Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well we are just waiting for the total lunar eclipse on January 31. In the meantime, several folks asked about upcoming astronomy conferences and meetings. So, this post lists some upcoming meetings that I have tentatively put on my schedule. Some meetings like those of the OCA and local college and university colloquia, but others, primarily for professionals in the field, have entrance fees. More conferences in the news as we go forward, but let's look for what we know now.
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)
Friday, January 26, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
Hooray, Sky-Watcher success at OCA Star Party; Use your cell phone for daytime polar alignment; Calling all citizen scientists, get your astro data!
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Last post of January 19 we described how we were seeking a more lightweight way and easier way to set up some sort of tracking mount so that we could just take the camera and tripod outside and collect some quick spectra or light curve data. We elected to tryout the Sky-Watcher as a means to get longer exposure times with just a camera and tripod. Luckily, the OCA star party was just coming up so we decided to brave the cold and tryout the setup.
Last post of January 19 we described how we were seeking a more lightweight way and easier way to set up some sort of tracking mount so that we could just take the camera and tripod outside and collect some quick spectra or light curve data. We elected to tryout the Sky-Watcher as a means to get longer exposure times with just a camera and tripod. Luckily, the OCA star party was just coming up so we decided to brave the cold and tryout the setup.
Friday, January 19, 2018
Trying out the Sky-Watcher; New books from AAS 231 meeting; Water, Ice, Symmetry and the Higgs; Marty Cooper, what have you wrought? You too can attend the AAS 232 meeting
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well this has been a week of evaluating a new lightweight star tracking accessory for wide field of view astrophotography and unpacking some of the books picked up at the recent AAS 231st meeting. Trying this new device called Sky-Tracker might be an option at the upcoming January 20 OCA star party at the new Blackstar location at Bob Swenson Field.
Well this has been a week of evaluating a new lightweight star tracking accessory for wide field of view astrophotography and unpacking some of the books picked up at the recent AAS 231st meeting. Trying this new device called Sky-Tracker might be an option at the upcoming January 20 OCA star party at the new Blackstar location at Bob Swenson Field.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Get ready for the lunar eclipse on January 31; Example of AAVSO supernova discovery announcement, light curves, equipment and spectra
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well you have just two weeks now to get ready for the upcoming lunar eclipse. If you are anything like me, you have to start training now to get up early enough in the morning to see the whole thing from start to finish. Anyway we will see when I actually get started. Additionally, let' go over an example of another amateur capable discovery of a supernova and look at the data analysis so far as made in a American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) alert, which was sent out on January 15, so that others could point their telescopes to the blazing object.
Well you have just two weeks now to get ready for the upcoming lunar eclipse. If you are anything like me, you have to start training now to get up early enough in the morning to see the whole thing from start to finish. Anyway we will see when I actually get started. Additionally, let' go over an example of another amateur capable discovery of a supernova and look at the data analysis so far as made in a American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) alert, which was sent out on January 15, so that others could point their telescopes to the blazing object.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Final comments from AAS 231st meeting; Radio Astronomy; On going back to Venus; Dim Dwarfs and Stellar flows; Whence came the water? The cocoon out of GW170817
Greetings from Palmia Observatory
Well, we are back in California after spending a wonderful week at the American Astronomical Society 231st meeting outside Washington, DC. I found it too exhausting to try to post some comments every day and I couldn't do the topics the just review that they deserved, but still wanted to give now a brief summary of, say, 5 of the more interesting topics that struck my fancy. Of course, I already commented on one of the most interesting in the last post, regarding the tension between the two best estimates of Hubble constant ( km / sec / Mpc) , now found to be 66.9 +/- 0.6 by the CMB method and to be 73.24 +/- 1.74 by the supernova standard candle method. This post covers a brief summary of five more topics:
Well, we are back in California after spending a wonderful week at the American Astronomical Society 231st meeting outside Washington, DC. I found it too exhausting to try to post some comments every day and I couldn't do the topics the just review that they deserved, but still wanted to give now a brief summary of, say, 5 of the more interesting topics that struck my fancy. Of course, I already commented on one of the most interesting in the last post, regarding the tension between the two best estimates of Hubble constant ( km / sec / Mpc) , now found to be 66.9 +/- 0.6 by the CMB method and to be 73.24 +/- 1.74 by the supernova standard candle method. This post covers a brief summary of five more topics:
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