Sit. Rep. #136: Listen and Hear, 4 cycle

1- Listen.  Name all the sounds that you hear.  Listen in the dead of night.  Listen on a camping trip when no one is talking or moving.  Listen to the weather.  Listen to the wildlife.  Listen for what is missing.  Listen with your eyes to see what or who is making the noise.  Listen without … Read more

Sit. Rep. #134: Moon: Sidereal vs Synodic, Draco the Dragon

1- The term “moon” is by definition:  A natural satellite about a heavenly body.  But Earth’s moon is also called The Moon or Luna.  Currently there are over 200 known moons in our solar system.  Most orbit planets but some orbit asteroids.  Of the 4 moons that are bigger than our Moon, 3 orbit Jupiter.  … Read more

Sit. Rep. #105: Oops, Help, What?

1- You have planned & are in the middle of a backpacking trip and ________ happens!  It does not matter what you filled in the blank with.  Weather, injury, equipment failure, illness, emergency at home, wild fire, natural disaster, blizzard, heat wave, mudslide, food raided by wildlife, flood, wildlife attack, crime / human attack, avalanche, … Read more

Sit. Rep. #89: Fuzz, Mercator, & Cultures

1- Think of projecting a picture on a wall.  It does not matter what the original shape of the object was when the picture was taken.  The picture on the wall is 2 dimensions.  The projection is 2 dimensions.  Our Earth is roughly a sphere.  Any map in 2 dimensions distorts that 3 dimension earth. … Read more

Sit. Rep. #78: 318 Earths

1- Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in our solar system.  It would take 318 Earth’s mass to equal one Jupiter.  If you take every planet (except Jupiter) in the solar system, add all of their masses together, then multiply that total mass by 2.5 to equal Jupiter mass alone.    At night … Read more