Hope you're having a good time. We've been tied up with celebrations and didn't get the scope out. However, I did pick the next astronomical target to capture with the scope and did perform one light propagation calculation and measurement with
some candle powered instrumentation.
I picked the readily available and supposedly ordinary Polaris, The North Star, as the next photo object. But it turns out to be a really interesting object. More about the interesting selection of Polaris and why it needs its own photograph next time.
Astronomers measure distance in light years and I used a candle power distance measurement system to measure the distance light has propagated from a reflective surface. The reflective surface was from my very own optical instruments, my eyes. So, after a celebratory dinner at Hannah's, I set up the candle powered instrument shown below indicates how far the light from our star after it first reflected off my eyes has travelled. It's now 65 light years and still expanding. I sort of knew I lived in a bubble, just not one of 65 light year radius.
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| Resident Astronomer contemplates 65 years of retina reflection and light travel |
Enjoy the holidays
If you are interested in things astronomical or in astrophysics and cosmology
Check out this blog at www.palmiaobservatory.com
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