Topic: Sky!

[Nichi]

Yosemite Winter Night - APOD

[Nichi]

Asteroid 2012 DA14 Passes the Earth

This was potentially so dangerous. We should thank our lucky stars.

[Taimyr]

A while ago I happened to watch a video where it was said that aliens blow up or change course of asteroids that are dangerous to Earth. Even with this latest Russian meteor I'veread things about alien involvement, but probably there are those who don't want this information to spread. And there isn't much information about this meteor anyway, except some videos and pictures.

[Nichi]

That's interesting, Taimi. I sometimes watch the series "Ancient Aliens" - not because I believe all of their theories, but because they bring in some fascinating material and art. They've mentioned this asteroid-diversion theory somewhere along the line - but they also have a theory that the "asteroids" which might have killed off the dinosaurs were deliberately set upon the planet, to clear the path for the "ancient aliens" to do what they wanted to do on the planet. So it's a 2-way street, this "diversion" theory. If the asteroids can be diverted away, they can also be directed towards us. (If, if, if...)

You're right about the lack of satisfying information on the meteor and the asteroid. I'm surprised, in fact, that more wasn't made about DA14 before the fact.

[Nichi]

A meteoroid fell to Earth on February 15, streaking some 20 to 30 kilometers above the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia at 9:20am local time. Initially traveling at about 20 kilometers per second, its explosive deceleration after impact with the lower atmosphere created a flash brighter than the Sun. This picture of the brilliant bolide (and others of its persistent trail) was captured by photographer Marat Ametvaleev, surprised during his morning sunrise session creating panoramic images of the nearby frosty landscape. An estimated 500 kilotons of energy was released by the explosion of the 17 meter wide space rock with a mass of 7,000 to 10,000 tons. Actually expected to occur on average once every 100 years, the magnitude of the Chelyabinsk event is the largest known since the Tunguska impact in 1908.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130223.html

[Nichi]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1212/quivertrees_breuer_960.jpg

[Nichi]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1206/cratersky_perrot_960.jpg

[Nichi]

Have you ever seen a little rainbow off to the side of the Sun? Rare but rewarding to see, such spectacles are known as sundogs, mock suns or parhelia. Sundogs are just sunlight refracting through hexagonal falling ice crystals in the Earth's atmosphere. When thin ice crystals flitter down nearly horizontally, they best refract sunlight sideways and create sundogs. Alternatively, randomly oriented ice crystals may create a complete circular sun halo. Sundogs occur 22 degrees to each side of a setting or rising Sun, although sometimes nearby clouds can block one or both. The above image was taken through a polarizing filter during October 2012 in Mérida, Spain.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130527.html

[Nichi]

http://epod.usra.edu/.a/6a0105371bb32c970b0192abf697a7970d-750wi

[Nichi]

Stars come out as evening twilight fades in this serene skyscape following the Persian proverb "Night hides the world, but reveals a universe." In the scene from last November, the Sun is setting over northern Kenya and the night will soon hide the shores of Lake Turkana, home to many Nile crocodiles. That region is also known as the cradle of humankind for its abundance of hominid fossils. A brilliant Venus, then the world's evening star, dominates the starry night above. But also revealed are faint stars, cosmic dust clouds, and glowing nebulae along the graceful arc of our own Milky Way galaxy. 
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140207.html

[Michael]

Trippy!

[runningstream]

i am watching sky the last few nights

the distance feels different now

in crystaline presence at times

thrumming waiting for the arrival of a self

to grasp it as a memory once was

yet left with the wanderer again

wandering within or out

i search for him

from time to time

that he may sing in me

what he feels in the sky

[runningstream]

beautiful thread thank you

[Nichi]

Runningstream, it's so good to see you!

[Nichi]