News Briefs: Astronomy, Astophysics & Space Exploration

A well known polymath whose published works range far and wide, including (but not limited to) Archaeology, Paleontology, Astronomy, Space Propulsion systems, and Science Fiction.

Official Website: http://www.charlespellegrino.com

Moderators: Mr. Titanic, Charlie P., ed_the_engineer

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tollbaby
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Post by tollbaby »

name-dropper ;) (I'm teasing... and envious!) How is Dr. Clarke, btw?
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
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Post by Darb »

Aside from the fact that my information (what little I have) is very dated, I'm not really at liberty to say. I defer to Charlie on that.
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tollbaby
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Post by tollbaby »

ok, I'll shut my trap then :)
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
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Post by Darb »

Reminder - perseids tonite ... E/NE sky, start 9/10pm (EST) and peaks 2am (EST).

I'll be out watching it later with my wife ... with a cold bottle of wine.
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tollbaby
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Post by tollbaby »

aaaaand of course it's cloudy here :( *grumble*
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
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Post by Darb »

We'll head out a bit later tonite, closer to the 2-4/min peak ...
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Post by laurie »

Cloudy/rainy here, too. :cry:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." -- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

"So where the hell is he?" -- Laurie
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Becomming partially cloudy ATM here, and we may have rain later tonite. :|

/me wander off to check live-stream realtime regionak radar ...
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Post by wolfspirit »

We had some breaks in the clouds at about 3am, when I was still moving my stuff across campus, and it looked pretty good.

Scott
Darb
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Post by Darb »

It was mostly cloudy all night here ... we gave up and went to bed. :|
Mr. Titanic
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Post by Mr. Titanic »

Same here. Then again, it's always cloudy down here. Unless the sun wants burn your skin off. If that's the case, the clouds will gladly part to allow that.
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Post by haelwen1 »

Out til 1 a.m. Onboard a boat in Northern Arkansas. Clear skies. Meteor showers were sparse. The ones we saw were luminous-white and slow-moving. They were mostly confined between the Big Dipper and Casseiopia.
Charlie P.
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Post by Charlie P. »

I got sort of stranded in Manhattan. The skies opened up - but of course, bright lights. Bright lights. And then the children forgot that part about never, never feeding me after midnight. - - Charlie P.
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tollbaby
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Post by tollbaby »

It's odd you should say that, since we watched Gremlins II on Saturday ;)
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
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Sky Clarity

Post by JW Nugent »

Houston (except for the last year or so) has a large blue sky. Then at night when all the lights come on the residual effect (light pollution) create a fairly sparse sky. It may be clear but few stars overcome the manmade illumination. I have a boat in infinite dry dock at Holden Beach, NC. The sky there is also of reasonable size, but at night there is enough light from Myrtle Beach and Wrightsville Beach that the stars are somewhat over powered.

There are areas in rural Texas, far from cities or towns of size, where the stars shine so brightly it looks like white crystals and powder overwhelming a black surface; the shear intensity is overwhelming. With such limited skys where most people live it is no wonder that the majority of people cannot grasp how crowded our portion of the universe really is or how vast. This most natural aspect of science is denied to a majorty of the population. This may induce a reluctance to fund space exploration; the 'deciders' have no real grasp of the horizon they only see the earth as flat.
Observation is an important part of science; all that is required are your eyes and mind - an occasional notation allows the sharing of information and a uniform improvement in knowledge.
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Post by Charlie P. »

The most beautiful backbone of night I have ever seen was in New Zealand - and Centaurus, our first destination, overhead.

- - Charlie P.
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Post by Mr. Titanic »

I learned something new about space from this intelligent lady:

Image

Help me! I'm being drawn towards India! Intense Elephantial Gravitational attration!
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tollbaby
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Post by tollbaby »

*DIES* omg that was PRICELESS :D I wonder how dumb that woman feels now.
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
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Post by Charlie P. »

Voyager 2 left Earth today... thirty years ago. And, oh - what a different people she left behind. - C.R.P.
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Post by Mr. Titanic »

Did she really? I loved that story in the fifth grade. I still do. I wonder where they are now. Last I remember from the story was that the crafts were studying solar wind out there. I forgot when we'd loose contact with them too. But I don't think we have just yet.
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Post by Darb »

Charlie: Voy-2 is out in the heliosphere now, right ?
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Post by Darb »

The Space Shuttle landed ok, despite the 3" gouge in the insulating tiles.
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Post by haelwen1 »

I was very glad. Both my sons are Air Force so I "worry" about those guys....
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Post by voralfred »

Brad wrote:The Space Shuttle landed ok, despite the 3" gouge in the insulating tiles.
Well, that is a relief. I was very worried about this insulation problem, after the disasters that already occured. And the bad weather, too.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
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Post by Darb »

I had mixed feeling on their deciding not to attempt the new spray foam repair. On the one hand, given the fact that if it had dislodged on supersonic re-entry, it could have caused further damage ... possibly catastrophic. On the other hand, although simulations indicated they could re-enter without needing the repair, they missed a golden opportunity to test it anyway.
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