Well, Resident Astronomer Peggy and I have spent four wonderful days exploring Yellowstone National Park and then drove down to Casper, WY, for the four day Astrocon 2017, Totality - Feel the Shadow, conference, after which we hope to see the total solar eclipse from there. But before gong into that discussion we should check the calendar of upcoming classes and events and some other eclipse viewing suggestions.
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)
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Packing for Wyoming for the eclipse; Exploring cataclysmic variables with edX.org astrophysics course; IBM gets to 16 qbits; Astronaut Peggy's looking out the window
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well we have been busy packing our bags for Wyoming, so not much more astronomical observing will be done this week. I have had a chance to watch a few more of the Astrophysics: The Violent Universe free internet course at www.edX.org and thought everyone might be interested in a bit of discussion of cataclysmic variable stars.
Well we have been busy packing our bags for Wyoming, so not much more astronomical observing will be done this week. I have had a chance to watch a few more of the Astrophysics: The Violent Universe free internet course at www.edX.org and thought everyone might be interested in a bit of discussion of cataclysmic variable stars.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Practicing taking photos of the eclipse; Eight more eclipse planning lessons learned; HST asks for AAVSO assistance; Tracking the sun drift with a non-tracking mount; Dilbert and quantum mechanics
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well August 21 and the eclipse is fast approaching. This post covers a practice session to get all the bugs out the proposed eclipse observation plan using just a manually tracked camera and tripod. Many lessons learned are presented and it was certainly a good thing to do this practice before eclipse day.
Well August 21 and the eclipse is fast approaching. This post covers a practice session to get all the bugs out the proposed eclipse observation plan using just a manually tracked camera and tripod. Many lessons learned are presented and it was certainly a good thing to do this practice before eclipse day.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
More eclipse planning lessons learned; Measuring the attenuation of eclipse viewing glasses; Hooray, the weather finally enabled another round of Polaris movement measurements!
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
This post covers how the attenuation of solar eclipse glasses can be measured and also, how the weather finally cooperated and some additional measurements of the movement of Polaris were found. Additionally, a couple of lessons learned about planning for the upcoming eclipse travel are presented.
This post covers how the attenuation of solar eclipse glasses can be measured and also, how the weather finally cooperated and some additional measurements of the movement of Polaris were found. Additionally, a couple of lessons learned about planning for the upcoming eclipse travel are presented.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Homebuilt crosshairs for astronomy with DSLR Liveview; Weather delays Polaris measurements; Planetary Protection Officer?; Quantum weirdness and shut up and calculate; Another GR textbook; DC power cable adaptation (kludge) for Ioptron mount
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well, we have been anxious to get back outside and make some position observations of Polaris. These observations are going to have to be a little more precise than the previous ones. In order to get a little more precise in adjusting the camera pointing angles after identifying where Polaris is with respect to the north celestial pole, let's use the homebuilt crosshairs, so we can better identify the camera frame center and make adjustments from that center.
Well, we have been anxious to get back outside and make some position observations of Polaris. These observations are going to have to be a little more precise than the previous ones. In order to get a little more precise in adjusting the camera pointing angles after identifying where Polaris is with respect to the north celestial pole, let's use the homebuilt crosshairs, so we can better identify the camera frame center and make adjustments from that center.
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