Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re a professional astronomer working with a large installed telescope, you probably already have plenty of equipment to let you know when it’s the ideal conditions to stargaze. But for hobbyists who have to drag their telescopes into the backyard in order to peep the heavens, this watch should provide all the data they need.

The LCD display on the watchface features 96 separate sections arranged in a ray pattern. Each slice represents 15 minutes of time, which adds up to a full 24 hour day. Once you choose your specific location from a list of 583 pre-programmed cities, the sections are selectively shaded to depict the hours of sunlight and darkness throughout the day. A second circular LCD display around the edge shows the times of moonrise and moonset. There’s a single 24 hour hand that moves around a 12-hour bezel for telling the time, but the watch also features a standard digital time display on the top half.

You can find it at Hammacher Schlemmer for $495.95.

[ The Astronomer’s Chronograph ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m particularly fond of watches with a busy face, but the Astrodea collection from Citizen is kind of pushing the limits. The watch face has a 35° view of the heavens (as seen from the Northern Hemisphere) that rotates in real time and shows 1,109 stars and 169 cluster galaxies. It also includes other measurements like equinox indications, constellation markers, location of the sun, solar position, sunrise and sunset times and the daily duration of sunshine.

The watch comes in either a blue or gold face version, has a stainless steel case and band and uses non-reflective sapphire glass. And because the face itself is so detailed the watch even includes a 10x magnifier for close-up viewing. Both versions are available from Japan Trend Shop for $585.

[ Citizen Astrodea Watch ] VIA [ Popgadget ]

By Evan Ackerman

Somewhat unusually, there are a couple things going on up in the sky this Wednesday night, at least for those of us who don’t live in Asia or Australia (sorry chaps). The first thing to look forward to is a total lunar eclipse, which should be visible in its entirety from the central and eastern US and Canada as well as western Europe. Eastern Europe and most of Africa will be able to see the eclipse beginning as the moon sets, and the western US will catch it in progress as of moonrise. The moon will be completely within the shadow of the Earth as of 10pm EST, and won’t start to come out again until 10:50pm. During that time it’ll turn a lovely reddish-orange, thanks to the sunrises and sunsets refracting light past the limbs of the Earth. If you live in North America, your next chance to see something like this will be December 21, 2010, so get your butt out there and take a look.

The other big thing that’s going on Wednesday night (in the middle of the eclipse, in fact) is that the United States is going to try to shoot down a dysfunctional spy satellite over Hawaii with a sea launched interceptor missile. If you live in Hawaii, fear not, the debris cloud is headed for central Canada, and as far as I know, nobody actually lives in Canada. Not that they’d have any toxic hydrazine propellant to worry about. Oh wait, there’s 1000 pounds of it on board. That, in fact, is the US government’s rationale for shooting the thing down: they don’t want it to crash into a populated area. Sounds reasonable, but it’s actually total bunk, according to Danger Room. In fact, it’s far more likely to be a response to the Chinese anti-satellite missile test of a year ago, despite the heavy criticism of that test from the United States. More on why the US Government thinks we need to shoot this thing down, and why none of their reasons make much sense, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By Evan Ackerman

C’mon, admit it… At some point in life, you went through a stage where you wanted to be an astronaut. Me? I’m still in that stage, and I’d absolutely love to have a bed like this Space Shuttle Bunk Bed, from MyMoondrops. It comes with all the trimmings, including stubby little wings, doors, a reinforced carbon-carbon nose (maybe it’s just black paint), and a cockpit with two chairs and a control panel. The upper portion can either be a second twin bed or a play loft, and there’s even an optional attached launch tower. The eternal love of your child will cost you anywhere from $2250 to $7500+ depending on accessories and options.

[ Space Shuttle Bunk Bed ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]