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

He was a man of many talents

I was up early enough this morning to see the gorgeous sliver , but there were so many clouds all around it that I never saw anything else. Apparently the Geminid meteor shower is already proving fruitful but it was too cold last night for me to venture out, as it will be again tonight

I saw the moon and Venus this morning, and it was beautiful. Should I have been able to see Mercury and Saturn too, or would I have needed a telescope?

He also played the xylophone brilliantly which was always a surprise.

Websailor

He also played the xylophone on Firestarter by The Prodigy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH9L6VonhQc

Thank you Icy

Websailor

Patrick Moore met (in person) Orville Wright, Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong. He believed he was the only person to have done so.

Did he meet Keith Harris too?

(Oh, and thanks for the bird's surname - I never knew that)

<> you don't need a telescope to see Saturn but it looks beautiful in one. Mercury, ooh, I've seen that through my binoculars, don't think I've ever seen it naked eye. Peta has seen Mercury transiting the Sun! (through a special filter of course)

This is worth a look

http://astrog80.astro.cf.ac.uk/mwm/

I should really make the effort to actually see Andromeda - another galaxy as it was 2 million years ago

Andromeda is easy, just find the Pegasus square, top left star and and go across and down a bit... smudgy thing . Generally need binoculars mind unless you have the luxury of very clear and dark skies.

Mercury is quite difficult. It's very close to the sun all the time and so only really visible soon before sunrise or soon after sunset. I never managed to see it in my days of active stargazing - seen the rings of Saturn through my dad's 6" reflector telescope. Stunning.
I did try and find Uranus and Neptune with our binoculars too but I can't really be sure I saw it as they are just too dim and starlike. So unless you see them actually move relative to the stars and/or know the stars *really* well (and I mean many of the ones not visible to the naked eye too) then they're very tricky.


If you could see Mercury, Saturn, Venus and the moon all at the same time then there would be special news stories going down about it. Very rare - if possible

I stepped outside at 6am to gawp at glorious Jupiter setting in the west and got flashed by a Geminid just as I glanced up

Now (7.30am and still pre-dawn) I've seen Saturn, Venus and Mercury in the east, the sky is just turning reddish-orange so I've put my binoculars away. Venus is very distinctive of course but I needed my binos to see Saturn and Mercury, which are either side ov Venus, Saturn above and Mercury below, approx 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock with Venus at the centre.

I've only seen Mercury twice, both times when walking on my way to work, and without binoculars.

I was driving late last night, and I got to see 3 geminids--the 3rd as I was going around the car to head towards the house. Not bad for not being able to actually watch the sky.