 2024 07:17 PM (e6UQI)

153
Let's get a lot of Horde looking through some SUPERB glass, this time around.

Posted by: Jim at June 22, 2024 07:03 PM (e6UQI)
***
Thanks much Jim. Great idea! Anyone else want to bring your own equipment?
Posted by: TRex

I'll have mine there.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:17 PM (UC3nL)

154 Elon Musk ought to offer to buy Hubble for a dollar once NASA formally abandons it. Then he could fly his own techs up to modernize it, and then boost it to a higher orbit. Circum-Lunar orbit, maybe?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 22, 2024 07:17 PM (9mAoJ)

155 I did some contracting work at a City Yard in Chicago, South Side, and my buddy immediately took a sledgehammer, went on top of a junked police car, and commenced to whaling on it. I inquired, "What are you doing?"

He replied, "I've just always wanted to do this!"

Posted by: LenNeal at June 22, 2024 07:17 PM (bFId9)

156 153 I'll have mine there.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:17 PM
***
Hooray!! Looking forward to meeting you in person.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:19 PM (IQ6Gq)

157 Hooray!! Looking forward to meeting you in person.
Posted by: TRex

I'll be near the cooking areas.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:20 PM (UC3nL)

158 I gave my 10" dobson to my oldest boy so he see the Southern Hemisphere when I picked up a used 9" meade with a whole bunch of accessories.

I've been enjoying meteor showers in recent years so I just picked up pair of Orion 2x54 Ultra Wide Angle Binoculars. These gather an amazing amount of light and I can't wait for the next major shower or really any good shower: the Aug 12 Perseid comes to mind.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 05:56 PM (UC3nL)

I have a small Meade here at Peon Manor that I bought for cheap at a thrift store. It lacks an eyepiece. So I need an eyepiece for a 6" (I think) Meade reflector.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 22, 2024 07:21 PM (9mAoJ)

159 I got this from somewhere, can't remember where. Was considering it for my son's birthday in January but I'm not savvy enough in the Willy Ways of the Internet Promotions, nor the actual usefulness of the product.

Any analysis or comments?

Hestia: turn your phone into a smart telescope

https://tinyurl.com/54hutbx5

Posted by: javems at June 22, 2024 07:22 PM (8I4hW)

160 My newest hobby is trying to walk straight
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 22, 2024 05:57 PM (DPF2W)

Me, too!

Posted by: Joe Biden at June 22, 2024 07:22 PM (9mAoJ)

161 127 ... "Mrp, you're a pipe smoker like JTB and me? Glad to hear it. Thanks for the warning about Elizabethan"

Hi MRP and Wolfus,

I recently tried the Elizabethan Mixture and liked it. For my taste I find it to be flavorful and middle of the road strong. It burns slow and I think of it as a good blend for a long reading session. I like it with a strong black tea. The strongest tobacco I smoke is Three Nuns and some of the rustica blends. They are an occasional treat, preferably outside in colder weather. I got some of the Sutliff Match Victorian, their version of the Elizabethan, but haven't tried it yet. It does get good reviews.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 07:22 PM (zudum)

162 Is it time to give those fucking Canadians the Stanley Cup for the first time in 30+ years? (A Generation!)

Suck it up, hosers! Earn it!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at June 22, 2024 07:22 PM (dmXQN)

163 AZdeplorable, boy will you ever

Posted by: Ben Had at June 22, 2024 07:23 PM (8i5Iz)

164

My hobbies include solar thermodynamics, masturbation and strangling animals...

Posted by: Harry Baggot at June 22, 2024 07:23 PM (ViNgA)

165 I have some modest scopes, an older 114mm reflector and a Zhumell 8" Dob. I haven't done much stargazing this year, it seems like time has just been running away from me. I might have to get out a scope and enjoy some stars this week.

Posted by: Pennsyltucky at June 22, 2024 07:25 PM (2AUjo)

166 This is funny; when I was in Toastmasters (back in 2005), my final 10-minute speech was titled "America's Hobby" and was about the space program and all the benefits accrued therein. My opener was stating that baseball may be America's favorite past time but America's hobby is building space ships. And it's a damn shame we're not still doing it. Been space-crazy since the 60's. My birthday is April 8 and so rented a house in Texas and gathered friends together there to stand in the dark of the sun and watch the total solar eclipse. How people cannot care about that is beyond me.

Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:25 PM (HWxAD)

167 My hobbies include solar thermodynamics, masturbation and strangling animals

Don’t forget French.

Posted by: pawn at June 22, 2024 07:26 PM (yCxCL)

168 More on pipe tobacco. This morning I got some Stokkebye Virginia/oriental flake. That's a combination I haven't seen before.

Also, got a couple of tins of Pipe Force Episode II. Sutliff describes it thus:
"A mellow, sweet mixture of Bright, Red, and Stoved Virginia offers the exceptional base for smokey Latakia, floral Kentucky, spice of Stoved Katerini and the ambrosial berry and spice of Katerini Perique."

Haven't opened the tins yet. I'll report when I've tried them.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 07:28 PM (zudum)

169 I brought a reasonably good telescope to the southwest this spring. The problem is it takes a learning curve to setup and get it polar aligned and the rest of it. It’s worth it, but it’s a pain. I was in some of the darkest skies around, so I had to do it.

All I really need though, is a tripod and some sort of aiming device. Half of the fun is glassing stuff 20 miles away during the day, too. The astronomy mount is not really practical too often.

As far as the Moon goes, it is really cool. I think it is Tycho crater that is right at the bottom as visible from Erf. They should have landed there during Apollo, it has some amazing sharp relief. I think this is probably why the early “artists conception” sketches of the lunar surface were a bit wrong. They were looking through telescopes and getting their best guess.

I would love to see orbits around the Moon just off the deck. Mars too.

Until they could land Surveyor and things like that, some scientists thought the dust might be several feet thick on the Moon.

Posted by: Common Tater at June 22, 2024 07:29 PM (HNLv4)

170
I have a small Meade here at Peon Manor that I bought for cheap at a thrift store. It lacks an eyepiece. So I need an eyepiece for a 6" (I think) Meade reflector.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

There will be eye pieces available.
We can do the math to figure out what the max is; but, I've found most people like to see a bit more of the sky than what you get at max magnifications (smaller field of view).

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:29 PM (UC3nL)

171 166 My opener was stating that baseball may be America's favorite past time but America's hobby is building space ships. And it's a damn shame we're not still doing it.

Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:25 PM (HWxAD)
***
Great post. Given the interest here, I suspect model rocketry will make an appearance in a future hobby thread...

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:29 PM (IQ6Gq)

172 AZdeplorable, boy will you ever
Posted by: Ben Had

Heh, so looking forward to it!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:30 PM (UC3nL)

173 In Nov-85-Jan86 i was pulling UN Observation Post duty in South Lebanon. We had big US Navy ship twin-6" mounted binos for observation. With very little ambient light pollution, i would go up late at night, lean those mounts back so I could scan the stars, and I tracked Halley's Comet every night for months. Loved it.

Posted by: goatexchange at June 22, 2024 07:30 PM (RSCrA)

174 I won't get why Hockey goes on after Memorial day

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 07:31 PM (fwDg9)

175 AZdeplorable, boy will you ever
Posted by: Ben Had

Heh, so looking forward to it!
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:30 PM (UC3nL)
===

That's hot.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2024 07:31 PM (RIvkX)

176 Nood music!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:32 PM (UC3nL)

177 Music 🎶 NOOD

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2024 07:32 PM (fwDg9)

178 FYI, Wikipedia puts the radius of the observable universe at 45.7 light years in any direction.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at June 22, 2024 07:05 PM (i+HwW)
----
I think you left out the word "billion" in there somewhere...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 22, 2024 07:33 PM (BpYfr)

179 My telescope is sort of unusual. It's a spotting scope from a WW2 cruiser. Refractor, about 4 ft long, with a 4.5" lens. Made of brass and steel. The biggest gripe I have about it is that it weighs a ton.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at June 22, 2024 07:34 PM (fv27Y)

180 TRex, Thanks for another fun hobby thread.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2024 07:35 PM (zudum)

181 >>>My hobbies include solar thermodynamics, masturbation and strangling animals...

Posted by: Harry Baggot

>You're that wallflower I see at the local gatherings who looks like Gary Busey.

Dude, those fucking teeth!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at June 22, 2024 07:35 PM (dmXQN)

182 The biggest gripe I have about it is that it weighs a ton.
Posted by: AshevilleRobert

Literally or figuratively?

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:36 PM (UC3nL)

183 Thanks all for another fun hobby thread. Appreciate you being here!

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:37 PM (IQ6Gq)

184 It was good TRex.
Thank you.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 22, 2024 07:38 PM (UC3nL)

185
177 Great post. Given the interest here, I suspect model rocketry will make an appearance in a future hobby thread...
Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:29 PM (IQ6Gq)

***
Heh. Then you'll like my closing statement from that same speech:
Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of our, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby.

Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD)

186 @64 Sorry for late reply. Out shopping.

My animation is drawing in Photoshop and animating in Flash, so not quite frame-by-frame. I'm a lazy person by nature and frame-by-frame would put me in the nuthouse.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at June 22, 2024 07:45 PM (CHHv1)

187 Thanks for the Hobby Thread, TRex! I spent most of the day doing some yard cleanup with a view to making it easier to pursue my hobby of mucking about with old cars. Got enough shit moved, and grass mowed that I can resume the wrench-twisting. Dragged a rolling chassis that I use as an engine/transmission test bed up from the lower yard, and managed to mangle its poor little radiator with the loader bucket. Oh well, scrap copper pays good $$$ right now, and I have more radiators. But the engine still turns over on the starter, so that goes in the "W" column. I will fire it up, take it on an orbit of the yard, and then go about transplanting that engine and transmission into the Zip Van.

Posted by: Joe Biden at June 22, 2024 07:45 PM (YrMFo)

188 185 "Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby."

Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD)
***
Quotable. Sounds like a good motto for the hobby thread.

Posted by: TRex at June 22, 2024 07:45 PM (IQ6Gq)

189 Argh! Off, demented sock.

Posted by: Joe Biden at June 22, 2024 07:46 PM (YrMFo)

190 Argh! Off, demented sock.
Posted by: Joe Biden at June 22, 2024 07:46 PM (YrMFo)

Sticky sumbitch!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 22, 2024 07:50 PM (YrMFo)

191 I'm getting a pretty good read on copper prices every time I check the price for PV cable. You need the good stuff (pure copper and tinned copper + UV-resistant cladding) to increase current efficiency through the cable to batteries. I'm glad I stocked up earlier!

Posted by: mrp at June 22, 2024 08:36 PM (rj6Yv)

192 "The idea makes an interesting case for predestination."

I suppose.

Calvin wasn't an apostle, he was a gifted Christian with an opinion of about certain scriptures, and wrote a book about "election." However, since "G-d is not willing that *any* should perish," and He sent His Son to make the offer of eternal life to *whosoever will* accept it; I believe He allows freedom of choice.

An "Everlasting To Everlasting" - and Omnipresent - I AM already knows who will serve Him and who won't...since He knows everything, everywhere throughout eternity past, present, and future.

I think the big bang is a possibility, too..."Let there be light..." KABOOM!

Anyone who believes in predestination: okay. It's not keeping me up at night.

Posted by: Ju at June 22, 2024 09:42 PM (aTmM/)

193 Nice shot of the shuttle. I remember how they brought us all into the library in grade school to gather round the TV and watch Columbia's first launch, and several thereafter.

It's worth visiting any shuttle on display if you're in the neighborhood, but I have to say the one in Florida (Atlantis maybe?) blew me away the way they present it. Definite bucket list item if you're even mildly interested in the shuttles or spaceflight in general.

Posted by: Impudent Warwick at June 22, 2024 10:28 PM (f/6Wb)

194 "My question, has the expansion of the universe multiplied the distance to the wall by a factor of more than six times since the Big Bang?"

I've never heard anything about "six times" or a "wall", but Zola Levitt interviewed a Jewish physics professor (can't remember his name) who said, when G-d "stretched" the universe "time was multiplied." He described the difference between that term and the "days" of creation, which he believed to be literal.

Isaiah 40:22 "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."

Isaiah 42:5 "Thus says G-d the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out..."

Isaiah 44:24 "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, Who makes all things,
Who stretches out the heavens all alone,
Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself..."

Posted by: Ju at June 22, 2024 11:35 PM (aTmM/)

195 I haven't thought about amateur astronomy in a very long time. I remember when I was about 12 or 13 helping an older friend grind a 6" reflector mirror. At the time I think the kit cost $9.95, an enormous sum when you only made $1 for cutting a large yard! When you were middle or lower middle class Southern boys, that was a big purchase! We also built rockets burning zinc and sulfur, glorious days! I lost touch with the old friend after college and haven't seen or talked to him in 50+ years. I went on to a career in telecom and he followed his passion for rocketry. There was a article in our old hometown paper years later stating that he had won an award for some invention or idea in the space field.

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Posted by: Print PDF Documents at June 25, 2024 03:45 PM (OK3Mq)

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