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Comment: Country Living (Score 1) 222

by RapidEye (#38747926) Attached to: Town Turns Off the Lights To See the Stars

I live out in the country in central NC, USA and do quite a bit of star gazing out in my pasture.
Occasionally I will invite coworkers that show an interest in astronomy out to my place to use my telescopes.
I always get a chuckle when they step out into the treeless pasture and see the Milky Way stretching out from horizon to horizon for the first time.
Lots of "Oh Wow" and "I Never Knew".
Most folks that live in the city don't know what they are missing and/or have just forgotten how really magnificent the night sky really is.
Quite the shame....

Comment: I Doubt It'll Make The Translation (Score 1) 357

by RapidEye (#38062534) Attached to: <em>Doctor Who</em> To Become Hollywood Feature Film

What has always made Dr Who so endearing to many of its long time fans (myself included) is its cheap effects and campiness.
I just can't see Hollywood leaving that alone - they'll make the effects "better" and the storylines more "compelling"....

Sort of like what they tried to do with that abortion of a movie called "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." It paled when compared to the comfortable cheeziness of the BBC TV production.

No, Hollywood can't leave a good thing alone.

BTW - Long Live Tom Baker and Rest in Peace Elisabeth Sladen

Comment: Re:Summary confusion. (Score 2) 117

by RapidEye (#38028890) Attached to: Russians Can't Make Contact With Busted Space Probe

The first stage only took it to a low Earth parking orbit, where it is now.
The next stage was supposed to lift it to a higher Earth orbit, and the third stage would send it on its way to Mars.
The problem happened after the first stage burnout and prior to the second stage ignition.
Everything in low Earth orbit (like the ISS) encounters the uppermost parts of our atmosphere which induces drag and degrades the orbit.
We get around that on the ISS by having resupply ships give it a periodic boost up to a higher orbit.

Comment: Tough Break (Score 1) 117

by RapidEye (#38028738) Attached to: Russians Can't Make Contact With Busted Space Probe

This mission was supposed to launch during the previous Earth-Mars window, 26 months ago, and they missed it due to technical issues. So they even had an extra 2 years to make sure this would work and they still couldn't pull it off. Gotta be a lot of Vodka being consumed in Baikonur right now...

BTW - when I read the headline, I thought someone had arrested the craft....
CmdrTaco - we still need you!!!

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