Spacefarer's Guide to Getting off this Planet

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Thanks Mama! That is awesome that you live in a very dark area! Not very many people can truly enjoy that now a days! In fact I am very sad that most kids of this generation have never experienced a true dark sky where they can see the Milky Way! When I was a kid and lived in Argentina, we lived in the countryside in the middle of nowhere and I swear the sky was white with stars!! They were brilliant and there were millions of them! It is one of those childhood memories I will always cherish! I wished more people now could experience this but sadly as population continues to grow, so does light pollution and I don’t ever see it getting better :(

Oh yes forgot to answer your question, I think your daughter might be correct and could very well be the ISS that you saw. I found a great website which tells you when the iss will pass in front of the moon or sun in any location you set it to. This is great to get great pics of the moon with the silhouette iss in front. The name of the site escapes me now and it was saved on my old phone. When I find it I’ll post it up here! I am sure there are also lots of sites that also tell you when the iss will fly overhead in your area. I’ll post links of what I find soon! :)

This is the iss transit finder I was talking about. It seems there is also tons of apps out there to download. This one is web based:

https://transit-finder.com

oh wow thanks so much! i will check that out! looks like fun!

i do love the dark skies here, can see the Milky Way clearly too, along with The Plough and Orion's Belt - i think they're the only ones i am familiar with

am seriously thinking of dusting off my son's old telescope (currently in the attic) now hehe!

loved showing the kids the stars when they were little - some great memories, lying on our backs on various beaches staring up at the night sky! one of our fave family past-times haha
 
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I got a quick video of the ISS transiting us when I was in Italy for school.

My British colleague can be heard on the recording saying “I’ve got a space boner.”
 
I got a quick video of the ISS transiting us when I was in Italy for school.

My British colleague can be heard on the recording saying “I’ve got a space boner.”

Haha that’s awesome! And of course very awesome you got a video of the transit! That’s on my bucket lest to get a nice photo of the sun or moon withe the iss in front! I’ve also seen people have their scopes track the space station (I guess they use some software to have their scope track) and they have taken some pretty awesome shots where you can clearly see it with solar panels and all.
 
oh wow thanks so much! i will check that out! looks like fun!

i do love the dark skies here, can see the Milky Way clearly too, along with The Plough and Orion's Belt - i think they're the only ones i am familiar with

am seriously thinking of dusting off my son's old telescope (currently in the attic) now hehe!

loved showing the kids the stars when they were little - some great memories, lying on our backs on various beaches staring up at the night sky! one of our fave family past-times haha

You should totally dust off your scope! Such an awesome and relaxing hobby, although astrophotography itself can be quite frustrating, doing viewing is so relaxing and awe inspiring. I may just gather the courage one day to go to the dark sky reserve and spend the night just observing! Of course I’ll bring my bear spray lol
 
Insight has landed safely on Mars! :applaud:

So....
what do you think the seismological experiments might reveal down below the Martian surface...


... a set of Golden Arches ( the ancient hidden franchise?)

...The Monolith? (natch :D)

... a Shadow Ship? (ruh-roh!) (Babylon 5)



Commence your guesses.....
 
I’m familiar with the experiments onboard but don’t ask me to tell you what the precise instrumentation is for each one! Probably a seismometer or two and a bunch of radar/long wave detectors. For an engineer, I’m strangely more in tune with the science than the equipment.
 
Got it.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that I expected u to know that. Though you might have. That said, I'll look it up.

Of with course the radar, or long wave , or the seismology stuff - I'd do love for them to find outlines of ancient cities...


...otoh...



Trump being the one to have this discovery...

and what stupid, or crazy things he might do with that !?!?
:no: :panic: :no:
 
Steph Curry doesn't believe we landed on the Moon. I was listening to a sports talk radio show yesterday and they were discussing that. This guy calls in and says that it's true, we didn't. That Buzz Aldrin admitted it.

The guy wouldn't cop to his proof being You Tube. But the hosts found a fake edited video after another caller told them about it.

I guess NASA invited Steph for a visit.
 
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Of with course the radar, or long wave , or the seismology stuff - I'd do love for them to find outlines of ancient cities...


...otoh...



Trump being the one to have this discovery...

and what stupid, or crazy things he might do with that !?!?
:no: :panic: :no:

so if they somehow find "outlines of ancient cities" on mars, trump gets the credit for it? :huh:
 
In a sort of general way; NASA is still government run and he's president. It "happens" on his watch.



Not exactly.

Certain programs are from certain directives and they normally get remembered as such.

Despite not having changed anything at all, Trump’s directive was all near term lunar stuff (probably because he could take credit for it).

The same cannot be said about things like Mars InSight or various other elements that fall under different legacy programs.

This would be like saying Donald Trump receives credit for the F35 because it entered full active service during his presidency. Nobody looks at it that way ~at all~.
 
i can't think of any major space achievement that people really associate with a president, aside from kennedy making the speech setting the moon landing goal, but he had been dead almost six years and thoroughly mythologised by the time that actually happened.
 
Certain programs are associated with certain presidents. SLS is an Obama thing - a rearrangement of when Obama “cancelled NASA” or whatever. Constellation was Bush. Bush Sr. and the discovery program is cited as “better faster cheaper” or whatever.

Those are all based upon presidential initiatives.

Achievements aren’t associated with the president because the president is out of office by the time that major achievement has been accomplished. But certainly there’s a legacy behind whatever path each president sets.
 
Anyone see the lunar eclipse last night? I didn’t take any photos this time as I am busy with my kitchen renos but it looked very nice indeed. Even though they are not as rare as solar eclipses, they still look pretty cool!
 
Not exactly.

Certain programs are from certain directives and they normally get remembered as such.

Despite not having changed anything at all, Trump’s directive was all near term lunar stuff (probably because he could take credit for it).

The same cannot be said about things like Mars InSight or various other elements that fall under different legacy programs.

This would be like saying Donald Trump receives credit for the F35 because it entered full active service during his presidency. Nobody looks at it that way ~at all~ .
:hmm: Ah, i see what you and others are saying.

(bu don't you think your "at all" with typographical emphasis seems a bit snarky? I just stated a concern)

i can't think of any major space achievement that people really associate with a president, aside from kennedy making the speech setting the moon landing goal, but he had been dead almost six years and thoroughly mythologised by the time that actually happened.

Re: JFK & Moon landing: I was 10 when he was assassinated, 16 for the moon landing. All this made a very lasting impression.

So it's probably why I said what i said originally. I totally associate JFK with all the moon stuff, with of course all the NASA team and astros together. Sort of a knee jerk reaction; other presidents also then must be linked with x space achievements.

But you all are right i don't actually really associate any other President with a particular space program, initiative etc.
 
Anyone see the lunar eclipse last night? I didn’t take any photos this time as I am busy with my kitchen renos but it looked very nice indeed. Even though they are not as rare as solar eclipses, they still look pretty cool!

Disappointed i didn't get to see it. It was really cold that night. I couldn't see it from any of my windows- must of passed my sight line as my sis had seen it about an hour or so early just as it was getting all coppery red (different neighborhoods but we both have eastern windows). Said it looked very pretty. I have seen a few over the decades.
The last one just as it was getting to full coverage the clouds blocked it.
 
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:sad:
Good-bye, Opportunity Rover.

NASA sent it' s last 'hello, r u there?' signal to Oppie (their nickname) yesterday. No return response.
Still, :applaud::applaud::applaud: for a ?90 day mission that lasted 15 years. That gave us major, and tantalising info about water on Mars etc.
 
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