Author Topic: When you watch the sky...  (Read 347329 times)

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Offline Lady Sa'iltu

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #240 on: February 12, 2010, 10:33:54 pm »
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5775/p1020228l.jpg
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1694/p1020231.jpg
http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/1539/p1020437m.jpg
As for the last one, I have to say that here no affects added. The Moon really spread such light that night!
« Last Edit: February 12, 2010, 10:35:47 pm by Siren »
"Die gewöhnlichsten Irrschlüsse der Menschen sind diese: eine Sache existiert, also hat sie ein Recht." (F. Nietzsche)

Offline Loke

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #241 on: February 13, 2010, 06:33:36 am »

  Talking about the sky you know what i gave my gf for our anniversary?

  I gave her ALNITAM , the star in the middle of Orion¿s belt hahahahaha


  yo yo yo
Scripta Manet

Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #242 on: February 13, 2010, 03:24:01 pm »
Hey folks,

Loke, how did you give Alnilam to her? :unsure:

And Siren, thank you for the photos! I like the first one best because the branch looks like a bird's silhouette.

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Lady Sa'iltu

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #243 on: February 13, 2010, 10:02:16 pm »
Loke, I just wonder what you mean!  :o
ThanX, Markus! I also like the 1st, even use it as a wallpaper for both - my computer and cell-phone :lol3:.



http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/4164/img0718dc.jpg
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/501/p1020449y.jpg
"Die gewöhnlichsten Irrschlüsse der Menschen sind diese: eine Sache existiert, also hat sie ein Recht." (F. Nietzsche)

Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #244 on: February 13, 2010, 11:22:17 pm »
Thank you, Siren! :)

You're very of photographing the moon, aren't you? Have you ever thought of using a tripod so you can use longer shutter times? That might be worth the effort!

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #245 on: February 20, 2010, 01:03:17 am »
Hi folks,

I've seen wonderful slender crescent moons with a clear earthshine on the past few evenings. That may be a common sight in other parts of the world (waves to his favourite Kuwaiti), but it's less common here - and always quite enchanting.

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #246 on: March 28, 2010, 10:45:27 am »
Hey folks,

watch out for Mercury these days!

This innermost planet of our solar system is so close to the Sun that it usually hides in its glare, but occasionally you get to see it in dusk or dawn. That's easier when you're closer to the equator, for reasons of geometry, but occasionally there are good chances at higher latitudes - like right now.

What to do? Look west right after sunset, even before the stars come out. You will see brilliant Venus blazing as Evening Star above the Western horizon. Look for a fainter pinpoint of light to its lower right, that's Mercury. I saw it yesterday, and you can see it as well.

In the next days Mercury will pull away from the Sun, sneak up on Venus and gain contrast. On the evening of Easter Sunday it will stand pretty close to Venus. On the 9th of April it will reach its maximum apparent distance from the Sun and return into its glare afterwards. On the 15th of April you can see a very young and slender crescent moon  next to Mercury (you may want to use a bino for this one). A few days later Mercury will become invisible to us.

So good luck hunting the small and fast one!

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Aluqak

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #247 on: April 05, 2010, 04:47:09 pm »
Heya MArkus,
I followed your instructions this weekend, I think that I saw it. It was further from the horizon than I was expecting though, and I'm not 100% sure. I could easily put four fingers between "Mercury" and the horizon... but it was relatively close to Venus, so I don't know. I will keep looking the west see if I can catch the moon+Mercury thingy.

Cheers and thanks for the clues,
A. :blink:
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Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #248 on: April 05, 2010, 05:41:12 pm »
Hey Alu,

that must have been Mercury! A rather easily visible "starlet" near Venus these days - that's the small fast one. Congrats!

Cheers!

Markus Astronomicus
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Offline Aluqak

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #249 on: April 05, 2010, 07:42:52 pm »
Hey Alu,

that must have been Mercury!

YEEEESSSSSSS!  :yeha:
Volons, volons, laisse toi porter par ta croyance immortelle, laisse ton désir devenir tes ailes...
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Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #250 on: April 06, 2010, 07:49:54 pm »
Hey planet-hunters,

right now I can clearly see Mercury right besides brilliant Venus through my closed bedroom-window. :wOOt:

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #251 on: April 16, 2010, 06:41:31 pm »
Look. For. Volcanic. Sunsets!!

Watch out for an unusually long and colourful dusk.

Cheers!

Markus Vulcanicus
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Offline Lady Sa'iltu

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #252 on: April 16, 2010, 08:01:09 pm »
I don't know if it can be seen here. I was in the tube when the sun set down :hug2:
"Die gewöhnlichsten Irrschlüsse der Menschen sind diese: eine Sache existiert, also hat sie ein Recht." (F. Nietzsche)

Offline Luth

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #253 on: April 16, 2010, 08:37:04 pm »
Definitively, not here (yet). A lot of flight cancellations, but not dust in our skies at the moment. It's expected some minor dust in the following days, but I don't think it enough to create a volcanic sunset  :spock:

PS. I've just watched the foorecast: the man has sad to watch out for exceptionally intense sunsets  :blink:
« Last Edit: April 16, 2010, 09:05:28 pm by Luth »
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Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #254 on: April 16, 2010, 10:42:28 pm »
Hey folks,

the cloud must be here because all the flights at the local airport apparently have been cancelled. I work within sight of the airport, and we saw or heard not a single plane today. This alone is fascinating because I have never before experienced any direct consequences of a volcanic eruption. :blink: I didn't even believe such a thing could affect us here.

And I'm pretty sure I saw the cloud, too. In the late afternoon there was an unusually intense glare around the sun. When the sun was about to set there was a strong yellow glow around it, with quite a clear border to the blue sky above. Finally, at 9.10 pm - more than one hour after sunset - there was quite a bright and colourful dusk: Reddish brown near the Western horizon, followed by a turquoise hue which then quickly faded into the black of night. That must have been the cloud of ash.

But the most beautiful sight was Venus in the dusk, brilliant as it is, and a very slender lunar crescent right above it, with a very clear earthshine. Oh, what a sight!

Cheers!

Markus
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Offline Persephone

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #255 on: April 24, 2010, 03:22:05 am »
Hi folks :) It's 4:16 AM and I just ended up the observation of ISS on the sky :) It's first time I saw it - knowing about it. They wrote about it in newspapers cause it have had a pretty big "shine" (It does not really shine but it should make a reflect of sun with it's solar pannels) this time - they mentioned some -3,5 number but I don't understand it. :)

Anyway, I can tell You - IT'S BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGG.  :wOOt: ::) :wOOt:

And hell... it's so F-CKING FAAAAASSTT!   :blink: :blink: :wOOt: :blink: :blink:

Good night again :)


(Oh, it showed up on west-west-north at 4:10 and "fall" under the horizon at 4:16 on east-east-south :)
But then again, who does.

Offline Markus

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #256 on: April 24, 2010, 08:14:23 am »
Congrats, Miri!  :thumbup:

Now you know how easy the ISS is to see when you know when and where to look. And I find it pretty impressive because the ISS is such a big and peaceful international project. In fact there are many satellites visible each night, but the ISS is definitely the brightest one. Using a telescope you can even take photos of the space station which will show details of the structure. :wOOt:

You can find flyby-details for your place using the satellite tracker by spaceweather.com. :)

Cheers!

Markus



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Offline Persephone

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #257 on: April 24, 2010, 08:29:33 am »
Thanks for the web Markus! :)

Oh yes, my bf wants to buy some cheaper telescope just to watch things on the sky and I like the idea too :)
But then again, who does.

Offline Luth

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #258 on: April 24, 2010, 08:33:08 am »
I wanted to post that here a few days ago, but I didn't found the time. On Wednesday, I had one of the most amazing dawn experiences ever, thanks to the volcanoe ashes! You have to know that I'm travelling every day on train going to work, and it's soon enough for being able to watch the dawn during great part of the year (I'm in the train between 6.40 to 7.40). Even better, all the travelling happens besides the shore line!  :wOOt: I use to choose the seat next to the window, and to the dawn direction. In fact, when I'm not able to do so, I feel very grumpy!  :ninja:

Well, the point of this post: the forecaster of our local channel already told these days we could have longer and more intense sunsets and dawns. And I could certify that on Wednesday!! Usually, when weather is the good one, I can see the red of the dawn for perhaps 10 minutes, some time before seeing the sun, and briefly after it. That day, I had an incredible experience of more than 40 minutes fully intense crimson-skies! There were several long thin cloudsm which of course helped to the effect. A lot of time before the real dawn skies were already reddish, and it increased its intensity when approaching the moment when the sun had to appear. Perhaps 10 minutes before it was half the sky with an incredible reddish huie  :wOOt: The most fantastic is that, after the Sun appearing, red still continued for long time, perhaps 20 minutes or more. Some mist (ashes?) in the lower part of the horizon helped me to be able to look at the Sun without harming my eyes for long, long time... Sooo beautiful!!! I even took some pictures... with the camera of my mobile. Of course, they can't show the real beauty of the moment, but you can grab some of it.

I wish Markus was there  :wOOt:

The quality is awful, and you can see unwanted reflections... remember the pictures were taken from the train! And there is no actual order... although all are from the same moments:









« Last Edit: April 24, 2010, 08:41:40 am by Luth »
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Offline Persephone

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Re: When you watch the sky...
« Reply #259 on: April 24, 2010, 08:46:59 am »
Nice!!

Thank You Luth for sharing it with us :) Hmm, it really seems that some volcano ash was there :)

They are wonderful! :)
But then again, who does.