The Night Sky

It mustave been great to look up before the industrial revolution... cellie...

It mustave been great to look up before the industrial revolution... cellie...

I've read that it wasn't as good as you'd think, lots of wood fires.
I've wondered about that, imagine fishing the Hudson before Henry Hudson sailed up it?

I've read that it wasn't as good as you'd think, lots of wood fires.
I've wondered about that, imagine fishing the Hudson before Henry Hudson sailed up it?

Twas said years ago, first sailors before entering NYC were able to SMELL the beautiful aromas of nature before it was visible, it mustave been magnificent & breathtaking... cellie...

I grabbed this pic off the web, it's a dock on Ram Island in Maine. Even with the floodlight the Milky Way is very clear.

Like I said, "Dark adaptation not needed." Curious as to which of the many Ram Islands that picture was taken at. I know of at least 4. They got their names because everywhere in Maine, including along the coast, sheep farmers would put their rams on island to get them away from their ewes.

FWIW there are 4,600 Islands in Maine. 36 are Ram Island. Not counting Ram Ledges.

You can check my numbers here. :)

List of islands of Maine - Wikipedia

A sad, but true OpEd. So blessed out here to enjoy the splendor of a free and limitless Sky Show unhampered by light pollution.

I especially enjoyed this comment:

I think there is even an existential cost. A dark night sky, unpolluted by artificial light and thousands of artificial satellites, serves as a visceral reminder that we are part of something unfathomably large, that our petty differences on this tiny speck of a planet are ultimately insignificant. In the face of the universe, human arrogance is absurd.

[Opinion | Is the Evening Sky Doomed?]("https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/17/opinion/sunday/light-pollution.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage")

Nice... cellie...

How do you guys get around the NYT paywall now? I used to go Incognito but that doesn't work anymore.

How do you guys get around the NYT paywall now? I used to go incognito but that doesn't work anymore.

I don't circumvent it anymore, BUT if I wanted to I'd use a VPN to they can't see how many times you visited...

Here's a PDF...

Live feed of the Starhopper test - skip to 31:00

[Starhopper]('

Live feed of the Starhopper test - skip to 31:00

[Starhopper]('

Watched the whole thing, futuristic stuff... cellie...

makes me think of Flash Gordon
[MEDIA=youtube]A8BFrd1ckSw[/MEDIA]

Cool photos of the sun taken at intervals on 3 different days of the year...

1. Top line is Summer Solstice

2. Middle line is Spring Equinox

3. Bottom line is the Winter Solstice

Cool photos of the sun taken at intervals on 3 different days of the year...

1. Top line is Summer Solstice

2. Middle line is Spring Equinox

3. Bottom line is the Winter Solstice

The fall equinox was 2 and 1/2 hours ago - they should do a double line in the middle for that. :)

Wish it would drop down here more often, I've only seen them once

[MEDIA=youtube]8MkfTGizlI8[/MEDIA]

It is cool when you see them. Norway, this past February:

Beautiful shot from the Cassini probe showing 5 of Saturn's moons close to the ring plane...

Beautiful shot from the Cassini probe showing 5 of Saturn's moons close to the ring plane...

Love space porn.

We're so used to seeing Saturn's majestic rings, but the "glamour" shots really don't capture how thin they are in relation to the size of our solar system's second largest planet. A "ring plane" view of Saturn like the one below highlight just how thin and fragile they are, along with the moons Dione and Encedalus.