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How to Peep the Perseid's Peak
The Christian Science Monitor has a short piece with some tips on watching the Perseid meteor showers, which will peak over the next few evenings. MSNBC also has a good suggestion if you'd like to watch the show but can't because of weather: watch online, courtesy of NASA and the Slooh space telescope. I hope the skies will cooperate so I can see them from darkest Maine.
A highly reliable source claims that the Perseid meteor showers are not so much meteor showers in the normal sense...
CSM has many surprisingly informative and detailed news and opinions on various subject matters from many perspective views. No religious dogma is involved, they are extremely neutral. It is probably one of the very few sources of information I find trustworthy on the Internet.
Please do not link to the CSM or support them - their parent organization (which is where the profits from the CSM go) spreads belief that if you get sick, it's punishment for not being a good enough Christian Scientist/follower of god, and that you should not seek medical treatment. That's some seriously fucked up shit.
If you're a dimwitted adult and you want to deny yourself medical care, fine - but the children of Christian Scientists don't have a choice, and this cult endangers the lives of tens of thousands of children who depend upon their guardians for sound medical care decisions.
Mary Baker Eddy was relentlessly criticized (rightly so) by the press of her time for being absolutely batshit crazy (which she was. Someone should've tattooed "correlation is not causation" backwards on her forehead.) She got all huffy about being called a wacko all the time, and started the CSM - specifically to have a newspaper that wouldn't criticize her and would present her with a worldview she found acceptable.
Yes, they do good reporting. It doesn't matter - the money still supports a cult.
Please help metamoderate.
The CSM is the last place that anyone should be heading for news.
Yes, let's toss out the teachings of Roger Bacon, advocate of the scientific method, and his fellow Franciscan monk, William of Occam. The astronomers Kepler, Galileo, and Coppernicus would have to go; mathematicians John Napier, Blaise Pascal, Rene Descartes, and Leonhard Euler too. If they go, then physicists like Faraday, Marconi, Babbage, Volta, Maxwell, Joule, Hertz, Kelvin, and Planck will have to as well. Ditto folks like Gregor Mendel, Louis Pasteur, and George Washington Carver, Freeman Dyson, Kurt Godel, and Donald Knuth,
Gee. The world would be a poorer place if we ignored the scientific contributions of these people just because you have a problem with their religious beliefs.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
What the word?
Ditto to this. If critics were to equally discredit every group based on the worst behaviour of members of that group then every reputable research organisation would be destroyed. The linked article provides concise reporting of scientific information with no editorial opinion. I'm more than a little tired of people openly attacking an organisation (be it Christian/Muslim/other religion) when the basis of their attacks have nothing to do with the information at hand. It might help to realise the birth of what we now know as the scientific method and universities were founded by Christian groups. Sure there were periods that went up and down that can be used as negative examples. Sadly there have always been and will always be power seeking bigots who take control using whatever means available. Attack the principal, and you may find the principal you are attacking is not part of the faith you think you are attacking.
I'd mod you up if I had mod point. Of all the US-based MSM, IMHO, the CSM tends to be the most neutral, and have the most unslanted analysis. Even most of their editorial content is secular.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
It's call Mobile Observatory:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kreappdev.astroid&hl=en
And right now it's telling me:
1. When the shower will be next above the horizon, and which direction that will be.
2. When the shower will reach it's peak, and which direction and how high above the horizon it will be.
So here's the app's blurb from Google Play:
You want to know if the next lunar eclipse is visible from your location or when the next bright comet is visible? You would like to be notified by your smart phone the next time, Jupiter and the Moon meet in the sky? You want to know what the blazing bright object in the evening sky is? You want to be always up-to-date which celestial events are visible from your location? Then this app is a must-have for you! ...) ...)
The app does not only include a live, zoomable sky map telling you what sky object you are looking at but provides you with loads of detailed extra information on stars, planets, deep sky objects, meteor showers, comets, asteroids, lunar and solar eclipses as well as detailed ephemeris of all included sky objects and an interactive top-down view of the Solar System. All that in just one app!
Main Features
- Zoomable sky map showing stars, planets, asteroids, and more (above and below the horizon)
- Interactive top-down view of the Solar System
- Live mode (point device on sky and get information on what you see)
- Calendar showing detailed descriptions of celestial events
- Push celestial events to your phone's calendar and set a reminder alarm
- Rise, set, and transit times for any object
- Position of any object in the sky (altitude and direction)
- Twilight times, length of day
- Bright Star Catalog (~9000 stars) with detailed information
- More than 400 000 additional stars from the PPM Star Catalog (Android 3.1 or higher required)
- 2500 selected NGC objects (galaxies, clusters,
- Messier Catalog (110 objects) complete with images
- Caldwell Catalog (110 objects) complete with images
- Hidden Treasures Catalog (109 objects) complete with images
- Meteor streams (begin, maximum, hourly rate,
- Lunar and solar eclipses information
- Lunar librations, ascending node, maximum declination
- Bright comets (automatically selected according to the date)
- Dwarf planets: The five known dwarf planets
- Minor planets: bright, near Earth, trans-Neptune (more than 10000 in the database)
- Update database online: download up-to-date orbital elements of comets and minor planets
- Moon phases, the apparent view of the sun and planets
- Current image of the Sun and sunspot number
- Automatically generated visibility report for any object
- Intuitive User Interface: quickly find what you are looking for
- Widget with rise & set times of the Sun and Moon
- Automatic location determination from the mobile network or GPS
- Select a location from a built-in database or online via Google Maps
- Choose any time and date
- Detailed ephemeris, visibility information of all objects
- Dates of conjunctions between any object with planets or the Moon
- 3D-view of the Moon and the planets
- Accurate calculations for dates between 1900 and 2100
Maybe you should not transfer your daddy issues onto others.
The CSM is an alright media source and your perception of Christians is likely unique to you. I know plenty of christians and your exaggerations are unreal.
Either one that is most convenient when go to I buy a shirt. I'm not such a bigot that I would refuse to do business with someone because of their religion. It's also the reason why boycotts don't work, even if you stirr the pot enough that people become frightened of you and claim they won't buy from Microsoft or big media (RIAA and MPAA), they go ahead and do it.
I know that but the parent seems to think that anything christian- even if it is someone's first name, is bad therefore deserves persecution. I disagreed.
The problem with the CSM isn't that the news is suspect, it's that it advertises (though name and association) a fairly harmful religion.
Christian Science is not only into faith healing, but they actually encourage their members to avoid modern medicine (including vaccines). For all that people were talking about boycotting Ender's Game because of Orson Scott Card's beliefs against homosexuals. I'm doubtful that Christian Science is any more accepting of gays, but even if they are Christian Science is still killing members through their health practices. And while the effects of an Ender's Game boycott on gay rights are fairy dubious, the success of the Christian Science Monitor directly benefits Christian Science.
Their contributions to journalism are fine and I'm not sure I'd actually boycott them, but just because the paper is good doesn't mean they don't cause harm in other ways.
I stole this Sig
Ditto to this.
If critics were to equally discredit every group based on the worst behaviour of members of that group then every reputable research organisation would be destroyed.
The issue here isn't the people in the group, but the actual beliefs that define the group.
The defining belief of Christian Science involves avoiding modern medicine in favour of healing through prayer. This is a belief that kills people.
As a responsible and humane person I believe it's my duty to criticize them.
I stole this Sig
And even in more extreme cases, the boycott causes the Barbara Streisand effect that only brings more business and success to the one being boycotted. We saw this with Chick-fil-a, where a tragic case of bigotry ended up winding up the conserva-fundies into a pro-business rights fervor, turning the incident into an unintentionally genius marketing move, while further exacerbating gender preference tensions.
Sorry for the off topic rant.
As for the meteor shower, I've caught two this past year or so, and both have been spectacular. The last one, I'd never seen so many stars in my life, even compared to growing up in the Florida Panhandle where civilization is scarce. About 20 minutes in, a small herd of deer moved in to watch the show with us (my girlfriend and I). With such magic, definitely something I will attempt again e
Tomorrow, weather permitting.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
None of those people were Christian Scientists... They may have been Christians who were scientists, but Christian Science is something quite different.
Get out there, don't be so Jaded.
Meh.
Watching the first couple hundred galaxies form, that was pretty cool. Since then, the odd black hole vacuuming various things away...supernovas...
But recently, it's been same old, same old...
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Please note that "Christian Science" is not a Christian sect and as others have noted it's not particularly scientific. As http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science points out, "Christian Scientists" are devotees of Mary Baker Eddy and follow a rationalist-idealist philosophy that both opposes and is opposed by Christians -- it certainly would not be recognized by most of the names on your list. That said, I would hope that everyone on Slashdot can evaluate the merits of an article even if one disagrees with some opinion or position held by the organization or person posting it.
One major quibble. As the Earth travels in its path around the Sun, the line of sunrise is the "front", and the line of sunset is the "back". You'll see more and brighter meteors from 2AM to dawn than you will between sunset and midnight. So if your schedule permits, rather than staying up late, get up early to look for meteors.
When driving, bugs hit the front windshield quite often. But bugs hardly ever splatter themselves on the BACK window. Same principle.
The Perseid meteors are going at about 125,000 miles per hour, while the Earth is moving at about 66,000 MPH. You'll sometimes see meteors that will catch up from behind, but the bright ones will be head-on.
I used to love back yard astronomy. I especially loved meteor showers the Leonids of 01 were fantastic beyond belief.
But due to urban development; new street lights and people with blasting lights on their property, I can only see the brightest stars. So I kinda lost interest.
Christian Science Monitor? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Yes
Oh the 2001 Leonid shower was the best meteor shower I have ever seen. Fireballs streaking across everywhere. An many of them made that crackling/hissing sound when they flew across the sky. It is still unknown how the meteors make that sound and how the noise is able to propagate faster than the speed of sound. (You shouldn't be able to have simultaneous sound with a meteor, since they are +40 km away.). But the crackling sound was widely reported with the 2001 Leonid shower, and AFAIK, scientist have at least actually recorded "noisy" meteors now.
Light pollution is just a sad phenomenon. I have to use a binocular just to see stellar constellations that are easily visible to the naked eye in just semi dark places. I haven't seen the milky way in over a decade.
the lines from Perseus seem to be drawn differently.
How to Peep the Perseid's Peak
"Peep" is synonymous with "look," not "see," so this should be
How to Peep at the Perseid's Peak
Carry on.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I have mod points, but prefer to agree with you in comment form. The CSM, regardless of its origins, is a widely respected newspaper. Anyone expecting to find religious fluff in articles would be disappointed. Now here's a religious nut job witch burning newspaper:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive!_(newspaper)
I used to get this thing stuffed through my letterbox, and I agree completely with Alive! being described as "[the] equivalent of the paramilitary wing of the Catholic Church" This rag makes the Daily Mail appear middle-of-the-road by comparison.
-- Using the preview button since 2005
Like "Democratic People's Republic of ___________"
scientist have at least actually recorded "noisy" meteors now.
Really? I'll have to research that, I always wondered how that could possibly happen.
I did see a few this morning, Im going to try again monday morning with my DSLR and take some long exposures.
This Wikipedia article (footnote 39) claims that a controlled recording in Mongolia showed the connection between sound and meteor falls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid#cite_note-BBC-321596-39
There are several suggestions what causes the the simultaneous sound, but AFAIK, no one has really made a solid case with measurements to back up their theory.
Ditto to this.
If critics were to equally discredit every group based on the worst behaviour of members of that group then every reputable research organisation would be destroyed.
The issue here isn't the people in the group, but the actual beliefs that define the group.
The defining belief of Christian Science involves avoiding modern medicine in favour of healing through prayer. This is a belief that kills people.
As a responsible and humane person I believe it's my duty to criticize them.
As someone worried about growing population, I don't see a problem. Survival of the fittest.
Like "Democratic People's Republic of ___________"
America?
Of teeth..."
Just saying.
THINK! It's patriotic
Hmmm, interesting ; an area of astronomical science with which I was previously unfamiliar.
The cited scientist seems to still be working in astronomy, if not particularly on this topic : research summary, "electrophonic" sounds, and Mongolia 1998. Doesn't seem to have updated on this since 2006.
It does sound interesting, but I can't say that I'm terribly convinced by the "radio wave interaction" hypothesis. given that a typical meteoroid is a millimetre or so across (radius 0.05mm ; take density as 2700kg./m^3 and 7.5 km/s velocity^3) has an energy of around 300 J.
Is that a lot of radio energy? It doesn't seem a lot to be distributed over hundreds of square km. It's obviously easily detectable by radio systems (people have been counting meteors by radio for the thick end of a century), but producing sonic effects in untuned, non-conductive "receivers" ... that strains my credulity.
There's also a question on the efficiency of conversion of KE to radio broadcast energy.
The "Global Electrophonic Fireball Survey" http://www.gefsproject.org/news/index.html seems to have been quiet since 2002.
Well, that's science for you ; anyone who is sufficiently motivated to take up the baton of research will, I'm sure, be able to follow on. Until the black helicopters drag you away to Area 51 for interrogation and re-programming. (I'm sure there are conspiracy theories lurking about in the woodwork.)
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"