I also live in 'daburgh. Unless you're already a member, I recommend joining the Pittsburgh Amateur Astronomers Association http://www.3ap.org/. You'll get access to two observatories (Wagman and Mingo) and get to meet other stargazers. While the observatories are getting more light pollution you can still see a heck of a lot more than you might think. If you'd rather not join, or want to see what it is all about, you can go to a public star party. I believe the next one is Wagman's Winterfest on Feb. 24 - a good time to try the Messier Marathon!
I went to the most recent Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs but the event was clouded over. But I still had a good time listening to the speakers and meeting/greeting others. The Cherry Springs site is great! There is camping, nearby motels/hotels and they even installed some dome-type observatories you can rent. But I recently heard that there is talk of building a wind-farm nearby which will have strobe lights to prevent birds from flying into them causing light pollution. We are trying to have them a) relocate the wind-farm so the light won't effect astronomy or b) use red lights so it will reduce the effect of light pollution. So the bad news is the clock may be ticking on the dark-sky preserve site at Cherry Springs.
Guess we'll all have to road-trip to WV's Almost Heaven star parties instead.
I believe stars make organic material. Life outside of a star's influence seems unlikely but who knows? As for life-forms surviving deep space, google for panspermia (the theory that microbes in space bring life to planets like Earth, or vice-versa, or the process whereby this happens).
Wish I hadn't wasted all my mod points. Yes, classification of planet varieties is what is needed. Pluto would still be a planet - just a dwarf class b whatever....
1: Keeping pets is barbaric
Let me ask the opinion of the happy, well-fed, joyful bulldog sharing my home. Sorry, I can't ask him right now because he is asleep on my lazy boy and he gets cranky if i wake him up. But I guess since you think keeping pets is barbaric, I should turn him loose to scrounge garbage bins for food, get hit by a car, and have no love or care the rest of his days. Maybe it will work out for him. He can find other dogs to run around with and with a pack he should have no problem bringing people down for food. Maybe he'll get lucky and feast on you!
It was the wealthy landowners/merchants who funded (and founded) the American revolution. I don't think there were any poor or middle class folks who signed the Declaration of Independence or wrote the Constitution.
And "Killer" had that cool calendar with Cooper hanging in a body bag. "Billion Dollar Babies" had the billion dollar bill and even "Love It To Death" was more than just a sleeve.
And who can forget the Feederz album that had sandpaper on the outside destroying any albums on either side of it?
Until just now I had not realized how much I miss vinyl.
The Sun probably does not have enough mass to supernova. The most likely scenario for the Sun is conversion into a red giant. The Sun will most likely slough off its outer layers creating a planetary nebula. After a long, long cooling period, the Sun may eventually compress into a white dwarf.
I can tease out details on Jupiter in city-light polluted skies. The Great Red Spot (and sometimes Red Jr. is visible as well as many of the latitudinal dark and light bands. I can see this using an eight inch reflector (1200mm focal length) with a 9mm eyepiece (133 magnification).
Slashdot Mirror
I also live in 'daburgh. Unless you're already a member, I recommend joining the Pittsburgh Amateur Astronomers Association http://www.3ap.org/. You'll get access to two observatories (Wagman and Mingo) and get to meet other stargazers. While the observatories are getting more light pollution you can still see a heck of a lot more than you might think. If you'd rather not join, or want to see what it is all about, you can go to a public star party. I believe the next one is Wagman's Winterfest on Feb. 24 - a good time to try the Messier Marathon!
I went to the most recent Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs but the event was clouded over. But I still had a good time listening to the speakers and meeting/greeting others. The Cherry Springs site is great! There is camping, nearby motels/hotels and they even installed some dome-type observatories you can rent. But I recently heard that there is talk of building a wind-farm nearby which will have strobe lights to prevent birds from flying into them causing light pollution. We are trying to have them a) relocate the wind-farm so the light won't effect astronomy or b) use red lights so it will reduce the effect of light pollution. So the bad news is the clock may be ticking on the dark-sky preserve site at Cherry Springs.
Guess we'll all have to road-trip to WV's Almost Heaven star parties instead.
I believe stars make organic material. Life outside of a star's influence seems unlikely but who knows? As for life-forms surviving deep space, google for panspermia (the theory that microbes in space bring life to planets like Earth, or vice-versa, or the process whereby this happens).
Wish I hadn't wasted all my mod points. Yes, classification of planet varieties is what is needed. Pluto would still be a planet - just a dwarf class b whatever....
run off of moonlight
Wouldn't that also be sun light?
1: Keeping pets is barbaric
Let me ask the opinion of the happy, well-fed, joyful bulldog sharing my home. Sorry, I can't ask him right now because he is asleep on my lazy boy and he gets cranky if i wake him up. But I guess since you think keeping pets is barbaric, I should turn him loose to scrounge garbage bins for food, get hit by a car, and have no love or care the rest of his days. Maybe it will work out for him. He can find other dogs to run around with and with a pack he should have no problem bringing people down for food. Maybe he'll get lucky and feast on you!
It was the wealthy landowners/merchants who funded (and founded) the American revolution. I don't think there were any poor or middle class folks who signed the Declaration of Independence or wrote the Constitution.
And "Killer" had that cool calendar with Cooper hanging in a body bag. "Billion Dollar Babies" had the billion dollar bill and even "Love It To Death" was more than just a sleeve. And who can forget the Feederz album that had sandpaper on the outside destroying any albums on either side of it? Until just now I had not realized how much I miss vinyl.
The Sun probably does not have enough mass to supernova. The most likely scenario for the Sun is conversion into a red giant. The Sun will most likely slough off its outer layers creating a planetary nebula. After a long, long cooling period, the Sun may eventually compress into a white dwarf.
I can tease out details on Jupiter in city-light polluted skies. The Great Red Spot (and sometimes Red Jr. is visible as well as many of the latitudinal dark and light bands. I can see this using an eight inch reflector (1200mm focal length) with a 9mm eyepiece (133 magnification).