Recent Posts

21

General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by sts60 on April 07, 2024, 12:04:28 PM »

Traveled to Texas to join an event hosted by alma mater’s space physics department.  Currently the weather is pretty bad and looks pretty bad tomorrow.  We’ll see.  Would be content with a hazy view through breaks in the thicker stuff.  The upside is that the location has real bathrooms.

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by LunarOrbit on April 07, 2024, 11:44:21 AM »

I decided to plug my telescope in to test it and discovered that it isn't slewing left or right, just up and down. I should be able to work with that, but it's annoying because I've probably only used it half a dozen times since I bought it. It has spent most of it's life on a shelf in my storage room.

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by grmcdorman on April 06, 2024, 07:37:52 AM »

I had hoped to travel to Texas (I'm a member of the Planetary Society, and they're having a big do at a location there), or at least Niagara Falls, ON (specifically Niagara-on-the-Lake), but my wife is completely uninterested. Will have to make do with the partial here in Mississauga, or watch online. Forecast for Mississauga right now is a mix of sun and cloud.

We got a last-minute hotel stay in Niagara Falls (Canada) on Monday night, and _not_ for the 4x they're charging (for Sunday night?). So we are now planning to go early Monday, watch the eclipse, and then stay overnight. I am really looking forward to this, seeing an eclipse has been on my bucket list for a long time.

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The Hoax Theory / Re: Saturn V Third Stage - Not enough room

« Last post by Peter B on April 03, 2024, 10:10:23 PM »

Yes, that is literally how most rocket stages work. How much space does he imagine the lines and everything else take up when compared to the volume of fuel?

Reminds me of some of the loudmouths saying that Starship was nothing more than a mockup because "it's just a hollow shell". These people seem to get their ideas of what "real spacecraft" are like from Star Wars, like they're supposed to be full of random bits of machinery and some little fuel tanks stuffed in some corner.

Speaking of hollow shells, and veering back to the S-IVB, I'm reminded of when I first read about the wet workshop concept for Skylab. The idea of setting up a space station in a used fuel tank in the third stage seemed crazy to me. I kept thinking of the place reeking of petrol/gasoline fumes...until I realised (a) it was a hydrogen tank, and (b) they'd vent it anyway before filling it with oxygen.

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by JayUtah on April 03, 2024, 10:44:30 AM »

I'm headed to Texas with a Celestron 6SE plus sun filter. No photography, though, just observation. I have a pair of eclipse glasses for which this will be their 4th eclipse.

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by grmcdorman on April 03, 2024, 07:22:13 AM »

I had hoped to travel to Texas (I'm a member of the Planetary Society, and they're having a big do at a location there), or at least Niagara Falls, ON (specifically Niagara-on-the-Lake), but my wife is completely uninterested. Will have to make do with the partial here in Mississauga, or watch online. Forecast for Mississauga right now is a mix of sun and cloud.

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The Hoax Theory / Re: Saturn V Third Stage - Not enough room

« Last post by Dalhousie on April 02, 2024, 06:06:08 PM »

Yes, that is literally how most rocket stages work. How much space does he imagine the lines and everything else take up when compared to the volume of fuel?

Reminds me of some of the loudmouths saying that Starship was nothing more than a mockup because "it's just a hollow shell". These people seem to get their ideas of what "real spacecraft" are like from Star Wars, like they're supposed to be full of random bits of machinery and some little fuel tanks stuffed in some corner.

The first one unveiled was little more than that, a tarted up test article for pressurisation tests

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by LunarOrbit on April 02, 2024, 04:02:21 PM »

I am looking forward to the eclipse, especially since the path is only a 3 hours drive. However, the predictions are not good (Cleveland, 65% cloud cover). Still, the reason we chose Cleveland is because of the "Lake Erie bubble" which can produce clear skies near the lake even though it is cloudy inland. (Beyond that, I do not know the science behind it and whether it will help with the type of clouds predicted.)

Good luck to everyone else that is attempting to see it.

John

The weather forecast has improved slightly here in Hamilton, Ontario. It was predicting rain... now it says it will be partly cloudy. I'm hoping it continues to improve.

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by PDI on April 02, 2024, 12:51:13 PM »

I am looking forward to the eclipse, especially since the path is only a 3 hours drive. However, the predictions are not good (Cleveland, 65% cloud cover). Still, the reason we chose Cleveland is because of the "Lake Erie bubble" which can produce clear skies near the lake even though it is cloudy inland. (Beyond that, I do not know the science behind it and whether it will help with the type of clouds predicted.)

Good luck to everyone else that is attempting to see it.

John

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General Discussion / Re: Eclipse 2024

« Last post by Obviousman on April 01, 2024, 09:40:14 PM »

I'm on my way to visit my daughter in TX.  Was planning on viewing the eclipse, but the forecast is for cloudy weather.  I will not be driving to search for clear skies that day.

If you listen to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, that might be the infamous 'Bob Effect'.