| My Celestial Gallery / Astronomy Page: Thoughts and Events |
| CELESTIAL EVENTS / THOUGHTS... 09/14/2024 - The age, old question - why is it much more difficult and take much longer to send a satellite to the inner Solar System as opposed to the outer? Essentially: a. fuel costs - multiple flybys necessary b. Sun's gravity - multiple flybys necessary c. inner planets are small relative to the Sun -mulitple flybys necessary (as opposed to the Gas Giants with greater gravity, that can pull you in. The satellite is moving away from the Sun otherwise). If they can fake the moon landing, I'm sure they can fake a Mercury flyby haha. 05/28/2024 - Planetary alignments, or the planets lining up in the sky, is always an event to look forward to. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as just getting out of the house at night and looking up. Several criteria has to be met: a. You have to know when and where - alignments are usually best visible or occurs pre-dawn or well after midnight. That means getting up damn early. b. If it's on the horizon, you have to make sure there are no damn evergreens or trees obstructing or blocking the view. c. Optimal viewing is away from city or town lights. Unfortunately, that would mean traveling miles away from any civilization. There is just too much light pollution everywhere d. there is no guarantee that'll it be a clear day. Usually, during drought season of any region, there won't be any or a lot of clouds to begin with. I think Pluto should be re-classified as a planet. It has moons, features that resemble a planet, and is round. The extreme eccentricity of its orbit is more similar to a regular Kuiper Belt object however. I suppose this sealed its fate. It's still called a Dwarf Planet - Bobby Lee would've been proud of his home planet however hahaha. 04/29/2024 - Extremely Curious About "Insane Curiosity" Except the doomsday videos. Who else is curious about one's longevity on Venus. Imagine 100 Earth atmospheres coming down all around you with 900 degree temperatures scorching at the same time. Much hotter than a baker's oven. There is an opportunity for OceanGate to send another "not a problem" tin can down there haha. A human mission to Mars is not possible. Not in this lifetime, or ever (perhaps in a hundred or thousand years, if we still exist). If humanity is more preoccupied or concerned about killing each other or waging wars, it'll never be possible. There are a lot of variables in preparing for a 7 or 8 month long trip. The toll zero gravity can take on a human body, psychological effects, enormous amount of fuel required, preparing when things might go wrong during the trip, etc. 04/05/2024 - Total Eclipse Of The - Nothing Apparently, most of us would be cloud-covered or cloudy. The Total Solar Eclipse is happening on Monday. The path of totality is more to the SE this time. It'll be another 50+ years for the next one (or whatever the amount of years). It's as rare as a comet visiting. Hopefully, some images forthcoming. On the lookout for other events. 03/24/2024 - Apophis is coming Well, not until 2029 on a Friday The 13th. And only approaching very close to Earth. All science outlets say there is a zero chance of impact or a hit so no need to worry or panic. But is this just a cover up. Also - science can be fallible and make errors. There have been articles of unexplainable events out in deep space that are baffling or defying science or the laws of physics. Perhaps in this day and age, religion or a life of faith is necessary. I think this whole situation might be in God's hands now. If God decided to end the world or have something cataclysmic happen, it would have happened already. The lifespan of the Earth is still about a half-billion years, so plenty of time for humankind or humanity to correct itself. Unless with a flick of God's pinkie, the orbit of Apophis might be headed directly to Earth in the distant future. 05/02/2022 - Solar Eclipse or 'Transit of Phobos From Mars I thought this was cool. One of Mars' satellites Phobos eclipsing the sun, taken from Perserverance on Mars. Since Phobos does not cover the entire disc, does it constitute an eclipse? From a certain perspective, it can be both. But I always though 'transits' as planetary and eclipses from a planet's satellite or moon: It's been awhile. The defective telescope has been discarded - astronomy binoculars work a bit better. I think you'd have to invest in a high-quality scope, which can cost a lot. With the new Curiosity and Perserverance Mars mission, here are some image:  
07/09/2019 - It's Saturn's turn tonight, where it'll be in direct opposition to Earth and at its brightest. Unfortunately, tonight is cloudy / rainy but there should be another day. Planetary alignments happen only so often, but with a new telescope - I better put it to some use when conditions are favorable and when they occur. Saturn is a sight to behold because of its rings, especially with a telescope and perhaps with binoculars. I might not be in the most favorable area to stargaze (because of all the evergreens), but it's somewhat in a remote area. Still, there are lights around. My first attempt with the telescope was aimed at Jupiter last month, but with too much fiddling and re-positioning, it was not really an enjoyable experience. But I think I did see something. 04/11/2019 - So now we know what a black hole looks like? heheh  An interview below with Dr. Michio Kaku about the black hole ("Everything checks in, and nothing checks out"): |