kesegy 5 Posted July 4, 2008 (edited) i love that picture as well it makes you think how many life forms there are looking at the same sky thinking of the same thing or even just thinking how many life forms there are yeah, but why aren't they answering?? i've been crunching numbers like crazy in SETI@home but that wow signal is nowhere to be heard again. and with arecibo scheduled to shut down for seti in 2011, time is not on our side. Edited July 4, 2008 by kesegy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ONETINSOLDIER 2 Posted July 4, 2008 oh to live somewhere like Arizona\Nevada. You guys there are sooo lucky! Apparently you've never been to Nevada, or you wouldnt say that! LOL (just jokin) I guess it was ok, 30 bazillion ground squirrels cant be wrong, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ONETINSOLDIER 2 Posted July 4, 2008 yeah, but why aren't they answering?? i've been crunching numbers like crazy in SETI@home but that wow signal is nowhere to be heard again. and with arecibo scheduled to shut down for seti in 2011, time is not on our side. Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest radio telescope and the source for the SETI@home data that your computer analyzes, faces massive budget cuts that will END its ability to continue the search for life beyond Earth. The decision to ensure full funding currently rests upon votes in Congress on Senate Bill S. 2862 and House Resolution H.R. 3737. These bills desperately need more support. Please take a moment to help us SAVE ARECIBO. Clicking the link below will direct you to a web page that allows you print out letters prepared for your Senators and Congressional Representative urging them to support Arecibo. Printing and mailing the letters is really easy, too! You will also have the chance to add a few personal thoughts, if you wish, to let your Senators and Representative know why this funding is important to you! And if you're really feeling passionate about saving Arecibo, please use these letters as the basis for letters you write yourself, urging your congressmen and women to vote to save Arecibo. Because our representatives in Congress rarely give much attention to all the email they receive, printing out and MAILING these letters via standard U.S. Postal mail remains our best option for contacting them and our best hope for saving Arecibo (The second best option is to call your representatives). Your 42 cent stamps on these letters could help us get the millions of dollars needed to save Arecibo. Our search cannot continue without the necessary support. Your work, as SETI@home participants, represents an indispensable resource for conducting the search. Now, we need your help to ensure that our other most valuable resource - our eyes and ears to the cosmos - can continue to probe the universe as we seek to answer the question: Is there anybody out there? http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/arecibo_letter.php Thank you for your help, The SETI@home Team Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stwa 18 Posted July 4, 2008 (edited) "Just a pity that we don't get clear skies every night...oh to live somewhere like Arizona\Nevada. You guys there are sooo lucky! Well, I live in Arizona, and I have several telescopes. A Televue 101mm and 70mm refractor. About Arizona scoping. 1. During the summer (all of it), the night sky is covered with "monsoon" cloud cover - tiny poofs of clouds that will congeal into larger clouds as the heat raises during the daytime. These clouds start to virtually disapear around 4:30 am. To bad sunrise is about 4:45 am. 2. Arizona is not on Mountain time, or Pacific Time. Its on Arizona time, with NO (Never) daylight savings adjustment. 3. To observe during the winter, if you leave the cities (which are mostly in valleys) to get out of the light polution, you generally have to go up in elevation, with a sharp decrease in temperature. Arizona has very little humidity which guarantees large temperature swings from day to night, never mind the altitude changes. 4. If your remote observing site sits on asphault, you are almost guaranteed to encounter rattlesnakes. Snakes love to come out onto the asphault at night because of the heat the surface releases. And even if there aren't any real snakes, you can bet one of your observing buddies will sneak a fake rubber rattlesnake into your star-party, just so he can watch you pee in your pants. 5. And finally there are the Palo Verde Beatles. These critters look like cockroaches on steroids. Their bodies can be six inches long. Only thing is, they FLY. Thats right, they have WINGS. They make this incredibly loud buzzing sound when they scream past your ear at about 50 mph. I figure each fly-by reduces your life expectancy by a month. Edited July 4, 2008 by Stwa Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Muesli 2,161 Posted July 4, 2008 5. And finally there are the Palo Verde Beatles. These critters look like cockroaches on steroids. Their bodies can be six inches long. Only thing is, they FLY. Thats right, they have WINGS. They make this incredibly loud buzzing sound when they scream past your ear at about 50 mph. I figure each fly-by reduces your life expectancy by a month. My father-in-law encountered such a Palo Verde root borer beetle when he was just outside Phoenix while on a business trip. Some colleagues thought it was funny to walk around at night pointing flashlights in the air and attract them. Next day, he lost all the hair on his head and his beard turned grey..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Syrinx 13 Posted July 4, 2008 Well, I live in Arizona, and I have several telescopes. A Televue 101mm and 70mm refractor. About Arizona scoping. 1. During the summer (all of it), the night sky is covered with "monsoon" cloud cover - tiny poofs of clouds that will congeal into larger clouds as the heat raises during the daytime. These clouds start to virtually disapear around 4:30 am. To bad sunrise is about 4:45 am. 2. Arizona is not on Mountain time, or Pacific Time. Its on Arizona time, with NO (Never) daylight savings adjustment. 3. To observe during the winter, if you leave the cities (which are mostly in valleys) to get out of the light polution, you generally have to go up in elevation, with a sharp decrease in temperature. Arizona has very little humidity which guarantees large temperature swings from day to night, never mind the altitude changes. 4. If your remote observing site sits on asphault, you are almost guaranteed to encounter rattlesnakes. Snakes love to come out onto the asphault at night because of the heat the surface releases. And even if there aren't any real snakes, you can bet one of your observing buddies will sneak a fake rubber rattlesnake into your star-party, just so he can watch you pee in your pants. 5. And finally there are the Palo Verde Beatles. These critters look like cockroaches on steroids. Their bodies can be six inches long. Only thing is, they FLY. Thats right, they have WINGS. They make this incredibly loud buzzing sound when they scream past your ear at about 50 mph. I figure each fly-by reduces your life expectancy by a month. Oh. ...then I guess the reality is never as good as the fantasy ! Well...I can dream. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyCap 0 Posted July 4, 2008 If anybody is interested and don`t know about these; There are two koolio free space sims that I have tried. Noctis and Celestia. Although Noctis is a fictional galaxie, it is still very interesting to explore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gr.Viper 131 Posted July 4, 2008 Yeah... Noctis is a really amazing exploration sim. To bad you can't capture lifeforms I gave link to Celestia on the previous page. With a set of mods you can stuff it with photorealistic planet textures, database of 2 000 000 stars and remembering words of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy check out how big space is. Find a galaxy about 30 megaparsec from us, select Sol, center on it and hit the accelerator. Seeing Milky Way as a a tiny dot of light is really creepy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rambler 1-1 9 Posted July 4, 2008 I feel sorry for you poor saps with your cloud covers and beetles of doom and what not. Here we've had an unbelievable spell of hot weather (40+ degrees!), and almost every night has been clear like you wouldn't believe! If I wasn't spending all my summer vacation nights sleeping, I'd be up in the hills armed with a telescope, my star book and a dim red flashlight looking at who-knows-what! No bugs either, it's too hot for them! bonus! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Syrinx 13 Posted July 4, 2008 Well looking out of my bedroom window right now there's Jupiter fairly low down but very bright. Warm & muggy here tonight, but I reckon the seeing will be pretty poor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted July 5, 2008 I was really into it when I was younger, but growing up in Miami you don't get much "night sky" to see. I pretty much just watched the Moon! Then when I went to college I wanted to major in astrophysics. Unfortunately, there was no such option at the school I went to (picked for reasons other than what majors it had) so I majored in plain physics instead. Some days I wish I had chosen otherwise, of course. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyCap 0 Posted July 5, 2008 Yeah... Noctis is a really amazing exploration sim. To bad you can't capture lifeforms I gave link to Celestia on the previous page. With a set of mods you can stuff it with photorealistic planet textures, database of 2 000 000 stars and remembering words of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy check out how big space is. Find a galaxy about 30 megaparsec from us, select Sol, center on it and hit the accelerator. Seeing Milky Way as a a tiny dot of light is really creepy Oops sorry Viper, dind`t see you Celestia link. Yeah capturing lifeforms in Noctis would be interesting. I think I read that you can catch birds... Anyways too bad Noctis V is taking years to come out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gr.Viper 131 Posted July 7, 2008 Another interstellar toy - Universe Sandbox. http://universesandbox.com/ You can watch galaxies collide Share this post Link to post Share on other sites