h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few things you won't want to miss this month...

JUPITER - Really bright and in the sky for the whole month. It's the bright, non-blinky "star" that rises just after sunset and stays in the sky all night. It's in the southern sky for Northern Hemisphere viewers and in the northern sky for those south of Mr. Equator. It will line in the "ecliptic plane", which is the imaginary line where all the planets, the sun and sometimes the moon traverse the night sky.
Check out Jupiter with binoculars for a view of the four largest moons and depending on the size of the binocs, the great red sopt and even some planetary bands.

SATURN - Somewhat less bright and kind of yellowish, but it's still in the sky the whole month and is giving you a good look at its rings with a good pair of binocs or a small telescope (yes, even a department store scope can do the trick here!).

METEORS - The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks around my birthday (Nov. 17) and last year's shower provided some great fireballs. Don't miss it. There's nothing like seeing a large hunk of rock burn up in the upper atmosphere. Especially if it crackles and pops and leaves a nice smokey trail behind it!! Go out the night before and the night after Nov. 17 to be sure you don't miss anything! After midnight is always best, but anytime will do for a few small ones.

I do see the planets, Beteigeuze is just coming up and on my way home I'll catch the small planet Herculina next to phi Orioni
And I think I can remember your birthday now

Which planet is Herculina?
I don't think that translated quite right!
BTW: Have you been to my homepage lately? http://www.h2g2.com/U53353
I've added a Babel fish link which does a pretty fair job of translating speech! Give it a try!!

Babelfish couldn't translate it - and Herculina is one of the small planets in our asteroid belt - the one next to Hebe in size, I believe - but pretty bright right now

I wouldn't know whether it has other names in english - but I don't think so

I gotcha! It's an asteroid or small planetoid.
I thought for a second that in German the planets had other names - like when the Romans tried to make the god Thor Hercules when they were invading and conquering.
My mistake! I wasn't as familiar with asteroid names as I should have been!

I'm here!

*wraps warm blanket round self*

pass the tea.......

I forgot to ask jimi - would you like to add "astronomer" to your position on the team? You seem to know the lingo, at least.......

If you add astronomer, somebody will ask for their horrorscope and then I'd spill my beer tray and get me all upset and aggitated!

I'm here, too. Can be very interesting watching the stars in a cold November night
only warmed by nice mug of tea . And, Jimi, of course we'll all be with you
on November 17. *ggg*

It's the same with me, kats, maybe we should join him having a tea-party ?

John the Gardener will be growing a year older the same night! What are the odds?
Don't forget to invite him to the observatory for a jolly birthday observance!

sounds like a nice party coming up!!
So I'll have to bake some more
*drags drink-refills and cookies over*

I'll opt for a lift from the kitchen to the Observatory
- and Jimi, I don't know all the planetoids either, but this one was so bright I had to dig deep into some star maps to find what it was

Good stuff! I'll have to check it out from home on the next clear night!!
We've been socked in with clouds for almost a week.

oh dear, I hope those stupid clouds move till the 17th!!! (and I hope they don't move over here ).

wish you luck ..
\**

If it doesn't clear up, I'll start cursing and the heat of my profanity will surely dry those clouds up!

Hey, can I join in the birthday bash? I'm a November baby too!

Alas, my birthday was in September, but I look forward to helping JimiX celebrate.

Consider:

Pin-up calendars on Pluto will feature more than 3000 pretty girls/guys/unimaginable things.



JTG

*drags foodstuffs, drinks and decorations in for the party*
weeeell..... nobody here yet... *hangs up girlandes and throws confetti around*
&nbsp,&nbsp*~.~*
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as it is rather lonely in here and the sky's completely covered in clouds *d~~n* (first snow today *sigh*) - I'll go back to the kitchen and keep watch over the cake...

*sings happy birthday off voice in not-present beard while waiting for the lift*


;-~~~}

Look behind you!!
I know it's dark up here, but I can't have white lights spoiling my night vision!

Clear skies at home yesterday and had a few good fireballs, including a brilliant white one that my daughter clapped for. They're so cute at that age!

Tonight should be clear as well, though with wind chill, temperatures will fall below Zero degrees F. Will advise on the results of tonight's viewing. Didn't do a count last night as I was having too much fun with the kids...

Any chance of a nice mug of coffee? Perhaps with a wee spot of the hard stuff??

c(_)

sure, coffee's coming up... do you prefer rum, wodka (without ), kahlua or cointreau? I'm living on "pocket coffees" at the moment, espresso-filled pralines

I never knew you had kids - what number, age, sex, names? I plan to visit a friend/colleague tonight, and try to spot a few fireballs with her daughter ( age 6), but the weather looks pretty bad here ...

but have fun tonight! and tell me aaaaall about it!
k*

ps: I'm editing your fun run article right now... okay, it's more like reading and applauding