Can you line up the North star off the cup of the Big Dipper? That will help you survive if republicans kidnap and dump you in the middle of the forest.
Don't be embarrassed, I also like astronomy, you can see alot here in Arizona.
I don't know why they razzed Nancy Reagan for her facination with it.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 8, 2008 08:43 AMNice observation... Give us all some perspective. Check out Astronomy magazine for details on your planets and their positions as well as the very latest in Cosmology.
Years ago I was looking at Saturn through my used Sear's refractor. And just for a second I got a kind of vertigo, as I sensed the size and distances that swirl above us. Great feeling. We are all astronauts.
Posted by wilson at February 8, 2008 08:56 AMparadox, Thanks for making us look at the big picture!
We are all astronauts.
Lately, I've been accused of being an Obama-naut here.
"We are all astronauts."...
...and we are all stardust.
...and we are all stardust.
And, might I add, we are golden? I think we've got to get ourselves back to the garden...
Posted by iamcoyote at February 8, 2008 09:41 AM...and we are all stardust.
Actually, we're prettymuch all...corn.
Literally.
Posted by snark at February 8, 2008 09:54 AMglad to see my thoughts weren't for naught...
On the 25th anniversary of the moon landing, exactly that day, I was playing Ultimate with my friend and some interns at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The summer day wound down. Everyone drifted off after a the final beers, and the moon came up.
My friend ran the Astronomy club and said let's go and get the telescope started. We went to the small observatory and set it up. Now, this was a 16" reflector mounted on a cement peir. A serious viewing device. We tuned in on the moon and flew the Sea of Tranquility.
When you look at the moon through a powerful telescope, it moves - fast. The sensation was like in the video when Armstrong manually jockeys the LEM onto the surface. The only thing missing was kicking up that bit of moondust, startdust,
...dust the gentle legacy you left behind
Posted by Wilson at February 8, 2008 12:04 PMsnark, you are too hard on us.
Some of our jokes are quite intelligent.
Vaudeville is dead, and comets ain't fructose.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 8, 2008 12:10 PM"When you look at the moon through a powerful telescope, it moves - fast."
The moon actually IS moving further away from the Earth each year.
And like the Detroit auto jobs(as McCain has pointed out), it ain't coming back.
This will not be a problem until it gets far enough away that the Earth starts wobbling on its axis.
We are fortunate to live in Arizona as we can drive out to the moon landing set and have picnics by the Sea of Tranquility on Sundays.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 8, 2008 12:28 PMThe sky of my youth can no longer be seen, and it is quite sad for me. As all of us did as kids, we stretched out on the earth and wondered what secrets the evening sky held. Now, living in City, I cannot see one star in the sky. You have to drive out of St. Louis into the country to see the evening sky and stars.
Posted by Judith at February 8, 2008 06:45 PMWe hardly ever get clear mornings here. But the fog dazzles in its own way.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica at February 8, 2008 07:16 PM