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Solar System vs. deep-sky



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 22nd 03, 08:04 PM
Dave & Janelle
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Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

It's currently stormy and snowy here (USA/CO); observing is out of the
question for a while. Here's a fun topic to kick around... what type of
observing do you like better - Solar System or deep-sky?

I'm a definite Solar System observer.

In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our Solar
System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and stuff
that doesn't.

Things outsite our Solar System are interesting only on an abstract,
theoretical basis. We won't interact with them in my lifetime, and probably
not in the lifetimes of my great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids
either. I view deep-sky stuff sometimes... like the Andromeda Galaxy.
Andromeda is about 2.2 million light-years away - just over
13000000000000000000 miles. But seriously - would it matter so much if there
were a couple more zeros in that number? It is *so* far away that it just
doesn't matter! And Andromeda is a relatively nearby galaxy.

It's a different story in the Solar System. Objects within the solar system
are close enough to interact with. They move with respect to background
stars. We've sent probes to many places, and we've even sent people to one
other place. We can interact with them, we can ponder historical missions,
we can dream of going there... (like we should be doing with Mars!).

This is why I'm into Solar System observing much more than deep-sky; for me,
it is more tangible. I view the planets whenever they're out, and I love
seeing how many moons I can spot (currently 16, and I should be able to get
to 19 or 20 with current equipment). I'll have to get into Asteroid spotting
too, that would be fun.

To me, glimpsing these things is cool because they increase my personal
connection with them. I know Tethys really exists, not just from Voyager
photos, but because I've personally seen it and tracked its orbit. If that
sounds excessivly romantic - it is. But, deep down, all amateur astronomers
are romantics; if we weren't, we'd stay indoors and download Hubble pictures
rather than drag the scope out and look ourselves.

IOMHO, YMMV, and all that!

---

Dave Boll

http://www.daveboll.com/


  #2  
Old November 22nd 03, 08:10 PM
BllFs6
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Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

Hi

I actually like deep sky more....i guess because there is SOOO much to see....

But, going along with your thought processes.....2 things almost occur to
me....both kinda depressing when I view deep sky objects...

My first thought is always.....No way in hell will mankind ever be going
THERE......unlike at least some reasonable potential we have to vist stuff in
the solar system or the very nearest stars....

And the second thought that immediatly follows....well thats at least ONE place
man will probably never screw up.....

take care

Blll
  #3  
Old November 22nd 03, 08:30 PM
Ioannis
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Default Solar System vs. deep-sky


Ο "BllFs6" έγραψε στο μήνυμα
...

Hi

I actually like deep sky more....i guess because there is SOOO much to

see....

But, going along with your thought processes.....2 things almost occur to
me....both kinda depressing when I view deep sky objects...

My first thought is always.....No way in hell will mankind ever be going
THERE......


Nobody knows that, for sure. You cannot exclude an extant future
possibility, based on premises which depend on our current technology. For
all we know, the next generation might develop technology that takes
advantage of wormholes or time travel. Nobody knows for sure.

unlike at least some reasonable potential we have to vist stuff in
the solar system or the very nearest stars....


Solar system, yes. Nearby stars, hmmmm. Let me give you a typical example:
Saturn V that went to the moon, will take roughly 120,000 years to reach
alpha Centauri, and that, assuming it utilizes its initial speed throughout
the entire trip.

And the second thought that immediatly follows....well thats at least ONE

place
man will probably never screw up.....


Indeed. Because if man manages to "go there", he will probably **** up the
places, in exactly the same way he has screwed up this planet. We still have
a long way to go.

The following is fiction, but it may give you some insight on what is to
follow, before "we screw up elsewhere" :*)

http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/jgal/wr...micLadder.html

take care

Blll

--
Ioannis Galidakis
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/jgal/
------------------------------------------
Eventually, _everything_ is understandable

  #4  
Old November 22nd 03, 08:30 PM
Joe S.
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Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

"BllFs6" wrote in message
...
Hi

I actually like deep sky more....i guess because there is SOOO much to

see....

But, going along with your thought processes.....2 things almost occur to
me....both kinda depressing when I view deep sky objects...

My first thought is always.....No way in hell will mankind ever be going
THERE......unlike at least some reasonable potential we have to vist stuff

in
the solar system or the very nearest stars....

And the second thought that immediatly follows....well thats at least ONE

place
man will probably never screw up.....


Don't count on it.


--

----

Joe S.


take care

Blll



  #5  
Old November 22nd 03, 08:38 PM
Marty
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Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

I tend to favor deep sky viewing. Somehow, the very remoteness and
enormity of it all is more mind stretching for me. Just looking at the
dim fuzzies and wondering what it's all about is liberating somehow. On
one hand, my daily problems fade into a more reasonable perspective. On
the other, I feel like I'm a part of something so much greater than
myself.
The solar system is nice, (and I do live here,) but let me sail
away into deep space...
Marty

  #6  
Old November 22nd 03, 08:53 PM
Starlord
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Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

To start off with, while I am set up as an Sidewalk Astronomer, I use the
plantets and our moon as viewing subjects, just not that many other things are
seeable threw the street lights.

But when I am set up at home or my hidden viewing area, then I mostly go for the
Deep Space objects, as they can fire up my mind and adds fuel to what I can
dream about. I don't let the knowage that it'll be a long time coming before man
goes out there, but as I look at M42, or other DSP's, my mind is far from being
planet bound, instead it's out there riding the Stellar Winds between the stars.


--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Ad World
http://adworld.netfirms.com

"Dave & Janelle" wrote in message
...
It's currently stormy and snowy here (USA/CO); observing is out of the
question for a while. Here's a fun topic to kick around... what type of
observing do you like better - Solar System or deep-sky?

I'm a definite Solar System observer.

In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our Solar
System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and stuff
that doesn't.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.538 / Virus Database: 333 - Release Date: 11/10/03


  #7  
Old November 22nd 03, 09:33 PM
Sam Wormley
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Posts: n/a
Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

Dave & Janelle wrote:

It's currently stormy and snowy here (USA/CO); observing is out of the
question for a while. Here's a fun topic to kick around... what type of
observing do you like better - Solar System or deep-sky?

I'm a definite Solar System observer.

In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our Solar
System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and stuff
that doesn't.

Things outsite our Solar System are interesting only on an abstract,
theoretical basis. We won't interact with them in my lifetime, and probably
not in the lifetimes of my great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids
either. I view deep-sky stuff sometimes... like the Andromeda Galaxy.


Dave don't be so quick to dismiss deep sky objects as non interactive.
Supernovae change in days. One appearing in M31 or in the Milky way will
be exciting indeed.

And as far as deep sky objects go--feast your eye on the star birthing
Orion nebula in the next few months... I can never get enough of those
photons.

Everything in the sky is fascinating! Why try to divide it up. Take an
astronomy class at your local university or community college and learn
about stellar evolution and some on the physics involved in those deep
sky objects... why H-III regions a greater around "O" stars than "B"
stars... what M57 and our sun have in common.


Buy a copy of
"Seeing In The Dark" by Timothy Ferris
Pages 286-287


Perhaps the key to dying well--or living well--is to have laid in a
stock of worthy memories. To that end, when darkness is falling for
good, it is well to have in mind, in addition to memories of human love
and loss and of the natural splendors of this world--of birdsong at
dawn, the roaring spray of the surf, the sweet smell of the air in the
eye of a hurricane, the workings of bees in the throats of
wildflowers--a few memories of the other worlds as well. If you have
seen plasma arches rising off the edge of the Sun, yellow dust storms
raging on Mars, angry red Io emerging from the shadow of Jupiter, the
golden rings of Saturn, the green dot of Uranus, and the blue dot of
Neptune, the glittering star fields of Sagittarius and the delicate
tendrils connecting interacting galaxies, have watched auroras and
meteors writing silent signatures in the sky--if, in short, you have
seen not only this world but something of the other worlds, too--well,
you have lived.

So, while life is in us, and we are in it, let's keep our eyes open.

  #8  
Old November 22nd 03, 10:43 PM
username
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Posts: n/a
Default Solar System vs. deep-sky


"Dave & Janelle" wrote in message
...
It's currently stormy and snowy here (USA/CO); observing is out of the
question for a while. Here's a fun topic to kick around... what type of
observing do you like better - Solar System or deep-sky?

I'm a definite Solar System observer.

In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our

Solar
System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and

stuff
that doesn't.


interesting, I divide my observing into two other categories: for now I call
them static and non-static.
static: the goal of viewing the image is basically time independent, you
watch it out of curiosity, admiration, beauty etc: e.g. nebula, star
clusters, but also: moon, planets (when you watch them to just watch them).
You watch objects.
non-static: occultations, eclipsing binaries, supernovae, solar activity,
planets (when the goal is e.g. to see the mars icecap evolve, time periods
of jupiter moons etc). You witness events.

I do enjoy static observations, my main interest is non-static observations
though.


  #9  
Old November 23rd 03, 12:30 AM
Kilolani
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Posts: n/a
Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

I think I need to add a 3rd layer to your equation:

Solar System
-- Milky Way Galaxy
Deep Space

There are certainly very interesting objects within our galaxy (e.g., M42,
NGC7293) which are not in our solar system... while there are some
incredibly boring objects (e.g., Pluto) which are in our solar sytem.

This is where I like to spend most of my dark sky observing time... hunting
down planetaries and other objects which are not millions of light years
away, but right on the next block (cosmologically speaking). The fact that I
will never get to them really doesn't bother me, because I'll likely never
even make it as far as the moon (or even the ISS).

"Dave & Janelle" wrote in message
...

In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our

Solar
System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and

stuff
that doesn't.

Things outsite our Solar System are interesting only on an abstract,
theoretical basis. We won't interact with them in my lifetime, and

probably
not in the lifetimes of my great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids
either. I view deep-sky stuff sometimes... like the Andromeda Galaxy.
Andromeda is about 2.2 million light-years away - just over
13000000000000000000 miles. But seriously - would it matter so much if

there
were a couple more zeros in that number? It is *so* far away that it just
doesn't matter! And Andromeda is a relatively nearby galaxy.



  #10  
Old November 23rd 03, 01:55 AM
Jskies187
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Posts: n/a
Default Solar System vs. deep-sky

In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our Solar
System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and stuff
that doesn't.

Yes, but the Solar System is so incredibley tiny and insignificant, as compared
to that everything else. Are you sure it matters?

I liked seeing m31 naked eye during the recent Lunar eclipse's totality. Would
have been a good deep sky night, were it not for that certain pesky solar
system rock.

john
 




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