A well known polymath whose published works range far and wide, including (but not limited to) Archaeology, Paleontology, Astronomy, Space Propulsion systems, and Science Fiction.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." -- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Same here. Then again, it's always cloudy down here. Unless the sun wants burn your skin off. If that's the case, the clouds will gladly part to allow that.
Out til 1 a.m. Onboard a boat in Northern Arkansas. Clear skies. Meteor showers were sparse. The ones we saw were luminous-white and slow-moving. They were mostly confined between the Big Dipper and Casseiopia.
I got sort of stranded in Manhattan. The skies opened up - but of course, bright lights. Bright lights. And then the children forgot that part about never, never feeding me after midnight. - - Charlie P.
Houston (except for the last year or so) has a large blue sky. Then at night when all the lights come on the residual effect (light pollution) create a fairly sparse sky. It may be clear but few stars overcome the manmade illumination. I have a boat in infinite dry dock at Holden Beach, NC. The sky there is also of reasonable size, but at night there is enough light from Myrtle Beach and Wrightsville Beach that the stars are somewhat over powered.
There are areas in rural Texas, far from cities or towns of size, where the stars shine so brightly it looks like white crystals and powder overwhelming a black surface; the shear intensity is overwhelming. With such limited skys where most people live it is no wonder that the majority of people cannot grasp how crowded our portion of the universe really is or how vast. This most natural aspect of science is denied to a majorty of the population. This may induce a reluctance to fund space exploration; the 'deciders' have no real grasp of the horizon they only see the earth as flat.
Observation is an important part of science; all that is required are your eyes and mind - an occasional notation allows the sharing of information and a uniform improvement in knowledge.
Did she really? I loved that story in the fifth grade. I still do. I wonder where they are now. Last I remember from the story was that the crafts were studying solar wind out there. I forgot when we'd loose contact with them too. But I don't think we have just yet.
I had mixed feeling on their deciding not to attempt the new spray foam repair. On the one hand, given the fact that if it had dislodged on supersonic re-entry, it could have caused further damage ... possibly catastrophic. On the other hand, although simulations indicated they could re-enter without needing the repair, they missed a golden opportunity to test it anyway.