Posted on 07/31/2018 2:41:41 PM PDT by ETL
When I used to go out with my tripod-mounted 16x70 binocs, I would, when it was possible, view Venus in the daytime. It's actually naked eye visible in the daytime at times, if you know precisely where to look, and of course have good enough vision. In fact, Venus' crescent phases can only be seen during the daytime. Otherwise, the planet is ordinarily too glaringly bright.
I can't recall if I've ever tried it, but it well may be possible to see Venus as a crescent at night under hazy sky conditions, where the clouds act as a filter of sorts.
Quick story: One day I had the binocs set up in New York's Central Park, providing the public free views of Venus as a crescent, and a guy walks up to me with a bewildered look on his face wondering what the heck I was looking in the bright blue clear 'empty' sky. I answered, the planet Venus, and invited him to take a look. He was amazed at the sight. Although I never let on that I knew who the guy was, he was comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Anyway, he hung around for about an hour talking as I showed other passerbys the view.
About a week or so later I read that he had been going around the city that week looking for material for some upcoming routine or project that he was working on. He basically was out looking for 'oddball' characters for ideas and inspiration. I don't know if he ever used anything from that day in any of his routines.
"Did I ever tell you the story of how I came
up with the recipe for the Mars Candy Bar?"
Dang! Always wondered about that...He must be older than he looks...
Thanks ETL. There's also been some controversy over who really discovered Mars' moons, as a couple of hypothetical moons appear in a novel antedating their official discovery. Turns out that the size and orbital characteristics don't match. Still odd though.
I had to search on it. The only things I found were a joke about “If aliens are looking at us from a telescope, I bet they thing the DOGS are the master - we pick up their poop, feed them,....”
And - in the Seinfeld writing room he had images from the Hubble up on the wall - to keep him humble, and that what he said or did - it really didn’t matter that much!
Ya never know - maybe you were the inspiration for either or both of those! (Don’t check the years, and just assume that you were!!)
I didn’t know that about seeing the phases of Venus. I know that the one and only time I looked through a telescope up at the local school when my kids were little, and saw the rings of Saturn with my very own eyes - WOW! Not very large mind you - but there they were!
Thank YOU for pinging the mob.
Here’s one I think you will find interesting, if you haven’t already seen or heard about it.
Yellowstone super-volcano has a different history than previously thought
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3675705/posts
As far as they knew at that distant time in the past, those "wanderers" could very well have been the same sort of objects as the stars, only they, for one reason or another, moved with respect to other things in the sky. But it was keen on their part to have noticed it. Then again, they didn't have cable and internet back then, and so didn't have much else to do with their nights but to look up in amazement at the starry sky.
Thanks for going through the trouble of looking. Don't know why I never thought of it.
Clarification to what I wrote earlier: Although Venus can, at times, be naked eye visible in the daytime, and, Venus' crescent phases are only, or most easily, seen during the daytime (when she is at the proper angular distance from the Sun), her crescent phases can only be seen with large binocs or a telescope.
Just did a quick search for “Jerry Seinfeld” + “Central Park” and found this...
February 7, 2012
The Time Jerry Seinfeld Screamed at a Naked, Masturbating Man in Central Park
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/02/jerry-seinfeld-central-park.html
No, it wasn’t me! My only encounter with him was in 2002, and I wasnt naked, or doing anything but looking at Venus through a pair of binocs! Lol!
I bet he made THAT incident into a bit!
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