Sunsets, Stars, West, Wind
Mega coolness!
Never before have astronomers been able to see individual stars inside an external spiral galaxy over such a large contiguous area.
Hubble’s high-definition panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy | Astronomy.com.
I went to bed slightly early last night, but first I set my alarm for 4:45 a.m. Central. As I noted a couple of days ago, I wanted to get up early to observe a total lunar eclipse. As usually happens, I woke up early at 4:15 a.m. Who needs an alarm?
I decided to go ahead and throw on my clothes, grab my purse and smartphone and take the van to Dillons to fill it up. While I drove west (one mile) and north (two miles), I noted that the full moon was already missing a good chunk in the upper left-hand quadrant. After filling up the van, I continued west on Eisenhower Road, crossing Tonganoxie Road and heading up over the ridge. I crossed over 187th street, leaving the paved roads behind and continued until I was forced to turn left at 195th street, just south of an electrical substation (talk about light pollution out in the middle of no where). Continue reading “Observing the Blood Moon Eclipse”
There is a total eclipse of the full moon on October 8, 2014. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s Hunter’s Moon – the name for the full moon after the Harvest Moon. It’s also a Blood Moon, and this eclipse is the second in a series of four so-called Blood Moon eclipses. For North America and the Hawaiian Islands, the total lunar eclipse happens in the wee hours before sunrise on October 8.
For more information about the total eclipse and answers to questions like ‘What’s a Hunter’s Moon?”, please visit the full article at EarthySky.
Good morning!
And Happy Birthday to myself. I’ve crossed over. I’ve reached another dreaded milestone. Today is the first day of my fifth decade.
To make myself feel better about this dubious event, I’ve reverted to two of my favorite past times: math and astronomy.
I decided to calculate how many days I’ve been breathing air on Earth. For that I had to find a date calculator. Plugging in the relevant date (today in 1964 and 2014), the following results popped up:
From and including: Friday, October 2, 1964
To and including: Thursday, October 2, 2014
Result: 18,263 daysIt is 18,263 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 50 years, 1 day including the end date
Alternative time units 18,263 days can be converted to one of these units:
1,577,923,200 seconds
26,298,720 minutes
438,312 hours
18,263 days
2609 weeks
In addition, the Earth is travelling through space, via the Milky Way, at the incredible speed of 3,728.23 mps. Roughly, the Earth has moved 5.88286061194e+12 miles since I was born, give or take a few. That equates to approximately 63,256.57 astronomical units. A rolling stone gathers no moss . . .
And the .5c I included in the title of this post? No, I’m not travelling at half the speed of light (except in my dreams). I’m merely reflecting upon reaching my half century mark.
I decided to make a four day weekend out of this auspicious occasion so I’m relaxing at home, reading and doing other none stressful activities. No parties (that I know of) and no surprises. Just Terry, me and the dogs hanging out.
Just another day in the neighborhood. Eighteen thousand two hundred sixty-three and counting.
http://io9.com/a-5-year-old-worries-voyager-will-get-lonely-receives-1639256314
All together now on three …
1 … 2 … 3 …
“Ah!”
Dialing back the cuteness entered now.
Enjoy!
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140922.html
My favorite time of year officially arrives today.
Happy autumnal equinox!
http://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in-science-sept-18-1977-voyager-1-earth-moon-photo
37 years ago today.
Voyager to Earth: “Hello World!” or more likely “Goodbye World!”
Voyager is still sending us postcards from the edge though.
http://io9.com/the-seven-wonders-of-the-solar-system-1600220388
Some suggestions for a superlative list of solar system wonders.
My list off the top of my head:
1. Saturn’s rings
2. Jupiter’s red spot
3. Mars’ Olympic Mons
4. Io
5. Titan
6. Uranus for being axially contrary
7. Oort cloud
Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon
Big solar storm heading toward Earth
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/11/tech/innovation/solar-storm/
Should be here Saturday. Keep a flashlight handy.
For once, I live in just about the best spot to observe a total solar eclipse. The center line for the eclipse coming in August 2017 is just a few miles north of where I live. That being said, the path of the eclipse cuts diagonally across the United States from Oregon to South Carolina.
Update Monday 9/1/2014: I forgot to include a link to the Astronomy magazine article that will take you to the interactive map shown above: Make Plans for the 2017 Eclipse with This Great Map. Continue reading “Less Than Three Years to Prepare”