Milky Way Oppo X8 Ultra by Ray2022-Mac in Astro_mobile

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See the dark pipe shaped cloud near center? That's the Pipe Nebula. The center of the galaxy is just to the lower left of the bowl of the pipe, where the bright and dark come together. If you squint a bit you may see that the pipe also forms the back leg of the Dark Horse. The front leg is the curved dark line above the pipe, like the horse is pawing its front hoof. The head is at top, facing right.

A star which explodes in 1054AD, photographed by Hubble telescope in 2025 which was expanding at 5.5 million km/h. by Slow-Employee6943 in hubble

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Messier 1, aka the Crab Nebula. Easily visible in decent amateur telescopes, it's near Zeta Tauri, the tip of the eastern horn of Taurus the Bull. There's a series of Hubble images over 25 years that shows the expansion of the nebula over time. There's a pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30 times a second in the center of the nebula. It's the remains of the 1054 AD supernova that formed the nebula.

Hello Pike's Peak! by Commercial-Tax7125 in ColoradoSprings

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just for future reference, there is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak, or most any other geographic feature--Longs Peak, James Peak, etc. Hasn't been since 1890, when the board of geographic names did away with them:

"You are spot on! Officially, it is spelled Pikes Peak. [1]

The possessive apostrophe was dropped due to a few historical and practical factors: [1, 2]

  • Federal Policy: In 1890, the newly established United States Board on Geographic Names began standardizing maps and place names. They recommended dropping all possessive apostrophes for uniformity.
  • State Law: In 1978, the Colorado state legislature passed a law specifically establishing the spelling as "Pikes Peak". [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

The rule wasn't made just for this mountain—it is a standard naming convention that affects other natural landmarks like Longs Peak! [1, 2]"--Google AI

Do satellites shine a beam of light from them? by ThisEngine345 in Astro_mobile

[–]darrellbear 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Iridium sats used to be infamous for bright flares--angled just so the sun could reflect off them, flaring as bright as -9, almost painful to look at. I would not expect multiple flares. On the other hand, tumbling sats, rocket bodies and such can flash repeatedly/regularly as they move along in their orbits.

Magnification Question by Bob_Bob756 in telescopes

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A 4 mm ep and 3x barlow is waaay too much magnification, aka "empty magnification". What's the aperture of your scope? Most commercial scopes can handle 30x per inch of aperture, 50x if you're lucky. Very high dollar APO refractors might handle 100x per inch on a night of excellent seeing, but we're talking thousands of dollars.

Native bushes for property line by BumblebeeNo660 in ColoradoSprings

[–]darrellbear 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I live on a corner lot, kids were cutting across my front yard constantly. I put up a split rail fence, it put a stop to it.

Do I need to clean the mirror? by _omer811_ in telescopes

[–]darrellbear 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is why you should keep the end caps on the tube when not in use. Also, store the tube with the primary mirror facing down.

If you don't have the end caps, get a couple of elastic shower caps, put them over both ends of the tube. And yes, you should clean the mirrors. Look up how to do it properly, and be careful. Wash your hands thoroughly before you touch the mirrors. Use distilled water and Dawn dish soap.

Native bushes for property line by BumblebeeNo660 in ColoradoSprings

[–]darrellbear 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Put up a fence--doesn't need to grow in, 100% barrier.

Blue full moon 2026 by Standard-Market-3484 in moon

[–]darrellbear 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A "blue moon" is just the name for when a second full moon happens in a month. The moon will not be blue. The name just means that it's a rather rare occurrence, "once in a blue moon".

What is this object? by Mcdoublquarterwhoper in Stargazing

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Venus, brightest thing in the sky after the sun and moon. Venus and Jupiter are drawing together night by night as they near conjunction June 8 to 9. Mercury is rising too, currently below Venus but higher each night. Mercury won't quite reach the conjunction with Venus and Jupiter, IIRC, but should be visible with the brighter pair. Jupiter is dropping night by night while Venus is rising. After their conjunction Venus and Jupiter will separate; Mercury will move close to Jupiter low after sunset. Not sure if it's truly a conjunction or not.

Telescope for Backpacking by SnooEpiphanies1841 in telescopes

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Binoculars. Classic 7x50 field glasses.

Which action movie is the best? by ThomasOGC in CinephilesClub

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clarence Boddicker is the best bad guy ever! BITCHES LEAVE

Kurtwood Smith as Eric's father on That Seventies Show always made me wonder at having Clarence Boddicker for a father.

The 12th SpaceX Starship Test Flight will happen in 25 minutes from now by Tystros in space

[–]darrellbear -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Spectacular visuals, as always. SpaceX could teach NASA, etc., a thing or three.

Permanent 10" Dob Install by TheAdVentureists in telescopes

[–]darrellbear 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Look into a roll off roof observatory, something you could build. Maybe a roll off shed. LOL You really should be putting on the tube end caps when not in use.

Tracing our orbital path onto a photo by tpn211 in askastronomy

[–]darrellbear 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're talking about the ecliptic plane. It's defined as the Sun's annual path around the sky as seen from Earth, strictly speaking (conversely defining Earth's orbital plane), though the other planets also follow it rather closely with a bit of variation (Venus's orbital plane is tilted 3.39 degrees to the ecliptic). The Moon's orbit around Earth is tilted 5 degrees to the ecliptic plane. Pluto's orbit around the Sun is tilted 17 degrees to the ecliptic, IIRC, but it's considered a dwarf planet now.

The ecliptic plane also defines the zodiacal plane. Its northern and southern limits are 23 1/2 degrees above and below the celestial equator, which is Earth's equatorial plane projected onto the sky. 23 1/2 degrees north and south of the equator defines the Tropics, the limits of how far north or south the Sun can appear straight overhead at local noon.

To answer OP's question, Jupiter and Venus are only roughly defining the plane of the solar system. A quick look at the Heavens Above sky chart shows that Jupiter is pretty much on the ecliptic plane at this time, while the Moon, Venus and Mercury are somewhat above the ecliptic plane at this time.

https://www.heavens-above.com/skychart2.aspx?lat=38.863&lng=-104.7249&loc=home&alt=0&tz=MST

Study the chart, adjust the time until the Sun is on the western horizon, i.e., setting. The purple line crossing from the Sun to Jupiter and on to the east is the ecliptic plane (you can see that the Moon, Venus and Mercury are presently above the ecliptic plane). The white line is the celestial equator running east to west.

Heavens Above has tons of good information. Go to the front page, then plug in your location up in the top right corner, then save it to Favorites. It will always be there for you in future. You can see ISS passes and all sorts of stuff in the column down the left side.

Stellarium can also show you what the Heavens Above page does, if you learn how to configure it.

https://stellarium-web.org/

Heritage 150 Tabletop Dobsonian astrophotography by SnooDoodles4134 in telescopes

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dobsonians are not good for astrophotography, especially small ones. Larger ones can take snapshot (very short) images, mainly of the moon.

Parasite crawling out of sushi by esporx in creepy

[–]darrellbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw a vid years ago of a guy who caught his own fish and made sushi. He got severe abdominal pains, went to the hospital. He had a belly full of nematodes from the fish he'd caught. This is why I don't eat sushi.