Over Our Head

[Micheál]

Starting a new Thread dedicated to an important part of the county - bigger even than Killiney, - an area that the still-local among us are close to every day but it hasn't yet got its own, em , space.

The sky overhead

I was going to call it Moon of the Month but there lots more up there besides.

[Micheál]

Feck them clouds.

Tonight was all set to be real spectacular up there . .

A Snow Moon
AND
A Lunar Eclipse (at its peak about 3am)
AND
ISS overpass
AND
Mars Venus & Uranus (pardon) all closely aligned
AND
a comet !

I was hoping to take a few snaps.

" . . . so many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way . . ."

M.

[Micheál]

In case anyone thinks I some sort of authority on the sky, I'm no such thing. But Ive just download a fantastic App for my iPad called SkyView - truly amazing and educational - it even shows and identifies all the space junk up there.

M.

[Micheál]

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"

Glenageary Guru

[Toss]

ah Michael ..... you are turning into a Lunar-tic

Its impossible to think of the sky at night without thinking of Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore ... he made it all so interesting for knuckle heads like me

[Rocker]

Patrick Moore had me wanting to be a space woman...me who can't travel in a lift with my claustrophobia.I get stuff on my FB from NASA Earth and there are just amazing photos.I also get stuff from Chris Hadfield the former astronaut ...he makes the whole space subject so interesting.

[Rocker]

with the week thats in it...when I saw the topic this morning all I could think of is "Head over heels in love" ...stop it and get back on topic...

Or it is "Over our heads in debt"?

[Dancer]

In case anyone thinks I some sort of authority on the sky, I'm no such thing. But Ive just download a fantastic App for my iPad called SkyView - truly amazing and educational - it even shows and identifies all the space junk up there.

M.

Thanks for that info Micheál. I'll download the app. Because I have no street lighting yet where I live , the stars
are very visible at night . Someone pointed out the Plough the other night . I haven't a clue about them so now I can look
them up - thanks !

[Micheál]

Hmmmm

On reflection, I'm not so sure "Over our Head(s)" is such a smart title. Viewed in the Portal, it does nothing to convey to a visitor what the thread is really about. I'm now minded to ask Strum to re-name it.

But "Dún Laoghaire Sky" might be seen as some sort of local broadband promotion.
How about "Dún Laoghaire Skies" (and feck any dyslectic winter sports enthusiasts)
or
"Under Dún Laoghaire Skies" (by way of homage to Paul Simon)

any other suggestions?

[Micheál]

Didnt get any shots last night. So here's a series of shots I took during a previous Lunar event a few years back.

By the way, the 'orbit' is entirely fanciful- I just strung individual shots together using S-DNS-IN ("Software that Dare Not Speak its Name" in this Forum).

M.

[Strum]

Great job on the "orbit" Michael. I think the titles fine but it's no bother to edit it. You can change it yourself if you like, just edit the title in the first post.

[Strum]

Speaking of over our heads, Rainbows. I only read a few years ago that a Rainbow is actually a full circle but we only see the Arc because of the horizon, so forget about the pot of gold at the end because there is no end. Pilots above 40.000 feet or less can see it...





But here's the baffling part. Apparently when you look at a Rainbow it is actually behind you and you are looking at it's reflection. I still can't get me head around that?

[Rocker]

Gorgeous photo Micheál . That is some rainbow Strum.

Here is one I only learned the other day

A Brocken spectre (German Brockengespenst), also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre, is the apparently enormous and magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun.

The Brocken Spectre appears when a low sun is behind a climber who is looking downwards into mist from a ridge or peak. The "spectre" is the shadowy figure - the glow and rings are of course a glory centered directly opposite the sun at the antisolar point.

Google it...amazing phenomenon.

[Strum]

... cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun.

Good one Rocker, kinda-ish explains the same phenomenon of the Rainbow being behind you when you look at it.


I used to get tongue-tied with that word Phenomenon but this cured it by replacing it with mna. (Gailge for Women)