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We're sharing this Did You Ever Wonder? column by The Gazette's Linda Navarro because the items are related to the great outdoors. If you have something you've wondered about, drop her a line at
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I have wondered about the super-bright object in the western sky. Is it just a star or the International Space Station. It seems closer and brighter than the stars, but friends and family say I am hallucinating when I guess that it isn’t a star, but the ISP.
E.T.
ANSWER:
Hum along with us, E.T. (her real initials!), the old Frankie Avalon song, “Venus, oh Venus ...”
KOAA meteorologist Craig Eliot, who says, “I think you’re seeing Venus in the west right now. Venus is unbelievably bright.”
Because it’s darker longer in January, you might also see four other planets during the month as well as the Sirius, the “Dog Star,” which changes colors. The other visible planets are Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Venus and Jupiter are the brightest, after the sun and moon.
Watch for Venus at dusk and in the early evening, and you’ll spot it higher in the sky after January. We spotted Venus as we were looking straight west right above the mountains.
That rock formation
We have so many runners and climbers in our area that I figured someone would know if that bank commercial with the woman on top of that scary, tiny rock formation is real. It’s all phony, right?
— R.H.
ANSWER: Nope, it’s real. And amazing.
The climbers are professionals, well-known in the climbing world: Katie Brown and Alex Honnold. Google or YouTube them and be amazed.
Experienced climbers say it’s not at all unusual for the pros to stand atop spires like she does.
That rock formation — it’s real, too. It’s “Ancient Art,” part of a geological area known as Fisher Towers. It’s about 20 miles northeast of Moab, Utah.
The commercial is for Citi’s ThankYou card and Vanessa Colella, Citibank Head of North America Marketing, has posted that “as far as experienced rock climbing goes, the climb featured in the commercial is not thought to be particularly difficult.”
If it makes you queasy as Katie stands atop the rock, you’re not alone.
We were also asked the lyrics for the song. It’s “Somebody left the gate open” from the album “Into the Wild” by LP.
26.2 what?
I’m completely baffled by a bumper sticker I see all around Colorado Springs. It just says “26.2.” What am I missing?
— Dave C.
ANSWER: Those reading our outtherecolorado.com are probably chuckling. Officially they are runners who have completed marathons (26.2 miles). In other cases, they’re wannabes or dreamers.
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