ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

Yeah either it wasn't in the budget, or they didn't want to seem too good at producing such documentation.

I ain't steppin' in to that one....

 Zep wrote: 
Such a sad 'shop. But funny anyway. Hey did you read about this in that book by I.P. Farr?

New evidence of water on the Moon.

Venus and Mercury converging over Saitama, Japan, on March 30th. Photo credit: Mitsuo Muraoka.

March 31, 2010: The solar system's innermost planets are about to put on a beautiful show.

This week, Mercury is emerging from the glare of the sun and making a beeline for Venus. By week's end, the two planets will be just 3 degrees apart, an eye-catching pair in the deep-blue twilight of sunset.

The best nights to look are April 3rd and 4th. Go outside at the end of the day and face west. Venus pops out of the twilight first, so bright it actually shines through thin clouds. Mercury follows, just below and to the right: see sky map below.

Venus is an old friend to most sky watchers; Mercury, less so. The first planet from the sun spends most of its time wrapped in painful sunlight. Seeing it so easily, and in the beautiful company of Venus no less, is a rare treat indeed. The next apparition this good won't come until Nov. 2011.

 

The object, called 2010 AL30, is set to pass within 76,000 miles (122,000km) of the Earth, or just a third of the distance out to the moon, around lunchtime on Wednesday.

Its discovery earlier this week has baffled scientists, with some astronomers speculating it may be space junk given its width is similar to a man-made object.

Nasa said it was more likely to be a tiny asteroid, one of approximately 2 million such objects in near-Earth space.

Measuring between 33 to 50 feet (10 to 15 meters) wide, experts say it is too small to cause any damage to the earth.

The object, which will pass the earth at 1247 GMT, was discovered by, NASA-funded Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research programme on Monday and pictured by the Australian Skylive-Grove Creek Observatory in Trunkey Creek, New South Wales.

Experts say professional astronomers will be able to see it shining with a brightness of a 14th-magnitude star similar to that of Pluto in the constellations of Orion, Taurus, and Pisces.

Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero, from the Remanzacco Observatory, told Ria Novosti, the Russian News Agency, that it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a man-made object such as a spent rocket booster.

A Nasa spokesman said the asteroid did not pose a risk with stony asteroids under 25 meters in diameter more likely to “burn up in our atmosphere, causing little or no ground damage”.

He also dismissed claims it was a man-mad object.

“Because its orbital period is nearly identical to the Earth's one year period, some have suggested it may be a manmade rocket stage in orbit about the sun,” he said.

“However, this object's orbit reaches the orbit of Venus at its closest point to the sun and nearly out to the orbit of Mars at its furthest point, crossing the Earth's orbit at a very steep angle. This makes it very unlikely that 2010 AL30 is a rocket stage.

“Furthermore, trajectory extrapolations show that this object cannot be associated with any recent launch and it has not made any close approaches to the Earth since well before the Space Age began.”

 

 

 Zep wrote: 
I am sure a lot of Blue Moon will be downed around here on NYE.

Go to their website, they have a really cool tip of the hat to NYE

http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.com/

Dec. 29, 2009: Party planners take note. For the first time in almost twenty years, there's going to be a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve.

"I remember the last time this happened," says professor Philip Hiscock of the Dept. of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. "December 1990 ended with a Blue Moon, and many New Year's Eve parties were themed by the event. It was a lot of fun."

Don't expect the Moon to actually turn blue, though. "The 'Blue Moon' is a creature of folklore," he explains. "It's the second full Moon in a calendar month."

More here.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Wonderful! 

More nice pics:

National Geographic's top ten space pics from 2009.

 Manbird wrote: 
We could always pop up to Sirens on a Saturday night.  Lots o' young turks strutting their livers...

 Zep wrote: 
Yeah, it sucked (not in the good way), but at least I gave it a try. I find that I often don't know about this stuff in time to make the effort to see it, perhaps I'll try to keep my eye on this forum thread a little more to see what I can see.
 
 

A Nasa satellite designed to uncover hidden cosmic objects is scheduled to be launched from California.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (Wise) will blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Delta II rocket between 1409 and 1423 GMT.

It will pick up the glow of hundreds of millions of astronomical bodies.

It is expected to uncover objects that have never seen before, including some of the coolest stars and the most luminous galaxies.

 newwavegurly wrote: 
Awww  Jen, that sucks - all that effort and no meteors. 

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
I'm sure the lack of light pollution has a lot to do with it. If I were down by where my sister lives, I'd probably see a lot more because the population is sparser—and maybe even head out into the orange groves and see more from there.
 
I'd love to, but you know the deal.
And I will NEVER tire of hearing that. How could I ever get tired of hearing someone I care about wanting to spend time with me?  

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
If we want to see shooters around here, we have to drive over to Oakland. 

 newwavegurly wrote: 


We see shooters fairly often. I'm guessing that's because there's little light pollution up here, but more importantly, we're out there every night.

Come visit! (Aren't you tired of hearing that?)

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
I'm rather disappointed that I actually knew about this one (thanks, Zep) and attempted to catch some of it only to be foiled by the local atmospheric conditions and the construction being done.
Would have been a whole lot more fun to have someone to go try and watch it with anyway, but I tried... 

 newwavegurly wrote: 
Argh!

We caught two shooters tonight while walking the dogs. Heavy cloud cover for the most part, but a sky window opened up for a few minutes.

Well, I guess I'm just not meant to see the meteor shower tonight.
Not only is it really foggy out (probably due to the unseasonable rains we've recently had), but the causeway I need to take out to the closest area on the water/beach is closed.
 
 

 BasmntMadman wrote: 
I'm already well out of town where if I can get my neighbor to turn off his "security" light I don't need a telescope.  Since foregoing employment I've become essentially nocturnal.  I've been thinking I should really move to Arizona ever since they started having daylight savings time around here.  If this keeps up I may just do it.