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Post by wifeofsmartass on Feb 12, 2009 6:10:01 GMT -5
Perhaps a random question, but i was thinking about taking my telescope out and the thought popped into my mind; what's your favorite planet in our solar system, not counting Earth?  Mine's always been Saturn, although Jupiter comes in real close.  |
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Post by Just Plain Rydell on Feb 12, 2009 11:33:30 GMT -5
Neptune all the way.
And I know why you like Saturn.
Almost everyone likes Saturn and it's too cliché for me so I have Neptune.
I like that you like it because you're special, but anyone else? I'll just say BLAH!
Oh, Boss, you can count Earth in too, when the time comes to ask nobody answers Earth anyway...
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Post by Fatal hilarity on Feb 12, 2009 15:26:00 GMT -5
Hmm... now that I think about it, I'm actually more into moons. I think it's because the planets were always hammered into my head as a kid, and I'm so darned familiar with them. You know how it is: remember kids, there are nine planets in the solar system! Or eight, nowadays...
Who else thinks it's silly to deny that Pluto is a subcategory of planet when the word "planet" is in the term "dwarf planet"? Think about it- if it's not a type of planet, don't call it one! It's all very confusing, really...
Anyone remember people wanting to call this new planet Xena? It's officially called Eris now, and is officially a dwarf planet.
Anyway, I guess you could say that I've always liked Mars. Not so much for the whole Martian thing, but more for the other myths surrounding it... The cracks in the surface were once believed to be great canals, and there was once a rumor that Elvis' face was carved into the surface... among other supposedly face- and temple-like objects.
I also love the thought that because of the ice and erosion discovered on it, there's the possibility that there was once running water and maybe even primitive life on it. If we could find, at the very least, some fossilized single cell organisms there, the whole world would be in an uproar for sure.
I've always like the way it's looked as well. There's also that one mountain that's over three times as tall as Everest!
I sure hope I live to see man land on it. That would be like my generation's moon landing!
I like moons better 'cause they're less familiar and a lot more interesting to look at and they're often quite pretty. The Galilean moons are my favorites, and have been for many years. Europa and Titan are likely to have extraterrestrial life, so they're pretty cool, too.
I guess now everyone knows now that astronomy's one of my favorite subjects, other than zoology... XP
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Post by wifeofsmartass on Feb 13, 2009 2:29:18 GMT -5
I totally believe in extraterrestrial life; the universe is so vast. In our solar system, the thing that actually fascinates me most of all, even more than the planets, is the sun. It's drawn my interest since i was a toddler- i remember my first solar eclipse well!  Remember when those comets came around? That was somethin' else, wasn't it! :3 |
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Post by wifeofsmartass on Feb 13, 2009 2:36:48 GMT -5
Neptune all the way. And I know why you like Saturn. Almost everyone likes Saturn and it's too clichÃff(C) for me so I have Neptune. I like that you like it because you're special, but anyone else? I'll just say BLAH! Oh, Boss, you can count Earth in too, when the time comes to ask nobody answers Earth anyway... . Neptune's beautiful, isn't it. :3 Saturn has fascinating rings, but i'm torn between that and Jupiters colorful clouds. Karma to whoever honestly picks earth! And you can't pick it counting the fact we live on it. If the question were put that way, then everybody would pick earth, since we sure as heck can't live elsewhere. XD (as of now- but who knows what science has in store for the future) |
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Post by Fatal hilarity on Feb 13, 2009 3:57:12 GMT -5
Well, I have a distant memory of "falling stars" in the sky when I was a kid at my grandma's house... so I don't really know what you mean.
I hope I live to see Haley's Comet, though.
I've read a lot about hypothetical planets- habitable zones and all that. It fires up the imagination, y'know?
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Post by wifeofsmartass on Feb 13, 2009 7:54:33 GMT -5
Falling stars are beautiful to watch, huh? I was nine when a comet came around. (I swear i remember one a few years prior to that- but i dunno. I was so little!) For days, (don't recall how many) you could see it with your eyes. No telescope required. It looked like a bright blue star, with a misty, fuzzy looking piece sticking out to one side; the tail. It's really annoying because i can't remember the name of that comet! XP
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Post by Just Plain Rydell on Feb 13, 2009 14:28:07 GMT -5
I believe in that anything and everything is out there. I even made a drawing!! ^^ Vast Universe, it's called.
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Post by Fatal hilarity on Feb 13, 2009 15:16:27 GMT -5
Falling stars are beautiful to watch, huh? I was nine when a comet came around. (I swear i remember one a few years prior to that- but i dunno. I was so little!) For days, (don't recall how many) you could see it with your eyes. No telescope required. It looked like a bright blue star, with a misty, fuzzy looking piece sticking out to one side; the tail. It's really annoying because i can't remember the name of that comet! XP I honestly wouldn't know. The memory's so distant that I could've very well have been imagining it. All I remember is various white streaks in the sky at my grandma's house... and the memory of my surroundings barely resembles her house. Heck, it could've been a meteor shower for all I know! |
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Post by Just Plain Rydell on Feb 13, 2009 15:35:51 GMT -5
I remember once when I saw this huuuge green glowing meteorite (that I thought was a helicopter) explode in midair at night... It rocked.
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Post by Fatal hilarity on Feb 13, 2009 16:02:43 GMT -5
A green meteorite? Are you sure it was a meteorite and not something else?
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Post by Just Plain Rydell on Feb 13, 2009 17:35:29 GMT -5
Not ALL green, just like... ... Mossy. But maybe my mind plays tricks on me. It was dark and it glowed.
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Post by wifeofsmartass on Feb 14, 2009 2:56:21 GMT -5
Whoa.  How exciting! In the summer when the weather was warm, i'd often take my telescope out late into the night to look at the moon. Or i'd go out to see the constellations. Once the weather warms up, i'll do it again! Not that i won't stargaze in winter; i just won't stay outside as long on account of the cold. >_< I'd see falling stars more often around 5 am for some reason. It sucks cuz i'm missing several lenses for my telescope. I only have weakest one at the moment, which works wonders for the moon, but isn't strong enough for the planets. |
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Post by wifeofsmartass on Feb 14, 2009 3:58:24 GMT -5
I believe in that anything and everything is out there. I even made a drawing!! ^^ Vast Universe, it's called. I wanna see it! :3 |
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Post by Fatal hilarity on Feb 14, 2009 4:26:01 GMT -5
I can't think of any object out in space besides a nebula and a theoretical Earth-like planet that's green... I can't imagine what it could've been.
It sucks 'cause whenever I look up at the stars, I ALWAYS spot Orion, especially Orion's belt. It gets pretty boring... I wish I knew where to look for other ones.
I've always really liked the moon. I mean, it's that thing in the sky floating around us all the time! It's very special because it's our very own, and our only one.
I realize that besides the others, Earth IS my favorite, 'cause it's got such awesome stuff on it. Unless we find plentiful life elsewhere, we won't ever see anything like it.
It kind of pains me to think that I probably won't live to see the first photographs of a heavily populated planet or moon other than us... I hope to God we go to Titan soon, because that place has weather, for crying out loud! Europa's bound to only have little crawly things, and as cool as that may be, it's nothing compared to vegetation and animals, no matter how primitive they may be.
I think the only real way to judge whether something's alive for certain is if it moves out of it's own free will. Perhaps it wouldn't look like anything we've seen before, but at the very least I would imagine a living animal would move.
I'm excited by the fact that the search for aliens has become a legitimate scientific research... I mean, at long last- we're seriously looking for aliens! I think we just needed to find more planets and define what constitutes for a livable habitat and a living thing.
Look towards the stars... that's what I like to hear. Take for instance the fact that red dwarves are the most plentiful of stars out there- they're ripe for planets out of sheer numbers and the laws of probability. On top of that, they're really dim and rather weird compared to our own sun, making it extremely likely that a habitable planet orbiting one would be very, very different from ours.
Then there are of course UFOs... I've seen only a few bits of footage that convinces me of their legitimacy. That, and the way that the government makes such lame excuses for all those sightings is embarrassing.
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Mine's always been Saturn, although Jupiter comes in real close. 
Remember when those comets came around? That was somethin' else, wasn't it! :3
How exciting! In the summer when the weather was warm, i'd often take my telescope out late into the night to look at the moon. Or i'd go out to see the constellations. Once the weather warms up, i'll do it again! Not that i won't stargaze in winter; i just won't stay outside as long on account of the cold. >_< I'd see falling stars more often around 5 am for some reason.