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        riddles >> what happened >> Stargazing?
        
(Message started by: Miles on Jan 12^th, 2007, 2:57pm)

Title: Stargazing?
Post by Miles on Jan 12^th, 2007, 2:57pm

This just about qualifies for What Happened. Some of the answers are easy and others might prompt some discussion.

Some friends (A, B, C…) were talking astronomy.

A: Observing is not much fun during daytime. There’s only one heavenly object to look at, ******, and even that can’t be seen all the time.

B: Actually, there’s another body, you can see all the time - ******!

C: And you can often see ****** during the day.

D: Strictly speaking, you can sometimes see ****** in the day.

E: Actually, I saw much more than that once - ******! – in the middle of the day!

F: And people have seen ****** in broad daylight.

G: That would be a cool sight.

What was said where the ****** are shown? [hide](Not necessarily a single word)[/hide]

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on Jan 12^th, 2007, 3:12pm

[hide]Sun, earth, moon, stars, meteor, comet?[/hide]

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Miles on Jan 13^th, 2007, 12:02am

I don't think stars is right for D. I'm thinking of a couple of objects that can often be seen between sunrise and sunset.

E was thinking of something even more dramatic.

I think you might be right for F (can you give an historical example) - what else has been visible in broad daylight?

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Locke64 on Jan 13^th, 2007, 6:46am

[hide]A meteor shower is more dramatic than a meteor.[/hide]

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on Jan 13^th, 2007, 7:44am

Okay, the meteor shower answer I accept. Comet link (http://skytonight.com/observing/highlights/5118926.html) as requested. There are many more like that.

As to the stars, many can be seen during the day, especially during an eclipse. This was part of the proof for gravitational lensing, as stars that should have been hidden behind the sun were visible in or just outside the corona.

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Locke64 on Jan 14^th, 2007, 10:53am

Could D be [hide]planets[/hide]?

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Icarus on Jan 14^th, 2007, 7:10pm

on 01/13/07 at 07:44:43, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:

This was part of the proof for gravitational lensing, as stars that should have been hidden behind the sun were visible in or just outside the corona.

Not gravitational lensing. Though essentially the same effect, that term applies to astromical objects for which we see more than one image. This was shown by identifying instances where two or more apparent galaxies were in fact the same galaxy appearing more than once in our sky. The identification was made recognizing identical structure and spectral data.

What you are thinking of is the first strong evidence for General Relativity, which predicts roughly twice the bending of light that Newtonian gravity does when one assumes light is subject to gravity. The eclipse data was not so much that stars that should have been occluded were not, but rather that all the stars near the sun appeared offset from where we knew they should appear in the sky (their location relative to other stars had changed). The amount of this offset was approximately as predicted by G.R., and not at all what was predicted by Newton's law of gravity.

Title: Re: Stargazing?
Post by Miles on Jan 15^th, 2007, 1:46am

I was thinking of planets (which ones?) for D.

I did think of a total eclipse, which is what E was referring to.

For F, I had no idea about the comet - good one. I actually had in mind the following:

The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula was first observed in 1731 by John Bevis. It is the remnant of a supernova that was recorded, as a star visible in daylight, by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054. (copied from Wikipedia)