Happy Atheist Forum

General => Science => Topic started by: leftyguitarjoe on July 07, 2008, 06:52:51 AM

Title: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: leftyguitarjoe on July 07, 2008, 06:52:51 AM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070508.html (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070508.html)


just look at that sky. Its amazing. :cool:
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Will on July 07, 2008, 07:04:22 AM
It's gorgeous at night, but during the day it's really, really hot. I hiked across Joshua Tree (which has a similar, but a bit cooler climate to Death Valley) last year and it nearly killed me.

Still, the picture is absolutely stunning.  :pop:
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Tom62 on July 07, 2008, 07:32:52 AM
A very lovely picture indeed. However, I could never live there because it is too friggin' hot there.
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Asmodean on July 07, 2008, 11:29:13 AM
Quote from: "Tom62"A very lovely picture indeed. However, I could never live there because it is too friggin' hot there.

I could live there. Hot is good. I'd rather deal with 40 degrees above zero than below.  :D
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: MariaEvri on July 07, 2008, 01:00:18 PM
i wish for skies like that everytime I take out my telescope and camera!
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: leftyguitarjoe on July 07, 2008, 05:47:22 PM
Quote from: "Tom62"A very lovely picture indeed. However, I could never live there because it is too friggin' hot there.

thats why jubus invented air conditioning :D  hahaha
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: tornado on July 07, 2008, 09:00:36 PM
California is amazing. Gorgeous picture.

Answer me this: If you move to Death Valley, where are you going to get water?
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Chimera on July 07, 2008, 09:05:30 PM
My grandparents used to drive down in their camper to Death Valley every year for two months. I'm jealous that they got that kind of view.
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Atheist Mother on July 11, 2008, 05:46:14 AM
I live right outside Yosemite, and while it is not quite that gorgeous (okay, it is no where near that gorgeous), it is pretty awesome every night.  Except lately because of the fires.
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: rlrose328 on July 11, 2008, 06:32:10 AM
Quote from: "Atheist Mother"I live right outside Yosemite, and while it is not quite that gorgeous (okay, it is no where near that gorgeous), it is pretty awesome every night.  Except lately because of the fires.

I have a friend who lives in Oakhurst and when we visited him last month (the day of the lightning storm that caused the fires, now that I think about it), the sky was AMAZING at night.  SO little pollution, environment or light, so I saw so many more stars there than where I live or where I was visiting (Central Valley).

I lived in Coarsegold for awhile 13 years ago and I used to LOVE sitting in my living room, in front of the HUGE bay window, just admiring the sky above the hill across 41 from where our house sat.

Now there's a casino there and the view is most likely gone.   :(
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Chimera on July 11, 2008, 07:08:22 AM
Ugh, fires...I'm feeling for all the Californians right now. We had several fires break out here today and none of them are contained that I know of. The biggest one is just a few miles from here. It's certainly Fire Season :P
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Atheist Mother on July 11, 2008, 04:34:00 PM
Quote from: "rlrose328"
Quote from: "Atheist Mother"I live right outside Yosemite, and while it is not quite that gorgeous (okay, it is no where near that gorgeous), it is pretty awesome every night.  Except lately because of the fires.

I have a friend who lives in Oakhurst and when we visited him last month (the day of the lightning storm that caused the fires, now that I think about it), the sky was AMAZING at night.  SO little pollution, environment or light, so I saw so many more stars there than where I live or where I was visiting (Central Valley).

I lived in Coarsegold for awhile 13 years ago and I used to LOVE sitting in my living room, in front of the HUGE bay window, just admiring the sky above the hill across 41 from where our house sat.

Now there's a casino there and the view is most likely gone.   :(

I live in neither Oakhurst or Coarsegold, down the highway, but I have lived in both.  That casino is disgusting, and they just built a 13 story hotel on the property.
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Jolly Sapper on July 11, 2008, 05:20:15 PM
Spent some time in the mountains of southern California (Ft. Irwin for a few months.)  

Pictures of deserts where there are mountains or other terrain features are always really impressive but there's something about being in a desert where there is nothing to break the horizon that kinda brings home the total smallness of an individual.  Its like seeing a pair of paintings and being caught in the middle, one of the sky with an astounding number of little twinkling lights above you and a deep dark nothingness of the ground under your feet.  Two, 2-D planes and you just floating there in between.

The effect was probably exaggerated because I don't remember sleeping much for the first week or two I was in the open desert of Iraq/Kuwait.
Title: Re: Wow. I wish I could live here!!
Post by: Promethium147 on July 14, 2008, 09:45:07 AM
Cool - but an effect largely of camera exposure, I fear.

What y'all need to do is hike up Mauna Loa sometime. When I was there as a military member, a beautiful alpine cabin for five was - $15 a night, smack dab in Volcano National Park.

This is one of the finest and most accessible observation points on earth - and the big island is very, very livable.

It's not just the altitude, it's the total lack of light pollution.

The effect of looking up at the sky there is one thing - but you also get to look down, into the fiery heart of Pele - she's one god(esse) I can really get in touch with!

 :eek: