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)

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Hooray, finally got an image of Mercury after the clouds disappeared; First attempt at astrophotography with IPhone Telephoto Attachment; Fun in Lisboa and Sunrise on the Douro River

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well, here we, Resident Astronomer Peggy and I, in Lisbon, for vacation and some remote location observing with the little, teeny, weeny telephoto lens accessory that just clamps on to the IPhone.  But before getting into how that new accessory works, or in this case, didn’t work, let’s report on the successful detection of Mercury, just after sundown.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Why is the solar corona hotter than the surface and non-stationary statistics? Trying to photo Mercury just after sunset; Fantastic new teeny telephoto lens accessory for Iphone

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well, ever since OCA and Griffiths Observatory Artist, Chris Butler told us at the OCA general meeting, in the What's UP segment, about Mercury going to be observable just after sunset this month, I was really excited and started preparing my observing plan to finally get an image of Mercury.  I had previously seen Mercury during the earlier solar transit, as described in the post of May 9, 2016, but had never photographed Mercury itself.  Well, the clouds have been so heavy this week, so before talking about the disappointing Mercury saga, let me first mention the news from the last CSULB physics colloquium.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

After Orange County Science Fair, Resident Astronomer does more study of cosmic rays; Have fun with your own cloud chamber

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well last week I was lucky enough to be one of multiple judges at the Orange County Science and Engineering Fair in Costa Mesa.  Check out the March 14 post for more details.  This was my first time as a judge and I probably learned more from the middle school students than they learned from me.  In fact, one of the students, who had built her own cloud chamber and did observations of cosmic rays, so excited me, that I just had to do some more research in that area.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Detectability of planetary radio leakage; OC Science Fair and here comes da judge; We'll miss you Stephen Hawking!

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well the clouds are out in full force this week and it rains every now and then so nighttime astronomical observing is pretty much not going to happen.  So, get out your meteorology study books or just stay inside or in this case I can refer to some comments received by readers regarding the detection of leakage radio emissions as part of the SETI program.  In addition, it was time for the OC Science Fair and a new judge on the circuit, and finally remembering Stephen Hawking.  First up

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Sirius Airy Ring Analysis; Brief summary of APS March meeting in Los Angeles; LIGO Nobel Laureates Thorne and Barish speak at UCI and APS; OCA general meeting on SETI; Curious cats?


Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well this week and upcoming forecast shows just clouds and clouds and more clouds with some rain, so keep your scopes indoors and dry.  Luckily, I have been at the American Physical Society March meeting for most of this week.  So this post covers some follow up analysis of Airy rings, summary comments from APS March meeting and UCI Physical Sciences lecture by Kip Thorne and a warning for Astronomer Assistant Willow.  So,

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Using the lightweight Skywatcher to look for Airy rings; Quantum Studies workshop at Chapman University; Aharonov-Bohm effect and now Weak Measurements; American Physical Society March meeting

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well, I've been packing my bags for the APS March 2018 meeting, but wanted to try observing Airy Rings, so when the clouds parted this lazy astronomer, without a permanent observing dome, grabbed the lightweight tripod with Skywatcher polar tracking mount and found