“Stargazers are in for a treat later this month as five planets of the solar system will be visible from Earth as part of a rare planetary alignment. On March 28, Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars and Venus are expected to line up together in a small section of the sky shortly after sunset.

Two of the brighter planets – Mercury and Jupiter – will be noticeable near the horizon, while Venus is expected to shine higher in the sky. Although binoculars will be needed to spot Uranus, Mars should be viewable in the alignment near to the first quarter of the moon.

While it is not unusual to see two or three planets in the sky, an alignment of five is less common. It happened last year, and in both 2020 and 2016 prior to that.

To easily identify the planets this month, the educational astronomy application Star Walk recommends using the app Sky Tonight, which can be pointed at the night sky to give a live display of what is going on.

The planets are expected to be aligned in a 50-degree sky sector, which means that they will appear closer together from Earth in a small area above.

Beth Biller, of the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline that some planets would be much easier to see than others. She said: ‘Venus and Jupiter are both very bright and easy to pick out and you may have already seen them close together over the past few weeks. (We saw them both, it was pretty ccool.)

‘Mars is a bit fainter, but still easily observed with the naked eye. Mercury starts getting tricky – you need to be at a dark site with a clear view of the horizon if you want to see Mercury. ‘Uranus is the faintest and hardest to see – you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus.’

Senior contributing editor at Sky & Telescope, Rick Fienberg, also stressed that seeing all five planets at the same time on March 28 may be difficult and will depend on a person’s location.

‘Unless you have a clear sky and a nearly flat western horizon free of obstructions such as trees or buildings, you won’t see Jupiter and Mercury,’ he said of those in the US while speaking to FOX 35.

While specialist equipment may be needed to spot Uranus, Mr Fienberg claimed that the five planets should be viewable with binoculars.”

Read the whole story here.

If you are interested, visit Astronomy for all things related to the stars and planets.

DCG

6 Comments

Posted in God's creation, Nature

Tagged astronomical alignment, astronomy

Ever seen a “reverse” waterfall?

Posted on January 27, 2023 by DCG | 4 comments

Pretty cool!

A happy ending: Florida diver rescued by family

Posted on January 24, 2023 by DCG | 1 comment

Dylan had an Angel watching over him!

From Daily Mail:

“A 21-year-old free diver was miraculously rescued by his family after he was swept away by the Gulf Stream while diving more than five miles from the Florida Keys.

Diver and spear fisherman Dylan Gartenmayer described the moment he heard the hum of his grandfather’s boat as he hopelessly lay watching the sun set over shark-infested waters.

Hours earlier on Thursday afternoon, he had been with two friends as he descended for his final dive of the day around the West Sambo Reef.

Beneath the surface he was caught in a current that drew him 150 feet below the surface and spat him out around a mile away.

His friends notified both the US Coast Guard and his family, who began a desperate search, racing against the setting sun.

After emerging he swam around a mile back towards the reef, where he cut free mooring buoys which he tied together to form a makeshift raft. ‘I was watching the sun drop pretty quickly,’ said Gartenmayer in a video posted to social media.

Fishing bait started washing up around him, attracting the attention of sharks. I’d just seen a reef shark swam past me,’ he said. ‘I had a bunch of bait start blowing up around, I could see mackerel skyrocketing.’

As the temperature began to drop and a chill set in, the diver described how he used the buoys to keep his body as far out of the water as possible. ‘I was starting to shiver at that point and my hands were starting to feel a little numb, so were my toes, so I knew this was starting to get serious,’ he said.

A rescue mission involving coast guard boats and aircraft was underway, but they were unable to spot him. ‘I had a small plane fly above but they didn’t see me,’ he said. ‘About 30 minutes later they flew back again, still didn’t see me.’

‘Shortly after that the sun had disappeared past the horizon. Looking to the east it was pitch black, looking to the west you could see the remnants of the sunset. As I saw the sun disappear I knew things were starting to get a little more dire,’ he said.

But then the amateur search party led by his family struck gold. ‘By some miracle my parents and everybody else on board my grandfather’s boat ended up driving and basically landing right on top of me,’ he said.

‘I could hear the engines running and I knew from there that was actually my grandfather’s boat.’

Read the whole story here.

DCG

1 Comment

Posted in Nature

Tagged diver rescue, Florida

Man saves 24 people during Buffalo blizzard

Posted on December 30, 2022 by DCG | 4 comments

Hero Jay (behind woman in wheelchair) with people he saved.

From Daily Mail:

“A Buffalo man has been praised for his bravery after saving 24 people from a deadly blizzard that ripped through western New York dumping up to 50.3 inches of snow on the region.

Jay Withey, 27, feared he was going to die entombed in his car where he had been forced to sleep with two strangers after his truck got stuck in the brutal snowstorm.

After a series of rejections to seek shelter, Withey returned to his truck which quickly ran out of gas, it was then the unsuspecting hero identified others stranded and decided to break into a nearby school.

Dubbed ‘Merry Christmas Jay’ Withey and his crew, including seven senior citizens, waited out the storm which has so far taken the lives of at least 40 people, that number set to rise.

‘I walked to the houses to see if I could find shelter, any house that had lights on. I had $500 that I was offering, to sleep on their floor,’ Withey told WBEN. ‘It’s the only time in my life I actually thought I was going to die.’

It was around 6am on Christmas Eve that Withey’s truck ran out of gas and the group had no other choice but to break into Pine Hill Primary Center.

‘Off to the left, I could see there was a school about 600-700 feet away from us. I knew the power would be on, there would be heat in there and I was guaranteeing there would be food in there,’ he said.

According to Cheektowaga Police Department, the group respectfully set up what they needed in the main area of the cafeteria, helping themselves to food to survive the treacherous weather system.

As the storm began to break late Christmas Day and everyone was ready to leave, ‘Merry Christmas Jay’ found the school’s snow blower and cleared all the vehicles that belonged to his group.

Withey then fixed the broken window they had used to get into the school using cardboard and duct tape leaving a note behind apologizing for breaking in.

‘To whomever it may concern, I’m terribly sorry about breaking the school window and for breaking in the kitchen,’ the letter states.

‘Got stuck at 8pm Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers just trying not to die. There were seven elderly people also stuck and out of fuel.

‘I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom. Merry Christmas Jay.’

School officials and the police department were notified of the window breaking and after the roads were safe a police officer checked out the school and found the note which led them to view security camera footage.

Authorities posted a tweet thanking Withey for his ‘heroic actions.’

Read the rest of the story here.

Great job, Jay!

DCG

4 Comments

Posted in inspirational, Nature

Tagged #heroes, Buffalo, Cheektowaga Police, New York, snow storm

Hippo swallows 2-year-old boy then spits him up alive!

Posted on December 16, 2022 by DCG | 3 comments

What an amazing story!

From Daily Mail:

“A two-year-old boy was swallowed and spat out by a hippo while playing near his home in Uganda.

Paul Iga was clenched in the mouth of the animal around 800 yards away from the edge of Lake Edward.

The hippo had grabbed the toddler from the head and swallowed half of his body when a local man noticed and started throwing stones at the animal, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The hippo seemed taken aback by the attack and vomited up the child — before trudging back to the water.

‘It took the bravery of one Chrispas Bagonza, who was nearby, to save the victim after he stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to release the victim from its mouth,’ police added.

While Paul was injured and taken to a clinic for treatment, he miraculously survived.

It has been reported that the toddler was transferred to a hospital in Bwera but was sent home after taking a rabies vaccine.

In a statement, Ugandan Police said: ‘This is the first such kind of incident where a hippo strayed out of Lake Edward and attacked a young child.’

Police told residents of Katwe Kabatoro Town Council, which is located within Queen Elizabeth National Park on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to remain vigilant around hippos.”

DCG

3 Comments

Posted in Nature

Tagged Uganda

Old-Fashioned Tip to Scent Your House Like Christmas

Posted on December 9, 2022 by DCG | 4 comments

I use to buy Scentsy products yet quit doing that earlier this year when the prices of everything kept going up (Build Back Better!) and decided I needed to slow down my spending.

Category Archives: Nature

Touching Moment Vanilla the Chimp Experiences the Sky for the First Time in Captivity

Men go to great lengths to save a deer

A happy ending: Blossom and Frankie find love!

March 28, grab your binoculars: Five planets visible in night sky

Ever seen a “reverse” waterfall?

A happy ending: Florida diver rescued by family

Man saves 24 people during Buffalo blizzard

Hippo swallows 2-year-old boy then spits him up alive!

Old-Fashioned Tip to Scent Your House Like Christmas

Kind acts of humanity in Florida during Hurricane Ian storm

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