Looking for dark sky near where you live? I just came across the “Dark Sky Finder” (courtesy of the NGAstronomers yahoo group) which might help. It *seems* like it may be a little course-grained but It looks like it should provide a good general direction for your astronomical viewing.
Posted under Astronomy
This post was written by Marc
on May 6, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I was listening to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe episode #128 where they discussed the realities of near relativistic speed travel. One thing I was not clear on was, what happens if you need to have a fleet of ships exploring all of them traveling to the same destination from the same destination?
2 scenarios:
1) You travel some tiny percentage of light faster than your companion ships. Do you arrive, and now that you’re not traveling at the same speed as the other ships, have to wait potentially thousands of years for your fellow ships?
2) You’re all accelerating at exactly the same rate and traveling at exactly the same speed. But because of relativity, all other ships experience thousands or even millions of years for your journey and you, likewise experience such for their journeys? So, in effect, you’d all vanish relative to each other and you’d never see each other again?
I’ve sent them an email with this question but I’m sure they get so many that they won’t be able to respond (ah, the problems of popularity…).
Posted under Astronomy, Science
This post was written by Marc
on January 8, 2008 at 11:12 pm
With a new moon, this most spectacular of annual meteor showers will be even more visible this year!
For my locale the Clear Sky Clock indicates that conditions should be nearly optimal. I’m thinking of popping up to Brasstown Bald for a chance to see this wonder of nature in as pristine conditions as we can get here in Georgia.
The peak meteor frequency is expected to be at about 1:00 am so it won’t be an early night that’s for sure.
For more details check out the Wikipedia entry as well as Space.com’s Sky calendar.
Posted under Astronomy
This post was written by Marc
on August 11, 2007 at 6:47 pm
All (known) Bodies in the Solar System Larger than 200 Miles in Diameter: Just saw this courtesy of Phil Plait’s “Bad Astronomy” blog and thought it looks AMAZING. I think it’s really worth noting exactly how sad Mars is as a contender for supporting human life unassisted. *Sniff* so much for “The Martian Chronicles”…
Posted under Astronomy
This post was written by Marc
on May 28, 2007 at 9:18 am
Did you get a chance to catch last night’s lunar eclipse?
There was a little bit of cloud in the sky making it somewhat hazy but you could clearly see the dark shadow of the earth on our newly risen moon.
Where I live it’s difficult to get a clear line of site to the horizon so I went out just after sunset to see the moon. By then it had risen high enough in the sky to clear the trees in the area and about 4/5ths of the moon was still dark with a hint of orange/red in the shadowed portion.
I saw a lunar eclipse when I was much younger but was fortunate enough to see it much closer to the horizon where the optical illusion of the moon appearing huge combined with the natural emphasis on the red end of the spectrum common to objects that low in the sky made for a surreal experience.
Last night’s eclipse was pretty cool and was a nice experience, it’s a nice simple experience that showcases the wonderful reality that is our planetary system.
Posted under Astronomy
This post was written by Marc
on March 4, 2007 at 3:58 pm
This site is excellent for laying out the simple astronomical events for the coming month. Telling you the date and time of the events along with great little pictures to help you visualize what’s about to come. It also includes handy icons with the event descriptions so that you will know the best tool to use for observation. i.e. Naked Eye, Binoculars or Telescope.
Unfortunately, tomorrow night will be a bust for trying to observe the Moon and Saturn in close proximity (always cool to actually see the moon moving relative to a background object. But the forecast is looking pretty sweet for Saturday’s Total eclipse moonrise.
Check it out SPACE.com — NightSky
Posted under Astronomy
This post was written by Marc
on February 28, 2007 at 11:22 pm
The “Clear Sky Clock” is a forecast that comes courtesy of the Canadian Meteorological Center and use useful for determining if viewing conditions will be good in a particular area at a particular time. If you don’t live in Marietta, don’t worry, there are over 3,000 other locations with associated clocks. Click on the image below for details regarding how to read it and to help you find other clocks that may be closer to you.
Check it out below, happy viewing!
Posted under Astronomy
This post was written by Marc
on February 12, 2007 at 5:43 pm
