The amazing universe.

[John Vasco]

This is what happens when you play a Banjocaster too much and live in the middle of nowhere. Feckin' Cockney stargazer! Get back to civilisation and get a life (i.e. ditch the Banjo and stick with the Lesters).

Thus spake Torquemada!

 

[John Vasco]

Hi Norbe. Over here in the UK Saturn is rising in the east about 7.30 pm.
About 9pm it's still fairly low and approx SE.. Left and lower of Orion which is approx S.
At present the rings are edge on, but I'd sure like to see them tilted towards us.

What the fuck is all this verbal masturbation, Philip. Don't worry, I've called for the men in white coats, so you better do a runner like Basil Faulty with a bandage on his head.

Jeez, fuckin' Southerners...!!!

 

[Phil47uk]

When we were in the States some years back I nearly convinced my wife that I'd take one of these home.. Till I told her the price.. Back then about £3,000... She wasn't ammused...

But seriously, unless you are a serious amateur astronomer which I am not, you really don't need something like that to enjoy the night sky.

My wife and kids bought me one of these for Christmas. It's got a built in computer, so you set it up and then with a hand controller scroll through menus till you find what you want. So say for instance I want to look at the Andromeda galaxy. I just find Andromeda galaxy from within the menu and then press the button..'Go to' The telescope then slews around on it's own with a built in drive and stops when it's pointing in the right place. It will also take into account the earths rotation and the motor drive will keep it on track.

Bloody technology they come up with these days.

It's a 3.5 inch refractor.

 

[geochem1st]

If you are having problems locating stars/planets I highly recomend 'Stellarium'. Its FREE, open source, and generates outstanding graphics. You plug in your long/lat, date, time, and the whole sky is right there. You can even input other time and dates to see what the sky would be like or how it was. Highly customizable.

Stellarium

 

[Phil47uk]

This is what happens when you play a Banjocaster too much and live in the middle of nowhere. Feckin' Cockney stargazer! Get back to civilisation and get a life (i.e. ditch the Banjo and stick with the Lesters).

Thus spake Torquemada!

Piss off you old Scouse git!.. You wouldn't know a telescope from a fucking vacuum cleaner tube you old bugger..

Hey John, did you get my private message I sent you to thank you for the book.. It's great mate.. I've been reading it in bed every night now.. Great stories..

 

[Phil47uk]

What the fuck is all this verbal masturbation, Philip. Don't worry, I've called for the men in white coats, so you better do a runner like Basil Faulty with a bandage on his head.

Jeez, fuckin' Southerners...!!!

See.. A bit of culture creeps into a forum thread and these bloody Northerners are buggered.

 

[bildozr]

It would be so cool to get into space and visist other galaxies.
But not in my lifetime.

Excuse me while I go get a gym membership and see if I can get an agent who can get me in a science fiction film.

 

[Phil47uk]

If you are having problems locating stars/planets I highly recomend 'Stellarium'. Its FREE, open source, and generates outstanding graphics. You plug in your long/lat, date, time, and the whole sky is right there. You can even input other time and dates to see what the would be like or how it was.

Stellarium

Thanks for the link Geochem1st.. Brilliant..

Well of course that's the problem Geochem1st. People like me a OK when it comes to things they recognize, but being able to find you way around the heavens for small objects is a skill all unto itself. I had some star charts and buggered if I could figure which way up they were when I compared them to the night sky .
The good thing about the Meade Autostar is that it has something like 50,000 objects programmed into it, so all you have to do if you are not sure if you are looking at the right thing is press..'Go to '. Perfect for a dummy like me.
You can even set it up and point it to a star and it will tell you on the readout what that star or object is..

 

[Phil47uk]

It would be so cool to get into space and visist other galaxies.
But not in my lifetime.

Excuse me while I go get a gym membership and see if I can get an agent who can get me in a science fiction film.

Yeah I have always had that fantasy too..

Actually I'd like to send old John Vasco up there or get the silly old sod abducted by aliens.. The problem is that after they'd heard him rant and nag at them for a couple of minutes they'd more than likely send the old bugger back.

 

[geochem1st]

Well of course that's the problem Geochem1st. People like me a OK when it comes to things they recognize, but being able to find you way around the heavens for small objects is a skill all unto itself. I had some star charts and buggered if I could figure which way up they were when I compared them to the night sky .
The good thing about the Meade Autostar is that it has something like 50,000 objects programmed into it, so all you have to do if you are not sure if you are looking at the right thing is press..'Go to '. Perfect for a dummy like me.
You can even set it up and point it to a star and it will tell you on the readout what that star or object is..

A decent compass and hand held protractor Phil

Seriously, check the site out. They use this software in planetariums.

 

[Phil47uk]

A decent compass and hand held protractor Phil

Seriously, check the site out. They use this software in planetariums.

Just ammended my last post to thank you for that 'Stellarium' link....Brilliant..Thanks. I'll take a close look at that.

Don't talk compasses or protractors to someone like me. I can ad lib in any key and in most styles on a guitar , but give me something to do with maths and I'm buggered..My worst subject at school.
I have noticed you have put up some great threads lately. I have been working a lot these last couple of days but will certainly dive in within the next few days.

 

[John Vasco]

Piss off you old Scouse git!.. You wouldn't know a telescope from a fucking vacuum cleaner tube you old bugger..

Hey John, did you get my private message I sent you to thank you for the book.. It's great mate.. I've been reading it in bed every night now.. Great stories..

Yes, I got your private message, thanks. Stück Puck, mate! (go read my covering letter again if this doesn't make sense to you).

 

[Phil47uk]

Yes, I got your private message, thanks. Stück Puck, mate! (go read my covering letter again if this doesn't make sense to you).

A piece of piss... We'll try explaining it to our American friends.

 

[John Vasco]

Yeah I have always had that fantasy too..

Actually I'd like to send old John Vasco up there or get the silly old sod abducted by aliens.. The problem is that after they'd heard him rant and nag at them for a couple of minutes they'd more than likely send the old bugger back.

Aliens, ALIENS! I've told you, God populated this feckin' county of Norfolk with aliens 100%. It was God's day off and he decided to take the piss when he dropped them all in. I hear and see the bastards every day! Come here and listen to them talking for a couple of days, and you'd suddenly believe the Scouse accent is the Queen's English... Actually my daughter-in-law (a Norfolkan) is one of those rare people who can see the funny side of things when me and my son start mimicking the Norwich/Norfolk accent. But she ends up saying' fuckin' Scousers!'.

 

[Phil47uk]

Aliens, ALIENS! I've told you, God populated this feckin' county of Norfolk with aliens 100%. It was God's day off and he decided to take the piss when he dropped them all in. I hear and see the bastards every day! Come here and listen to them talking for a couple of days, and you'd suddenly believe the Scouse accent is the Queen's English... Actually my daughter-in-law (a Norfolkan) is one of those rare people who can see the funny side of things when me and my son start mimicking the Norwich/Norfolk accent. But she ends up saying' fuckin' Scousers!'.

You should hear the locals here in Dorset..

 

[HARDWEAR]

Something to ponder....

We look out in one direction and we look back into the past, roughly 13 + billion light years back in time. They say the universe is about 13.7 billion light years old. But...what would another civilization see..let's say in a galaxy 5 billion light years distant, looking in the same direction??? If they looked out in the same direction with a 5 billion light year headstart (so to speak), would they be able to only look back at the "remaining" 8+ billion light years? Or, is the universe infinite?

I am so caught up in this stuff that my mind flys at night and sometimes I can't sleep. Thinking about just how big the universe is and the endless possibilities for life elsewhere is MIND BOGGLING!!!!

 

[SKATTERBRANE]

Hi Norbe. Over here in the UK Saturn is rising in the east about 7.30 pm.
About 9pm it's still fairly low and approx SE.. Left and lower of Orion which is approx S.
At present the rings are edge on, but I'd sure like to see them tilted towards us.

THANKS I will look for it!

 

[bad261]

Just got inside from looking at the green comet. It's just above and a few degrees to the right of Saturn, which is just below Leo. It is well above the eastern horizon by 9:30-10:00.
And it really is green.

 

[GLP4me]

Awesome stuff...I am a big science/space nut too....it's amazing (and humbling) to think about how large the universe really is and how insignificant we really are.....a look into space always put things in perspective...at least for me anyways....

Most people like to ask….”What was before the big bang?” and I have always struggled with the answer myself….there simply wasn’t a “before the big bang” as there was nothing to relatively perceive and therefore a sense of before and after wasn’t applicable….


It’s awesome to think about the implications of modern science, especially quantum mechanics….some people see science as dull or un-interesting but I really don’t see how scientific inquiry doesn’t excite anybody who has any sense of wonder…..honest scientific inquiry is the single greatest tool we have today and is much more inspiring and a more appropriate social moral compass than any set of bronze age desert myths…

Thanks for posting…..

Ever get into string theory??? And I'm not talking about guitar strings either.

 

[geochem1st]

Ever get into string theory??? And I'm not talking about guitar strings either.

Super String Theory? Don't even get started with that, not enough space! And talk about 'going down the rabbit hole' with that stuff, I have a difficult enough time with just 4 dimensions. But it is gaining in popularity as the theory of everything..... the experiments at CERN may just prove that.