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The space tax

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Dona Ana County, New Mexico, is home to some pretty forward-looking folks. Last week, the county's 200,000 residents passed a local sales-tax increase to support a brand-new industry: space tourism. Sir Richard Branson, head of Virgin Atlantic Airways, is also head of the new space tourism company Virgin Galactic. He wants to build a launch complex in New Mexico — called Spaceport America — with $198 million in state, local, and federal money. And last week, Dona Ana residents ap...

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Observing lists: friend or foe? (part 2)

Posted 17 years ago by Michael Bakich

Last week, I shared some reasons why amateur astronomers create observing lists before heading out to observe. I also gave some tips for those of you who want to prepare such lists. Here are a few more.Keep a list of challenge objects on hand in case the sky proves to be better than you expected in terms of transparency (darkness) or seeing (steadiness). You don't want to miss such an opportunity.Although it may seem fruitful to concentrate on a small area of sky for one night (I often targe...

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Bursting with surprises

Posted 17 years ago by Rich Talcott

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory appears in the shuttle’s cargo bay shortly before it was deployed April 7, 1991. NASASixteen years ago this Saturday, NASA deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, which had roared off the launch pad 2 days earlier, released the observatory from the shuttle's cargo bay. At the time, the 35,000-pound (15,875 kilograms) colossus was the heaviest unmanned spacecraft NASA had launched. The depl...

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Global warming (part 2)

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Skepticism thrives in a climate of uncertainty. Without the definitive proof to establish the facts of a question, anyone can float a hypothesis — however strained and baseless — and simply say, "Prove I'm wrong."Last week, I wrote about the idea circulating in the blogosphere that warming on Mars and several other celestial bodies points to a solar-system-wide climate trend driven ultimately by an increase in the Sun's output. Mars has been singled out for particul...

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All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

Where do you want to go when you die? I don't mean in the sense of an afterlife. That's too complicated and contentious — the myriad beliefs range from nowhere to reincarnation to paradise (or somewhere considerably warmer). Where do you want to go in a literal sense? An ornate family mausoleum? Davy Jones' locker? Depending on your budget, part of you could end up in space.Celestis, a subsidiary of Space Service, Inc., "makes it possible to honor the dream and memory of y...

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Observing lists: friend or foe?

Posted 17 years ago by Michael Bakich

Some observers swear by observing lists. Others swear at them. The latter don't want to bother (or don't have the time) to prepare object lists before their observing sessions. Many observers with go-to drives let the computers in their telescopes do the driving.Personally, I want a bit more say in what I'm going to be looking at, so I like working within the structure of a list. On the other hand, I can veer off the list at the drop of a hat if conditions warrant. I define "con...

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Minor-planet lineup

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Today I want to share with you a really cool solar system image I came across on my daily cruise of the blogosphere. It's a linear arrangement of 88 known bodies in the solar system with diameters larger than 200 miles (320 kilometers). It was created as a hobby project by web developer Alan Taylor and posted on his site Kokogiak.com. To fully appreciate Taylor's minor-planet lineup, open it in software that allows you to zoom in and pan across the image. And here's an interesting ti...

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Carl, we hardly knew ye ...

Posted 17 years ago by David Eicher

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since Carl Sagan died. As you know if you've been interested in astronomy for a long time, Sagan brought an enthusiasm for spreading his passion for astronomy to the public like no other astronomer in recent times. Had he lived to defeat the cancer that took his life December 20, 1996, Carl Edward Sagan would now be 72. For me, it's still difficult to accept he's gone. I vividly remember watching the episodes of Sagan's landmark tel...

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Spring has sprung

Posted 17 years ago by Rich Talcott

Spring officially arrived last week at the vernal equinox, when the Sun crossed the celestial equator heading north at 7:07 P.M. CDT March 20. (Unofficially, spring in Wisconsin began last weekend, when the temperature soared to 80° F (27° C) under sunny skies.) As the name implies, the vernal equinox should feature days and nights of equal length. It doesn't. The actual date when day equaled night came a few days before the 20th (with the exact date depending on your latitude)....

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Swimming-pool science

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

They say that Galileo dropped cannon balls and feathers off the Tower of Pisa to study gravity. It's not true, but the story remains in the collective memory as an example of how to do modern science: You go out and conduct an experiment yourself.These days, lab experimentation isn't the only game in town. High-performance computers all us to run tests without having to drop things off towers. It's possible to simulate all kinds of physical processes using computer models. Decades ag...

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Scopeless star party

Posted 17 years ago by Michael Bakich

Why do people attend star parties? Reasons include taking advantage of a dark sky, hearing high-quality astronomy programs, trying new equipment, and interacting with like-minded individuals. The top reason, however, is to see stuff.In March, the Messier objects rank highly for observers. Later in the spring, galaxies dominate pre-midnight search lists. In summer, the Milky Way offers countless targets. Northern Hemisphere observers — especially those above 40° latitude — make us...

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Movie day memories from NASA

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

I'm a late boomer, born in 1963 at the tail end of the baby boom generation, which is generally cited as those born 1944-1964. My childhood coincided with the heyday of the U.S. space program, and along with it, a public-relations push we school kids experienced as the occasional and treasured "movie day." You could doodle, or snooze, or, in my case, make origami cranes and frogs. (OK, I was a geek.) Today I was reminded of those halcyon movie days when I stumbled across a co...

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How to pick a landing site

Posted 17 years ago by Rich Talcott

MRO snapped this image of boulder-strewn terrain in the martian arctic. Originally, this area was the top candidate for the Phoenix spacecraft’s landing site. Mission planners have now shifted focus to less-rocky terrain. NASA/JPL/University of ArizonaIf you were in charge of landing the next spacecraft on Mars, where would you choose to go? The scientist in you likely would argue for a geologically or biologically attractive site. But the flight engineer in you would hesitate to sp...

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Currently visible comets

Posted 17 years ago by David Eicher

Backyard astronomers long for the next really bright comet. There's hardly anything to equal a brilliant comet's magnificence in the sky. For those who caught a glimpse of Comet McNaught in the January twilight sky, the view was great. But you have to go back to comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in 1996 and 1997 to recall a jaw-dropping, stunningly bright comet hanging in a dark sky. While no really bright comets are now visible, several moderately-bright comets are. They can be gorge...

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The Northern Lights and Lava Fields of Iceland (part 4)

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

Despite our best efforts to track down the northern lights, the weather didn't cooperate for us last night either: Wind gusts blew in clouds from over the ocean, blocking our view of the sky. While we're all a little disappointed, no one in our group is terribly saddened. This morning, before heading to the airport, some group members are taking a final art tour of the city. Reykjavik is filled with sculptures, both in designated gardens and on street corners. This will be a final...

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The Northern Lights and Lava Fields of Iceland (part 3)

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

As a breed, Icelandic horses are virtually unchanged since Viking times. Laura BairdThe northern lights have still eluded us, but the group has kept busy with other activities. Yesterday, part of our group set out to Thorsmork Valley, a nature preserve, but had to turn back due to heavy snow and white-out conditions. Others in the group, myself included, used the day to explore downtown Reykjavik, which is within walking distance of our hotel. We all met for dinner at the Pearl, a revolvi...

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Extra! Extra! Global warming on Mars!

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

For 3 weeks, an angel and a devil have perched on my shoulders. The devil whispers in my left ear, "Blog about the global-warming-on-Mars thing! C'mon, it'll be fun!" The angel on my right shoulder says, "Don't do it! You can't win this one, bub."OK, the devil wins. But, mind you, I will not use the following words: global-warming deniers; liberal climate-change agenda; Rush Limbaugh; Al Gore. That would be politics. We don't do politics; we do science. So...

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The Northern Lights and Lava Fields of Iceland (part 2)

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

The Skogar folk museum preserves these 19th-century homes. Laura BairdToday we traveled to the south shore, where we saw black-sand beaches, took close-up looks at the snow-covered volcanoes that dominate the view from our hotel room, and spied the Westman Islands, which lie some 5 miles off the coast in the Atlantic. We also stopped at the Skogar folk museum and learned what life was like 2 centuries ago. The curator has single-handedly amassed the museum's collection over the ...

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Cold eclipse

Posted 17 years ago by Michael Bakich

The total lunar eclipse March 3 was a test. I'm sure of it. The question was, "How much do you love astronomy?" Or, maybe I could rephrase it to, "What are you willing to endure to observe a minor astronomical event?"For amateur astronomers, lunar eclipses usually don't garner the attention of meteor showers, bright comets, or planetary lineups, and they pale in comparison with that "other" type of eclipse. Still, if your location is one where a lunar eclips...

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The Northern Lights and Lava Fields of Iceland

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

The water plunging over the "golden falls," Gulfoss, is from one of Iceland's glaciers. Laura BairdI'm traveling on Astronomy and MWT Associates' Northern Lights and Lava Fields of Iceland Tour, in search of the aurora borealis. We haven't seen any northern lights yet, but we'll be out the next 3 nights, traveling in the countryside, away from city lights, to track them down. So far, we've enjoyed 2 days of fantastic sights around Reykjavik, where we'...

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Go for the dream!

Posted 17 years ago by David Eicher

This past week was a special one watching television at the Eicher household. Yeah, The Office was on again, the much-treasured Curb Your Enthusiasm reruns and travel shows on European destinations for next year. But something really special was also on: Tuesday night's episode, March 13, on the Travel Channel, of John Ratzenberger's Made in America. Each week, Ratzenberger, former costar of the sitcom Cheers, takes his crew across the nation to highlight interesting stories surrounding ...

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A slice of pi

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Yesterday was pi day. I knew because it was March 14, or 3/14, or 3.14 — the crudest approximation of ∏ (pi), the number that describes the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. As most of us learned in grade school, pi is a weird number. It just goes on and on, like a Senate filibuster, as in 3.14159265358979323846 (etc., etc.). Click here to see pi calculated out to a million digits. The other reason I knew it was pi day was that Dave Eicher, editor-in-chief of Astr...

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Pluto, you've got a friend in New Mexico

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

State legislators in New Mexico vote today whether to declare March 13, 2007, "Pluto Planet Day." Up for consideration is a "joint memorial" sponsored by Representative Joni Marie Gutierrez, Democrat of Doña Ana County: "Declaring Pluto A Planet And Declaring March 13, 2007, 'Pluto Planet Day' At The Legislature." It was 77 years ago today that Clyde Tombaugh and Lowell Observatory reported Pluto's discovery.Joint memorials are not laws. They simp...

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A worldwide star party

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

Since 1968, the Sidewalk Astronomers have literally brought astronomy to the people. Beginning in California, the group has set up equipment in public venues throughout the word, showing passersby night-sky delights.Now the group is organizing the International Sidewalk Astronomy Night. On May 19, 2007, amateurs in about 25 countries will invite the public to take a peek through 1 of a 1,000 telescopes set up on streets. The idea for the event began with a member group of the Sidewalk Astr...

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Planetary defense or lack thereof

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Experts met at the Planetary Defense Conference in Washington earlier this week (March 5–8) to discuss how to protect Earth from asteroid and comet impacts. The good news, according to Simon Worden, director of the NASA-Ames Research Center, is "We know how to do it." The bad news: "We just don't have the money."Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets whose orbits cross Earth's and could therefore collide with us at some point. Earth has been hit before; it&...

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Eclipse regrets

Posted 17 years ago by Rich Talcott

Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Joshua Valcarcel snapped a series of 15 eclipse portraits March 3/4 from the deck of the USS Boxer, which is conducting Maritime Security Operations in support of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. U.S. Navy/Joshua ValcarcelI have a confession to make: I've lost track of how many lunar eclipses I've seen. Sure, a few stand out above the rest. The most memorable was the July 5/6, 1982, total eclipse that I saw from the Marietta College Observatory i...

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A planetary feature by any other name ...

Posted 17 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Hubert Curien (1924–2005) ESAPerhaps as long as humans have had language, we've been naming stuff after ourselves. It's a way of conferring immortality. This holds true for the solar system at large. Major craters on the Moon, deep valleys on Mars, towering volcanoes on Venus — all have names. Famous deceased scientists abound, as do deities from a multitude of world cultures. Some heavenly bodies have naming themes assigned to them. Venus, not surprisingly, is littere...

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Who should own Yerkes?

Posted 17 years ago by Anonymous

Nineteenth-century refractors employed high magnifications. Astronomers observing with the 40-inch telescope at Yerkes Observatory typically used in magnification higher than 400x. Ernie MastroianniLast week, the University of Chicago announced the formation of a committee to find alternatives for selling the historic Yerkes Observatory. This all but kills the university's intent-to-sell agreement with Mirbeau Corporation. The New York-based hotelier wanted to open a spa and resort an...

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In memoriam: Vic Winter

Posted 17 years ago by Michael Bakich

Amateur astronomy lost one of its ambassadors Sunday, January 28, 2007. Vic Winter, just about the friendliest person you'll ever meet on an observing field, passed away in his sleep. He was 53.I first met Vic January 28, 1989, 18 years to the day before his passing. I had just moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and that Saturday night I attended the monthly meeting of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City (ASKC). When I walked through the door, a guy of medium build with glasses, a moustache...

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The forgotten art of astronomical sketching

Posted 17 years ago by David Eicher

David J. EicherBack in the day, I would go out to a cornfield astride the neighborhood where I grew up with my 8-inch scope, my dog Oscar, a box of cookies, a star atlas, and a pad of paper. We would explore the sky all night long, uncovering deep-sky objects that, it seemed, no one had ever heard of. In those mid and late 1970s, easy astrophotography and CCD imaging were not yet part of the vocabulary of amateur astronomers. What was the cutting edge of "discovery" then? By tak...

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