Waving to Saturn...can you find me? :D

Hello hello! Foggy Saturday evening here...just came back from the theatre..watched a really good but really sad and touching play and am still under the impressions...and since it is rather late to be doing some cleaning around, it is more wisely to do an update here, don't you think? :)

And I will start today's update with some space cards cos I wanted to share something with you all, in a link somewhere below :)

As some of you know, at the beginning of the year, ok, precisely in March, I signed up for a beginners' course in Astronomy..I didn't really plan it...one day a friend of mine had posted about it on Facebook, got me interested, and I love trying out new stuff and I decided to give this a try...and I am more than glad I did.

It wasn't really easy, cos there is lots of math and physics stuff and my brain is simply NOT programmed in that fashion..it is more of a social sciences brain, but still... I did learn a lot and in a way have the basis to continue learning more...of course, I passed the exam, though papers do not really mean much to me..and eventually became part of the Astronomical Society here in Skopje, which gave me the opportunity to meet great people and be part of some really cool events!

I missed the Gemenids meteor shower that happened very recently, mainly cos it was way too cold and the whole observation was scheduled for 2 am, to last till 5 am, in an area outside Skopje...I do have my regrets now, but I just really wasn't up for it....in August though, I did spend 5 days at our beautiful Prespa Lake for the observation of the Perseid meteor shower and that was one of the most fantastic experiences despite I was really really reluctant about going cos of a number of reasons...

Anyways, what I actually wanted to talk about today was an event that happened this July 19, when the whole world was waving to Saturn! It was the day when the Earth smiled =)
To get more familiar with the event, you can read this article The Day the Earth smiled

Aaaaaaaaandddd....of course, our Astronomical Society did mark this event, and the outcome is this cool video, which few days ago was published on the website of Universe Today! Yippiee!!

Here is the video...can you see ME waving? :P

and this is the article along with the video published on the Universe Today

it may sound like a crazy idea, waving to Saturn, but it was just über cool! :)))

Special thanks to Bryon for surprising me with that Saturn postcard...came so perfect for such an update :)

The Planets of Our Solar System

and my last card for today shows this awesome 3D card (just that unfortunately, here you can't really see the 3D effect)

well, if it wasnt for this card, I wouldnt have paid so much attention the other day when I read that March 13, 1781 was the day when Uranus was discovered. And having this card in hand, it just felt appropriate to post it for the occasion. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest (by diameter).

It was discovered by William Herschel while systematically searching the sky with his telescope.
It had actually been seen many times before but ignored as simply another star...but better late than never...though with the nowadays technology, it would have been noticed without a doubt :)


Uranus is composed primarily of rock and various ices, with only about 15% hydrogen and a little helium (in contrast to Jupiter and Saturn which are mostly hydrogen). Its atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.
Uranus is sometimes just barely visible with the unaided eye on a very clear night; it is fairly easy to spot with binoculars (if you know exactly where to look - I dont!). But if you have some good equipment, exploring the sky is always fun :)

that's all for today folks :)