The CBB :: View topic - Stars in daylight

#1: Stars in daylight Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 3:37 pm

I'm currently reading 'Exploits of the Chalet Girls' and a section of it caught my interest. On the trip to the Barenbad Alpe, Cornelia falls into a hole in the ground and has the following conversation with Miss Wilson. The quote is:

Quote:

"Isn't it rummy? I can see the stars!"
"I expect you are pretty far down. And it is narrow. I have seen them from the bottom of a blast-furnace chimney in England."
"But it seems so funny seeing them in broad daylight," persisted Cornelia.
"That's only because you are accustomed to seeing them after dark..."

My question is CAN you see stars in daylights under those kind of circumstances, or is it just a EBD-ism? I'm also wondering when and why Miss Wilson would be at the bottom of a blast-furnace chimney Shocked

#2: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 3:44 pm

I recall having a Blue peter annual when I was kid that said something similar. Think it was part of an article about sagar maker's bottom knockers! If it was then it would be refering to the big factory chimneys in the potteries, or to the kilns, but they also claimed it was possible.

However I have also heard somewhere or other that it is just a myth...question, do we believe rumour or Blue Peter and EBD?

#3: Author: Kat, Location: Swansea

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:24 pm

We can see the moon during the day, so I guess it's feasible that we could also see the stars...

#4: Author: Xanthe, Location: London/Cambridge

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:30 pm

Carolyn P wrote:

Think it was part of an article about sagar maker's bottom knockers!

*sniggering VERY childishly*

#5: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:54 pm

You can, from the bottom of a tall chimney or down a pot hole. don't know the science of it though!

#6: Author: jennifer, Location: Sunny California

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:40 pm

I did a search out of curiosity, and came up with this

http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/wonderquest/2001-09012-daytime-stars.htm

so, stars wouldn't be visible, but you might be able to see planets in this sort of set up. I have seen Venus in daylight, but you have to know exactly where to look.

I did get a really cool picture once playing around with long exposures on a moonlit night. The photo looks like it was taken in broad daylight, but you can see the constellations clearly in a blue sky.

#7: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:38 pm

I stand corrected! I saw what I thought was a star from down a pot hole once. Must have been a planet!

#8: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:59 pm

I always thought that it was possible to see stars if one was in a deep enough place.

#9: Author: Kate, Location: Ireland

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:45 pm

I asked my mum and she said "of course it's possible, you silly girl". She is a science teacher. She then went on with a scientific explanation, which I'm afraid I ignored.

#10: Author: Lisa, Location: South Coast of England

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:21 pm

Oh Mums (bless 'em!) Am very intrigued about stars....
Is it the same in all countries? I am probably showing acute ignorance here! I just wondered if some atmospheres / skies would ...

*gives up in confusion* Confused

#11: Author: Shander, Location: Canada

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:29 pm

My question PatMac is why you were down a pot hole in the first place, If you don't mind me asking. Smile

#12: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:41 pm

She might tell you, Shander, then you'll be shocked.

#13: Author: Alex, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:51 pm

Jennie, what do you know that we don't?

#14: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 4:09 pm

Well, nothing concrete, but you know, it was PatMac at the bottom of that pothole.

#15: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:33 pm

I was potholing! What did you think a poor innocent little soul like me would be doing, Jennie? I dont know

#16: Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:14 pm

I knew you couldn't, having a physicist for a father tends to take the romance out of life's mysteries, but I always wished you could.

#17: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:23 am

Maybe you could if you hit your head hard enough when you fell down there....

Liz

#18: Author: jackie green, Location: Rotherham

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:39 am

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae591.cfm

seems to be an intelligent answer. (unlike may of the others I foud whilst googling for "see stars in daylight"

Red Blob Jumping

#19: Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:49 am

Thanks for all the answers everyone.

I feel a bit more enlightened now Smile

#20: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 12:08 pm

Thus attempts to view faint light sources often results in a frustrating sense of catching a glimpse of the source in the peripheral vision, only to have it "disappear" when you try to look right at it.

I'd forgotten that! When you look at a constellation at night, you often can't see some of the stars if you look directly at it!

Discovered this, dog walking in the park late at night Razz

WARNING: If you look up for too long without looking where you are going, you fall over Crying

#21: Author: auntie karry, Location: Stoke on Trent

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 5:47 pm

Quote:

sagar maker's bottom knockers

This is the classic "What's my Line" gag. A Saggar Maker made saggars (fired clay containers used to hold ceramic items in the kiln whilst firing.) The Saggar Maker's Bottom Knocker was the saggar maker's assistant, usually a young boy, who was responsible for knocking clay into a large metal hoop using a huge flat mallet called a mawl, to form the bottom of the saggar. The saggar maker would then remove the hoop, and form the sides of the saggar onto the base - a much more skilled job that bottom-knocking
{grin} I couldn't let this one go, considering where I live!
Laughing

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