History of Discovery at Flagstaff: Lowell, Tombaugh and Pluto; Evaluating Gerd Neumann light panel for flat images; Sean Carroll's Thanksgiving post; Astronomer Assistant Ruby applauds NASA Insight landing success

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well we are back at the observatory after our visit to Lowell Observatory and surrounding areas of Flagstaff, AZ.  Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving celebration, we certainly did, and can offer some additional comments and lessons learned there and at the AAVSO meeting.

Part II of AAVSO meeting and Lowell Observatory tour; Visiting Wupatki National Monument and Sedona; Lowell Pluto and Clark Telescopes; Lunar cooling and moon landing studies at Lowell

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well here we are at Part II of our Lowell Observatory adventure and day 2 of the AAVSO annual meeting.

Attending the AAVSO 107th Annual Meeting at Lowell Observatory; AAVSO support for TESS false positive mitigation; Optical interferomery offers hgh stellar resolution; Pluto Dome+ Part I

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well we finished packing our bags and made our way to Flagstaff, AZ for the 107th annual AAVSO meeting which was held at the historic Lowell Observatory.

Smoky sunset through palms; How much does the light from the sun weigh? Hooray, found region containing AAVSO target XZ Tau!; Trying out a gyro stablized camera mount

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well, the Santa Ana winds and fires have complicated some observing opportunities and packing for our upcoming trip to AAVSO annual meeting at Lowell Observatory is taking up more time.  But this post has some astrophysics and a quick observation to see if the variable star XZ Tau could be located.

NIghtfall event in Borrego Springs; Metallic Monsters? What is the diameter of Mars? Clouds and more clouds but some Milky Way images

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well we have been offsite this week to attend the Nightfall star party in Borrego Springs.  We had hoped for some clear dark desert skies, but as most astronomers know you often have to put up with clouds.

Planet formation as seen by spectral distribution; AAVSO to help Chandra Observatory with stellar outburst observations; Nightfall in Borrego Springs

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

The angular momentum problem described in the previous post is just one of the interesting physics concepts of planet formation.  This post continues the discussion on planet formation and describes how the evolution of proto disks can be tracked and identified.  In addition, we will discuss AAVSO and Chandra collaboration and travelling to the Nightfall star party in Borrego Springs.