THE MOON, MARS & EVERYTHING!

“Is this a "naked eye" sorta thing?”

“YOWZA....... Nekked Eye!

Wait-a-sec.... Lemme get rid of this damn < centered > crap.



Test-test.     MUCH better ----


last edited: 9/29/07 4:22:36 PM”

“There was a bright something to the east last night.

Venus?”

“Venus is doing the Morning Star routine at the moment.  Jupiter was to the southeast.

The MOON was in the east.... 94% full     < G >”

“Why the schitt-eatin' ?”

“You jivin' me ---”

“uh........................GRIN”

“yes.    it's interpreted as an HTML tag if'n you don't..... Space Out a little.”

“Hmmm.......< GRIN > was supposed to appear after "schitt-eatin"...............get it?”

“Yep.  Kinda figgered!”

“So where's the pancakes??”

“Explore a Mars base habitat based on current and developing technology. Pretty cool walk throughs. It worked best using Internet Explorer. Firefox had some problems.

http://www.exploremarsnow.org/”

“I knew Marvin Gardens, and you're no Marvin Gardens.”

“Doot-doot-doot lookin' out my back door at Venus again this mornin'.”

“LMAO!        For Sure ----

("Lloyd Bentsen strikes from afar"?)

If *I* had started this thread, it would 've been: "The Moon, Mars and EVERTHANG!" (ask Marko)

I labor under a cloud:   the constant theat of Latent Stradewdism.”

“Space Weather News for Jan. 31, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

MORNING SKY ALERT: Set your alarm for dawn. On Friday morning, February 1st, Venus and Jupiter converge in the southeastern sky less than 1 degree apart; they will beam through the rosy glow of dawn like a pair of celestial headlights. It's a spectacular view worth waking up early to see. The February 1st alignment kicks off four mornings of beautiful views as the crescent Moon moves in to join Venus and Jupiter over the weekend. Visit http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and photos.

”

“Sweet. I'll try to be awake enough to go out and look.


Of course there's a rain storm coming through right then. :P”

“They'll be fairly close for a short while at least.

(For those pre-dawn events, I'll just wave and say "Good Luck!")”

“Man, I wish I could see beyond the clouds...”

“Clouds suck the big green ones ---- !”

“What time tomorrow morning from Melbourne, Florida? Dawn could mean almost anything. The weather here for it should be a "go!"

And just how close are they going to get? I scare easily!
last edited: 1/31/08 5:20:24 PM”

“Don't forget your crash helmet!”

“Nothing but clouds here.”

“I drove down near tha beach at dawn. How do I know it was dawn? Tilt did not give me a time for the action. But the rosey, red fingers of dawn were creeping over the dark horizon.

There was nothing in the sky! Sightings were likely blocked by distant clouds, which appeared like an interesting, low, mountain range far across the wide expanse of ocean. The rest of the sky was clear of clouds. Here comes the sun, so I know I was there early enough. I hope the next four days are just as good. I'll be sleeping-in.

I thought, maybe if I had been here earlier. But, no way, the planets will likely be moving east to west with the sun destroying any chance of seeing them..
last edited: 2/01/08 4:49:31 AM”

“Like forbidden lovers, Venus and Jupiter hid their tryst behind a veil of gossamer”

“Damn, I was hoping Marvin Gardens was back.

Now THAT was a troll!”

“I dunno about Marvin.....

He couldn't even spell 'everthang'.


Chili, when you get too homesick for Marvin all you have to do is pull up this thread, set the date range to 'All' and have at it.   This one's loaded!”

“... loaded with stolen material from MG.”

“Quick reminder:   Total Lunar Eclipse Wednesday, February 20

Set your date range back about three(3) weeks to see the diagram posted on Feb 4.   Click it for more info.

Also --- Atlantis undocked from the ISS early this AM and if the weather cooperates there ought to be an opportunity to see them pass overhead in tandem tonight.

You can simply choose a city or fire up the Skywatch Java app and enter your lat/long in decimal form to find out when and where to look.

The next mission for Atlantis is STS-125, the long-awaited Hubble Servicing Mission (HST-SM4) scheduled for lift-off August 28th of this year.  

(11 days and 5 space walks)

”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“Here's another website for tracking satellites, the Shuttles, etc.

    And here comes USA 193..... get your hardhats on.”

“Yep -- that eclipse tried to sneak up on me.”

“Here is an early preview for those that don't want to stand out in the cold -

”

“
Watch the spy satellite before it's shot down

By JEFFRY SCOTT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 02/16/08

Want to spy on a spy in the sky before it gets shot down by the U.S. government?

Between 6:26 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the ill-fated spy satellite USA 193 should be visible to Atlantans if skies are clear and you use binoculars to scan the south/southeast horizon. The satellite can be tracked for about four minutes as it moves to the east/northeast.

That is the prediction posted Saturday on the Germany-based Web site www.heavens-above.com that tracks, with a group of sky watchers around the globe about 140 classified U.S. satellites and other man-made craft orbiting Earth.

”

“
That "Heavens Above" thing is pretty slick.   Here are the charts it generated for the Atlantis/ISS flyby tonight.







Now, if only the weather will cooperate....”

“Man, we have rain as a possibility the next six days, but the nights will be clear I'm surrrrre?”

“Spy Sat update and more Eclipse info at   http://spaceweather.com/

        NOTAM issued for Feb 21, 3:30 UTC ?

            (restricted airspace)

”

“NOTAM still unverified, AFAIK.

3:30 UTC on Feb 21   =   10:30 PM EST Feb 20   =   5:30 PM Hawaii Standard Time

Sunset, Full Moon rise is around 6:30 pm HST with the eclipse just ending.

”

“It's be awesome if the actual shootdown attempt were visible, huh?”

“Don't wanna get toooo close -----

Should make for an interesting test, though.”

“might be a bit embarassing to if they fail / miss”

“The headline on this Hawaiian op-ed cracked me up.....

      The sky is falling but it’s under control


But dig the last sentence.....

".... the missile strike could produce 100,000 pieces of debris, most of which is expected to fall into the atmosphere over a period of weeks."


We could get an interesting show as the bits and pieces of flaming space junk streak down over the next few weeks   (all expected to burn up completely on reentry, of course).

”