ASTRONOMY - THE BIG FAT SCIENCE!

ASTRONOMY IS THE BIGGEST AND FATTEST SCIENCE THERE IS! NOTHING IS BIGGER AND FATTER THAN THE COSMOS!

As always, please click on the 

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Astronomy has always been my most favorite science topic. My mother had taught me how to read before I had even started going to school and by the time I was only in the third grade, I could already read at high school and adult level. I was in the second grade when I checked out my very first Astronomy book from the school library, and it immediately sparked my interested. I wanted to know more, so I began checking out more books on astronomy until I had read almost every Astronomy book at grade school level.

I was living in a small town up in northern Minnesota, and both the high school and elementary grades were in the same building. The school library consisted of two rooms where one room was for grade level books and the other room had high school level books.

So, after having read all the Astronomy books at grade school level, the teachers allowed me to check out books at the high school level, and during the summer vacation when school was out, I spent most of my time in the public library, reading Astronomy books, and science books in general that were at adult level. I was only 9 years old at the time.

I also became interested in books on Paleontology, books on dinosaurs, and evolution, and books on Geology. I was fascinated by Geology. I had a thing for mountains and deep canyons. I also enjoyed books on evolution and was particularly fascinated by dinosaurs.

So, I was interested in the really BIG THINGS!

Yeah! Big things, like Geology, the mountains, canyons, and the oceans of planet Earth, and of amphibians and reptiles, and really big things like dinosaurs, and even bigger things as in the science of Astronomy.

And so, I got more and more into Astronomy, a major obsession of mine. I was overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the universe. As a kid, the world seem like a pretty big place to me. I remember how we would go from Duluth Minnesota, which is on the tip of Lake Superior, to Milwaukee Wisconsin to see Grandma, and it was a journey of about 300 miles. So, traveling at an average speed of about 70 miles per hour, it should have taken about four and a half hours to get there. But then, having to stop for gas, and having to stop to eat at a restaurant, and for restroom breaks, the trip usually took about six hours.

Well, the earth is about 7,920 miles in diameter and about 24,868 (I'm using round numbers) miles in circumference. So, if there was a tunnel through the earth, and if  we could drive through the 7,920 mile tunnel at a steady speed of  70 miles per hour without stopping for gas, or lunch, or restroom breaks, it would take about 113 hours, or 4.7 days to drive through the tunnel. And if we were to drive around the earth's equator, a journey of 24,868 miles at 70 miles per hour, it would take a little bit more than 352 and a half hours, or almost 14.7 days, just over two weeks to complete the journey.

Of course, we can't drill a tunnel through the earth, and we can't drive a car around the earth's equator. I'm just using this example to demonstrate how big the earth is and to get a feeling for its size. This is only just an illustration of how long it would take to drive all those miles.

So, to me, when I was just a kid, the earth seemed like a pretty big ball.

I became more curious about the world, and before I got into Astronomy, I was into Geography. I had a globe of the earth, and I loved to collect maps. When our family went on trips, every time we stopped at a gas station, I just had to collect road maps. This was back in the 1960s when you could get lots of road maps free from any gas station, and so, during our family trips, the car would get cluttered with lots and lots and lots of road maps! Thanks to me!!!

Then, I wanted to know what was inside the earth, and what was at the bottoms of the oceans, so I started reading books on Geology, and books about the oceans. I learned that the highest mountain on the earth is Mount Everest,  who's summit is 29,035 feet above sea level or almost 5 and a half miles tall.  

 

Mount Everest is 29,035 feet or almost 5.5 miles tall

Yeah! That's one really great big fat mountain alright! Then I learned that the Grand Canyon is about 277 miles long, about 18 miles wide, and over 6,000 feet deep.

 

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and 

it's 18 miles wide and over 6000 feet deep

Yeah! That's one great big fat canyon alright! Then there is the Mariana Trench, deep in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the biggest and fattest ocean on our planet. The Mariana Trench is 1,580 miles long, about 43 miles wide, and 36,000 feet or 6.8 miles deep! So the Mariana Trench is about 5.7 times as long, about 2.38 times as wide, and 6 times as deep as The Grand Canyon! If Mount Everest were placed down in the Mariana Trench, it would take a dunking. It would be in really deep water way over it's head, about 7,000 feet over it's head!

 

The Mariana Trench deep in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is 

1,580 miles long, 43 miles  wide, and just over 36,000 feet deep

Yeah! That's one really great big fat canyon down in the bottom of the sea! So, we have some really great big fat things on our planet Earth.

Oh, but wait!!! 

Mars is just a skinny little planet, only 4,220 miles in diameter, just a little bit more than half the size of the earth. But it has some even bigger and fatter things than you will ever find on the earth! The tallest mountain on Mars is Olympus Mons, a really huge volcanic mountain that is about 14 miles tall, or about 73,920 feet above the surround flat lands. It is about 2.5 times as tall as Mount Everest. In fact, it's the highest mountain on any planet in the entire solar system! The base of the mountain, Olympus Mons, is big enough to cover the entire state of New Mexico! 

Now, if Olympus Mons were on the earth, instead of on Mars, the top of the mountain would be way up there at 73,920 feet above sea level where the atmosphere is so thin that you would almost need a space suit to just climb to the top of the mountain. There would be no breathable oxygen at that height.

A typical commercial passenger jet plane flies at about 350 miles per hour and at a maximum altitude of 32,000 feet. I suppose they could fly higher, but then, that would be up there in military air space, so, civilian passenger jets are confined to altitudes of no more than 32,000 feet. A commercial jet liner would never be able to fly over the top of Olympus Mons. It would have to fly several hundred miles out of the way to get around the base of the mountain. Olympus Mons is more than twice the height that commercial jet liners are able to fly. You would need a rocket plane instead of a jet plane. 

Olympus Mons, tallest mountain on Mars, or any planet! It's 14 miles 

or 73,920 feet tall. Notice how much of the planet's surface it covers.

Yeah! That's one great big fat volcanic mountain alright! Then there is the largest canyon on Mars, named Valles Marineris, often referred to as "The Grand Canyon of Mars"! It is about 2,500 miles long, about 125 miles wide, and 4 miles, or 21,120 feet deep! It is the largest canyon on any planet in the solar system!
   

 

Valles Marineris, referred to as "The Grand Canyon of Mars" is 2,500 

miles long, about 125 miles wide, and about 4 miles or 21,120 feet 

deep. Also notice the really huge scar across the face of planet Mars!

Yeah! That's one great big fat canyon alright! Actually, the highest mountain and the biggest canyon on Mars are not just great big fat things! No! Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris, compared to anything on earth, these Martian features are absolutely obese!!!

WOW! How can such a skinny little planet like Mars, have such great big fat things that are much bigger and much fatter than anything on Earth? Yeah! Mars has bigger and fatter mountains and bigger and fatter canyons than the mountains and canyons on Earth! I actually think that it's unfair that such a skinny little planet like Mars should have bigger and fatter surface features than anything here on the Earth! Damn! It's so unfair! But whoever said that nature was fair? Right? Right!!!

And now . . . . .

On to even bigger and fatter things out there in the cosmos!

OK, let's start with the small terrestrial planets of the inner solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and of course, little Pluto in the outer regions of our solar system.

 The five smallest planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Pluto

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and it's average orbital distance form the sun is about 36 million miles, and it is 3,030 miles in diameter, much smaller than the planet Earth. Venus orbits around the sun at a distance of 67 million miles and it's about 7,520 miles in diameter, slightly smaller than the earth. Our home planet Earth is about 93 million miles from the sun and is 7,920 miles in diameter. Mars is at 142 million miles from the sun and is 4,220 miles in diameter, a little bit more than half the size of the Earth. And finally, we have little Pluto, the smallest and skinniest planet way out there on the edge of the solar system. Pluto is about 3,647,000,000 miles, that is, about 3 billion plus 647 million miles away from the sun. BURRRRRRR! Like, it's really cold out there!!! And it's just a little guy, only 1,480 miles in diameter, the smallest and skinniest plant of them all.

Now, on to some some much bigger and fatter planets, like, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, the Jovian planets, the big gas giants.

The four largest planets, the Jovian planets, or 

gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Jupiter, Big J himself, he is the biggest and baddest dude in our neighborhood, the biggest and fattest planet in our solar system. He revolves around the sun at a distance of 483 million miles and he is 88,840 miles in diameter. So, he is big enough to swallow over a thousand earths! WOW! What a glutton! Also, he only take 9 hours and 55 minutes, a little less then 10 hours to rotate on his axes, so he's equatorial diameter is greater than his polar diameter. Another words, he's a little bit wider than he is tall. He is actually kind of pot-bellied due to his rapid rotation. So, as far as planets go, he's really obese! But because if his enormous gravity, he helps to deflect most comets and asteroids away from a possible collision course with the earth. If it wasn't for him, the earth would certainly have had a Hell of a lot more devastating collisions in the past, and life would be even more difficult here on the earth, So, he's really a gentle giant and offers us some protection. Yeah! It's really kind of  nice to have him around. Kudos to you, Big J!

The next planet is Saturn, about 1,429,000,000 miles, that's 1 billion plus 429 million miles from the sun, and he has a diameter of 74,890 miles, a little bit smaller than Jupiter, and he proudly displays his beautiful set of rings. Show off!!! But, why should we begrudge him? Eh?    

Saturn with his most magnificent rings!

I remember many years ago, back in 1979 as I was watching Saturday Night Live on TV.  They would always do a satire of the evening NEWS. One of the satirical NEWS commentators said, that radio astronomers had picked up on some kind of radio noise coming from the rings of Saturn, and recorded it as sound, and he said "Here it is! The the rings of Saturn!" and when the audio recording was played back, you could hear a kind of ringing noise, like, rrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnng! rrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnng! rrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnng! This of course was only a spoof. But then . . . guess what!!! About a year later, one of the Voyager space crafts, as it passed by Saturn, it did in fact, pick up radio noise from the rings of Saturn, and when it was played back, for real, it sounded almost like the radio noise parodied on Saturday Night Live! So, what had originally been a spoof, a satire, a parody of an evening NEWS broadcast, had turned out, about a year later, to be prophetic! WOW! What an amazing coincidence! Eh?

The next of the Jovian gas giants is Uranus. I prefer to pronounce it You-rain-us instead of  Urine-us which I think is kind of gross! I would much rather be rained on than pissed on! Anyway . . . Uranus is about 2,871,000,000 miles, that's 2 billion plus 871 million miles from the sun and it's 31,760 miles in diameter.

And finally, Neptune is 4,496,000,000 miles, that's 4 billion plus 496 million miles from the sun, and it's diameter is 30,770 miles, just slightly smaller than Uranus.

So, we have two set of twins in our solar system. Earth and Venus are twins in size with Earth being 7,920 miles in diameter, and Venus being  a little bit smaller at 7,520 miles in diameter. And the other set of twins, Uranus and Neptune with Uranus being 31,760 miles in diameter, and Neptune being slightly smaller at 30,770 miles in diameter. Yeah! Two set of twins, Earth and Venus in the inner solar system, and Uranus and Neptune, in the outer solar system. Two sets of twins! Two skinny little twins, Earth and Venus, and two bigger and fatter twins, Uranus and Neptune. Yeah! Uh huh! Two sets of twins. The sun and all the planets, well . . . we're just one great big happy family! I love it! I love it!

And now, on to the biggest and fattest member of our solar family, The Sun himself!

 The Sun and all the planets compared

The sun is 865,000 miles in diameter. That bad boy is really huge and enormously obese! He could easily swallow a million Earths! Yeah! A super glutton! In fact, he could have all the planets in our solar system for lunch! Hell, it would still be only a light snack for him! It would be like me drinking some beer from a thimble, or eating just one potato chip! Remember the Lay's Potato Chips commercials from back in the 1960s? "Bet ya can't eat just one!" Yeah! The Sun can swallow all the planets and it would be like eating just one Lay's Potato Chip! Just look at how small all the planets are compared to the great big fat Sun! 

OK, now on to even bigger and fatter things out there in the cosmos!

If you think the Sun is so big and fat, let's just take a little gander at some stars out there in the universe. The sun is a typical yellow Class G  type of star, about average size as far as stars go. And of course there are smaller dwarf stars, but there are many stars out there that are much larger, much bigger and fatter than the Sun.

 The Sun, Sirius, Pollux, and Arcturus, stars much bigger than the sun

Here we see the sun as compared to some really big fat stars out there in the big fat universe. In the above picture, Jupiter is only one pixel in size and the earth is invisible, much too small and skinny to be seen, and you can just barely make out Jupiter. Arcturus is almost big enough to swallow a million suns! To him, eating the sun is like me drinking a beer from a thimble or having just one Lay's Potato Chip!

Oh! But it gets even bigger and fatter out there!

   Some even bigger stars, Rigel, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, and Antares

In the picture above, Jupiter is now invisible, and the sun is only one pixel in size. Antares is the biggest and fattest star known to astronomers at the present time. There may be some bigger stars yet undiscovered, but there is a physical limit to how big stars can get before they become much too unstable. 

Also, the bigger a stare is, the shorter it's life expectancy. A star like the sun, a typical yellow Class G star will last on average about 8 to 10 billion years before it becomes unstable. The sun is already about 4.5 billion years old, so it's a middle aged star, not quite ready for the old folks home yet. The really super morbidly obese super giant stars can expect to live for less the a few million years before they are a finally a headin' fo the last round up!  Yeah! I gotta toss in a little bit of cowboy lingo because, I am, after all, a Texan.

But as you can see, Antares is so big and fat, that swallowing  the sun would be like an elephant, no, a whale swallowing an ant! Yeah! Where's the sun in all of this? Where the Hell is the earth in all of this? We are as nothing compared to what is out there in the universe.

And there are even bigger and fatter things out there, like galaxies. The Milky Way Galaxy is a typical spiral galaxy. Actually astronomers have uncovered some evidence that it's a barred spiral galaxy.

 A typical spiral galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is a typical spiral galaxy which is about 2.3 million light years away from us. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, or 11,160,000 miles per minute, or 669,600,000 miles per hour, or 16,070,400,000 miles per day, or 5,865,696,000,000 miles per year. So, a light year is about 5.86 trillion miles. Our own Milky way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years across, and our next door neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy is a little bit larger and it is 2.3 million light years from us. We live on the edge of one of the spiral arms and we are about 2/3 of the way from the center. So, if you think of the Milky Way Galaxy as a city, we live out in the suburbs. Our galaxy has over 100 billion stars in it.

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy is our next door 

neighbor at 2.3 million light years distant from us.

The photo above is another typical spiral galaxy. These are the most common, averaging about 80,000 to 120,000 light years across, each containing over 100 billion stars. Individual stars are born, shine for a few million to a few billion years or so, and then, eventually die, but galaxies can last for many billions of years.

 A typical barred spiral galaxy

The photo above is a typical barred spiral galaxy, and astronomers have reason to suspect the our Milky Way Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy, and barred spiral galaxies are as common-place as spiral galaxies in general.

And now, on to even bigger and fatter, super morbidly obese, giant elliptical galaxies!

 The Sombrero Galaxy, a typical giant elliptical galaxy

Giant elliptical galaxies can be up to 3 million light years across and instead of having only a few hundred billion stars, giant elliptical galaxies may have up to a few trillion stars! Elliptical galaxies don't have spiral arms, and have an almost featureless smooth appearance. These are galaxies that may have been formed by collisions with other galaxies coming together to form one great big fat galaxy. Giant elliptical galaxies are really old galaxies, having used up most of their interstellar gasses in star formation, and so, there is very little left to form new stars. So, these galaxies are the old timers, the  senior citizens of the cosmos, now too old and fat to reproduce new stars anymore. Yeah! they just can't get it up anymore! These are the biggest and the fattest galaxies in the universe. 

And now, for the biggest and fattest thing of all, the universe itself!

The universe is about 14 billion years old. That is, the most distant quasars we can observe are at least 12 billion light years distant. And the universe is rapidly expanding, and the astronomers have discovered that the rate of expansion is also increasing, so, even as we speak, the universe itself is growing bigger and fatter at an ever increasing rate! Of course, the galaxies, or rather, the clusters of galaxies are getting further and further apart as the space between them continues to expand.

When astronomers say the universe is expanding, it does not mean that the planets, stars, and galaxies are getting bigger, but that space itself is expanding and galaxy clusters are getting further apart. 

And so . . . space itself is growing bigger and fatter.

Oh yes indeed! It's a really great big fat universe out there!

 ~~~ THE END ~~~

*******

OFF TOPIC - Observing The Transit Of Venus Across The Face Of The Sun, June 5,2012 CE

HERE I HAVE POSTED SOME PHOTOS OF ME WITH MY GALILEO TELESCOPE ON THE PATIO AT A STARBUCKS OBSERVING THE TRANSIT OF VENUS ACROSS THE FACE OF THE SUN ON JUNE 5,2012 CE

OK, this article is way off topic, a departure from the usual theme of this blog. Well . . . in a way . . . it's not a departure, because, I enjoy talking about what is really BIG, and Astronomy is another favorite topic of mine, so, you can't get any bigger than the cosmos! Right?

Yeah! It's a great big fat universe out there, immensely ancient and IMMENSELY HUGE, beyond our wildest imaginations! The sun is big and fat, about 865,000 miles in diameter, and that big boy can swallow a million earths! And there are even bigger and fatter stars out there that could swallow a billion suns, and galaxies are really great big fat things out there. Our own Milky Way is a typical spiral galaxy, about 100,000 light years across. Actually, astronomers have recently discovered that our galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy.

Then, there are giant elliptical galaxies out there much bigger than spiral galaxies, made up mostly of red giant stars, and these big fat galaxies have used up most of their interstellar gasses in star formation, so these giant galaxies, now old and fat, won't be producing very many new stars anymore.

Yeah! It's a big fat universe out there!

Anyway . . . . .

Now, getting back closer to home . . . 

Getting back to our tiny little home planet, a pathetically skinny little planet, only 7,920 miles in diameter. Venus is our twin sister in the solar system, only slightly smaller than the earth, but she is our twin in size only. Other than that, she's a screaming hot tempered bitch with an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which raises her surface temperature up to over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, with sulfuric acid storms. WOW! Talk about some acid rain! Eh? Also, the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is about 90 times as great as the atmospheric pressure at sea level here on the earth. So, in addition to being a screaming hot tempered bitch, she will literally hug you to death, and fry you, both at the same time! Yeah! She's not a very nice lady at all.

Ah! But sometimes, she is fun to watch, on those special rare occasions when she passes in front of the face of the sun, an astronomical event called, a transit, when the planet Venus appears as a small round black dot.

Here is a recent photo of the transit of Venus which had occurred back in Tuesday of June 5, 2012 CE.

 

In the above photo, you can see the planet Venus as a small black dot in front of the sun. A transit, is sort of like a solar eclipse, but unlike the moon, because Venus is millions of miles away,  it appears much too small to cover the face of the sun as the moon does.

Anyway . . . . .

About a couple of weeks before the transit was to occur, I was at a Starbucks having my usual tall Dark Roast Coffee, and I told the lady manager there about the upcoming transit of Venus. I asked her for permission, if it would be OK for me to set up my telescope out on the patio so that customers coming in, or going out may be able to observe the transit or Venus.

Well, first, she asked me if I would be charging admission, and I said "No, that would be unethical." after all, it doesn't cost anything to look up at the sky, so why should it cost anything to look at something in the sky through a tube? Right?

Then, she said, in that case, it would be OK.

I also explained to her, how my telescope would be set up, that since I don't have a proper sun filter, people won't actually be looking through my telescope, but, instead, I will project the sun's image onto a white screen so that people can look at the projected image as they walk by, instead of getting in line to look through the scope.

The next picture below is a drawing of how my telescope was set up to project the sun's image.

Click on image above for an easier to read view.

Notice, that a sun shade is mounted onto the focusing tube of the telescope to cast a shadow. Then, instead of using an eyepiece, I had ordered a 2x Barlow lens that is inserted into the focusing tube instead of an eyepiece, which effectively extends the focal length of the telescope, so that the sun's image can be projected onto a white screen. Then, you adjust the focus until you see a nice sharp image of the sun, and you can even see the sunspots. Then, the further you hold the white screen from the Barlow lens, the larger, and less bright, the image appears, and you can get a nice image of the sun about 4 to 6 inches across.

This is the safest way to observe the sun with a telescope if you don't have a sun filter.

WARNING!

NEVER! ABSOLUTELY NEVER, LOOK AT THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE WITHOUT A PROPER SUN FILTER!

Anyway . . . . .

The transit of Venus was to start at about 4:05 PM, my local time here in El Paso, Texas.

On the evening of June 4th, the day before the transit was to occur,  I needed to know how many degrees difference there was between truth north, and magnetic north here in El Paso, Texas. I had done a Google search, but the latest information I could find was for the year 2008, and I needed the latest information, because the earth's magnetic poles shift around from one year to the next. So, I called the airport, and according to them, in the year 2012, magnetic north is 8.31 degrees east of true north, here in El Paso, Texas.

I needed to know that, because, my telescope has the German style equatorial mounting with the polar axes for hours, minutes, and seconds right ascension to track the sun with a single sweeping motion of my telescope, and it has the north/south declination axes for degrees, minutes, and seconds north and south of the celestial equator.

So, using a magnetic directional compass and a protractor, I was able to adjust the polar axes of my telescope, so that the polar axes would be pointing toward Polaris, the North Star, had it been visible. But of course, being daylight, it would not be visible, and I would probably not be exact, but close enough so that I could track the sun with a single sweeping motion of the polar axes for right ascension, and only having to make small adjustments up and down on the north/south declination axis. Also, here in El Paso, Texas, the polar axis has to be set for approximately 31.75 degrees north latitude.

Anyway . . . . . on the afternoon of June 5th, I had arrived at Starbucks at 3:30 PM, about a half hour before the transit was to begin. I left my telescope on the patio, and the first thing I did was to come into the Starbucks to order a nice tall cold Chocolate Coffee Frappuccino for about $5 dollars, then I went out to set up my telescope.

It was about 4:07 PM when I could see Venus starting to take a small bite out of the edge of the sun, and I sat there, out in the hot sun until 7:45 PM. It was about 98 degrees that day, so I was really sweating in the heat, but it was worth it.     

While I was sitting in my JAZZY Power Chair, beside my Galileo telescope, one of the Starbucks customers took some photos of me and my telescope with an iPod, and asked me for my E-mail address so that she could send me the photos as an attachment.

Sometimes the employes would come out and ask me if I needed anything, and mostly I just asked for cups of cold ice water. One of the customers bought me a nice cold red passion fruit ice tea.

When it was about 7:45 PM, I had to get ready to leave because I had to get home on the bus, so I went into the Starbucks one last time, to order my usual tall Dark Roast Coffee, and as I was getting out my debit card to pay for the coffee, the lady told me to put my silly card away, because it was on the house! And she thanked me for sharing my observations of the Venus transit with everyone there.

I finally came home sometime after 8:30 PM, and I was hot, and tired, but I was very happy.

Then I booted up my computer, and checked my E-mail, and sure enough, I got the photos of me and my telescope as attachments.

Of course, the photos were more than 3000 pixels wide, so I had to use my Photo Base 3 software to make reduced sized copies 800 pixels wide to post them anywhere on the Internet.

Anyway . . . . .

Here are my copies of said photos.

Here I am adjusting the focus on my Galileo telescope and projecting the sun's image onto a white screen. Notice the black foam-board circle mounted onto the focusing tube to cast a shadow onto the white screen.

In this photo, you can just barely see the small dot of Venus on the face of the sun. I'm not using an eyepiece. Instead I'm using a 2x Barlow lens in the focusing tube where an eyepiece is normally attached.

Once I get the image in sharp focus, I then move the white screen further away from the 2x Barlow lens so that the image will appear larger, but less bright. 

While I could see the sun spots and the dark circle of Venus, it can't be seen in these reduced photos.

Here, I cropped out a small section from the larger photos originally 3000 pixels wide.

Notice, that in the close up, the planet Venus can be more easily seen as it moves across the face of the sun.

These photos were taken with an iPod and when they asked for my E-mail address, they immediately sent the attachments which would be ready for me to view when I got home and logged into my computer.

I had to do some work on my telescope to get it properly set up.

When I got my 2x Barlow lens from High Point Scientific, it was too big to fit into the focusing tube, so I had to make an adapter to connect the 2x Barlow lens to the focusing tube. I went to a Home Depot, bought a 2 foot length of white PVC water pipe, which was longer than I actually needed, but it was the shortest length I could buy. Then I cut three inches off of it.

Of course, the inside diameter was a little bit too large, so I had to use some duct tape around the end of the focusing tube and around the end of the 2x Barlow lens tube for a snug fit which would be inserted into the other end of the three inch section of PVC pipe. Then before I assembled it, I spray painted the short three inch piece white PVC pipe with glossy black spray paint, then I let it dry over night, before putting it together. Spay painting it made it look much nicer, like it belongs there. I also put a small hole in the side of the PVC adapter close to the end that went over the focusing tube so that the set screw would hold it in place and keep it from slipping off.

Here is a close up of the focusing mount on my Galileo telescope.

My Galileo telescope is an old used telescope that was given to me by a friend who is also my therapist. We have been friends since November of 1997. It's a pretty good telescope with a 60 mm objective lens having a 900 mm focal length. Of course, I have to order some eyepieces for it, and the small finder scope that attaches to the side.

So, I still need to do some more work on it.

Anyway . . .

I had a really great day on June 5,2012, and there won't be another day like this until until December 11,2117 about 105 years from now.

So . . . . . talk about striking while the iron is still hot! Eh?

Past and future dates for Venus transits

AD 1631 Dec 07
AD 1639 Dec 04
AD 1761 Jun 06
AD 1769 Jun 03
AD 1874 Dec 09
AD 1882 Dec 06
AD 2004 Jun 08
----------------------------------------
AD 2012 Jun 06
AD 2117 Dec 11
AD 2125 Dec 08
AD 2247 Jun 11
AD 2255 Jun 09
AD 2360 Dec 13
AD 2368 Dec 10
AD 2490 Jun 12
AD 2498 Jun 10
AD 2603 Dec 16
AD 2611 Dec 13
AD 2733 Jun 15
AD 2741 Jun 13
AD 2846 Dec 17
AD 2854 Dec 14
AD 2976 Jun 16
AD 2984 Jun 14
AD 3089 Dec 18
AD 3219 Jun 20
AD 3227 Jun 17
AD 3332 Dec 20
AD 3462 Jun 22
AD 3470 Jun 19
AD 3575 Dec 23
AD 3705 Jun 24
AD 3713 Jun 21
AD 3818 Dec 25
AD 3956 Jun 24


I shall have some really fond memories of this day for the rest of my life.

 I really appreciate the really BIG things in life.

Yeah! It's a great big fat universe out there!

***** THE END *****

          

BIG FAT ANIMATIONS I CREATED WITH MY NEW GIF ANIMATOR!

HERE ARE SOME OF MY LATEST NEW ANIMATIONS THAT I HAVE RECENTLY CREATED WITH MY NEWLY REGISTERED GIF ANIMATOR!

OK, it has been over a year since the last time I had posted any new articles in my blog. I had to get another computer because the one I had quit on me, and when I bought two new hard drives drives, I had to go from Windows XP Professional to Windows 7 Professional which actually sucks! I would like to go back to Windows XP again.

Also, the GIF animator I had, the free version, would not run on Windows 7 so I had to download and install a GIF animator that would work with Windows 7 but it was not free. I had finally got around to registering my new GIF animator, which cost me $29 dollars. So, I guess now, I'm back in business again.

And so, I now present my newest creations.
Well actually, the first two images are NOT my own creation. But the following animations after the first two are my own creations.

I received this first animation of the fat dancer in an E-mail sometime back in 2001 and I saved it to my computer. Here he is wearing his blue cap, a gold medallion, and he's dancing in his little blue speedo.


This second animation I received in an E-mail sometime back in 2003 which I had also saved to my computer. Notice that his love-handles are much wider than his butt, which is typical of the obese apple-shaped male.

OK, I like to make up stories for my animated characters.

He's a Night Club dancer at The Big Apple Night Club, and he has two different dancing routines. In the first dancing style, he sways forward and backward, and in his second dancing style, he sways from side to side. When facing his audience he sways forward and backward, and when his back is to his audience, he sways from side to side.

He has been dancing on the stage at The Big Apple Club since he was 23 years old. This was him when he was 28 years old. Since alcoholic beverages are sold there, you have to be at least 21 years old to work at The Big Apple Night Club.

And now, the following GIF animations are
my own creations which are much fatter
versions of the original animations above.

OK buddy! loose the hat, loose the gold medallion, and loose the speedo! Hey, since your belly now hangs down below your knees and bounces on the floor, and your lower-back-fat now hangs down over your little butt, then it's impossible for you to put on a pair of pants anyway! So, I guess you'll just have to do your Night Club dancing in the nude, as naked as the day you were born!

Yeah! You'll have to dance in your birthday suit!

This was him when he was 32 years old. He had gained a lot of weight on his upper-body since he had first started dancing at The Big Apple Club about nine years previously.

Yeah! Just look at this guy! You notice like so many apple-shaped obese males, he has not gained any weight on his hips, butt, and thighs, while he has gained a lot of weight on his upper-body, his arms, chest, and belly. His arms are now bigger around than his legs!

Being apple-shaped, with mostly upper-body fat, greatly increases your risk of getting insulin dependent Type 2 Diabetes, and heart disease. Having a small butt, narrow hips, and skinny legs even further compounds the risk if you're an obese apple-shaped male.

You'll notice, that as he is dancing, as he sways forward his great big belly bounces on the floor, and as he sways backward, his belly rises up really high, and his chest rises up in front of his face. This upward thrust of his belly exerts an upward pressure on his diaphragm squeezing the air out of his lings, causing him to gasp for air, and it also exerts pressure on his heart causing chest pains and a crushing sensation around his heart.

Then, as he sways forward, and his belly drops to the floor, and he's able to take in a breath of air into his lungs again. This is what he likes to call THE BELLY BOUNCE!

OK! Watch the action again, but this time, it's not in slow motion!


Here he is again as seen from behind, and you can just barely his little be-hind!

As you can see, being a super morbidly obese apple-shaped male, he has had no weight gain on his butt, hips, and legs, but only on his huge massive upper-body. His love-handles are more then three times as wide as his hips, and hang down lower than his hips, partially covering his little butt, and down over the backs of his thighs. As he dances, his massive love-handles even strike the floor!

As was mentioned earlier, he was 23 years old when he began his dancing career at The Big Apple Night Club, and over the past nine years he has gained a lot of weight. He's now 32 years old, and his younger brother, now 25 years old, has been following in his footsteps, joining The Big Apple Night Club when he was 21 years old. So, he has been dancing four year at the Big Apple Night Club.

Now, meet his younger brother!!!

This was him at the of 21 years, following in his older brother's footsteps, dancing at The Big Apple Club. He was even more obese than his older brother who was 28 at that time. He can't even get his huge massive belly off the floor!

Also, while his older brother started out dancing in a little blue speedo, the younger brother started out as a nude dancer right away. He was about 13 years old when he had become unable to put on a pair of pants anymore while his older brother didn't drop his pants until he was about 32 years old. So, at the age of only 13 he had to drop out of school because he kept dropping his pants! With his belly hanging down over his thighs about half-way to his knees, and his love-handles starting to hang down over his hips, he was unable to keep his pants from falling down.

Before he was 13 years old, he always went around with his pants half-way down on his butt and his shirts didn't cover his belly. So, as a kid, he always went around in public showing off his bellybutton and butt-crack. The other kids in school were constantly teasing him, laughing and shouting, HEY! BELLYBUTTON BUTT-CRACK! BELLYBUTTON BUTT-CRACK over and over again. But it really didn't bother him at all because he was a glutton, and he loved eating all the time, and he actually loved being super obese. So, it really didn't bother him at all. In fact, he actually liked it when all the other kids in school and in his neighborhood taunted him about showing off his bellybutton and exposing his butt-crack in public. It made him feel really proud, because he was so much bigger than all the kids, and even all the teachers. He has stopped growing at the age of 15 at 6 feet 8 inches, and he weighed about 1,740 pounds. His older brother was only about 5 feet 10 inches tall. So, he was REALLY HUGH!!!

When his older brother became a stage dancer at the age of 23 in The Big Apple Night Club shaking his fat booty, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, and so, he started out as a nude dancer with a Hell of a lot more booty to shake!

YEAH! SHAKE YOUR BOOTY! SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!
SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!

And so, that's what he does. It was the only job he could get since he couldn't finish school.

While dancing in the nude, when facing his audience, he sways forward and backward, but as he sways backward, trying with great effort to raise his belly off the floor, which is something he was never able to do, he can only pull his belly in just a little bit, and of course, his belly and chest rise higher, exerting an upward pressure on his diaphragm, thus squeezing the air out of his lungs and exerting pressure on his heart, causing chest pains, and a crushing sensation around his heart. Then when he sways forward, his belly is more relaxed protruding out further in front of him on the floor, and he is then able to gasp for a breath of air. This repeats over and over again as he's dancing.


And here he is seen from behind. It's quite obvious he's had a really good head start on his older brother. He was only 17 years old when he was bald on top of his head while his older brother wasn't bald yet until he was about 29 years old. He was only 13 years old when he became unable to wear pants anymore because of his low-hanging massive upper-body, and he also had developed Type 2 Diabetes when he was only 15 years old and had to start taking insulin while his older brother didn't become diabetic until he was 27 years old.

Also, being a super super morbidly obese apple-shaped male, he never gained any weight on his hips, butt, or legs, while gaining massive amounts of fat on his upper-body, his arms, chest, and belly. His love-handles are at least five times as wide as his hips, and when dancing, swaying from side to side, he can't even get his huge massive love-handles up off the floor!

Naturally of course, being a really huge glutton, he continues to gain even more weight, but only on his upper-body, like a lot of morbidly obese apple-shaped males with great big bellies, small butts, and skinny legs.


And now, here he is at 25 years old. He has so much upper-body fat that his lower-back-fat hangs down over his butt! While facing his audience he sways forward and backward, and when he sways backward, his lower-back-fat comes down to the floor behind him!

He can't do the BELLY-BOUNCE like his older brother because he can't get his huge massive belly up off the floor, and so, he invented a new dance movement that he calls . . . . .

THE-HIDE-MY-ASS-LOWER-BACK-FAT-SPLAT on the floor!


And finally, here he is seen from behind while dancing with his back to his audience.

WOW! Will ya just look at this guy! Really awesome! Eh? I truly envy him! His most magnificent lovely love-handles have now become about ten times as broad has his narrow hips! His arms are so fat he can't bend his elbows! He can't even lay his arms down on the sides of his huge massive upper-body. His arms are permanently raised high above his head!

He now weighs about 7,530 pounds! The only reason why he is able to stand up is because his huge belly and great big love-handles hang all the way down to the floor, and spread out on the floor, thus, taking most of the weight off of his feet so that he can stand up, and dance, by swaying forward and backward or swaying from side to side.

So, he is able to stand up on his feet with no more effort than someone weighing only a few hundred pounds.

But, how does he sit down, and how can he sleep?

Well, it is quite obvious that he can't lay down on a bed to sleep. He can't even sit down on a chair that has a back-rest or sit down on a couch because a couch also has a back-rest. He can't even sit down on the edge of a king-sized bed. That is because of the great big roll of fat on his lower-back which protrudes far out beyond his butt and also hangs down over his butt, and his huge love-handles that hang down to the floor also makes in impossible for him to sit on a couch or bed.

He can't sleep on his back, because if the great big roll of fat on his lower-back. Also, the weight of his huge massive belly would literally squeeze the life out of him crushing him to death under his own body weight! He would suffocate from thousands of pounds of fat pressing down on him! He can't sleep on his belly, and he certainly can't sleep on either his left or right side.

So, how do you sleep when your love-handles spread out on the floor about twice as wide as you are tall? How do you sleep when your lower-back-fat protrudes out about three feet beyond your butt and hangs down over your butt? And how do you sleep when your belly is down on the floor protruding about seven feet out in front of you?

And you can't very well sleep standing up. Even a person of average weight is unable to stand on his/her feet 24 hours a day without sleeping. Your feet would start hurting and your legs would get tired, so eventually, you'll have to sit down.

Also, he can not sit down on anything too low, like a bed, because his belly and his chest would rise up. His chest would rise up in front of his face being higher than the top of his head, and his belly would rise up collapsing his lungs and stopping his heart!

So, he must stand up all the time, or else, somebody could place a bar stool under his butt, then he can sit on a high bar stool, thus taking more weight off of his feet. He would have to sleep sitting on a bar stool!

So, all he has to do is to sit his little butt on a bar stool, and then, he can lean slightly forward on his huge belly that hang down to the floor. Even when he's asleep, there is no chance that he'll fall of the stool, because his huge massive belly spreading out on the floor in front of him keeps him from falling forward, and it's quit obvious that there is no chance of him falling over backwards.

Also, because the width of his broad love-handles are about twice his height and spread out on the floor, there is no chance that he would topple over to either side, so he can easily sleep while sitting his little butt on a bar stool!

Yeah! That was him when he was 25 years old, and his older brother was 32 years old. The younger brother had been following in the footsteps of his older brother. It had been about four years since he started dancing at The Big Apple Night Club, and at the age of 25, he achieved a weight of 7,530 pounds. His older brother had tried to keep on gaining, but he was never able to go over 1,850 pounds.

Yes, the younger brother had been following in his older brother's footsteps, but the irony was, that he was in the lead, and it was the older brother who wanted desperately to follow in the younger brother's footsteps.

The older brother had been dancing at The Big Apple Night Club for nine years while the younger brother had been dancing there about four years.

And then . . . . . late one evening . . . . . the younger brother eventually died from a massive heart attack about three weeks after his 25th birthday. He had been dancing on the stage when he twisted his ankle, and his legs went out from under his huge massive upper-body. He dropped to his knees, and his chest rose up in front of his face higher than the top of his head, and as his belly rose up almost as high as his chest, his lungs collapsed and he stopped breathing, and his heart was literally crushed inside his chest. He died instantly, just from falling to his knees!

His older brother continued working at The Big Apple Night Club for another five years and died at the age of 37 years about nine months after his 37th birthday.

And now, some more of my animations.

This one you have all seen before, but I thought it bears repeating. The following animation below is one of my all time favorites.



This animation depicts the year by year weight gain of an obese apple-shaped male.

At first, before becoming super super morbidly obese, when he was just starting out on his journey of weight gain, he was able to wear his pants up high enough to cover his butt and he could tuck in his shirt. He started out with a full head of hair. Then his arms started getting fatter, his chest bigger, his belly getting fatter, and his hair starting to thin out on top of his head and the hairline receding. So, he has an expanding waistline and a receding hairline!

He is the typical apple-shaped obese male, gaining most of his fat on his upper-body. As his belly gets bigger, his shirts no longer cover his belly, and he shows off his bellybutton. Also, as his belly gets bigger, it hangs down lower over the waistband of his shorts, and his shorts begin sliding down lower on his butt, thus, exposing his butt-crack, and as he continues to gain more weight, he loses more hair on top of his head until he is bald on the top of his head.

Yeah! He's gaining weight, and losing hair!

With ever increasing obesity, his belly gets bigger and hangs down lower, and his shorts slide down lower on his butt exposing some more of his butt-crack until, eventually, his belly hangs down so low that he drops his pants, and he is no longer able to wear pants anymore! So, why even bother putting on a shirt and shoes? When you can't wear pants, you might as well just take off the shirt and kick off the shoes and just go about in the house in the nude as naked as the day your were born. Yeah! Just go about in your birthday suit, which eventually becomes your burial suit when you die.

So, as we are all born into this world naked, the super super morbidly obese apple-shaped male goes out of this world naked when he dies. This is his final destiny.

As so, as the apple-shaped obese male gains a lot of fat mostly on his upper-body, first he loses some of his hair, then he loses his pants, and then, eventually, his life!

Yeah! Gain lots of weight, lose some hair, lose your pants, and then, lose your life!

That is the natural life cycle of apple-shaped male obesity!

The next image below is not an animation, but it is another one of my all time favorites that I have shown here before, so it also bears repeating.

Please click on the image above for

a larger view that is easier to read.

In the cartoon above titled "EUPHEMISTICALLY SPEAKING" the bald-headed apple-shaped obese man appears to be wearing only a shirt and shoes, but no pants! Actually, he is wearing a pair of shorts, but his belly hangs down so low that it is hanging down over the front of his shorts, thus, concealing his shorts under his great big belly! The obese bald-headed man's wife, the lady in the green shirt says "Last year my husband was examined by our doctor because he had been hiding his shorts for over a year!" which translates as meaning [Last year my husband was diagnosed as having Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease.] to which her friend replies "It's been almost three years since my husband dropped his pants" which translates as meaning [It's been almost three years since my husband died from a massive heart attack!] so, hiding your shorts is a euphemism for having diabetes and heart disease and dropping your pants is a euphemism for having died from a heart attack, which is what happens to morbidly obese apple-shaped males.

First you gain a lot of weight on your upper body until your belly hangs down over the front of your shorts so that your shorts are hidden under your huge low-hanging belly, and then, because of your upper-body fat you become diabetic with heart disease.

With even more weight gain, your belly hangs down even lower, down to your knees or below your knees, and your love-handles hang down over your hips, then it becomes impossible to put on pants anymore, thus, you "drop your pants" before you eventually have a massive heart attack and die in the nude!

And so, diabetes in its early phase is The Hidden Shorts Disease and in its more advanced phase, diabetes becomes The Falling Pants Disease!

And here is another one of my all time favorites. Of course this one is not an animation either.

Please click on the image above for
a larger view that is easier to read.

This is just some super morbidly obese apple-shaped males from The Big Apple Club hanging around at the club swimming pool. To qualify for membership, you must be a super morbidly obese apple-shaped male, you must be bald on top of your head, have insulin dependent Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease, and you must be a lazy glutton who loves to eat massive amounts of food and never gets any exercise. Also, another qualification for member ship is that you must have had at least one heart attack.

These guys are just enjoying a day at the swimming pool and they're holding their Annual Belly Flop Contest to see who can make the biggest splash as they plop face down in the water.

Notice that they all have huge massive upper-bodies, big fat arms, big breasts, huge round bellies, small butts, and skinny legs, like the true apple-shaped obese male. Also notice that their arms are bigger around than their hips, and the tallest guy with the biggest upper-body has the fattest arms, the smallest butt, and the shortest and skinniest legs! He's only 24 years old and has recovered from his second heart attack that he had recently. He had his first heart attack about a week after his 21st birthday! Every one of these guys has had a least one heart attack and they all insulin dependent Type 2 Diabetics.

Here's another one of my favorite images.

Please click on the image above for
a larger view that is easier to read.

Yeah! Another super morbidly obese apple-shaped male on the beach with a really huge low-hanging belly and his little yellow polka-dotted shorts sliding about half-way down on his little butt! He sure is carrying around a great big pants dropping heart-stopper in front of him!

And in the next picture below, we see . . . . .

Please click on the image above for
a larger view that is easier to read.

. . . . . we see that his heart-stopper has finally done it's final deed, which is of course, stopping his heart! Yeah! Works, doesn't it! What can I say? Sometimes life's a beach!!! And then, you die!!!

And of course, another one of my favorite drawings.

Please click on the image above for
a larger view that is easier to read.

WOW! This dude really went out in a big way! Eh? This guy is so enormously obese that the interns can't even get him into the ambulance!


So now, let us conclude, ending this article on a more happy note.

Here's another super morbidly obese apple-shaped male going into his favorite King Size men's clothing store to take advantage of a Special Summer Sale with short pants priced at half off. Well, the red shorts he's wearing now is already almost half off! Yeah! Almost half off on his butt!

And finally, one more animation that I had created over a year ago.

Yeah! Uh huh! This guy is a real scale buster! I am truly envious! Wish that were me!

THE END

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