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A reason to get up early

Posted: 23:52 Mon 25 Nov 2013
by DRT

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:00 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
Heard about this, thanks for the reminder.

Remember being amazed by Hale-bop, or whatever it was called. I predict a plague.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:02 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by DRT
For those interested there is a Horizon special about this on iPlayer at the moment.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:02 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by djewesbury
Will you get some pictures? Will you show them to us?

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:04 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by DRT
djewesbury wrote:
Will you get some pictures? Will you show them to us?
If you pop round I'll show you my slides.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:04 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by djewesbury
DRT wrote:
djewesbury wrote:
Will you get some pictures? Will you show them to us?
If you pop round I'll show you my slides.
Oh Derek...

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:14 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
djewesbury wrote:
DRT wrote:
djewesbury wrote:
Will you get some pictures? Will you show them to us?
If you pop round I'll show you my slides.
Oh Derek...
Get a room.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 09:14 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by Alex Bridgeman
So let me get this right. You and the BBC are exhorting us to get up early in order to see a comet which:
(a) will not be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until Dec 1;
(b) will explode into nothingness when it passes through the Sun before Dec 1; and
(c) will be hidden by the clouds of the British autumn anyway

Hrmphh. At least in the winter I usually get up a little before sunrise so might take a peek out of the windows just to admire the thickness of the cloud cover.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 11:37 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by DRT
AHB wrote:So let me get this right. You and the BBC are exhorting us to get up early in order to see a comet which:
(a) will not be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until Dec 1;
(b) will explode into nothingness when it passes through the Sun before Dec 1; and
(c) will be hidden by the clouds of the British autumn anyway
We will know before the end of this week whether or not the comet still exists. If it does it will be visible from 1st to 19th of Dec just before dawn. It would be very rare to have 19 consecutive mornings in December in the UK without a frosty morning caused by an absence of cloud cover.

Isn't December in winter rather than autumn?

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 11:44 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by djewesbury
DRT wrote:
AHB wrote:So let me get this right. You and the BBC are exhorting us to get up early in order to see a comet which:
(a) will not be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until Dec 1;
(b) will explode into nothingness when it passes through the Sun before Dec 1; and
(c) will be hidden by the clouds of the British autumn anyway
We will know before the end of this week whether or not the comet still exists. If it does it will be visible from 1st to 19th of Dec just before dawn. It would be very rare to have 19 consecutive mornings in December in the UK without a frosty morning caused by an absence of cloud cover.

Isn't December in winter rather than autumn?
A little bit of it, from the 21st onwards. Surely a stargazer knows the date of the solstice?

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 11:52 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by DRT
djewesbury wrote:A little bit of it, from the 21st onwards. Surely a stargazer knows the date of the solstice?
I think of winter in meteorogical rather than astronomical terms.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 12:13 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
Winter starts on the 21st of December? Shouldn't someone mention the precession of the equinox?

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 12:19 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by DRT
I am a simple soul. Meteorologists in the UK define winter as the three coldest months of the year, December, January and February. That does for me.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 13:50 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by Alex Bridgeman
DRT wrote:
AHB wrote:So let me get this right. You and the BBC are exhorting us to get up early in order to see a comet which:
(a) will not be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until Dec 1;
(b) will explode into nothingness when it passes through the Sun before Dec 1; and
(c) will be hidden by the clouds of the British autumn anyway
We will know before the end of this week whether or not the comet still exists. If it does it will be visible from 1st to 19th of Dec just before dawn. It would be very rare to have 19 consecutive mornings in December in the UK without a frosty morning caused by an absence of cloud cover.

Isn't December in winter rather than autumn?
I'm willing to give it a go.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 18:43 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by Glenn E.
DRT wrote:I am a simple soul. Meteorologists in the UK define winter as the three coldest months of the year, December, January and February. That does for me.
Here in Seattle, things are not so simple.

Summer is roughly 6 weeks, from mid-July until the end of August. September and October are nice and Fall-like. November becomes this strange 'tween-season. December, January, and February conform to the UK definition of the three coldest months of the year, so that works for Winter. March returns the strangeness which carries through April and often into May. June is usually nicely Spring-like, carrying through the 4th of July into the merge with Summer at some point in mid-July.

Of course, growing up in Nebraska was hardly better. Summer was June, July, August, and often the first 2 weeks of September. Then came Fall, which was brilliant, usually right up until the first snowfall around Thanksgiving in the 4th week of November. Winter - defined as the season during which precipitation falls as snow - took over at the end of November and lasted through December, January, February, March, and into April. Spring was typically April and May, though we occasionally received snowfall as late as mid-May. So less weird 'tween seasons, but not conveniently 3 months/season either.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 21:49 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by mpij
AHB wrote:So let me get this right. You and the BBC are exhorting us to get up early in order to see a comet which:
(a) will not be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until Dec 1;
(b) will explode into nothingness when it passes through the Sun before Dec 1; and
(c) will be hidden by the clouds of the British autumn anyway

Hrmphh. At least in the winter I usually get up a little before sunrise so might take a peek out of the windows just to admire the thickness of the cloud cover.
As I'm working nightshift most of DecemberI will be staying up and possibly enjoying a glass of port while I observe. If it turns out to be more than a damp squib,however, I may double decant a bottle and visit friends living in the country to get better view than with all the light pollution I get living in city centre.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 22:30 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
mpij wrote:
AHB wrote:So let me get this right. You and the BBC are exhorting us to get up early in order to see a comet which:
(a) will not be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until Dec 1;
(b) will explode into nothingness when it passes through the Sun before Dec 1; and
(c) will be hidden by the clouds of the British autumn anyway

Hrmphh. At least in the winter I usually get up a little before sunrise so might take a peek out of the windows just to admire the thickness of the cloud cover.
As I'm working nightshift most of DecemberI will be staying up and possibly enjoying a glass of port while I observe. If it turns out to be more than a damp squib,however, I may double decant a bottle and visit friends living in the country to get better view than with all the light pollution I get living in city centre.
I knew that people north of the border were made of sterner stuff but a glass of port for breakfast after a night shift! Chapeau!

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 22:39 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
Lovely stuff about growing up in Nebraska Glenn. Now where is Nebraska...

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 22:42 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by djewesbury
LGTrotter wrote:Lovely stuff about growing up in Nebraska Glenn. Now where is Nebraska...
I thought it was spelled 'NO ONE LIVES THERE'

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 22:44 Tue 26 Nov 2013
by Glenn E.
djewesbury wrote:
LGTrotter wrote:Lovely stuff about growing up in Nebraska Glenn. Now where is Nebraska...
I thought it was spelled 'NO ONE LIVES THERE'
You'll note that I no longer live there...

Those in the U.K. most commonly labeled it "who cares?" in the post referenced here.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 00:38 Wed 27 Nov 2013
by TLW
Glenn E. wrote:Of course, growing up in Nebraska was hardly better.
Poor soul.

I have known several people with a similar traumatic experience, and they never really seem to fully recover. Truly heart-wrenching.

That being said, I have little doubt that port eases the pain, and am certain that many here will concur.

Anyway, I hope that I am somewhere that I can see the comet though. Missed the last one - although I did see one total eclipse from my office a year or two ago.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 23:29 Thu 28 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
News update on 'a reason to get up early'; stay in bed.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:51 Fri 29 Nov 2013
by DRT
LGTrotter wrote:News update on 'a reason to get up early'; stay in bed.
The astronomical equivalent of a 1983 horizontal.

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:53 Fri 29 Nov 2013
by LGTrotter
DRT wrote:
LGTrotter wrote:News update on 'a reason to get up early'; stay in bed.
The astronomical equivalent of a 1983 horizontal.
That good? No stand outs?

Re: A reason to get up early

Posted: 01:55 Fri 29 Nov 2013
by DRT
LGTrotter wrote:
DRT wrote:
LGTrotter wrote:News update on 'a reason to get up early'; stay in bed.
The astronomical equivalent of a 1983 horizontal.
That good? No stand outs?
It appears that the 1983s flew too close to the sun. The Niepoort seems to have been shielded by something, but not to a degree that would make it stellar.