Tag: astronomy

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Stellarium on Ubuntu

It has been too long since I have sang the merits of Ubuntu. Meerkat is great. 10.10 LTS has been flawless for me, even since the beta, on both my notebooks and my Mini 9 netbook.

Anyhow, I have had Stellarium running for some time. I realized I have yet to mention it. Here is the view from my ‘laboratory’ from two nights ago:

moon venus
I apologize for my camera. Whatever.

Awful photojournalism. Wanna fight about it? Pictured is the Moon, Venus, the Moon, and Venus…the two former live, and the two latter via Stellarium. Pretty sweet. I have had Stellarium cranked up several times looking at stars, but my BlackBerry is far worse when it comes to photographing stars than it is when photographing planets and the Moon.

Check it out…price is FREE.99 via the Ubuntu Software Center. FTW.

Posted on

Stellarium on Ubuntu

It has been too long since I have sang the merits of Ubuntu. Meerkat is great. 10.10 LTS has been flawless for me, even since the beta, on both my notebooks and my Mini 9 netbook.

Anyhow, I have had Stellarium running for some time. I realized I have yet to mention it. Here is the view from my ‘laboratory’ from two nights ago:

moon venus
I apologize for my camera. Whatever.

Awful photojournalism. Wanna fight about it? Pictured is the Moon, Venus, the Moon, and Venus…the two former live, and the two latter via Stellarium. Pretty sweet. I have had Stellarium cranked up several times looking at stars, but my BlackBerry is far worse when it comes to photographing stars than it is when photographing planets and the Moon.

Check it out…price is FREE.99 via the Ubuntu Software Center. FTW.

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Not a UFO…just a little SLBM

Unfortunately the swirly light thing over Norway wasn’t a visitor from outer-space. You crazy-ass Scientologists will have to wait for Xenu…turns out the spiral was just a little Ruskie submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that failed..

slbm

Per the BBC:
“A Russian test launch of an intercontinental missile has failed, resulting in a white light seen over parts of Norway.

The submarine-based Bulava ballistic missile failed when launched from the White Sea, the Defence Ministry’s press office told Itar-Tass news agency.

Russian newspapers had earlier reported the failure. At least six of 13 previous tests also ended in failure.

The Bulava can carry six individually targeted nuclear warheads.

It is designed to have a range of 10,000km (6,200 miles), but its repeated failures have caused embarrassment for Russia which hoped it would support its nuclear deterrent. “

Great! Just a little SLBM mishap. Let’s just assume that Russia and the States are buddies (or over 10,000km apart) and get back to worrying about Tiger Woods.

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Unidentified Swirly Thing Over Norway

I’m going to side with the realists and say that this is likely due to a rocket, (exhaust, or out-gassing payload) and not a UFO…
norway1

norway3

norway2

…but just in case, swantron.com welcomes our swirly overlords. Click on some ads.