Day: April 28, 2016

A Little Humor for Your Day – “Signs That You Are Addicted to Coffee”

Signs That You Are Addicted to Coffee

  1. Juan Valdez names his donkey after you.
  2. You get a speeding ticket even when you’re parked.
  3. You grind your coffee beans in your mouth.
  4. You sleep with your eyes open.
  5. You have to watch videos in fast-forward.
  6. You lick your coffeepot clean.
  7. Your eyes stay open when you sneeze.
  8. The nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse.
  9. You can type sixty words a minute with your toes.
  10. You can jump-start your car without cables.
  11. Your only source of nutrition comes from “Sweet & Low.”
  12. You don’t sweat, you percolate.
  13. You’ve worn out the handle on your favorite coffee mug.
  14. You go to AA meetings just for the free coffee.
  15. You’ve worn the finish off you coffee table.
  16. The Taster’s Choice couple wants to adopt you.
  17. Starbuck’s owns the mortgage on your house.
  18. You’re so wired you pick up FM radio.
  19. Your life’s goal is to “amount to a hill of beans.”
  20. Instant coffee takes too long.
  21. You want to be cremated just so you can spend eternity in a coffee can.
  22. You name your cats “Cream” and “Sugar.”
  23. Your lips are permanently stuck in the sipping position.
  24. Your first-aid kit contains two pints of coffee with an I.V. hookup.
  25. The only time you look like you’re standing still is during an earthquake.

– See more at:

Turok’s Cabana

Astronomy Picture of the Day – A Dust Angel Nebula

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2016 April 28

A Dust Angel Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

 

Explanation: The combined light of stars along the Milky Way are reflected by these cosmic dust clouds that soar some 300 light-years or so above the plane of our galaxy. Dubbed the A Dust Angel Nebula Angel Nebula, the faint apparition is part of an expansive complex of dim and relatively unexplored, diffuse molecular clouds. Commonly found at high galactic latitudes, the dusty galactic cirrus can be traced over large regions toward the North and South Galactic poles. Along with the refection of starlight, studies indicate the dust clouds produce a faint reddish luminescence, as interstellar dust grains convert invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Also capturing nearby Milky Way stars and an array of distant background galaxies, the deep, wide-field 3×5 degree image spans about 10 Full Moons across planet Earth’s sky toward the constellation Ursa Major.

Earth Sky News for April 28th: Jupiter bright and high in sky

Jupiter bright and high in sky

Tonight – April 28, 2016 – as seen from around the world, Jupiter crosses your meridian and climbs to its highest point for the night at or around 8:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. local Daylight Saving Time). That’s the time on your clock no matter where you are on the globe. Jupiter is said to be at upper transit (highest point) when it resides on the meridian.

How can you identify Jupiter? Easy. It’s the brightest starlike object in the evening sky now.

And, of course, this isn’t just a one-night event. Jupiter has been the brightest starlike object in the evening sky for some months and will remain so until Venus returns, sometime during July.

Telescope aficionados get especially excited when a planet shines in the vicinity of the meridian. The higher the planet climbs in the sky, the more the likelihood of a crisp image.

Have a telescope or a pair of binoculars? Then try your luck at seeing Jupiter’s four major moons this evening. Click here to view the present positions of Jupiter’s four major moons: Io, Europa, Callisto or Ganymede. Begin with low power, because it’s easier to get a sharper focus, especially when Earth’s atmosphere is less than steady (if the stars are twinkling wildly, then the atmosphere is turbulent).

our local meridian is an imaginary semi-circle on the dome of sky arcing straight overhead from due south to due north. If you want to know the precise time that Jupiter transits (crosses) the meridian in your sky, check out this U.S. Naval Observatory page: Rise/set/transit times for major solar system bodies and bright stars.

When Jupiter (or any other heavenly body) crosses the meridian, that body resides at one of three places: at zenith (straight overhead), due south of zenith or due north of zenith.

By the way, two other visible planets will cross the meridian tonight: Mars and Saturn. These two worlds shine fairly close together on the sky’s dome, and on April 29, both will shine in the vicinity of the meridian around 2 a.m. local time (3 a.m. local daylight saving time). Again, the precise transit times for your sky are available at this U.S. Naval Observatory page.

By the time that July 2016 comes rolling around, Mars and Saturn will be near the meridian in the evening sky, which might be a more convenient time for viewing these worlds than in the wee hours of the morning.

Bottom line: Now is the time to enjoy Jupiter, the king of planets and the brightest starlike object in Earth’s night sky, as it crosses the meridian – line in your sky, passing straight overhead from due south to due north – around nightfall or early evening.

 

Author

Bruce McClure

Bruce McClure

Bruce McClure is the chief writer for the popular EarthSky Tonight pages. Since joining EarthSky in 2004, he has written thousands of astronomy articles, enjoyed here by millions. He also writes, gives planetarium shows and hosts a wide assortment of public astronomy programs in and around his home in upstate New York. If you ask an astronomy question on our site, it’s likely to be Bruce that answers it. His love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, and he has sailed the North Atlantic, earning his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. Bruce is also a sundial aficionado. He says his number one passion – besides his wife Alice – is stargazing.

Article published on EarthSky

Your Daily Charm for April 28th is The Greek Vowels

Your Daily Charm for Today

Today’s Meaning:
This aspect will be influenced by a sudden strong stroke of good fortune. This good fortune will be unpredictable and will last only a short time. It will bring with it good health, happiness and success.

General Description:
This talisman was a great favorite in olden times, and was composed of the Seven Vowels of the Greek Alphabet. The desired favours were supposed to be granted upon the correct utterance of the forty-nin different sounds of the Seven Vowels, each vowel having seven distinct methods of expression. Of the many benefits supposed to be conferred were – good health, happiness, wisdom, fortune, foresight, success in all undertakings, complete protection from moral, as well as physical ills, and control over the powers of darkness. The ancients thought that there was an affinity between the seven vowels and the seven planets which they believed kept this earth in existence.