Thanks to everyone for all the views and comments!
Author: Michael
2012: “Late Night” Year in Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 14 years to get that many views.
NASA Is Just Awesome
Of all the images to come out of the landing of Curiosity on Mars, nothing compares to this.
NASA spent months figuring out calculations to get the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into perfect position and orientation at the right time to capture this image of Curiosity in its final descent stage to Mars.
Live Updates: Curiosity Lands on Mars
We will be bringing live updates throughout the night, during this exciting event!
Here is a great overview of what will happen.
12:12am-NASA has just cut communications with Curiosity, making it entirely on its own for the duration of the landing.
12:30am-Navigation report from Curiosity shows that all is well.
12:35am-Here is a really cool website that gives a CGI view of what is going on with Curiosity.
www.eyes.nasa.gov
1:14am-Cruise stage seperation has just occured.
1:16am-The vehicle is traveling at nearly 12,000 miles per hour and is 2,000 miles from Mars.
1:24am-Curiosity has entered the Martian atmosphere.
1:28am-Parachute has deployed and heatshield has seperated!
1:31am-Curiosity has landed!
1:35am-First image received!
It’s really moving to see all of the people who have dedicated so many years of their life to this moment celebrating! It’s just incredible to me that it all worked!
Some Lunar Views and Spotting Saturn’s Cassini Divide
I love setting up a telescope with the Sun setting and the sky slowly transitioning from day to night. There is something exciting about planning what will be viewed and the anticipation of what is to come.
The night started out with some brief views of the crescent Moon. This is my favorite time to view the lunar surface. The shadows that are cast from the mountains and craters display incredible depth and make the Moon almost appear 3d though the eyepiece. Sadly, anything over half full and its surface becomes boringly flat, turning the Moon into a nuisance that does nothing more than spoil the view of deep sky objects with its light pollution.
Continuing into the evening, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Saturn was visible in the early nighttime sky. Easily, a favorite of mine and Lauren’s, its rings are now tilted to a point that will offer incredible views of the planet for years to come. Pushing the telescope up to 200 times magnification revealed the beautiful angle of its rings as well as the cassini divide that splits the rings themselves.
Holding up my iPhone to the eyepiece, I was able to take some pretty good video of the planet. The cassini divide is too thin to view in the video, but you can easily make out the divide between the rings and planet disc itself.
Starlog: May 25th & 26th, 2012
The End of the Transit and Meeting a Fellow Amateur Astronomer
On the way back from a short trip to Bedford, Lauren and I noticed someone with a tripod on the top of a hill at Hollins University. We pulled over and walked up to the man, who, I had assumed correctly, was viewing the transit of Venus through a telescope with a solar filter. Unfortunately, the clouds did not part enough for Lauren and I to get a view through his telescope, but we did talk to the nice man, for several minutes, sharing some amateur astronomy stories and shooting the breeze about a variety of topics. I was very envious of his telescope, a classic 90mm “Questar” that, as he explained, has exceptional optics for planetary, lunar and solar viewing. It is rare that I get to meet someone else with a passion for this hobby, and it was the perfect end to an exciting day of views that were literally once in a lifetime!
Live Updates: The Transit of Venus
6:04-Venus has just begun to touch the farthest edge of the Sun.
6:10-You can just barely make out the half of Venus that is over the upper right corner.
6:22-Venus is now completely covering its little part of the Sun as it continues to sail across its surface.
6:27-Clouds and some rain have come into the area. Hopefully it will clear, but either way we got to see the transit and it won’t happen again for 105 years!
Don’t Miss The Transit of Venus on June 5th
THE EVENT
Around Six-Thirty on Tuesday, June 5th an event will occur that has not been seen for eight years and will not be view-able again in our life time, the transit of Venus across the Sun. From our vantage point, Venus will appear to sail across the surface of the Sun, leaving a very small, nearly pinpoint sized, hole on its surface. Making this event all the more exciting is the fact that this will not occur for another 100 year, so unless you are an infant or Larry King, you are not likely to see this again!
USE PROTECTION
As with any solar viewing, using proper and certified protective filters and
glasses is required to insure there is no eye damage that would likely be permanent. The best and cheapest way to view this transit comes from a company called “Rainbow Symphony” who have solar viewing glasses that block out all harmful ultra-violet and infrared radiation from the Sun.
Come Together
As I’ve always said, the best way to enjoy astronomy is to do it with others! Invite some friends over, lend them your protective glasses and give them a taste of the excitement. Simple out reach like this can go a long way to educating the public and raising interest in astronomy as a whole.
Additional Links
NASA Coverage
SPACE.com Coverage
ASTRONOMY.com Coverage
The Return of Big Red
“Guess who’s back, back again. Big Red’s back, tell a friend!”
Eminem-February, 2012
(Referencing the orbital cycle that bring Mars and Earth near each other for incredible views every two years)
Good ole Slim Shady has it right once again. If you are into planetary observing, now is the time to pull out the long johns, put in the hand warmers and take out the scope as Mars returns for some spectacular views over the next couple weeks.
Every two years the orbital gods bring Earth between the Sun and Mars making the two planets closer together. This is known as an opposition. It is at this point every two years that amateur astronomers get their best views of our red headed neighbor. The last opposition of Mars and Earth occurred in early 2010 as I noted during one of my first blog posts on March 19, 2010.
Now, nearly two years later, with a clear night presenting itself just prior to one of our only snow storms of the season thus far, I went out and took a long awaited view of Mars. Using a 6mm eyepiece showing 200X magnification, the polar ice cap popped out as a bright white feature on the northern most tip of the planet. As the atmosphere would occasionally settle down, sharp views occasionally stabilized revealing some fine detailed land features in the extreme Southern hemisphere. This is where patience pays off in astronomy, particularly for planetary observing. One or two seconds of sharpness can provide some of the best memories from an evening out.
I’m hoping for a couple more nights of observing before Mars and Earth quickly begin to move away from each other starting in mid March. As Mars rotates, it shows a different side of itself to Earth every night; land features such as Sytris Major and Terra Meridian will show up as dark defined regions at 200X magnification. If you are interested in planetary observing now is the time to see Mars, it won’t be at this close distance to Earth for another two years and with the Mayan 2012 calendar coming to an end this upcoming December there is definitely no time like the present to observe our closest planetary neighbor.
This image from the iPhone’s SkySafari app shows a zoomed in view of Mars at the time of observing.
Star Log: February 18th, 2012
2011: “Late Night” Year in Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,700 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Late Night Astronomy 