Observing with Street Lights

Observing with Street Lights
Dark sky sites not always necessary to see the Milky Way (This image was taken ouside of a B&B in Julian, CA)

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Finally caught the plane in the moon and trying some photo interpretation to determine height and range

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well, you probably all have tried looking for the man in the moon, but have you tried looking for the plane in the moon?  I myself don't recall actually seeing the man in the moon, but have been unsuccessfully trying, until now, to get an image of the plane in the moon.

The opportunity for this image came up last night.  Resident astronomer Peggy was off baby sitting great nephew Jackson, so I attended one of the 50th anniversary presentations for the founding of the UCI campus.  The speaker was Nobel laureate Mario Molina, who as a young post doc at UCI working with Professor Rowland, decided an interesting chemistry topic would be

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Free internet course on analyzing the universe, microlensing discussion, early morning images of conjunction of Mars, Venus and Jupiter

Well, you should know that this morning your humble servant sacrificed his sleep and put himself in harms way in the observatory parking lot to provide for you with a photo of the conjunction of planets Jupiter, Venus and Mars.  Ok, ok, it's what I like to do, but how would you like to set the alarm yourself and get up in the dark to see the early morning sky?

Before getting to those images, we should review another fun topic in astrophysics.  I've been enjoying several online courses on astrophysics.  Amateur Marcelo recommended a course "Analyzing the Universe" and I've really enjoyed

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Tour of Goldstone Tracking Station; Physics colloquia, free internet courses at coursera and edx, and OCA Astrophysics SIG

This week has been again mostly a study week with just one photo from the Goldstone Tracking Station tour, but first some astrophysics study topics.

The CSULB physics colloquium on matter wave interferometry was very interesting and the professor explained it in terms I could somewhat understand.  It relies on the basic quantum mechanics principle of the duality of particles and waves and that the interference pattern normally associated with waves can also be seen with

Saturday, October 10, 2015

UCI Physical Science Breakfast, Physics Colloquia, Distinctive Voices lecture, upcoming Nightfall Star Party, New members Karen and Ed, Nerd and Theatre Impressario Scott, and Danny meets BB-8

Well, this week has been more about the ongoing astrophysics and cosmology study effort than about actual observing.  I will have one picture of a new tool purchased for the observatory, but first the week in lectures and upcoming events.

Tuesday was the UCI Physical Sciences Breakfast Lecture series and the speaker and breakfast ( free, but $10 parking) were both very good. The presentation was about the new surface properties that are found with nano scale materials.  One example from nature that Professor Korn used to explain the new properties was of the very

Monday, October 5, 2015

Bad weather cancels our Mt Wilson 60 inch tour, and Black Star has poor weather (Scopenights app was right) too, just one peak at M13, but Civil Civil Engineer Marcello comes through

Well this was the week for the night of observing through the 60 inch telescope at Mt. Wilson, but it was not to be.  The bad news is that after making the reservation 9 months, as we waited for the go forward email from the observatory, the email came in that the observatory was clouded out and our session was cancelled.  Darn.  Well, the good news was that we still had time to pack up the car and