MnAstro Forums

Yes, the EPIC images are awesome. Eclipses and moon transits are worth checking out in their historic images. I also agree, the GOES images are much better at night than they used to be from the old satellite. The GeoColor is very handy so you don't have to switch from VIS to IR when it gets dark. I...

Thanks. I have fixed the original post. Can you tell I once had a Commodore 64?

I see Penn State is still using GOES-13... or at least images that are labeled as GOES-13.

http://mp1.met.psu.edu/~fxg1/SAT_US/recentvis.html

Those are great. I have a long list of bookmarks going. Those aren't on my list yet.

I haven't been checking weather sites as frequently lately (something about it being cold), but today I was poking around and realized the satellite image sources on some of NOAA's sites have either changed, or are not there anymore. I looked into why and found this . It turns out that there is a ch...

That's better than inviting everybody over to watch it in my basement.

That is a very cool website. There are many observations around the same time (9:30 PM CST) Some of the descriptions are fun to read. They describe a different color for the ball from the tail. It was bright enough for someone to notice it through a window while watching TV.

Is there a reason why we assume it is elongated as opposed to having an uneven gradient of reflectivity... or having multiple bodies?

I really wish I was in town for this. I hope you all have fun. Stay warm!

I have other plans tonight now. This is really odd weather. At least nobody down there will be cold.

The forecasts are contradicting each other. Hopefully everybody has a good time. I'll see everybody next time.

I guess we call it "Mini" for a reason. An hour and a half is not a lot of sky time.

A coworker took that flight and very much enjoyed it. Because they came and left on the same plane, they were told they could leave their stuff in their seats. She said it seemed like they needed the entire runway in Grand Island.

The e-mail to forum experience is much more streamlined if you click the "remember me" check box when you login from a trusted device. Then each notification takes you straight to the new stuff.

You mean the mask that turns your 14 inch telescope into a more useful 12 inch telescope?

I have attended one of these BSIG events, and it was a very good time. Metcalf field is getting great use. Beginners get to experience a more relaxed "bring your own telescope" style event. I do want to point out the link to the Star Party Guidelines . It is worth a read, especially if thi...

I will be there if the weather holds.

I will be at Glacial Lakes State Park on Saturday. I don't think I can make it to CGO on Friday either, but I'll watch the weather... just in case.

I agree. I think I'm going to roll the dice on tomorrow instead. Maybe the forecast will improve before then.

The "Center on Midnight" feature on "Clear Outside" can be very misleading. I had my suspicion about this, so experimented around the noon hour today. If you use "Center on Midnight" prior to noon, today's chart shows last night. If you use the feature AFTER noon, today...

I think the forecast might be improving for this. I haven't lost hope.

Cherry Grove_as_of_2017_05_24_17.16.30.png (31.89 KiB) Viewed 2538 times

Both papers are suggesting ring systems, but it is interesting that the second paper is hypothesizing a ring system in OUR solar system where the first paper has a large planet with rings in the star's system.

EDIT: Really rings of matter within/around our solar system... not necessarily a planet.

It was not conclusive. There were a few of us who could see a blip in the same location as we rotated the cardboard aperture mask... but was it Sirius B? It was hard for me to jump to that conclusion given what I saw. It is very much worth trying again next year though. There are resources that sugg...

This thread went from wisecracks to science reassuringly fast. I learned about the sizes of white dwarfs and neutron stars. Speaking of white dwarfs, I'm still waiting for Brandon Hamil to post about Sirius B. I think the title of his thread should be, "He cuts a circle and a triangle into a pi...

This diagram seems relevant. The average White Dwarf is larger than MN.... a Neutron star, however, could fit. To my knowledge, none exist in MN.
Image lifted from https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/xte/earthwd.gif

There are no stars in Minnesota. That would make it uncomfortably hot.