The Space Stuff thread

I haven't checked; How's the traffic out that way? I caught reports of 16mile backups out in Wyoming and Nebraska.
I checked a year ago for lodging where you're going but everything was booked.

Here's the main page for Golden Pond Observatory
Observatory located in the Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area. Home of the Western Kentucky Amateur Astronomers. Will see totality during the 2017 Solar Eclipse.

Interactive map: http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages...leMapFull.html

You should have clear skies for the event, this is for 2pm tomorrow:
source: Clearskychart

Hoping for clear skies!

I'll not get to see it, the Bloodmobile vampires will be working on me at that time.

The interactive map? That's because of celestial mechanics and our good ol' buddy Newton!

The thing about space is bodies don't move in a straight line they may "look like" they do, but there is always some form of orbital perturbation, like gravity assists and then don't forget the chaos theories.

My neighbor asked me; If the Sun and Moon rise in the east and interact to create an eclipse, why does the eclipse travel from West to East? The short answer is because the Earth rotates in that direction, i.e. counterclockwise, from West to East.

Any rocket launch towards an Easterly direction will be given an additional assist in speed of approximately 1000mph simply because the Earth moves to that direction and that added speed has to be figured into the orbital mechanics of the launch.

Hey Cliff! This is an incomplete answer:

Anak said:

My neighbor asked me; If the Sun and Moon rise in the east and interact to create an eclipse, why does the eclipse travel from West to East? The short answer is because the Earth rotates in that direction, i.e. counterclockwise, from West to East.

This site: eclipse2017.org/blog gives a better explanation, and the embedded video / animation links are able to show what's happening:

Why does the eclipse go from West to East?

Posted in Eclipse, Watching on Saturday, February 11, 2017.

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The Sun and Moon both appear to “rise” in the east, and “set” in the west. But as you can see in our video you see that the shadow plainly travels from west to east across the country!
video of the Moon’s shadow sweeping across the USA,

This is a very good question, because it shows how Solar eclipses take us out of our normal experience. We are all used to seeing the Sun and Moon rise in the east and set in the west. But if you were situated HIGH above the north pole, the Moon would appear to move counterclockwise (i.e., from your right to left) in its orbit around the Earth. And it is THAT motion of the Moon moving in its orbit, dragging its shadow along behind it, that causes the eclipse path on Earth to move from west to east.

As you watch the total eclipse (you ARE in the path, right?!) you will see the “bite” that the Moon takes out of the Sun start on the “right” side of the Sun’s disk, then slowly grow as the Moon apparently moves across the face of the Sun – from right to left. Since you are looking up at the Sun (with your eclipse glasses on) while facing South, then West is to your right. So as the Moon itself moves from right to left, its shadow also goes from west to east.

NASA has just come out with an eclipse animation that shows this PERFECTLY!

You’re watching the Moon move IN ITS ORBIT, and not as a result of the Earth’s rotation. And that’s pretty cool!

As you can see by this time and date map of the next ten solar eclipse's they all undulate and start in the West and end in the East.



In my home location the Sun will only be covered 77%, we were going to see totality in Charleston SC but life got in the way and had to cancel, but we're making plains for 2024 that's #10 on the map where the eclipse goes up through Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY.

By my comment about the curve I meant, that, it's just interesting to see it, and how in the modern world we can predict and measure so accurately compared to the past(centuries or millennia ago). Astronomers could only see the universe from one single point where they were, and therefor made a lot of mistakes. But also got a lot of things right surprisingly.

One could say the same thing if humankind is around in the next 100 to 5,000years or so.

As long as curiosity lives and is allowed to flourish, and we don't let greed and avarice get in the way the latter generations will be astonished at what we have accomplished so far...(of course, without blowin' ourselves up first. ).