In a room in Pembroke College, Cambridge, hangs a round picture in a square frame.
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The view around us
Here is an attempt to show how several things are now arranged in space.
Dud events
Mercury will on August 16 stand out far on the evening side of the Sun – the farthest for the year. And yet it is the year’s worst apparition of Mercury!
And a present scene for ALCON
A recent scene
Eric David commented on Continue reading “A recent scene”
Flashes from the hero’s helmet
The Perseid meteors should be abundant, in the night between August 11 and 12 – Thursday evening into the dark morning hours of Friday morning.
The RAS out under the sun
Picnickers, yesterday, looked out from the Greenwich Observatory (or near it) over the universe (or at any rate over London).
Jupiter closely touched by two
The crescent Moon will make a show with distant Jupiter, low over the sunset horizon on Friday, August 5.
And there is, in a sense, a third body in this line-up, a human-made one called Juno. Continue reading “Jupiter closely touched by two”
Not a Crime but a Misery-Reliever
Prohibition of alcoholic drinks was attempted in the United States from 1920 to 1933 and was abandoned because it not only failed but caused a huge surge in violent crime and human tragedy.
The War on Drugs was started in 1914 (by an obsessive racist named Harry Anslinger),
Queen Bee and Drone
Mercury, overtaking Venus, passes only half a degree north of it as seen by us.
Spatial view of the travels of the three inner planets in July, with sightlines from Earth on July 16. Actually the sightlines are at the beginning (0 hour) of the day by Universal Time. The overtaking happens at the end of the day, 23h UT (which is 7 PM by summer clocks in eastern North America. The planets are exaggerated 400 times in size, the Sun 5. The dashed line is the vernal equinox direction, our customary baseline in the celestial sphere. Continue reading “Queen Bee and Drone”