On 20/09/2012 05:32 PM, Warp wrote:
> Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>> I always assumed that "the milky way" was something you could only see
>> with a space-based telescope.
>
> When do you think the name was invented?

I have no idea - it's not something I've ever devoted a lot of thought to.

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"Stephen" <mcavoys_AT_aolDOT.com> wrote:
> Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > Also: In what part of the world are stars actually visible to the naked
> > eye at night?
>
> Years ago I was driving in the bush in Australia. Whan I stopped the car at
> night and looked up. I almost fell over backwards, the sky was so full of stars.
> They looked a solid mass compaired to metropolitan European skys.

my exact reaction too.  You look up and you feel like you're in orbit, not on
Earth anymore.  It's that stunning, at least for us city dwellers...

The sky is a blurry foggy mess in urban centers.  You gotta go to the fields to
enjoy it, specially on moonless nights.

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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> On 20/09/2012 05:32 PM, Warp wrote:
> > Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
> >> I always assumed that "the milky way" was something you could only see
> >> with a space-based telescope.
> >
> > When do you think the name was invented?
>
> I have no idea - it's not something I've ever devoted a lot of thought to.

the old greeks explained that bright white smudge up there by saying it was milk
from the breast of one of the Titans who first created the cosmos.  Thus, milky
way.

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On 09/20/2012 11:26 AM, Stephen wrote:
> Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> On 20/09/2012 03:28 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>>> Astronomy is 2012 photographer of the year ... some of the composites
>>> are really stunning. I particularly like the ones that drive home the
>>> point that we are just a tiny speck in the scheme of things, kind of
>>> makes you wonder how long before we finally get over ourselves.
>>
>> Every time I look at something like this, I can't help thinking "if only
>> the resolution was higher..."
>>
>
> And you could zoom in.
>
>> Also: In what part of the world are stars actually visible to the naked
>> eye at night?
>
> Years ago I was driving in the bush in Australia. Whan I stopped the car at
> night and looked up. I almost fell over backwards, the sky was so full of stars.
> They looked a solid mass compaired to metropolitan European skys.
>

yep ... that was one example I know of, also northern canada during the 
winter. in addition to less light pollution, when it's cold fewer 
heatwaves to distort the view

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On 09/20/2012 11:59 AM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 20/09/2012 04:44 PM, Warp wrote:
>> Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>>> Also: In what part of the world are stars actually visible to the naked
>>> eye at night?
>>
>> What an odd question. Even in the most lit and polluted cities you can
>> see
>> at least some stars.
>
> Sure. Two or three isolated points of light. But that's not what these
> photographs show at all.
>
>> I'm assuming you meant to ask "in what part of the world is the milky way
>> visible to the naked eye at night?"
>
> I always assumed that "the milky way" was something you could only see
> with a space-based telescope. Certainly I've never seen anything vaguely
> approximating the astonishing images shown here. (Then again, some of
> them probably have a 3-minute exposure or something insane like that,
> which the human eye can't do.)

I remember my ex-brother-in-law trying to argue that it was just high 
clouds ... give me a break (he'd argue white was black if it suited him) 
... I've seen the milky way naked eye MANY times

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Stephen wrote:
>
> Years ago I was driving in the bush in Australia. Whan I stopped the car at
> night and looked up. I almost fell over backwards, the sky was so full of stars.
> They looked a solid mass compaired to metropolitan European skys.
>

There are cities ~15-20 kilometers away from where I live, though they 
aren't visible to this exact location (hence a good view for stars 
here). But when I leave home and head for the motorway (which is 7 
kilomters away), in the halfway there's a nice view on a straight road - 
straigth ahead, where the road goes it's absolute darkness, but on both 
sides you can see the light ramming up from both cities. The view is 
absolutely fascinating, I think I'll have to try to photo it some night.

-Aero

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On 20-9-2012 16:59, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 20/09/2012 03:28 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>> Astronomy is 2012 photographer of the year ... some of the composites
>> are really stunning. I particularly like the ones that drive home the
>> point that we are just a tiny speck in the scheme of things, kind of
>> makes you wonder how long before we finally get over ourselves.
>

> Also: In what part of the world are stars actually visible to the naked
> eye at night?

Until last year I used to tell that I had only seen the milky way 3 or 4 
times in my life and that that was in Amsterdam...

at the planetarium.


-- 
Women are the canaries of science. When they are underrepresented
it is a strong indication that non-scientific factors play a role
and the concentration of incorruptible scientists is also too low

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On Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:00:41 +0200, andrel wrote:

> Until last year I used to tell that I had only seen the milky way 3 or 4
> times in my life and that that was in Amsterdam...
> 
> at the planetarium.

I remember Neil DeGrasse Tyson saying that he initially learned about the 
stars through the local planetarium where he grew up in New York City, 
and after a few years of having only seen them at the planetarium, he 
went on a stargazing trip with his class to a rural part of PA, and was 
amazed to see that it looked "just like the planetarium".

Jim

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On 20/09/2012 06:59 PM, nemesis wrote:
> The sky is a blurry foggy mess in urban centers.  You gotta go to the fields to
> enjoy it, specially on moonless nights.

One time I drove to a tiny village. Google informs me it's about 7 miles 
outside Milton Keynes. It was a dark October night. I went outside, 
about 11pm. I didn't see more than about 5 stars, but I did see that one 
entire side of the sky was a different colour. I believe they call it 
the "sodium D-line"...

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On 20/09/2012 07:01 PM, nemesis wrote:
> the old greeks explained that bright white smudge up there by saying it was milk
> from the breast of one of the Titans who first created the cosmos.  Thus, milky
> way.

Man, those dudes had way too many magic mushrooms. :-P

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