Euro -- Look out the window!

“
A pair of binoculars might help, but....



Space Weather News for June 17, 2007
http://spaceweather.com

European sky watchers should be alert on Monday, June 18th, for a mid-afternoon
eclipse of Venus by the crescent Moon. Hanging high in the sky, Venus will appear
as a pinprick of light beside the Moon, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight
until the edge of the Moon covers the planet. (Technically, this is called a "lunar
occultation.") Binoculars will improve visibility, but be careful not to point
them at the sun.

Elsewhere, in the Middle East, India and Pakistan, the eclipse can be seen around
sunset and after dark. From those places, a clear view of the western horizon is
essential because the Moon and Venus will be setting, but the sight should be spectacular.
Except for a small region around the Canadian maritime provinces, this event will
be completely invisible from North America.

Please check http://spaceweather.com for photos, timetables and a worldwide visibility
map.

If a friend sent you this alert and you would like to subscribe, click here: http://spaceweather.com/services/



Needless to say, there shouild be a nice conjunction this evening for us Yanks.

”

“I heard there would be a mid-afternoon eclipse of Uranus in Georgia, Tilt.”

“Tilt - my 7 year old had spend the night company on Thur. I broke out the scope and they got to see a crescent Venus and a pretty good view of Saturn. I don't recall what power I got them up to but it was probably 150x or so. At the max power I did the image really had a good bit of waviness to it. I could still make out banding on Saturn and shadows on the rings, but doubt the kiddos could.”

“Damn, I have been just running around the office, checking the sky in all directions, trying to find the moon. Too bad, too many clouds. I would have loved to see Venus.”

“Marko --- ya need to powerflush the old brain coolant!

DH --- Cool deal! (we need more recruits in the fight against Light Pollution)

Euro --- Damn Clouds!  They're concentrated evil. The Moon and Venus should be almost due West.”

“Space Case!!”

“It was kind of neat at the higher power because you could really see the planet swing out of view because I could quiz the boys about what was moving. They both said Saturn and then we talked about the earth rotating and they had the, "Ahhh, I get it," moment.”

“The Irish lightbulb joke can wait.... VBG


How many Irishmen does it take to change a lightbulb?

It takes about twelve.  One holds the bulb steady and the rest drink until the room spins around.”

“...too bad, while I have been sitting here for the last three hours and trying to get a flight to Wyoming sorted, I have been checking for Moon and Venus at intervals, but couldn't find them. Just too cloudy. Couldn't find a flight to Wyoming either. Wyoming realy is behind the moon, huh...?”

“East of the Sun and West of the Moon?

It was stormy just before sunset but I drove out to the lake anyway --- 99% overcast with a frickin' hurricane on the way back!  Ten ft. visibility!  (3.048 metres....)”

“The moon looked odd last night.
The crescent seemed asymetrical and the color was an orange tone.

Please help Tilt, is it the end of the world as we know it......................now?”

“Yep.  Animal Crackers.”

“Krispy Kritters!”

“That photo of Foster Books cracked me up.  Maybe I should've posted it on the Scotch Thread?

(you too can build a spaceship with cardboard and magic markers --- what time is it on pluto?).”

“Yesterday I saw a short student-produced piece from C-SPAN's StudentCam competition.   The subject was coalmining in Appalachia, and a woman being interviewed said, "My foster grandmother always said, 'The Swiss wouldn't stripmine the Alps!   But we're destroying our mountains.'"

I kinda think not..... but it made me wonder..... Do the Swiss stripmine the Alps?”

“Stripmine??
My dictionary doesn't give me any conclusiv translation to this.
To my knowledge there isn't much coal in the Alps, nor ore or other minerals. The Austrians and Germans mining some areas for salt. The Swiss though tunneling through the Alps like moles. Tunnels for everything. Tunnels for trains, tunnels for cars, tunnels for the whole army to hide away, tunnels to hide treasures and so on...”

“I strip mine in the Alps, weather permitting.”

“ah, well...the Swiss are pretty tolerant. As long as you stay relaxed.”

“
      Beware the hypothermia.....

A stripmine is basically an open pit mine.   The method that causes a lot of grief in Appalachia is referred to as 'mountaintop removal'.   The coal companies figured out it was cheaper to raze the tops of the mountains rather than tunnel into them, once they had machines capable of carting it off.

”

“...raze the top of Matterhorn!?!...
Hell, no!!

Tourism is one of the biggest national revenue for this little country - historicly it was waylaying. Anyway, in both cases the mountains were the biggest asset in the busines: nowadays we sell this cliché of unspoiled alpine idyll to the hordes of silly tourist - in the past we sat on our mountains and threw stones at everybody who dared to cross our turf without paying tribute.”

“But once you chop the tops off the mountains, you can build more bowling alleys, used car lots and Mal-Warts.”

“Ha! Go to Kayford Mountain and find the bowling alleys, car lots, and Walmarts. It makes finding Waldo a piece of cake. Any critter flying over it has to carry its own provisions. Even the bugs left.”

“Plus you don't have to hike uphill as much.”

“I heard something strange the other day..... A geologist was saying that the very top of the Matterhorn is actually a piece of Africa.

Curiouser and curiouser.”

“We have some pretty fair stretches of rock along the AT in Pennsylvania, and it draws its share and then some of criticism from hikers. The first boulder field is not so bad. The second one is a little tougher, but still not too bad. By the time you get through the third one it's becoming old, and the fourth one is where you want to find the SOB who routed the trail through there and throttle the ever-loving life out of his lungs.

In MTR sites, there is no easy trail between the piles of rock. There are just rocks for miles in every direction. You can hike there if you want, but my guess is before you get to the mid point you will have turned around. If not, you will curse your decision not to turn around, because you will have to hike that long over those rocks to get out. But my guess is that you would have turned back much earlier than the mid point. Much earlier.”

“Very likely. The Alps are very likely mostly former Africa, as much of the eastern US is. It's an overthrust belt, so it's all been plastered onto Europe.”

“weirdness.”

“The Alps are the result of an Afropean collision, I believe. Much like the Himalayas were the result of India colliding with Asia. Many marine fossils are to be found at their highest elevations. Plate tectonics - yeah baby!

But the grandaddy of 'em all are our Appalacians. Much of the Apps were thrust upward as the Atlantic plate was subducting below the North American plate. At one time, the Appalacians were the only part of the U.S. visible above sea level.

Factoid:
At it's prime, Lookout Mountain TN/GA was an estimated 40,000 feet high.”

“I see, some of you have been doing their geography classes then...”

“Ummm... it's geology, m'dear :)

Oh - Eurogenous one!
I just remembered that I've been wanting to email you, but I do not have your addy. E me at joeplymel@yahoo.com, pweeze?

Kidding aside, it's kinda important.
last edited: 4/04/08 1:36:23 PM”

“Well, in my times we haven't had geology at school, only geography, which randomly covers most of the other earth sciences in one or the other way ;-)”

“Look up.
I edited my last post...”

“done”

“Diddo!”