Looking up at the night sky Christmas eve
Discussion
I was in work today and some middle aged lady was gabbling on about some sort of thing in space would be visible tonight and you could point it out to to kids and say it was Santa on his sleigh.
Although I didn't get the full story I'm sort of guessing it's the ISS.
Shame it has to be linked to Santa to get the wonderment of it. Every time I have seen it makes me proud we are at least getting up there, even though so slowly.
You don't even need the ISS. Tonight in the SE of England is a typical winter night, clear and starting to get cold.
There's a lovely thing to look at too. A beautiful crescent moon. Sometimes the fact it is so often seen means we get turned off to its beauty. But it is wonderful.
Go look at it. It is a nice quiet counterpoint to the human rush for the next 48 hours.
If you want to be scientific you can use a bit of triangulation to show that the sun set in the west once again !
Have a happy scientific Christmas all.
Although I didn't get the full story I'm sort of guessing it's the ISS.
Shame it has to be linked to Santa to get the wonderment of it. Every time I have seen it makes me proud we are at least getting up there, even though so slowly.
You don't even need the ISS. Tonight in the SE of England is a typical winter night, clear and starting to get cold.
There's a lovely thing to look at too. A beautiful crescent moon. Sometimes the fact it is so often seen means we get turned off to its beauty. But it is wonderful.
Go look at it. It is a nice quiet counterpoint to the human rush for the next 48 hours.
If you want to be scientific you can use a bit of triangulation to show that the sun set in the west once again !
Have a happy scientific Christmas all.
Hi Eric,
Yeah, at least it might get some kids interested in it.
Of course satellites go over all the time.
Just found this out about the moon for tonight
Wednesday 24th December - Today the Moon is at Perigee (the closest point of its orbit to the Earth) at a distance of 364,790 km (226,670 miles)
And in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon
I'm sure you know more about the latter, was it really this day in 1968 it was over there?
Is that Mars to the left of the moon? Looks too red to be Jupiter.
Yeah, at least it might get some kids interested in it.
Of course satellites go over all the time.
Just found this out about the moon for tonight
Wednesday 24th December - Today the Moon is at Perigee (the closest point of its orbit to the Earth) at a distance of 364,790 km (226,670 miles)
And in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon
I'm sure you know more about the latter, was it really this day in 1968 it was over there?
Is that Mars to the left of the moon? Looks too red to be Jupiter.
Gandahar said:
Hi Eric,
Yeah, at least it might get some kids interested in it.
Of course satellites go over all the time.
Just found this out about the moon for tonight
Wednesday 24th December - Today the Moon is at Perigee (the closest point of its orbit to the Earth) at a distance of 364,790 km (226,670 miles)
And in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon
I'm sure you know more about the latter, was it really this day in 1968 it was over there?
Is that Mars to the left of the moon? Looks too red to be Jupiter.
I've just been out looking at the ISS and had a good look at the (almost) new moon through the binoculars. It did cross my mind that Apollo 8 was in orbit around the moon at Christmas time, 1968 - something I'm old enough to have been watching on TV at the time.Yeah, at least it might get some kids interested in it.
Of course satellites go over all the time.
Just found this out about the moon for tonight
Wednesday 24th December - Today the Moon is at Perigee (the closest point of its orbit to the Earth) at a distance of 364,790 km (226,670 miles)
And in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon
I'm sure you know more about the latter, was it really this day in 1968 it was over there?
Is that Mars to the left of the moon? Looks too red to be Jupiter.
You might like this -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnyNXLXl8iA
Eric Mc said:
Gandahar said:
Hi Eric,
Yeah, at least it might get some kids interested in it.
Of course satellites go over all the time.
Just found this out about the moon for tonight
Wednesday 24th December - Today the Moon is at Perigee (the closest point of its orbit to the Earth) at a distance of 364,790 km (226,670 miles)
And in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon
I'm sure you know more about the latter, was it really this day in 1968 it was over there?
Is that Mars to the left of the moon? Looks too red to be Jupiter.
I've just been out looking at the ISS and had a good look at the (almost) new moon through the binoculars. It did cross my mind that Apollo 8 was in orbit around the moon at Christmas time, 1968 - something I'm old enough to have been watching on TV at the time.Yeah, at least it might get some kids interested in it.
Of course satellites go over all the time.
Just found this out about the moon for tonight
Wednesday 24th December - Today the Moon is at Perigee (the closest point of its orbit to the Earth) at a distance of 364,790 km (226,670 miles)
And in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon
I'm sure you know more about the latter, was it really this day in 1968 it was over there?
Is that Mars to the left of the moon? Looks too red to be Jupiter.
You might like this -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnyNXLXl8iA
Of course if we get people going to Mars
We should stop doing smart bombs on one side and IED's on the other and do something more important !
Easiest way to get into moon watching is a large pair of binoculars and a tripod. And a seat.
There are various retailers who do/supply this set up, moon watching is always better using both eyes, the longer you look the more your eyes pick up.
Of course a moderate sized telescope with binoviewers is the next step, allowing higher magnification and light gathering [although on the other hand too much light is to be avoided if at all possible] but of course, more expense as well.
There are various retailers who do/supply this set up, moon watching is always better using both eyes, the longer you look the more your eyes pick up.
Of course a moderate sized telescope with binoviewers is the next step, allowing higher magnification and light gathering [although on the other hand too much light is to be avoided if at all possible] but of course, more expense as well.
Gandahar said:
That was the furthest people had been away from the rest of humanity in the whole of history. That was also a big step. Slightly neglected nowadays of course with what happened afterwards, but even so.
Of course if we get people going to Mars
We should stop doing smart bombs on one side and IED's on the other and do something more important !
Look at this image Of course if we get people going to Mars
We should stop doing smart bombs on one side and IED's on the other and do something more important !
Every single human ever, alive or dead, bar one, is in this image; few would remember the name of the one who is not. Praise to Michael Collins, no less stressed than the more famous two but differently stressed.
Gandahar said:
I was in work today and some middle aged lady was gabbling on about some sort of thing in space would be visible tonight and you could point it out to to kids and say it was Santa on his sleigh.
Although I didn't get the full story I'm sort of guessing it's the ISS.
You may take a cookie...Although I didn't get the full story I'm sort of guessing it's the ISS.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/international...
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