Comments on: Crater? I thought he was a star!

By: StevoR

StevoR — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:29:15 +0000

Actually Crater is a constellation. Its called “Crater the Cup” for Apollo’s cup ina Greek myth & is located bordering Hydra, Corvus, Leo,Vitrgo & Sextens in Earth’s skies.

It’s brightest star is actually Delta Crateris, an orange giant 200 ly off shining at 3.6 mag.

Alpha Crateris also named Alkes is an ornage giant, 170 odd light years away shining at mag. 4.1.

Also shining at mag. 4.1 is Gamma Crateris a white star located 85 ly distant and that’s abinary star with a mag.9.6 companion whilst blue-white star Beta Crateris glows at 4.5 mag from 270 ly away.

Source : ‘Collins Guide to Stars & Planets’, P. 132-3, Ian Ridpath & Wil Tirion.

So you’ll need dark skies to see it folks…

By: JackC

JackC — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:29:09 +0000

Crichton?? Write an ending? Chrichton CAN’T write an ending. It is impossible for him – Unless you count “And then, it all went away and everything was back to normal….”

I think that is his basic plan for AGW/CC as well….

By: ShavenYak

ShavenYak — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:38:19 +0000

I had never put two and two together about Tom Cullen and Patrick, but once the little voice in my head said “M-O-O-N, that spells Mars” while a picture of Patrick was in my field of view, it dawned on me.

I just wish I could have those hours of my life back that I spent watching the second half of The Stand. How completely lame that ending was. King should have stopped halfway and let Crichton write an ending – it might have been disjointed, but at least it wouldn’t have been stupid.

By: Richard B. Drumm

Richard B. Drumm — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:42:59 +0000

Scorsese! Good one!
I waited for the whole page to finish loading (sometimes if I scroll down the page before it finished loading it causes trouble, the loading stops) so I could only see the first 2 text lines and the top of the photo, sans Patrick Star. I saw Groucho from the start!
Rich

By: Jeffersonian

Jeffersonian — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:52:22 +0000

I doiled this one as Martin Scorcese.

By: John Paradox

John Paradox — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:19:21 +0000

Trollonomer is back?

J/P=?

By: Mirai

Mirai — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:26:30 +0000

Hahaha, nice one.

————–

“what a childish thing for an astronomer to add to a blog”

And the “bitter guy of the day” price is for Astronomer!

Don’t clap, please, he will get mad.

By: Richard B. Drumm

Richard B. Drumm — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:51:20 +0000

Nope, you’re all wrong.

Every

Last

One

You.

Here’s what the paredolia in -ME- sees:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24473498@N02/2319172194/
It’s Mars, not Marx, BTW… ;-D
Rich

By: Lugosi

Lugosi — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:42:09 +0000

@ Stephen James: I thought of BA when I read this morning's Dilbert as well. Here's the link.

By: Kevin F.

Kevin F. — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:36:56 +0000

As a double inside joke, I almost titled this “M-O-O-N, that spells Mars!” but I figured like three of you would get it.

The Stand totally rules among King’s works. I’m a die hard Apocalyptic Fiction fan and I adore this one.

By: Björn

Björn — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:29:18 +0000

Yes, it’s amazing what you can find on Mars.

By: buffalodavid

buffalodavid — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:14:58 +0000

Back to “The Stand” for a moment, at least the book. About half way through there’s a character with my name (David Roberts) and he’s killed a page and a half later. Means absolutely nothing, but its fun.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:55:13 +0000

Another one of the 3, checking in.

By: Stephen James

Stephen James — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:28:08 +0000

Related, but unrelated. Check out the Daily Dilbert from 8Mar2008.

By: defectiverobot

defectiverobot — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:49:24 +0000

For the record, BA, it’s really hard to go back and forth between this and Pharyngula and maintain a proper sense of decorum.

By: defectiverobot

defectiverobot — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:46:35 +0000

Darned thing, DARNED thing. Sorry, I forget this is a family blog.

By: defectiverobot

defectiverobot — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:45:45 +0000

As for The Stand–first half, excellent; second half, not so much. And yes, it is because what starts out as really good science fiction devolves–without adequate prologue–into a supernatural Revelations-type yarn. It’s like two different people wrote the damn thing.

By: defectiverobot

defectiverobot — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:42:27 +0000

Actually, I think it looks a bit more like Arthur, from the Marc Brown books (and PBS TV show).

But then again, I love Patrick, so any excuse to be reminded of him works for me!

By: Lugosi

Lugosi — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:45:23 +0000

Is it just me, or does that formation at the bottom of the photo look just like a human breast with a giant nipple in the middle?

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:48:51 +0000

Watch…. Hoagland is going to start something again.

By: Brad

Brad — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:20:59 +0000

Somewhere on Mars there is a crater feature that looks exactly like Waldorf, one of the old geezers in the balcony on the Muppet Show. I saw it in Scientific American about two decades ago. If I took a day I could probably find it, I’m sure I still have the magazine. But I have no idea where on Mars it is so finding a more recent image is a needle in a haystack.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:28:07 +0000

Caterina wins! Bill Faggerbakke does the voice of Patrick and played Tom Cullen in The Stand, who is a bit slow. He always says “M-O-O-N, that spells” and then some random word (until finally he does actually spell Moon that way; Steven King can actually be a fantastic writer; his characters, even in his really bad books, are always incredibly rich and detailed).

So in this case, it’s a triple pun.

By: k9_kaos

k9_kaos — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:07:58 +0000

The Bad Astronomer said:
“It’s not just because it’s from The Stand. That wouldn’t make sense. There’s a very specific reason for that joke. Try again!”

Could it be that Patrick is so stupid that he thinks that M-O-O-N spells Mars?

I smell another conspiracy… Patrick is really the Messiah come to save the souls of Martians, and NASA is covering it up!

By: KC

KC — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:06:07 +0000

Oh. My.

Another face on Mars

By: Chip

Chip — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:40:46 +0000

You know Patrick Star might come in handy during your next video lecture.