Dogs Can't Look Up

[hobbes]

But you can.
Tonight is the start of the 2014 Stargazing Live week. Unfortunately the weather looks shit at the moment.
But if you do get a chance in Western Europe head out after sunset. Look East about half way to the zenith. The brightest star you can see is Jupiter. If you get some binoculars on it, you should be able to see the Galilean moons in a line from bottom left to top right. With a small telescope you can see the storm bands on the surface.
Also the moon will be in 1st quarter tonight almost due West around 19:30 so again through binoculars you should see some lovely stuff along the terminator (where it goes from light to dark.)
If you fancy getting up early in the morning, Saturn rises around 3am but will be at it's highest a few degrees east of due south about 20 degrees above the horizon. Follow the handle of the Plough round to a very bright star. This is Arcturus. If you draw a ling from the end of the handle through Arcturus Saturn will be roughly on that line. With decent binoculars or a small telescope you'll see the rings, which is always a hell of a sight.
At the same time due South and much higher (just above and to the right of Spica) is Mars. It'll take a bigger scope to see much but with bins you'll notice it's very definitely red.
Anyway, get out there kids. There's a lot to see even in the centre of a city. (Assuming it's not bloody cloudy, obviously.)

[EIM]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Dogs can look up, you mad bastard. We've had over a decade of this "dogs can't look up" bollocks AND I'M SICK OF IT.

[slackster]

Dogs Can't Look Up

The tv presenters are going to earn their corn tonight, spinning out what we might have seen if it wasn't pissing it down cats and, er, dogs.

[Jah Womble]

Dogs Can't Look Up

What is it that they look up? Telephone numbers? Stuff on Wikipedia?

[hobbes]

Dogs Can't Look Up

slackster wrote: The tv presenters are going to earn their corn tonight, spinning out what we might have seen if it wasn't pissing it down cats and, er, dogs.

I think they're doing it from Norway this time. For the Aurora.

[evilC]

Dogs Can't Look Up

My old dog used to bark at hot air balloons ...when they were in the sky!

A dog looking up, earlier today:

-

[Janik]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Dogs, as all Dog owners know, can look guilty. But it doesn't mean they have done anything wrong.

Hopefully a number of OTFs dog owners are now themselves feeling guilty, having blame their dog for things it might not have actually done based on the misleading evidence of its expressions.

[hobbes]

Dogs Can't Look Up

If you want to look up at a dog instead, Canis Majoris, or the Dog Star is the brightest star in the sky.
It's a red hypergiant approximately 2000 times the diameter of the Sun. If it was where the sun is, its edge would be out past the orbit of Saturn.

[Incandenza]

Dogs Can't Look Up

wow

such astronomy

so distant from earth

very constellation

[alyxandr]

Dogs Can't Look Up

dude, pass that over here

[Incandenza]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Doge lives cleanly

[MsD]

Dogs Can't Look Up

My friend's female chihuahua is always on the look out for aerial predators. We used to joke about there being no condors in Highbury, but then a chihuahua was attacked by a bird of prey in South London a few months ago, and lost an eye.

Astronomy - I have a star map, and was quite keen on it for a while, when I lived on the top floor. I still have a look on clear nights, and can pick out the major constellations and planets. Will have a look from Jamaica next week, assuming the weather is clear. The sky in other parts of the world is often a revelation.

[alyxandr]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Well, you are Friend of the Stars, which can only help. Best sky i ever saw was in the Yucatán, at roughly the same latitude; between the city lights and the fog, stargazing in The City really sucks, and i miss it.

[Incandenza]

Dogs Can't Look Up

MsD wrote: The sky in other parts of the world is often a revelation.

When I went to the Big Island of Hawaii, we stayed away from the touristy areas, renting a house near Volcano National Park. We first pulled up when it was dark. Getting out of the car and looking up, seeing the stars brighter than I've ever seen them, was one of the highlights of the trip. I still think about it, some six years later.

[Cal Alamein]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Major star watching in New Mexico. Best for me was an amazing star-filled sky whilst camping at Chaco Canyon.

[Sits]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Incandenza wrote: wow

such astronomy

so distant from earth

very constellation

Very Down With The Kids, Incandenza.

[Sits]

Dogs Can't Look Up

MsD wrote: no condors in Highbury

Momentarily I read this as "no condoms in Highbury". Sounds like a HMHB song.

[The Alan Partridge Project]

Dogs Can't Look Up

MsD wrote: My friend's female chihuahua is always on the look out for aerial predators. We used to joke about there being no condors in Highbury, but then a chihuahua was attacked by a bird of prey in South London a few months ago, and lost an eye.

Astronomy - I have a star map, and was quite keen on it for a while, when I lived on the top floor. I still have a look on clear nights, and can pick out the major constellations and planets. Will have a look from Jamaica next week, assuming the weather is clear. The sky in other parts of the world is often a revelation.

I remember seeing some archive footage from the 60s, I think, when a vulture or eagle or something escaped from London Zoo. The TV cameras captured pictures of it swooping down to grab a small dog in Regents Park only for the dog's owner, a little old biddy, to give the bird a fearful whacking with her brolly, which resulted in the bird dropping the mutt to the ground from a survivable height.

I wonder if anyone else remembers seeing the film/can locate it on the Web etc. etc.

[Gangster Octopus]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Sir Reginald Dangleberry wrote: I remember seeing some archive footage from the 60s, I think, when a vulture or eagle or something escaped from London Zoo.

A golden eagle known as, imaginatively enough, Goldie.

[MsD]

Dogs Can't Look Up

That would be Goldie, the golden eagle. She escaped more than once.

Oops, sorry, he was a male.

[hobbes]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Astronomy, people. Astronomy.

[Gangster Octopus]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Cancer, and my name is Gangster.

[Bored Of Education]

Dogs Can't Look Up

We had a dog that constantly looked up and barked at shadows on the ceiling. It really made you doubt their link to wolves.

[The Alan Partridge Project]

Dogs Can't Look Up

Thanks GO/MsD. A bit of a celebrity, then. Liked a bit of footie too:

[EIM]

Dogs Can't Look Up

MsD wrote: That would be Goldie, the golden eagle. She escaped more than once.

Oops, sorry, he was a male.

EVERYDAY MISANDRY!