Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Wondering about the gegenschein and other sights.

How many of you know what the gegenschein is?  How many of you have heard about the gegenschein?  I have to admit that I have never heard of it and if I did I would have thought it to be just some unknown German beer (grin).


It didn't take too long for humans to figure out that the lunar eclipse was caused by the earth blocking the sun's light from hitting the moon.  In other words, the moon entered the earth's shadow.  Well the earth also leaves its shadow on other things, like interplanetary dust.  On a clear evening, wait about fifteen minutes after the sun sets and go outside and look opposite from where the sun had set.  If you have a clear view of the horizon, you should see a deep-blue, curved band of darkness that should climb higher at the same rate as the now invisible sun sinks lower.  That is the earth's shadow.

Now, back to the gegenschein.  I have never seen it, or if I did, I didn't realize what I was seeing.  It is only viable in the middle of the night when the sun is half way from sun-up to sun-down.  Neither will you see it if there is a moon, or if it lies too near the bright Milky Way.  It is the very dim brightening of the sky caused by dust particles reflecting the sun's light back at us.  Now, I am going to have to look for it.  That is, if I can stay awake that long.

Below, are a couple of pictures that I found on the Internet showing the gegenschein.  There is too much artificial light and never any really clear nights here where I live.  So, I will have to look for it on a trip, maybe to the west Texas desert sometime: 





Even though you now have all this useless information, just try to have a great day, you hear?

13 comments:

  1. Sounds like scientific speculation to me. Big Bang....theory. Ya see, a bunch of scientist was sit'n round get'n totally wasted on some good German beer. One of 'em, drool run'n out his lips says..."the universe blowed slap up". That is fact!!!....if'n ya can believe a drunk scientist with drool run'n down his chin.

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    1. If there were a big bang, there may also be a big crunch. Then we would get squeezed down to something smaller than a pin point.

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  2. I love the first picture, and i'll have the bottle of Bitburger. Or as they say in Germany, "Bitte, ein Bit".

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    1. Never had any German beer, but my son was stationed in Germany and drank a lot of it.

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    2. German beer tastes like beer - like American beer tasted 40 or 50 years ago. I sometimes drink a German non-alcoholic beer that has more beer taste than American light beers. When I was back east I really enjoyed Yuengling, still family owned and operated in PA.

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    3. When I lived in PA and drank beer, I drank Schmidts of Philadelphia. When I moved to Texas I switched to Lone Star. Then about 12 years ago I quite drinking all together.

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  3. I have never heard of it either. Hope to take in the stars until the wee hours of the morning in the desert southwest soon.

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    1. The stars are beautiful out there. Can hardly see any from Houston and it ain't all that better up here in Cut & Shoot. It is always fun to look at the night sky but it is a lot better if you know about some of the stuff up there.

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  4. I haven't heard of it either ... sure are beautiful pictures... what an amazing universe we live in or with or wherever we are innit.

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    1. It is amazing, isn't it? It is beautiful out there tonight before the moon came up. So very clear.

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  5. I figured that if YOU like drinking gegenschein, I'd get some for Joe. Glad I kept on reading.

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