Any Amateur Astronomers Out There? (page 3)

cofty

Thanks for the ideas.

I am becoming obsessed about cloudy skies. Here I am with total darkness every night and it has been cloudy for weeks!

Oubliette

Presumably you can at least make out the phases of the moon, even if only through a cloudy sky.

Even after studying the night sky for decades I still take pleasure in contemplating the phases of the moon. I like working it out in my mind and calculating what it will be tomorrow, next week and so on.

I'm always amazed how few people have a clue about the moon. If you ask the average person which direction the moon orbits the earth or how long that orbit takes you'll almost always get an answer betraying their ignorance of an obvious natural phenomenon which is visible almost every day and night and which they ( have had the opportunity to) see their entire life and yet the average person is clueless about it.

Understanding the phases of the moon brings me a sense a pleasure that's hard to describe. I guess I just like understanding anything and everything I can about our world.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty that's still a mystery to me. Maybe that's why I like the moon so much. I get it!

Black Sheep

Light pollution steals much of the night sky around here. Gone are the days when I could drag the kids out of bed at some ridiculous hour of the night to watch some once in a lifetime celestial event.

Thank god I made the most of the opportunities we did have. My kids remember them. Starry nights lying on the BBQ table at some silly hour of the morning.

AnnOMaly

I'm always amazed how few people have a clue about the moon.

Me too - especially people who write books about ancient astronomical texts and say things like the new crescent moon "was visible the whole day of [such-a-date] when it was not below the horizon." I still crease up at that.

Jack C.

Note the present locations of the rising and setting sun. Compare them to this time last year.....

konceptual99

Me too - especially people who write books about ancient astronomical texts and say things like the new crescent moon "was visible the whole day of [such-a-date] when it was not below the horizon." I still crease up at that.

Who said that??? Please tell me it's the WTS!

AnnOMaly

Who said that??? Please tell me it's the WTS!

Not quite. Furuli. 'Chronology' Vol. II (2008 edition), p. 318. Two paragraphs earlier:

"It is very difficult to think that 04/05 April [588 BCE] was the first day of the intercalary month, because the new moon had already been visible for 24 hours or more when this day began."

... and many more gems. Anyway, enough of my thread hijacking.

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One of the most thrilling things for me not too long ago was to see the Milky Way - rural area, moonless and incredibly dark, clear sky. I had not seen it in many, many years due to where I live - the street lights wash it out. I was transfixed.

konceptual99

Next best thing AnnOMaly. How the hell did he think the moon could remain above the horizon for a whole day or more?

back to the topic...

I've not seen the MW in as much glory as I would like for a loooong time purely for the lack of dark skies. I might make a special trip to go to the new dark sky park in Northumberland just to take a look....

prologos

back to twitch'es movements. the moon revolves and rotates with the earth, so it is eastward every day in the sky. but Venus rotates the other way, the sun comes up in it's "west"*. Perhaps the same event separated the moon and de-spun venus. Uranus rotates like a barrel on its orbit and the ecliptic.

All big enough moving bodies are balls. No wonder we like ball games.

are you having a ball, all?

* it is even cloudier than at COFTIE's place on Venus, so hidden & forbidden.

Jack C.

Which calander is used to calculate ANY date, the Julian or Gregorian? There is a 13 day difference. The Gregorian follows the Jewish calander which is correct. The Julian calander we use today is a scam.....

Any Amateur Astronomers Out There?

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