Dave's Universe - Astronomy Magazine - Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes

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On the road: A dinner with legendary comet discoverers

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

It isn’t every day that you dine with two accomplished amateur astronomers who between them have discovered 26 comets. But such was the case on Friday evening, February 15, when I had the pleasure of catching up with two old friends — David Levy and Rolf Meier. Both Canadians, David moved to Tucson long ago and is highly celebrated for his 22 comet discoveries, the most famous of which is the co-discovery, along with the Shoemakers, of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. This was the comet ...

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On the road: Meteorites at the 2013 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

I arrived in Tucson, the astronomy capitol of the United States, on Wednesday afternoon, February 13. After recovering from the travel and checking into my room, I headed over for a bit of the closing moments of Wednesday’s Tucson Gem and Mineral Show activities. Accompanied by my dad, John, and meeting up with Michael and Holley Bakich, we enjoyed a bit of the atmosphere in Tucson before my dad and I spent the early evening in a meeting about the website Mindat.org. This incredible resear...

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On the road: Tucson Star Party 2013

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Early tomorrow morning, I’ll head to Tucson, where astronomers are gathering for a big public star party event at Pima Community College’s East Campus on Saturday, February 16. Senior Editor Michael Bakich is already there, and we’ll both be helping coordinate an event that will bring together not only Astronomy magazine and Pima Community College, but also the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, the International Dark Sky Association, the University of Arizona’s Mount ...

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Big “Astronomy” Tucson Star Party fast approaching!

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Astronomy magazine is sponsoring an all-day skywatching party at the East Campus Observatory of Pima Community College (PCC). Activities start at 10 a.m. and continue through 9 p.m.This event will feature astronomy-based talks, displays, and handouts. Throughout the day, members of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) will have telescopes set up with the proper filters to conduct safe solar observing.Then, as the air cools after sunset, the party will s...

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Memories of Carl Sagan

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

My first encounter with Carl Sagan came as a teenager when I readied for a late night of observing with my telescope. I hovered over The Tonight Show before heading outside and sat, mesmerized, as this Cornell University professor made astronomy relevant, exciting, and meaningful to ordinary Americans. Sagan didn’t utter “billions and billions” on that summer night; that phrase, gently lampooning his friend Sagan, arrived later from amateur astronomer Johnny Carson. As I l...

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More comments on civilizations in the universe

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

The flood of responses to the question of how many civilizations are out there in the cosmos continues, and I thank each and every one of you who took the time to assemble your thoughts and send them to me. Not all will appear in these blogs or in print, but I read and appreciated every one of them. The article that prompted them was in the January 2013 Astronomy, p. 9, “Civilizations in the universe.” The sampling of opinions continues:From Surrey, British Columbia, Cameron McLeod w...

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Celebrate Keck Week!

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Keck Week 2013 is coming. What the heck is that, you may ask? Twenty years ago, two enormous telescopes saw first light on the extinct volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the Keck I and Keck II telescopes. Then the world’s largest at 10 meters in aperture, the Kecks are still tied for second. (Only the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias is larger.) To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kecks, the W. M. Keck Observatory is celebrating Keck Week, a seven-day series of events on the Big Island. ...

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A Super Bowl Star Party!

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

For the past six years, astronomy outreach enthusiast Don Lubowich has put on a Super Bowl Star Party at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. If you’re in the area (and are not a Niners or Ravens fan), you might want to consider participating. This year, Don will have a battery of telescopes set up from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, February 3, at the Hofstra Observatory, 4th Floor, Berliner Hall, in Hempstead. Around halftime, Jupiter will be 68° high, the Orion Nebula will be wel...

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Phenomenal image of two red nebulae

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Thanks to Ryan Hannahoe and Rob Gendler for sending this fantastic image of the Cats Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) and the Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357) in Scorpius. These two huge emission nebulae are star forming regions, clouds of hydrogen gas in which gravity is compressing the nebulosity into infant suns. The nebulae lie in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy at a distance of about 5,500 light-years. In this image, made with telescopes at the Fair Dinkum Skies Observatory in Australia and New M...

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Incredible image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A!

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

The virtuoso California imager Ken Crawford has done it again — this time creating a spectacular image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (3C 461). Cas A is the relic of a stellar explosion that occurred some 300 years ago as seen on Earth, and at certain wavelengths, it is the brightest extrasolar radio source in the sky. What makes this image particularly amazing is that Ken overlaid the X-ray image created recently from NASA’s NuSTAR and Chandra instruments onto his optica...

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The "Astronomy"/"Distant Suns" partnership

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

As I’ve mentioned recently, Astronomy magazine has proudly entered into a partnership with the terrific planetarium software program Distant Suns, which is available for virtually every platform and device you can imagine. I’m pleased to share with you the official press release from Mike Smithwick and Frank Colin of Distant Suns, below:Distant Suns Astronomy App and Astronomy Magazine Announce Strategic PartnershipNews ticker of up-to-date space and astronomy news as well as content...

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Fun at the Michigan Astronomy Show and Swap Meet

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Good friend John Schroer, planetarium committee chair of the Astronomy Foundation, informs me of a fun event coming up in the Detroit area March 16, 2013. Astronomy enthusiasts are invited to the 10th Annual Astronomy Show and Swap Meet hosted by the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will feature many astronomy presentations throughout the day. Planetarium lectures will describe what’s up in the sky, including Comet PANSTARRS, and amateur astrono...

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The real story on Apophis’ close shave

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Yesterday’s close passage of the potentially hazardous asteroid (99942) Apophis, at a distance of 9 million miles (14 million kilometers), set off a wave of new social media discussions over doomsday scenarios. (After all, the asteroid was named for the demon serpent of Egyptian mythology.) Astronomers at Kitt Peak National Observatory discovered Apophis in 2004, and soon thereafter they found that it will make close passages to Earth in 2029 and 2036. The impact from an object like Apophi...

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Is Comet ISON the comet of the century?

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

By now, you’ve heard about the spectacular promise of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), which could outshine Venus by the time it graces our early morning sky in November 2013 (and yes, perhaps shine as bright as the Full Moon in a daytime sky, when it’s a mere 1.3° away from the Sun). This sungrazing comet is causing quite a fuss, and even if it doesn’t quite live up to the predicted magnitudes, it could still be the brightest comet we’ve ever seen. For now, however, ISON...

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Time is running out!

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

In the February Astronomy, I wrote a short piece on the Sun’s overall warming and why life on Earth may not exist within a billion years (“Snapshot,” p. 7). This has engendered a large volume of emails from readers on the subject, and I’ll be sharing many of them with you — and I still have many interesting comments from the previous month to share! First off with the end of life on Earth is Hal Jandorf, adjunct professor at Moorpark College and president ...

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News from the Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Astronomy’s 2011 Out-of-this-world Award went to The Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) in New Mexico. (The 2012 award will be announced soon.) I just received a wonderful update from Dee Friesen, President of TAAS, on how the group used the $2,500 prize money to further their astronomical outreach activities. I’d like to share Dee’s email with you below:“After reviewing all of our outreach programs, we identified the need to be able to provide accessibility-challeng...

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More on civilizations in the universe

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

My short piece on the number of civilizations that may exist in the universe (January Astronomy, p. 9) continues to provoke a virtual flood of responses, mostly by email. I thank each and every one of you for sharing your thoughts with me, and I have read them all. I continue to be amazed at the superb thoughtfulness and clarity with which you have expressed your thoughts and feelings. Here are some more samples:Some of you have pretty straightforward ideas. “I think if there’s life ...

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Join us in Tucson for a major star party event

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, staff members from Astronomy will join a group of many partners to put on a big star party in the United States’ “astronomy capitol,” Tucson, Arizona. If you’re in the area, we hope you’ll stop on by and enjoy the wonders of the night sky with us. The star party will be held at the Pima Community College East Campus Observatory, at 8181 East Irvington Road, southeast of the center of the city. This will be an all-day event, with activ...

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Don Parker’s Christmas Jupiter

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

I bet each and every one of you has marveled at the amazingly bright planet Jupiter currently looming high in the evening sky among the stars of Taurus. Dazzling at magnitude –2.8, the king of planets is commanding in its dominance over stars surrounding it. The amazing planetary imager Don Parker of Coral Gables, Florida, captured Jupiter’s clouds December 19, 2012, with a 16-inch reflector at f/25.7, a DMK 21AU 816.AS CCD camera, and a series of exposures composited to form an RGB ...

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Listen to Sheldon Reynolds on life in the universe

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

You can listen to Astronomy magazine Contributing Editor Sheldon Reynolds talk about his feelings on the probability of life elsewhere in the cosmos in a new podcast on the Synopsis website. Check it out here.As you may know, Sheldon is an accomplished musician, former guitarist and lead singer of Earth, Wind & Fire, and he is passionately interested in astronomy and the issue of SETI. Sheldon’s Search for Life Project is running along in support of the SETI Institute, and Sheldon here...

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Guest blog: Dean Regas on the world’s end

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Many of you undoubtedly know Dean Regas, a good friend and cohost of the show Star Gazers on PBS. Dean offers up some thoughts on the silliness over the Mayan calendar today, which I’m delighted to share with you. And remember to tune in for Dean’s show on PBS stations everywhere. (OK, and even as I’m sharing this with you, I must admit our staff is having our own “end of the world” party here at the office today. Smiles all around.) Ending Superstition on Dec...

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A sweet wide-field Whirlpool Galaxy you won’t forget

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

The very talented astroimaging team of Patrick Hochleitner and Dieter Beer, who photograph deep-sky objects from their wonderful site in Austria, have produced a stunning image. We’ve all observed the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) in Canes Venatici, one of the sky’s great face-on spirals and a fabulous example of an interacting galaxy pair. The little guy, NGC 5195, is speeding past the Whirlpool and drawing material away from the big galaxy’s main spiral arm. Patrick and Dieter have ...

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Calling retired amateur astronomers who want a perfect sky — for free

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

This week, I heard about an unusual offer that may constitute the dream retirement situation for an enthusiastic amateur astronomer and his or her companion. Caisey Harlingten, the Canadian amateur astronomer and entrepreneur behind the Colossus Telescope Project (see previous blogs — September 4 and September 10) is looking for a live-in caretaker for an observatory property and house he owns in Animas, New Mexico. The accommodations at Harlingten’s property are a 700-square-foot ne...

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“Astronomy” announces partnership with "Distant Suns"

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

I’m delighted to announce that Astronomy magazine is now in partnership with a longtime leader in digital planetarium software, Distant Suns. Originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1987, Distant Suns has grown to become a dominant player in the computer astronomy software world, having long been available as astronomy software and as an app on nearly every computer platform and operating system. The brainchild of Silicon Valley astronomer and programming genius Mike Smithwick, ...

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See 400+ Geminid meteors in 96 seconds

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, is a tireless astroimager, and he is very good at sending his work to us at the magazine. His latest venture was to photograph the Geminid meteor shower, which peaked last week, and he created a “movie” from the many still photos made through three nights with his automated meteor camera. The result is pretty neat. You’ll see more than 400 Geminids in a span of three nights, December 11 through 14, 2012, as recorded from John’s backyard,...

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Guest blog: Simon Bennett on Patrick Moore

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

I’m sure all of you have heard the terribly sad news of the passing of Patrick Moore earlier this week. The legendary British TV presenter introduced astronomy to more people than anyone but perhaps Carl Sagan, and the astronomy world will not recover from this loss for a very long time. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Patrick a few times, and he was a wonderful, eccentric character with each and every encounter. The first time I met him was in the early or mid 1980s when I was a yo...

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More musings on intelligence in the cosmos

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

A short essay I included in the January Astronomy focused on the possibilities of civilizations in the cosmos. How many could there be among the 50,000 billion billion possible star systems we know must exist? Your response has been remarkable. I’ve received more than 50 written pieces sent directly to me, aside from those that have rolled in to Liz Kruesi, who handles the magazine’s letters to the editor column. A few days ago, I shared some responses in this blog. I find the range ...

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An amazing eclipse image

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Check out this incredible photograph of November 14’s total solar eclipse, an event widely observed by thousands who traveled to Australia to see it. Astronomy magazine friend and contributor Dennis Mammana of Borrego Springs, California, made the image on Green Island in the Great Barrier Reef, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Cairns, Australia, during totality. It shows the whole sky wrapped around the little island where our group witnessed the eclipse. Dennis’ photogra...

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A letter from the Astronomy Foundation

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

Dear Astronomy Foundation Supporters,Thank you for all that you do to help the cause of popularizing amateur astronomy. When Joe Lupica, chairman of the telescope manufacturer Celestron, envisioned the Astronomy Foundation in 2008, he foresaw an organization with broad vision and goals to help bring astronomy to a new generation. Vic Maris, chairman of Stellarvue Telescopes, served ably as the group’s first president, from 2008 until 2011. At that point I was asked to be president of the f...

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Thoughts on the next generation of amateur astronomers

Posted 11 years ago by David Eicher

In the huge response I’ve received from Astronomy readers regarding civilizations in the universe (see my brief story on the subject in the January issue), along came an intriguing note. Kevin Marcus, a devoted amateur astronomer and astroimager, sent his thoughts about the graying of the astronomy hobby. Will younger people join amateur astronomy, which seems to be struggling to attract them? Will they care about serious things like scientific topics in a country now fully awash in worshi...

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