Star gazing

Scuttlebutt
#1

A diversion from politics and daily BS:

Late Thursday and Friday showcase the moon gliding through the constellation Gemini, the twins. Look toward the low eastern sky Thursday for the waning gibbous moon to form a celestial triangle with the twin stars Castor and Pollux. The next night the moon will have lined up below the stellar duo, with Castor being stark white and Pollux noticeably yellow. Sky-watchers should also look out Thursday for a smattering of shooting stars as the Northern Taurid meteor shower peaks. Expect to see about 10 meteors an hour around 1 a.m., when the shower’s namesake constellation, from which where the meteors appear to radiate, is high in your southern sky. Andrew Fazekas NAT GEO

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#2

Lovely. I’ll see if I can kill the lights here. I’m sure no one will mind a blackout after explain about Castor and Pollux.

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#3

I’ll have to keep an eye out, though I think it’s supposed to be cloudy and rainy here til May :grinning:

We did get a phenomenal look at the moon with Jupiter and Saturn recently. I think I’m going to have to pick up a telescope for the kiddos. And myself, but mostly for the kiddos :slight_smile:

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#4

You’re sounding like my wife, the HS astronomy teacher… No thanks, I have to getup for work at 5 AM.

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#5

Retirement has its perks. :wink:

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#6

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That is one of the things which I miss most from my seafaring days. Those star covered skies with a 360° view, especially when the atmosphere was crystal clear. Stars that always brought us safely home. That was a comforting and awesome sight at the same time.

Ashore, with all that light pollution present nowadays, you can hardly see my friends anymore.

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#7

On the beaches near where I live, light pollution has a huge detrimental effect on the survival of sea turtle hatchlings. They are drawn inland toward artificial light where they won’t survive instead of toward the water. It affects about half of all nests. Convincing people to tone down their exterior lights is a never ending education battle.

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#8

I remember watching Halley’s Comet in 1986 and Comet Hale-Bop in 1997 while at sea with no other light around. It was Fabulous.

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#9

Is this a real general observation, or just the observation of some degenerated hatchlings?

I have absolutely no knowledge in this matter; however, siblings with no maternal (or paternal) learning must have a big loss due to gene transmitting errors…

#10

It’s not that the light exposure affects their health. It’s that if they head inland toward the lights after hatching instead of toward the water they have no chance of survival.
Even before they hatch, their chances of survival are slim. The eggs are easy prey for birds and crabs and such. The nest is nothing more than a shallow hole in the sand. If they manage to hatch and head in the right direction toward the water, they inch along very slowly and are exposed to an even wider variety of predators. If they make it to the water, they are prey to seabirds and fish. It’s estimated that fewer than one in a thousand hatchlings survive long enough to grow to adulthood.

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#11

It’s cool to watch the SpaceX Starlink satellites passover. They pass over all in a spaced out line. Super neat!

You can keep track of them and when they will be flying over https://findstarlink.com/

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