UCR Professor John Baez on mysteries of fundamental physics; How does the ANITA baloon experiment detect neutrinos?; UCI Professor Feng on developing FASER on shoestring budget

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well this week the blog is all about physics so you astronomical observers buckle up and get ready for the ANITA experiment looking for high energy neutrinos and FASER experiment searching for dark matter exiting the proton beam at the LHC.  Our next scheduled observing run is for the Transit of Mercury on November 11, so stay tuned for that and hope for clear skies.

Milky Way and M31 at Nightfall in Borrego Springs; November 11 Transit of Mercury; First try to lightup foreground sculptures with Milky Way in the background; Goodby, friend Kurt!

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well no sooner than we returned from the AAVSO meeting and observatory tours in Las Cruces, NM, it was time to drive to Borrego Springs for the annual Nightfall star party.  Nightfall is sponsored by the Riverside Astronomical Society and the event offers short courses and lectures during the daytime and dark skies at night.  Thanks to all the RAS volunteers who helped make it possible!

AAVSO 108th meeting concluded; Hooray, toured Sunspot and Apache Point Observatories

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well the 108th AAVSO meeting has finished up and today we drive 2 hours from Las Cruces  passed Holloman Air Force Base and Alamogordo and then passed Cloudcroft until we reached the Sunspot and Apache Point Observatories.

108th Annual AAVSO Meeting in Las Cruces, New Mexico; Types of Variable Stars; Radial Velocity of RR Lyrae and Cepheids; Importance of Novae; Large scale surveys; Spectra and light curves; Lobster Hands?

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Ok, so here we are ready for the two day AAVSO meeting in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Waking up in Las Cruces, New Mexico; Clyde Tombaugh's Stained Glass Window; SM2 and WSMR; Hooray, the Milky Way!

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well this blog post is from offsite in Las Cruces, New Mexico for 108th AAVSO meeting.  But on this free day before the meeting begins we had a chance to Clyde Tombaugh's Stain Glass Window, tour White Sands Missile Museum and see some great views of the Milky Way.