New Scaratings

http://sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov/webcasts/nasaedge/
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Will not happen again for 105 years.

Just took my welding helmet out to take a look... Somebody put a dot on the sun. Cool.

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It is to hot out for me.

The sun is the bigger of the two????

IMHERE, thanks for the tip, but my plate is pretty full these days, and I will probably have to take a rain check on this one. If possible, I promise to watch the transit of Venus next time it happens.

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"The game is afoot."

It was overcast here all day. I had to settle for plastering my computer desktop with live telescope feeds from Japan, Mauna Kea and Appalachian State University. The last was a magnified view, but they only had clear skies for about 45-60 minutes before it clouded over and they called it a broadcast

Here's a nifty video clip of the transit. At 1:09, a jet happens to pass in front of the sun, and the contrail neatly bisects the solar disk just as the jet completes its own transit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otvA_pnGsSA

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/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

Nifty video, PENGWN. I've only got one question. Why didn't the jet melt...?

p.s. Here's a photo of a flock of geese flying across the sun:

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"The game is afoot."

Pretty nice you could watch live on tv or online. It sure beat staring into the sun. If you didn't know it was happening you wouldn't have known.

To keep this thread going, I proclaim that IMHER's "Transit of Venus............Watch it live now" thread is now the official Astronomy and Space thread on the "ScaRatings". We've needed this for a long time.

Here's something that you astronomy geeks might want to consider as a present for your astronomy geek friends. The International Star Registry, where you can name a star for anybody, is something you might want to check out.

http://www.starregistry.com/

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(The gift package is pretty nice, and includes a star chart to locate the star. I believe framing the large certificate costs extra.)

No, you really don't own the star or all of the bounty and riches that its planets might have to offer. If you could ever get there, the inhabitants, who might be living on planets that orbit your star probably won't bow down to you, as you exit your spacecraft, and greet you as their master. However, who knows, maybe they will, so for $48.95, why not give it a shot.

p.s. Real astronomers will not recognize the names of stars that people have given them on The International Star Registry, but it's fun nevertheless.

p.p.s Why not name a star for your girlfriend? Then on some warm summer night take her out to the country, away from city lights. Lie down in the soft grass together, and help her find the star that you named after her in the night sky twinkling with millions of romantic stars?

If you do, It might be a good idea to bring your battery operated boombox along with you, with this song by Kathy Young on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeKNRYj7_LY

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"The game is afoot."