Re: Terror of Space

In article <u9HnPFIQWFtDFwIz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Chris Townsend <Chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Remember Chris: summarize.
I didn't catch the last week one. But that as long.

>>>>>"On this mountain's brutish forehead with terror of space
>>>>>- From "Vancouver Lights"
>>>>>Earle Birney, 1941.
>>>I like it. Quite emotive and atmospheric. I was looking at the vastness
>>>of the night sky last night (my partner was trying out her new
>>>telescope) and we were thinking how tiny we are and how unbelievably
>>>vast the universe is, both in size and time.
>>Well by some measures.
>>
>>You humans, when are ya going to learn that size doesn't matter?
>>Just 'cause something is important, that it's not very, very small?
>>--Frank
>>from a film which was an entertaining way to think about scale if
>>one has to suspend one's knowledge a while to enjoy it.
>
>Which film?

It was at the bottom the last quote by Zed. Men-in-Black.
A favorite X-files phrase Watson likes. Just a funny movie to me.

>The size of the universe isn't necessarily important, nor does it in any
>way matter, it just is. That we can know about it is important to us and
>matter to us - some of us anyway.

Actually to a degree the size is important.
It can tell us certain tings about its future if we knew more.
It's belief suspension.

>Invisible things (to us), especially live ones, are just as impressive.
>I can still remember first looking at a drop of pond water under a
>microscope. Amazing!

Yep, I bought another one just recently.
Some peopel don't believe in micro biology.
There is a tissue commercial in the USA featuring a very kind hearted
Buddist monk who silently reads that a tissue kills 99% of germs.
This gives him reason to ask for forgiveness.

Fantastic voyage.

>>telescopes
>>nebulae
>>properly. A human will never resolve one the way its set up.
>
>My partner has a fair idea of what's where in the sky, due to years of
>watching with the naked eye. Last night we looked at Vega and a spiral
>galaxy close to the Plough whose number/name I can't remember.

Plough?
Vega is a summer star. Part of the Northern triange in Lyra (a binary, too).
Plow?

What's its aperature?
Do you know make or archihecture?

The best you can do with a telescope is to learn to look to the side of
an object such that the center of your ocular field which had more rods
lets more light from an object fall on peripheral cones. You get a bit
more color that way.

Lyra, in summer, is good for M57, the smoke ring. I've used a 36 inch
on it.

Could you see spiral structure?
If plow, and you mean Ursa Major or part of the Big Digger, you might be
looking at M51 and its companion.


>>A lot of people (especially in the US) reject astronomical
>>interpretations (flat earthers). My cute friend Ruth was that way.
>>Hence I am Ruthless.
>
>Hah! Nancy in Swallows and Amazons was called Ruth but changed her name
>after her uncle told her pirates were ruthless and she wanted to be an
>Amazon pirate.

Quality.

>In another book in the same series a child named Dick watches the stars
>through his telescope and muses on how big the universe but how despite
>that we can name the stars and predict their movements.

They are Newtonian. Approximately.

--
------------ And now a word from our sponsor ------------------
Want to have instant messaging, and chat rooms, and discussion
groups for your local users or business, you need dbabble!
-- See http://netwinsite.com/sponsor/sponsor_dbabble.htm ----
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Light has no electric charge or magnetic poles
    ... photon is required at that energy, or two photons at half that ... How long has the Universe existed? ... "Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula. ... is SOMEHOW converted to matter (the big question ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Operation Troll Shoulder -- 25 Jun 2005
    ... > All the mass of all the stars was in orbit and changed directions. ... > befor the big bang all the matter was in an orbit. ... > now you dont understand the diamiter of the universe befor the BB. ... > energy at C and the same moles of energy take up more space but react is ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Operation Troll Shoulder -- 25 Jun 2005
    ... All the mass of all the stars was in orbit and changed directions. ... befor the big bang all the matter was in an orbit. ... now you dont understand the diamiter of the universe befor the BB. ... energy at C and the same moles of energy take up more space but react is ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Dumb question about light that took 15B years to get here
    ... I read recently that the Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light ... and this co-location occurred back at the beginning of the universe, ... Our matter and those objects moved away from each other for the ... you should not view the expansion of the universe ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Terror of Space
    ... I stir of the changeless night and the stark ranges of nothing pulsing down from beyond and between the fragile planets We are a spark beleaguered by darkness this twinkle we make in a corner of emptiness how shall we utter our fear that the black Experimentress will never in the range of her microscope find it? ... of the night sky last night (my partner was trying out her new telescope) and we were thinking how tiny we are and how unbelievably vast the universe is, ... In another book in the same series a child called Dick watches the stars ...
    (rec.backcountry)