Humbled by the Universe

[mikeb]

Anyone up north see the Northern Lights last night?

Nah sadly not as I'm at the wrong end of the country ... but in any case, me old mate Annie Haslam reckons the northern lights were in your mind and they were guiding you back to someone

Just gotta love a bit of Renaissance every now and again

Didn't see the jelly-like thingies descending from the sky either despite being in the right place for those Just heard huge f/o great hail stones beating on me windows. Maybe I should have taken a looky see at what was really lurking outside !

Edited January 31, 2012 by mikeb

[The Nal]

This is very cool! A day in the life of an astronomical image enhancement engineer.

Edited February 3, 2012 by The Nal

[Katster]

This stuff gives me brain ache too Tony so you aren't alone.

Those comets or meteors or whatever they were I think at the start of the week that people saw all over Britain. If they really were that, then why didn't we know they were coming? Usually when stuff like that is coming it's all over the news and stuff?

[The Nal]

The moon was incredibly bright last night. Think it was because of the solar storm.

[Ed209]

The moon was incredibly bright last night. Think it was because of the solar storm.

Can't think of any reason why the two would be connected. I think they were expecting a bright moon anyway. Its going to be an active month in the night sky

http://blogs.nasa.go...1149996050.html

Edited March 9, 2012 by Ed209

[The Nal]

Can't think of any reason why the two would be connected. I think they were expecting a bright moon anyway. Its going to be an active month in the night sky

http://blogs.nasa.go...1149996050.html

Cheers for the link, superb.

Not sure why they'd be connected either but I read it somewhere. Really must get my telescope fixed.

[Katster]

I often get overwhelmed about life, death and everything else. Why are we here? Is there a reason? If there isn't why do we just not exist? Was all this a work of science? We are so fragile. I tend to not believe there is a God but I do hope there is 'something' nice to go to when we die. I often think we just go to the place we go to when we sleep, forever which would be an eternal peace. Should we be afraid of not exisiting? It certainly freaks me out. I think the world is pretty amazing despite the heartache of losing people we love, war, illness, death and all the other cr*p things about the world. I am humbled by the universe and how amazing it is but the never ending questions that can't be answered makes my brain hurt...

When I crashed my car, at the very moment I thought I was about to die, I felt an overwhelming feeling if calm and peace.

I often get anxiety/panic attacks when I think about death but I deal with it by thinking about that feeling and how right at the moment I really wasn't scared at all.

I don't believe in god either but when I try to think of being and feeling nothing I can't comprehend it. It's impossible.

We will all go through it at some point and until then thinking about it reminds me why it's so important to enjoy our time here as much as possible because you are right, it certainly is amazing.

Deep, man, and I haven't even smoked greenery for over two years now

[The Nal]

Highly recommend the "How The Universe Works" series that was on Discovery a while back. Mind boggling stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDD48MmrCtg

Now "available" on Bluray!

[The Nal]

Hope for a cloud free night tonight!

Venus and Jupiter to ‘pass’ each other in sky tonight in spectacle visible to naked eye

[Ed209]

Hope for a cloud free night tonight!

Venus and Jupiter to ‘pass’ each other in sky tonight in spectacle visible to naked eye

One of the main things I hate about living in a big city is not being able to see the night sky. Really upsets me.

[Ed209]

so is Venus that really really bright 'star' to the west(ish)?

Yeah, except for the moon, Venus is almost always the brightest object in the night sky.

[fred quimby]

Been watching this the past few days, looks like a misty night tonight though ;(

[The Nal]

One of the main things I hate about living in a big city is not being able to see the night sky. Really upsets me.

Where do you live?

[Ed209]

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, miles and miles and miles of urban american sprawl.

I plan on jumping in the car one weekend and driving a good few hours into East Texas just to do some star gazing, I imagine the night sky is going to be something else out there.

Edit: D'oh, I mean west Texas, there's nothing out there. I live in east Texas. Never been good on the old left and rights, east and wests

Edited March 13, 2012 by Ed209

[The Nal]

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, miles and miles and miles of urban american sprawl.

I plan on jumping in the car one weekend and driving a good few hours into East Texas just to do some star gazing, I imagine the night sky is going to be something else out there.

Edit: D'oh, I mean west Texas, there's nothing out there. I live in east Texas. Never been good on the old left and rights, east and wests

Great place for stargazing though right? In general like?

[Ed209]

Yeah, If you can get a few hours from the city then its supposed to be as good as it gets. A lot of large telescopes are in west texas/new mexico because of the clarity.

[The Nal]

Yeah, If you can get a few hours from the city then its supposed to be as good as it gets. A lot of large telescopes are in west texas/new mexico because of the clarity.

Heard that alright. Hawaii is the business too apparently.

Been saying it for 4 years but I really must get my telescope fixed.

[Ed209]

Been saying it for 4 years but I really must get my telescope fixed.

You should. Know what's wrong with it?

Get it done by June 5th! Have the right sun filters for it and you will be able to see the transit of venus across the face of the sun ... looking something like this.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Ed209

[The Nal]

You should. Know what's wrong with it?

Get it done by June 5th! Have the right sun filters for it and you will be able to see the transit of venus across the face of the sun ... looking something like this.

Wow cool. Yeah its only a small thing, the lens. I have to drop it in to the Astronomy Ireland place but thats on the other side of the city. I really must get the finger out.

[The Nal]

Anyone been looking at Venus and Jupiter lately? Crazy. Have a look out there tonight. So bright!

[Ed209]

Video of aurora borealis from space

[The Nal]

Video of aurora borealis from space

If I ever win the Euromillions Ill pay whatever to get up there and see the earth from that station. Just stunning.

Thats providing I've any money left after the 6 month coke and Colombian whore binge Ill be going on.

[Katster]

The footballer being 'dead' for two hours and now hopefully beginning to recover is making me think about death and existing again. Surely if we go somewhere when we die then he would know about it? I find it hard to imagine 'nothing' and I hope that we end up lost in an eternal dream (even if it's a bad one it beats nothing doesn't it?). I just don't get it. It makes my brain ache.

I am going through a rough time at work at the moment and I look around at all these bellends on a power trip and it's laughable. Don't they know that none of it is real? We all shit in the same toilets and we are all going to end up with nothing in the end. It's good though because it makes me more determined to enjoy whatever time I do have here, which makes me more relaxed about the shit that's going on.

I am going to watch those videos now to remind me how beautiful this world is and if anyone winds me up today I will take myself back there

[eFestivals]

The footballer being 'dead' for two hours and now hopefully beginning to recover is making me think about death and existing again. Surely if we go somewhere when we die then he would know about it?

I posted in that thread that what happened with my dad was similar.

Well, he claims to have had a 'going down' feeling, and says he met "neptune". (I can't remember if the 'down' was into the sea or not).

And of course 'neptune' has a remarkable similarity to satan.

I'm never sure what to make of that. If it was someone other than my old man I know I'd laugh about it, and say it was a delusion caused by lack of oxygen &/or the drugs he was given, and what he experienced was a 'dream' that related to / was triggered by the traditional Christian death stories. But cos it was my dad I find it harder to treat as lightly.

I can only guess that because it's someone I know well, and someone I know isn't inclined towards religion or saying daft stuff like that in more normal circumstances, that I give it more credibility than I would if I heard the same thing from a random person.

Having said all of that, intellectually if not completely emotionally, my view of it is precisely what I lay out above - that it was a dream &/or delusion.

[Katster]

Indeed. Until I felt my 'moment of calm' during my horrible car accident a few years back, I thought stories like that were nothing more than people living in hope. I am not religious and although I am open to thinking about spiritual type stuff I don't definitely believe in one thing. All I know is, in a moment of complete panic and with a genuine belief of being about to die, my whole body relaxed and accepted it. Is that our body's/brain's way of coping with imminent death, or is it a sign of something else? None of will know until the time comes for real I guess but I just can't get out of my head that the footballer was dead for 2 hours, CPR kept oxygenated blood flowing to the brain, this shows us for the machines we are, not the spiritual beings we can be.