Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries
In the Democrats' Latest Masculinity Pageant, Democrat Missouri Senate Candidate Lucas Kunce Plays GunBuddies With Noted Heterosexual Adam Kinzinger... and Shoots a Reporter Due to Complete Lack of Safety Training
Pro-Transgenderism-for-Children Partisans Receive $10 Million from Federal Government to Prove Puberty Blockers Help 11-Year-Old Children. But Now That the Data Show Children Aren't Helped -- and May Be Hurt -- They Refuse to Pubish the Results. Kamala Harris: Trump Is So Old He's "Exhausted" and Cancelling Events Also Kamala Harris: I'm So Tired of Working a Job for the First Time in My Life I'm Taking Two Consecutive Days Off Just to Memorize Fake Answers in a Fake CNN "Interview" Do I Really Have to Talk About This Bullshit? Whistleblower: The Harris-Biden Administration is Paying NGOs to Fly Unaccompanied Minor Children Around, Knowing They're Being Sexually Trafficked Wednesday Morning Rant Mid-Morning Art Thread Early Morning Open Thread Daily Tech News 23 October 2024 Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (10/22/24) Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Seems Like Old Times: MSNBC In Ratings Collapse, Down 20% Year-Over-Year |
Main
| Overnight Open Thread (5-29-2013) »
May 29, 2013
CAC's Spaced-Out Challenge: the Dark Secret of the SwanSummer is pretty much here, and with the end of May, arguably the best part of the whole night sky comes into view. Below, a guide to find your way about, and a dark secret hidden inside one of the most glorious of constellations. The sky for a total novice can seem impossible to navigate, but if you can remember just a few basic shapes, you can find your way around. The most obvious for residents of North America is the Big Dipper, made up of the seven brightest stars in Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The two stars in the lip of the tipper line up and point to the North Star and (if the right time of year) in the opposite direction towards Regulus, the brightest star in the "Sickle" shape that forms the mane of Leo the Lion. Use the handle of the dipper, arc backwards until you hit a very bright star, this is Arcturus which makes up the junk of Bootes the Herdsman. Continuing further, you hit the very bright star Spica in Virgo. If you wander South-south-east you'll find a slightly less-bright star above the horizon, Menkent. This is the northernmost bright star in Centaurus. Trace backwards, up through Spica, and back to Arcturus. Now, go south-southeast until you hit a bright red/orange star, the only of it's kind in the southern sky. That's Antares. Let your eye wander about Antares and you'll notice a fish-hook shape of stars. This asterism makes up the brightest stars in Scorpius the Scorpion. Now, start back at the big dipper, and arc again to Arcturus. If you look east and north you should see a quartet of semi-bright stars in a keystone shape. Congratulations, you've found the heart of Hercules. Due north of it is a smaller keystone, which is the head of Draco. In your eastern sky, you'll notice three very bright stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair, in a huge triangle. The triangle "points" a bit back to the Keystone too. Mostly inside of this triangle is a cross-shape of stars headed by Deneb. These are the primary stars of Cygnus, the swan. Follow the cross south and west, until you see a simplified stick figure, the Large Man. This is Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, and you'll notice he's "standing" on Scorpius, which you found earlier. To the Large Man and the Fish Hook/Scorpius "left" you'll notice a set of bright stars forming a teapot shape. Congrats again: you've found the brightest stars of Sagittarius. Lastly, go back north to your big Summer Triangle, and look to it's east. Just rising during the summer nights should appear a great square of bright stars: the body of Pegasus the Winged Horse. Without more than hopping and spotting large shapes, you have found half of the key summer constellations. From these, you can hop to all the remaining summer sights: For decades, scientists have argued over the existence of an object so gravitationally strong even light cannot escape it's pull: a black hole. Einstein himself believed they weren't physically real, and thanks to the near-unobservable nature of these elusive monsters, decades flew by without any real progress. Cygnus X-1 changed that. Discovered in 1964, Cygnus X-1 was an intense X-ray source, as the name implies, in the constellation Cygnus. The intensity of it left scientists puzzled and excited, and in less than a decade, observations by astronomers like Tom Bolton, demonstrating a noticable tug on supergiant star HDE226868 (a.k.a. HIP98298), made the theoretical real. Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne made a famous bet on the nature of the object emitting the X-rays, and once further X-ray observations were made in the 1980s, Thorne got his winnings: a year's subscription to Penthouse, much to the angst of his wife. The most recent development out of the point-of-no-return in the heart of the Swan comes courtesy Japan's Suzaku satellite, which observed matter being gulped and eliminated through it's x-ray emissions: What the Riken astronomers observed is gas being sucked across the event horizon and into oblivion. Suzaku measured the temperature of the gas as it fell into the black hole, and recorded a heat spike of more than 1 billion degrees Celsius in the last few milliseconds before it vanished. This, they report in Astrophysical Journal, is strong evidence that Cygnus X-1 is indeed a black hole (DOI reference: 10.1088/2041-8205/767/2/L34). Now, as the nature of the object implies, you can't actually see the black hole. But you can see the supergiant victim slowly being gobbled away. Here's how to find it: Dark sky denizens may even fish out the victim with binoculars, but anyone with even a small telescope can spot the faint shedding mass from an urban setting. As always, check out the light pollution targets list here, visit Ace's storefront for your astro-needs, clear skies and keep looking up! | Recent Comments
steevy:
"349 Broke even in 1973 according to IMDB. Budget w ..."
Avi: "This is just like how they withheld the results fr ..." Weasel: "At least it wasn't $50 million! ..." Aetius451AD Work Laptop: "Is that the Village People, Queen or the London Bo ..." Duncanthrax: "[i]This sounds serious. That means there will be c ..." Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle : "Boeing-made satellite explodes in space after expe ..." Stateless: "333 I can pretend to be Cleofuckingpatra and ..." Aetius451AD Work Laptop: "That is a very short range. ..." Common Tater: "I talked to an old hippie I hadn’t seen in a ..." steevy: "This from IMDB , ah the good old days A group o ..." Tim "Born to Kill" Walz: "I am living proof Puberty Blockers really work !!! ..." The Central Scrutinizer: "343 My neighbor is a new grandma and her granddaug ..." Recent Entries
In the Democrats' Latest Masculinity Pageant, Democrat Missouri Senate Candidate Lucas Kunce Plays GunBuddies With Noted Heterosexual Adam Kinzinger... and Shoots a Reporter Due to Complete Lack of Safety Training
Pro-Transgenderism-for-Children Partisans Receive $10 Million from Federal Government to Prove Puberty Blockers Help 11-Year-Old Children. But Now That the Data Show Children Aren't Helped -- and May Be Hurt -- They Refuse to Pubish the Results. Kamala Harris: Trump Is So Old He's "Exhausted" and Cancelling Events Also Kamala Harris: I'm So Tired of Working a Job for the First Time in My Life I'm Taking Two Consecutive Days Off Just to Memorize Fake Answers in a Fake CNN "Interview" Do I Really Have to Talk About This Bullshit? Whistleblower: The Harris-Biden Administration is Paying NGOs to Fly Unaccompanied Minor Children Around, Knowing They're Being Sexually Trafficked Wednesday Morning Rant Mid-Morning Art Thread Early Morning Open Thread Daily Tech News 23 October 2024 Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (10/22/24) Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |