Quick question.

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pioneer0333

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If there is one, where would could one find the darkest spot on Earth to look at the stars that is not on an ocean or on a mountain? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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contracommando

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A remote tropical island......as that side of the Earth is halfway between sunset and sunrise? ……….French Polynesia? Hawaii?<br />
 
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the_masked_squiggy

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If you're looking at a good place to look at the stars, there are various star parties throughout the year. One in particular, held in Valentine, Nebraska (USA) is in a very dark area--you see the milky way in great detail, naked-eye. I'd wager the Mojave desert in CA is a good place too. Or the more uninhabited areas of Montana or Wyoming if you're looking for a camping trip.<br /><br />But you're asking Earth, not the U.S.<br /><br />Well if you want to get away from the light pollution...Antarctica's technically a continent :p You have that whole glowing white snow problem though.<br /><br />Of course, mountains do provide a clearer view, since you don't have to look through as much of the atmosphere to see the stars.
 
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Saiph

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There is also the annual Grand Canyon Star Party that is supposedly held at a really nice location. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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newtonian

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Pioneer0333 - You might try an area recently ravaged by a hurricane and causing total power failure.<br /><br />The viewing in this area after Katrina was awesome!<br /><br />Especially since there was no moon most of the time!<br /><br />The generator shortage also helped prolong the fantastic views. <br /><br />You might also try Antarctica during their dark winter - albeit the southern lights (aurora) would often obscure the view.
 
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the_masked_squiggy

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Yeah but isn't the Grand Canyon supposed to be one of the more polluted sites in the U.S. or something now? Ick.<br /><br />Still cool, but looking through lots of brown air at the stars...ick.
 
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pioneer0333

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Where do I go to get a star named after me? Isn't there supposed to be a website that I can go to?<br /><br /> Is it possible to get a planet named after me? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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vogon13

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International Star Registry, for $55 (at least) will randomly pick a very dim star out of a dusty sky catalog, slap your name on it, and send you an info pack that might cost them all of 75 cents to print out on their Hp photosmart printer.<br /><br />After they markup a star catalog with enough names, they trundle it over to the US copyright office where it will be stamped off and immediately forgotten by the entire planet.<br /><br /><br />No professional astronomer anywhere will ever bother to look up or refer to your name on a particuar star. You will never bother to see who is on the list ahead or behind you, and they won't either. No one anywhere (except the guy who cashes your check) will ever give a rat's ass that one star out of the bazillions of them there are is named after you.<br /><br /><br />Might want to spend your $55 on diet Pepsi and those tablets that make it explode. At least you will remember that for a while . . . .<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>
 
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pioneer0333

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You just killed my curiousity in that. That's sucks to think about now. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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doubletruncation

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If you discover a minor planet in the solar system you get to submit a name for it to the IAU. There are a number of rules about what names can be used - but you can name them after loved ones etc. However, you can't submit a name that already exists, and since there are so many asteroids etc there is a decent chance that your first or last name is already assigned to some asteroid. <br /><br />The rules for naming a minor planet are at:<br />http://www.iau.org/MINOR_PLANETS_NAMING.245.0.html<br /><br />The lists of names already used are at:<br />http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/MPNames.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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sponge

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That reply gave me laugh for quite a while LOL. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><u>SPONGE</u></em></p> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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But if you discover a comet, your name is <i>automatically</i> placed on it. If you discover more than one, they all get your name, plus some sort of number to distinguish them. For instance, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was the ninth comet discovered by the crack team of Shoemaker and Levy. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> For comets discovered by large projects, they get the project name. Thus, there are several Comet Linears, and probably hundreds of Comet SOHOs (although the Comet SOHOs are probably all gone now -- it mainly finds sungrazers). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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alek_a

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<font color="yellow"><i>...nobody willever give a rats ass...</i></font>/i><br /><br />What if that star has a planet that is habitable and the future humans (or whatever they evolve into) settle it? They will of course have no idea that it was some guy that found the inspiration on SDC to name that particular star on random.
 
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