OT Astronomy Nerds OT

YukonRon · February 2020

@SciAggie

Gorgeous image. Spectacular.

We were on the Snow Creek Trail in Yosemite when My Beautiful Wife saw it for the first time. Kind of up around 5-6K asl, if memory serves me correctly.

I will never forget that moment, of that evening, the rest of my life.

Legume · February 2020

We used to take the kids camping in the mountains and deserts of California when they were young. Fond memories of taking them on a short night hike to an open meadow or hill and spreading out a blanket for them to lay down and just stare up at the stars and really see them.

Telescopes are fun, but a basic pair of binoculars are fantastic when you get big, dark skies.

DuckDogDr · February 2020

@SciAggie. That's awesome photo. I have a buddy at work that's a photography nerd / his side hustle.
As soon as I can come off my wallet , we're going camping and he's going to try and help me learn to shoot pics like that

JethroBodeen · February 2020

Ive lived in Florida for 30+ years. My son was raised here. The night sky was something we always shared together. We always had a star chart around. One year he went with me to the Blue Ridge mountains. He came in from outside one night and said that Pleiades was in the wrong place! He was 9. I knew then that I had passed on something that most people never even stop to think about.....

JohnEggGio · February 2020

YukonRon said:

Botch said:

YukonRon said:
One of the most amazing and spectacular phenomena I have ever had the chance to witness, is the clear night sky, unwashed from the city lights, at elevation.

That has happened to me on a few occasions, one of the most memorable was backpacking at night across Death Valley, in a low basin to summit climb.

There was no moon. The stars were bright enough to push enough light where I not only cast a shadow, but needed no light to see where I was going. The spiral of the Milky Way exploded in so much color across the sky.

Ron, one hot summer I camped up in the High Uintas, northeast UT (and the only mountain range in North America that runs east-west) and I decided to sleep under the stars, not in my tent. Crawled in after the Sun went down and wasn't hitting the atmosphere anymore (no color in the sky), but it was still skimming just above the atmosphere, and all the "meteors" I thought I was seeing, were actually satellites, glinting in the Sun!! I was amazed at how many chunks of metal/glass we've thrown up there.

I've also gone out to Great Basin Nat'l Park, near the UT/NV border; it's supposedly the most remote, and darkest, spot in the continental US. Brought my tripod, best camera, and lots of fast lenses to shoot the night sky, even remembered to bring the battery charger.
To the wrong camera! Gaahhh! My battery died just taking a few scenic shots in the afternoon, and there I sat. Will have to try this again now that I have a bit more spare time.

Sorry about the camera, I have been there. I have missed so many shots in my life, it is sickening.

As strange as this may seem, we are looking at region that includes, but not limited to: NE UT, NW WY, SW MT, NW CO, SE ID. That puts us relative to where we want to spend the rest of our lives doing what we love.

So, I will share this....

My Beautiful Wife, Suzy, has been a city girl all of her life. She was never aware of the wonders of the night sky, and had never seen the Milky Way.

I really did not discover that she had not, until we were backpacking one evening in the Alpine region of Yosemite, as we were coming out of a stand of trees. Along the hike, I was pointing out things we could see from time to time, through the trees, in the sky as the night grew darker.

That is when she told me she never seen the Milky Way. I was surprised, but not stunned. So, I had a plan, and fortunately or unfortunately, her life changed, literally, that evening. I made her keep her eyes closed until I could get her in the place, when she opened her eyes, she would see it for the first time in her life, exploding across the sky.

That was my chance.

That is when she said she would marry me.

That is why she has become an avid outdoor sports participant, and that is why we are moving out west.

Big skys, Beautiful night skys, to share with My Beautiful Wife.

Your story about showing your wife the Milky Way - we need a “love” button for such things...

lentsboy007 · February 2020

JohnEggGio said:

Been looking up since childhood - summer evenings, mom marched us kids out to the driveway. I’d lie back on the macadam that still held the days warmth. Back then we could clearly see the Milky Way. Haven’t seen MW in about 35 years - was visiting a sister who was living mountainside near Mt Rogers in southwest Virginia.

RIP Jack Horkheimer

Yes! Star Gazers was awesome . Dad used to tape it overnight in the Sunday AM hours in the 80s and we would watch it before we watched the Star Trek rerun that would air shortly afterwards. Sunday morning breakfast tradition . Shaped my love of space .

Foghorn · February 2020

SciAggie said:

@YukonRon Thanks for posting this. We are still blessed with skies relatively free of light pollution. I have had the good fortune to attend three different advanced teacher workshops at McDonald Observatory. We stayed in the astronomer’s lodge with the researchers. That was a hoot.
This is a picture I was able to take on a property only about a 20 minute drive from my house.

As a science teacher, getting students to wrap their heads around the vastness of space is a challenge. It’s just hard to grasp.

@SciAggie, that's a great pic. We saw something similar when we rafted the Rio Grande at Big Bend National Park and spent the night on the side of the river over 50 miles from the nearest electricity. And the McDonald Observatory is a real gem. Several nights after rafting the Rio Grande, we went to one of their summer night stargazing parties. They had about a dozen telescopes set up around the grounds. The most humbling was one that was focused on a small smudge of light. We were informed that the light represents a collection of 250 billion stars that are millions of light years away and likely contain over 100 million planets similar to earth in terms of the potential capacity to support life.

JohnEggGio · February 2020

@lentsboy007. Yup - my memory is it was that last thing broadcasted before the station went off the air late at night. I can still here the theme music...

YukonRon · February 2020

@Foghorn

Andromeda? Just curious. I can see it with my naked eye in the city during a certain time of the year.

Foghorn · February 2020

YukonRon said:

@Foghorn

Andromeda? Just curious. I can see it with my naked eye in the city during a certain time of the year.

I don't think so. I would have remembered that. Plus, I remember that it seemed quite small on a 8" scope convincing me on how far away it is.

speed51133 · February 2020

Stuff like this make me less likely to preserve the earth. The universe is mind boggingly large. There are stars BILLION of times larger than ours. Stars that would engulf the whole solar system.

The immense power of black holes and how their concentrated mass destroys all notions of time and reality.

All this make me think what difference does it make if I dump some decayed organic matter, oil, into a stream. Truth is, it doesn't. Everything is so inconsequential.

Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER dump oil. I try to be good, but I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom.

I really love learning about Astro physics and quantum mechanics. The whole relation of time, mass, gravity, and the speed of light is amazing. Humanity still does not not understand how it all works together. They just know it does.

JohnInCarolina · February 2020

speed51133 said:

Stuff like this make me less likely to preserve the earth. The universe is mind boggingly large. There are stars BILLION of times larger than ours. Stars that would engulf the whole solar system.

The immense power of black holes and how their concentrated mass destroys all notions of time and reality.

All this make me think what difference does it make if I dump some decayed organic matter, oil, into a stream. Truth is, it doesn't. Everything is so inconsequential.

Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER dump oil. I try to be good, but I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom.

I really love learning about Astro physics and quantum mechanics. The whole relation of time, mass, gravity, and the speed of light is amazing. Humanity still does not not understand how it all works together. They just know it does.

It’s funny because my instinct is exactly the opposite. I look up at the sky at night and all there is to see here from our humble home in the universe, and think of how fortunate we are to have the view, and that we owe it to our grandchildren and those who follow to preserve and conserve it for future generations.

alaskanassasin · February 2020

don't shvt where you eat.

nolaegghead · February 2020

JohnInCarolina said:

speed51133 said:

Stuff like this make me less likely to preserve the earth. The universe is mind boggingly large. There are stars BILLION of times larger than ours. Stars that would engulf the whole solar system.

The immense power of black holes and how their concentrated mass destroys all notions of time and reality.

All this make me think what difference does it make if I dump some decayed organic matter, oil, into a stream. Truth is, it doesn't. Everything is so inconsequential.

Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER dump oil. I try to be good, but I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom.

I really love learning about Astro physics and quantum mechanics. The whole relation of time, mass, gravity, and the speed of light is amazing. Humanity still does not not understand how it all works together. They just know it does.

It’s funny because my instinct is exactly the opposite. I look up at the sky at night and all there is to see here from our humble home in the universe, and think of how fortunate we are to have the view, and that we owe it to our grandchildren and those who follow to preserve and conserve it for future generations.

Do you anthropomorphic, bro?

Botch · February 2020

Cool story, Ron.

dbCooper · February 2020

speed51133 said:

Stuff like this make me less likely to preserve the earth. The universe is mind boggingly large. There are stars BILLION of times larger than ours. Stars that would engulf the whole solar system.

The immense power of black holes and how their concentrated mass destroys all notions of time and reality.

All this make me think what difference does it make if I dump some decayed organic matter, oil, into a stream. Truth is, it doesn't. Everything is so inconsequential.

Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER dump oil. I try to be good, but I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom.

I really love learning about Astro physics and quantum mechanics. The whole relation of time, mass, gravity, and the speed of light is amazing. Humanity still does not not understand how it all works together. They just know it does.

Your "truth" as you state it indicates you are a nihilist, yet then you state there is some moral code you live by. Must be a difficult and conflicted way to live?

JohnInCarolina · February 2020

Friggin nihilists, dude. Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, at least it’s an ethos.

fiber_induced_deuce · February 2020

speed51133 said:

Stuff like this make me less likely to preserve the earth. The universe is mind boggingly large. There are stars BILLION of times larger than ours. Stars that would engulf the whole solar system.

The immense power of black holes and how their concentrated mass destroys all notions of time and reality.

All this make me think what difference does it make if I dump some decayed organic matter, oil, into a stream. Truth is, it doesn't. Everything is so inconsequential.

Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER dump oil. I try to be good, but I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom.

I really love learning about Astro physics and quantum mechanics. The whole relation of time, mass, gravity, and the speed of light is amazing. Humanity still does not not understand how it all works together. They just know it does.

HeavyG · February 2020

speed51133 said:

Stuff like this make me less likely to preserve the earth. The universe is mind boggingly large. There are stars BILLION of times larger than ours. Stars that would engulf the whole solar system.

The immense power of black holes and how their concentrated mass destroys all notions of time and reality.

All this make me think what difference does it make if I dump some decayed organic matter, oil, into a stream. Truth is, it doesn't. Everything is so inconsequential.

Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER dump oil. I try to be good, but I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom.

I really love learning about Astro physics and quantum mechanics. The whole relation of time, mass, gravity, and the speed of light is amazing. Humanity still does not not understand how it all works together. They just know it does.

" I don't loose sleep over driving an internal combustion engine and dont think a few degrees warmer even if anthropomorphic is doom and gloom. "

"Eh..what you gonna do? It ain't no big thing."

That's the spirit! Your great-grandchildren will be so understanding of that attitude while having to deal with the fallout and expense of such rapid change.

OK Boomer.

55Kevy · February 2020

If any of you happen to be in the little village of Solvang, CA (outside of Santa Barbara) a local museum, the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, has an exhibition on through June 15 called "Starry Nights: Visions of the Night Sky". It's a mix of historic nocturne paintings, modern interpretations of the night skies, photography, and astrophotography through a collaboration with the Las Cumbres Observatory.

One of the themes explored is how light pollution is affecting wildlife and how many humans live in such light polluted areas that they will never see some stars, much less the milky way.

Oh, and full disclosure: I'm president of the Museum's board of directors.

YukonRon · February 2020

@speed51133

Thank you for your comment. I do understand in the great scheme of things, our existence impacts nothing in the universe to which we belong.

However, like you, I know that my deeds impact a infinitly smaller universe which is our world, and every species that lives on it.

Whether or not your belief in climate change, global warming, or whatever, has or has not an impact, feel free to share your opinion.

Mine differs from yours. I am not a "here and now" person with the impact I make on the environment, I am a "what I do now" impacts this planet for our children, their children and the generations that follow.

The only constant in our lives is change. I have taken some steps both in my professional and private life to hopefully negate a minuscule portion of the possible negative impact we have burdened our all species which cohabit upon this planet.

We might not be able to save the world. We might be able to impact our eventual demise and that of thousands of the species our actions impact.

That is a hopeful approach, to a fatalistic outcome, should we choose to do nothing.

Look at the people in your life, your neighbors, family friends, their families, and think about not caring what happens to their lives.

I am making a wild assumption that they, or at least some of them, care about you.

Either way, you are free to live the life you choose, and by all means, give it all you got. We all have a rotation limit, do not miss an opportunity.

Thanks again for sharing.

YukonRon · February 2020

55Kevy said:

If any of you happen to be in the little village of Solvang, CA (outside of Santa Barbara) a local museum, the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, has an exhibition on through June 15 called "Starry Nights: Visions of the Night Sky". It's a mix of historic nocturne paintings, modern interpretations of the night skies, photography, and astrophotography through a collaboration with the Las Cumbres Observatory.

One of the themes explored is how light pollution is affecting wildlife and how many humans live in such light polluted areas that they will never see some stars, much less the milky way.

Oh, and full disclosure: I'm president of the Museum's board of directors.

Thank you for the post. I have labs in SoCal and NoCal I will be traveling to. If our schedules allow, I will be there.

DonWW · February 2020

I was an astro guy for years, until Transverse Myelitis put me in a wheelchair. Sadly, paralysis and a Meade 10" LX200 scope don't mix. But loved viewing almost as much as showing others the beauty of the heavens. I had people look through the scope and then at the front of the scope while viewing Saturn just to make sure it wasn't a photo. Photo below is from South Africa. 2 minute exposure on a Nikon D90 with a 12mm lens. Looking towards the middle of our Milky Way galaxy.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/c1/a7cnp8pcr8un.jpg

gdenby · February 2020

To look not back at Earth, but outwards, the other side of the viewing coin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Extreme_Deep_Field

To paraphrase,

"What are those, Obi-Wan? "

"Those are not stars, they are galaxies."

DoubleEgger · February 2020

Incredible pic @DonWW

alaskanassasin · February 2020

Childhood in Alaska was amazing for star gazing. I remember the first time I stayed at my grandparents house in San Leandro when I was a kid, looking out the bedroom window late at night and and seeing a orange glow, no stars. It was weird

YukonRon · February 2020

gdenby said:

To look not back at Earth, but outwards, the other side of the viewing coin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Extreme_Deep_Field

To paraphrase,

"What are those, Obi-Wan? "

"Those are not stars, they are galaxies."

Awesome add, thank you for posting

lentsboy007 · February 2020

JohnInCarolina said:

Friggin nihilists, dude. Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, at least it’s an ethos.

Sea2Ski · February 2020

Everyone thinks that when you go offshore fishing it is all about the fishing and hopefully catching. In reality, those things are just a bonus. It is everything else that happens that makes a trip. On an overnight trip, 100-125 miles out to see where there is no light pollution at all, the sky is one of the most beautiful things to see if the weather conditions are right and there is no haze. As someone above said, simple things like the Big Dipper, North Star and Orion’s Belt are difficult to see at best. Instead I just sit there and look and think. But yea, I am also waiting for the clicker to go off screaming as well.

DonWW · February 2020

Just a quick reminder about Orion's belt and sword. Three stars make up the belt. And under the left star going down are the three stars that make up Orion's sword, just a little fainter. If you look carefully at the middle star of the sword, it will look fuzzy, which is because it is not a star but rather a huge gas nebula. One of the very few visible to the naked eye. Grab a pair of binocs for a better view. 1,300 light years away. A nursery where baby stars are being born.

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