Hey Tilt!

“lol....that was GREAT Tilt!!!!lol....”

“(if she only knew ... LOL)”

“who & what?”

“Hey tiltypo...
...what planets am I seeing tonight???...I am way out in the country & the stars are awesome!!!!”

“Anytime I haven't been out in a while I check in here:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance


This is cool, too.....

http://www.usno.navy.mil/pao/sky/sky_week.shtml


Mars is almost IN the sunset.   Venus is higher, near Antares (that red star, in Scorpius).  Jupiter is the bright one in the south-southwest behind "the Teapot" of Sagitarius.   And..... Saturn comes up a little before sunrise.

How's that Galaxy lookin'?

”

“is it just me, or have i seen more falling stars lately? like, longer burning and closer to the ground...”

“Late Summer, Fall and into the Winter is about the best time. Along with established showers, the rate of meteors in general usually goes up about this time ---- more meteors not associated with any particular shower ('sporadics').

The apparent width of the train left behind varies and will make them appear closer sometimes. The Perseids in August seem to have wider 'tails,' for example. Their altitude does vary some, but they usually flare about 60 miles up.

Most of the ones you see are just particles like dust ---- something the size of a grain of sand would look like a big one!

I think it's safe to assume that their composition varies somewhat also, which could alter their appearance. Most recognised showers follow the paths of known comets, though there are two (so far?) that are thought to be associated with asteroids: the Geminids in December and the Quadrantids just after the first of the year.

”

“Have you found any decent video footage of the Indian lunar launch? They're official website sucks rocks, and the launch was supposed to be around 8:20 pm our time, today.

http://www.isro.org/ This is their official site.”

“Meh, I found what I was looking for at bbc. ISRO's supposed "website" is among the worst I've ever seen. Many of the kinks are dead, too.”

“After just watching that FRONTLINE episode, I'm thinking if there was enough oxygen the Chinese would build coal-fired powerplants on the Moon.”

“After looking all over the 'Net for any kind of visual evidence of that Rock that came in over Africa, I'm convinced that nobody in northern Sudan has a camera-phone!”

“Since you are the dorkiest space cowboy I know, I thought I would ask you about the Leonid Meteor Shower. I read that it is supposed to be visible the weekend of November 14. I am thinking I should go find a mountaintop somewhere and see this. Will the moon wash what we can see of the shower?
last edited: 11/05/08 6:12:44 AM”

“Tilt isn't an expert. He just has a few astronomy websites bookmarked, and regurgitating them here in pretense of being an interesting and knowledgeable person makes up a good deal of his self esteem.”

“Unfortunately we're totally screwed by moonlight this year!  

Full Moon is on the 13th so by the peak on the 17th it will be rising right on top of the shower's radiant (apparent point of origin) in the constellation Leo.

Handy moon phase tables:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.php#y2008

2008 calender at the IMO:
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2008?PHPSESSID=8c1a940982f487453e5dab727b805dbf

One thing the IMO does that's kindof aggravating....   If a shower is completely washed out by moonlight, they don't even list it in the main calendar for that year.   They do have a complete list of the major showers toward the bottom, though (Table 5).

This Fall is kindy sucky....   the Geminids in December are screwed too.   They peak in the 13th and Full Moon is the day before, < raspberry >

They don't have the 2009 calendar up yet, but the Quadrantids peak right about January 4th, so the first quarter Moon will be setting around midnight.   They have a fairly sharp peak so you have to try and catch them That Day....   and.....   It's a Sunday night, < grrrr >.

That's a pretty good one though, about in the same class as the Geminids at about 120 per hour.

”

“Drat, I will be off the trail by January 4 after a week on the AT. Thanks for the info!”

“Sorry!   Murphy's Law works double overtime with the Astronomy stuf!

Clouds come out of nowhere,   "bass buddies" who have a 70,000 acre lake to fish in will pull up right next to your campsite and hang four or five Coleman lanterns to attract fish,   headlights from cars at 4 am....   It's always something.

”

“A space cowboy?

Bet you weren"t ready for that?”

“I wonder if Clint Eastwood had to cut a royalty check for Steve Miller.”