What did you see in the sky tonight?

[neufer]

I also caught Comet ISON rising. See it in the above image? It's right at the tip of the Ponderosa branch in the lower left hand corner. The bright star there is Spica, and it forms the top of a little equilateral triangle. Down and to the right is a 5.3 magnitude star, and almost blocked by tip of the branch is ISON.

---

The description of Treebeard in The Two Towers:

<<One felt as if there was an enormous well behind them, filled up with ages of memory and long, slow, steady thinking; but their surface was sparkling with the present: like sun shimmering on the outer leaves of a vast tree, or on the ripples of a very deep lake. I don't know but it felt as if something that grew in the ground — asleep, you might say, or just feeling itself as something between root-tip and leaf-tip, between deep earth and sky had suddenly waked up, and was considering you with the same slow care that it had given to its own inside affairs for endless years.>>

[Beyond]

I can't make out the comet and/or tail. But what a view you've got, way up yonder

[Chris Peterson]

I can't make out the comet and/or tail. But what a view you've got, way up yonder :!:

The tail is subtle, and will probably disappear without a properly calibrated display. But the comet itself is impossible to miss.

[Beyond]

Ah, now that you've pointed out the tail, it's somewhat obvious. When you said ISON was almost hidden by the branch, i had two more candidates to chose from. Come to find out that the two other choices are just little specks on my monitor screen that just happened to line up with the branch also. I'd clean the screen, but it's one of those liquid display screens, so i just dust it off once in a while.

[neufer]

Ah, now that you've pointed out the tail, it's somewhat obvious. When you said ISON was almost hidden by the branch, i had two more candidates to chose from. Come to find out that the two other choices are just little specks on my monitor screen that just happened to line up with the branch also. I'd clean the screen, but it's one of those liquid display screens, so i just dust it off once in a while.

The Antiques Road Show

GUEST: No, I never... I never cleaned it. I always had intentions of cleaning it, but I never got around to it.

APPRAISER: So, I wanted to tell you that it's a good thing you didn't clean it, because that would have really destroyed value.

[Beyond]

Yeah, it would have been alright IF i had an antique monitor

[neufer]

Yeah, it would have been alright IF i had an antique monitor

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 90#p214290

[geckzilla]

I find it useful to wipe down an LCD screen with a damp cloth. Nothing that will drip down, of course. Using an ammonia-based cleaner actually makes it worse because it leaves residue but plain water is great.

[Chris Peterson]

I find it useful to wipe down an LCD screen with a damp cloth. Nothing that will drip down, of course. Using an ammonia-based cleaner actually makes it worse because it leaves residue but plain water is great.

I've had good luck with alcohol-based cleaners designed for screens and eyeglasses, combined with a microfiber cloth.

Original Windex works great on screens that don't have AR coatings. Windex is also my cleaner of choice for quite a few optical surfaces in the lab. You have to be careful with ammonia and AR coatings, as some types are damaged by alkaline cleaners (but others are just fine).

[geckzilla]

I don't think I have anything fancy enough to interact with cleaners but the random, off-brand blue liquid I found in the cabinet might have something else in it. Or maybe the blue coloring gets left behind?

[Beyond]

Yeah, it would have been alright IF i had an antique monitor

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 90#p214290

That monitor may have been delightful, but just a bit to far into antiquity to be compatible with the rest of my computer.

[Nitpicker]

I very rarely get up before dawn, but I did today, Nov 27. At 0345 I drove to a nearby park offering a reasonable eastern horizon, with the mild hope of detecting Comet ISON with my (wife's) DSLR. Alas, it was not to be. I could potentially blame it on fizzle, clouds, an imperfect horizon, proximity to the Sun, or my own lack of talent. But comet, schmomet ... it was still a beautiful morning, with lovely views of the waning crescent Moon, Crux and The Pointers, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn (just). After all that, I ended up hanging around for the sunrise and captured the following pretty scenes:

4:52 AM

5:02 AM

[Nitpicker]

Two days later, it dawns on me that Gallipoli Barracks is beyond the ridge in my two sunrise photos, above. The Australian Army's official insignia is the Rising Sun badge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_(badge)

Click to view full size image

[stephen63]

Two days later, it dawns on me that Gallipoli Barracks is beyond the ridge in my two sunrise photos, above. The Australian Army's official insignia is the Rising Sun badge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_(badge)

Click to view full size image

"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"

[Nitpicker]

"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"

One of the best and most moving songs I know. I was just playing the cover by The Pogues in the car, on a short road trip with the kids. I've been trying to wean them off The Wiggles.

Edit: Official lyrics from the song writer:
http://www.ericbogle.net/lyrics/lyricsp ... tzingm.pdf

[Nitpicker]

I popped out to the back yard last evening to get some wide angle constellation shots. I got a nice one of Capricornus and Aquarius with Venus and Neptune, and another of Cetus with Uranus. But I really had to bend over backwards to see Taurus, Orion and Lepus properly:

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

...

[/hide]
Looking ENE on 03-Dec-2013 at 20:36+10

(I shouldn't find this so amusing, but I do.)

Edit: thanks for the help with imghover tags, geckzilla.

[Nitpicker]

Hi geckzilla,

After your editing, am I supposed to see a hover image? Because I now just see an "x" image marker, with a caption to view full size image 1 or 2. I don't geddit.

[Beyond]

I just looked at it before you posted and the image over worked for me. I just tried it again and it still works. I can see all those blue lines good.

[Nitpicker]

I feel compelled to blame MS Windows IE 10. It is not the only hover image on this forum that does not appear for me.

[geckzilla]

Hi geckzilla,

After your editing, am I supposed to see a hover image? Because I now just see an "x" image marker, with a caption to view full size image 1 or 2. I don't geddit.

Can you try pressing F5 and ctrl F5 a couple of times to see if it shows up? You may still have an old CSS file cached. I tried in IE 11 and it worked there. There shouldn't be any differences between IE 10 and 11. It does very stubbornly like to keep CSS cached, though.

[Beyond]

IE 11 Where the heck did you get IE 11 I've got IE 10, but have never heard of IE 11.

[geckzilla]

Automatic Windows update? You can manually download it, if you'd like.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/inte ... -languages

[Nitpicker]

Resolved. I had my IE 10 running in compatibility mode (for reasons that I cannot remember, but which will probably become jarringly apparent on some other websites). When I switch that mode off, I see the hover image. Thanks.

(Beyond, I'd avoid automatic windows update.)

[Beyond]

Resolved. I had my IE 10 running in compatibility mode (for reasons that I cannot remember, but which will probably become jarringly apparent on some other websites). When I switch that mode off, I see the hover image. Thanks.

(Beyond, I'd avoid automatic windows update.)

Oh yeah, i do have IE 11. As for the auto-updater, I'd rather have it that way. When you do them manually, they tend to screw up, like the one i just found waiting for me. In manual mode, sometimes the damn things stop before they finish installing. A real pain in the 7th planet Auto doesn't do that.

[Nitpicker]

(Beyond, I'd avoid automatic windows update.)

Oh yeah, i do have IE 11. As for the auto-updater, I'd rather have it that way. When you do them manually, they tend to screw up, like the one i just found waiting for me. In manual mode, sometimes the damn things stop before they finish installing. A real pain in the 7th planet Auto doesn't do that.

Automatic Windows Update is not unknown to stop machines from booting.