Nights like these were made for amateur astronomers. A cool 27 degree night with little wind and no moon awaited. Preparing for the session has always been half the fun. Creating a mental list of what is going to be out and putting on some coffee as various layers of clothing are added to try and eke out as much precious time as possible before the cold finally wins out and ends the night. Tonight, there were few things on the list after a sunset viewing of Venus and Mercury less than 1 degree apart. The main event was a comet recently discovered in August of 2014 dropping by the neighborhood, which goes by the name Lovejoy C/2014 Q2.

The hunt for Lovejoy began with Skysafari+ on the iPhone 6. Located on this night, near the constellation Taurus and in between stars Nu Tauri and Xi Tauri; Lovejoy shined at a magnitude +4.9 and was visible to the naked eye even from the orange/yellow light polluted sky of Southwest Virginia. Starting out with the 2 in. Q70 38mm, Lovejoy popped into life at 32x magnification revealing a diffused cloud with a slightly greenish/gray color along with a surprisingly noticeable nucleus. While others have been able to make out its tail, I was not able to do so, most likely due to light pollution. From 32x to 200x magnification, Lovejoy continued to impress with the best views being in the 48x to 96x range.

This comet was much more impressive than previous ones viewed, including Lulin in February of 2009 and Panstarrs in June 2014. If you have a telescope or set of binoculars, January will continue to be a good time for observing. But don’t worry if you miss out, most estimates have Lovejoy returning in about 8,000 years.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,000 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

After leaving work a couple minutes early to beat traffic, my good friend and coworker Eric and I, arrived at the Science Museum for a presentation we had been looking forward to for weeks. Dr. Edgar Mitchell was the sixth person to walk on the Moon and with that feat he joined an elite group of astronauts, of which only eight are still living. Dr. Mitchell’s presentation centered around his Apollo 14 Mission with fellow astronauts Allen Shepard and Stuart Roosa to the Fra Mauro region of the Moon, which was originally intended for the ill fated Apollo 13 mission. Going through the details of their mission reminded me of the complexity and ingenuity that was required to successfully take these men to the Moon and return them safely to the Earth.  Even though there wasn’t time for pictures or a handshake at the end, I still consider it an honor to say that I was in a room and got to hear the story of how we went to the Moon from someone who has actually walked on it.

It is incredible to me that there are only eight people alive who have walked on the Moon. After all of the promises of lunar bases and tickets sold for the Moon in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I’m sure few during those exciting decades of space travel would have guessed that we would just simply stop going. While I’m sure there will be a time in my life when we will return to the Moon, perhaps in decent numbers, until that time comes, the era of the Apollo program will continue to be our nostalgic view back at a future we had hoped would be more promising for lunar exploration.

Thanks to everyone for all the views and comments!

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.

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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.

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!