I woke up unexpectedly just before 5 a.m. this morning, and after going downstairs to get some water, glanced outside and saw clear sky, so I wandered into the back yard and enjoyed the view for several minutes. Perseus was high overhead, Orion mostly clearing the mountaintops, Capella gleaming brightly in the NE. It's amazing how... comforting it is in the calm of early morning to just throw your head back, look up and forget life's cares for a few minutes. I even managed to see a couple of faint Perseids as an added bonus. Sometimes it's just enough (and then some) to just get out and look up and enjoy. /Rich
It is sure nice to own the sky! On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 4:02 PM, Richard Tenney via Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote: I woke up unexpectedly just before 5 a.m. this morning, and after going downstairs to get some water, glanced outside and saw clear sky, so I wandered into the back yard and enjoyed the view for several minutes. Perseus was high overhead, Orion mostly clearing the mountaintops, Capella gleaming brightly in the NE. It's amazing how... comforting it is in the calm of early morning to just throw your head back, look up and forget life's cares for a few minutes. I even managed to see a couple of faint Perseids as an added bonus. Sometimes it's just enough (and then some) to just get out and look up and enjoy. /Rich _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".
Fantastic, Rich. That's my world five to seven days a week. I wake up at 3:30 AM for work, typically start at 5:00 AM. I have the quiet of the morning sky to greet me every clear morning of the year. It's peaceful, relaxing. And every once in a while, you get to see a bonus, like meteors or, earlier this spring, fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket. That one sure threw me for a loop! On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 2:01 PM, Richard Tenney via Utah-Astronomy < utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
I woke up unexpectedly just before 5 a.m. this morning, and after going downstairs to get some water, glanced outside and saw clear sky, so I wandered into the back yard and enjoyed the view for several minutes. Perseus was high overhead, Orion mostly clearing the mountaintops, Capella gleaming brightly in the NE. It's amazing how... comforting it is in the calm of early morning to just throw your head back, look up and forget life's cares for a few minutes. I even managed to see a couple of faint Perseids as an added bonus. Sometimes it's just enough (and then some) to just get out and look up and enjoy. /Rich
Chuck, "...fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket." How about running that past us again? Ed -------------------------------- Quoting Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com>:
Fantastic, Rich.
That's my world five to seven days a week. I wake up at 3:30 AM for work, typically start at 5:00 AM. I have the quiet of the morning sky to greet me every clear morning of the year. It's peaceful, relaxing. And every once in a while, you get to see a bonus, like meteors or, earlier this spring, fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket. That one sure threw me for a loop!
On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 2:01 PM, Richard Tenney via Utah-Astronomy < utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
I woke up unexpectedly just before 5 a.m. this morning, and after going downstairs to get some water, glanced outside and saw clear sky, so I wandered into the back yard and enjoyed the view for several minutes. Perseus was high overhead, Orion mostly clearing the mountaintops, Capella gleaming brightly in the NE. It's amazing how... comforting it is in the calm of early morning to just throw your head back, look up and forget life's cares for a few minutes. I even managed to see a couple of faint Perseids as an added bonus. Sometimes it's just enough (and then some) to just get out and look up and enjoy. /Rich
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Hi Ed, I stepped outside the shop to look at the sky early one morning, and noticed what at first I thought to be a small cloud, low on the southwest horizon. After a few minutes, it didn't move relative to the background stars, so I grapped my binocular. It looked like a large nebula, and over time was getting larger. I called Patrick who was still awake at his home observatory, and it was below his horizon, but eventually rose above the mountains from his location. It had dissipated a bit but he thought he could detect something through the clouds. It was in a clear patch of sky from my perspective. I found reference to it on Cloudy Nights later that day, and it turned out to be a Japanese booster rocket that was dumping surplus fuel, which was illuminated by the sun at that high altitude. About a half dozen people in the west and southwest had clear enough skies that morning to catch sight of it and report it. Pretty cool, actually. I've also seen a number of weather balloons at high altitude very early in the morning, sky still black. They look like first-magnitude stars where none should be. They slowly drift, which rules out supernovae or close novae. On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 5:44 AM, Ed <utnatsedj1@xmission.com> wrote:
Chuck,
"...fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket."
How about running that past us again?
Ed
--------------------------------
Quoting Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com>:
Fantastic, Rich.
That's my world five to seven days a week. I wake up at 3:30 AM for work, typically start at 5:00 AM. I have the quiet of the morning sky to greet me every clear morning of the year. It's peaceful, relaxing. And every once in a while, you get to see a bonus, like meteors or, earlier this spring, fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket. That one sure threw me for a loop!
On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 2:01 PM, Richard Tenney via Utah-Astronomy < utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
I woke up unexpectedly just before 5 a.m. this morning, and after going
downstairs to get some water, glanced outside and saw clear sky, so I wandered into the back yard and enjoyed the view for several minutes. Perseus was high overhead, Orion mostly clearing the mountaintops, Capella gleaming brightly in the NE. It's amazing how... comforting it is in the calm of early morning to just throw your head back, look up and forget life's cares for a few minutes. I even managed to see a couple of faint Perseids as an added bonus. Sometimes it's just enough (and then some) to just get out and look up and enjoy. /Rich
I believe this photo to be of the same event, some two years ago. The photo is a time exposure so everything is smeared-out, doesn't really look like what I saw. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin-palmer/14268871974/ On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 5:55 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Ed,
I stepped outside the shop to look at the sky early one morning, and noticed what at first I thought to be a small cloud, low on the southwest horizon. After a few minutes, it didn't move relative to the background stars, so I grapped my binocular. It looked like a large nebula, and over time was getting larger. I called Patrick who was still awake at his home observatory, and it was below his horizon, but eventually rose above the mountains from his location. It had dissipated a bit but he thought he could detect something through the clouds. It was in a clear patch of sky from my perspective. I found reference to it on Cloudy Nights later that day, and it turned out to be a Japanese booster rocket that was dumping surplus fuel, which was illuminated by the sun at that high altitude. About a half dozen people in the west and southwest had clear enough skies that morning to catch sight of it and report it.
Pretty cool, actually.
I've also seen a number of weather balloons at high altitude very early in the morning, sky still black. They look like first-magnitude stars where none should be. They slowly drift, which rules out supernovae or close novae.
On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 5:44 AM, Ed <utnatsedj1@xmission.com> wrote:
Chuck,
"...fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket."
How about running that past us again?
Ed
Chuck, Ah! That clarifies a lot. I gather, then, that the fuel cloud and booster were orbiting generally West to East so that it would come into view at Stansbury. Thanks for the story, Ed ---------------------------- Quoting Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com>:
I believe this photo to be of the same event, some two years ago. The photo is a time exposure so everything is smeared-out, doesn't really look like what I saw.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin-palmer/14268871974/
On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 5:55 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Ed,
I stepped outside the shop to look at the sky early one morning, and noticed what at first I thought to be a small cloud, low on the southwest horizon. After a few minutes, it didn't move relative to the background stars, so I grapped my binocular. It looked like a large nebula, and over time was getting larger. I called Patrick who was still awake at his home observatory, and it was below his horizon, but eventually rose above the mountains from his location. It had dissipated a bit but he thought he could detect something through the clouds. It was in a clear patch of sky from my perspective. I found reference to it on Cloudy Nights later that day, and it turned out to be a Japanese booster rocket that was dumping surplus fuel, which was illuminated by the sun at that high altitude. About a half dozen people in the west and southwest had clear enough skies that morning to catch sight of it and report it.
Pretty cool, actually.
I've also seen a number of weather balloons at high altitude very early in the morning, sky still black. They look like first-magnitude stars where none should be. They slowly drift, which rules out supernovae or close novae.
On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 5:44 AM, Ed <utnatsedj1@xmission.com> wrote:
Chuck,
"...fuel outgassing from a Japanese booster rocket."
How about running that past us again?
Ed
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Here's the up-close and personal view of the blinding light from the QM-2 booster firing from NASA's revolutionary new HDR video camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPfcwT4Fcy8 Ed
participants (4)
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Brent Watson -
Chuck Hards -
Ed -
Richard Tenney