Did The Earth Move For You, Baby??

We had an earthquake last night!!! Well, about an hour and a half ago.

This is so cool. Now, if you live in an earthquake-prone area, you may not think it is "cool" but here in the Midwest it's rare. Now, there are fault lines around here, and there is the big New Madrid fault in Missouri, but it's been quiet for a long time.

No damage here, but there was some down where the epicenter was, in southern Illinois.

Few Updates

Not much happening lately. Shot a wedding last weekend, and went to see an astronaut from NASA speak last night.

I'll post more later.

Stellar Distress

Actually it should be "de-stress," but I'm doing a little play on words.

Last night I spent a few hours out at my astro club's observatory under the stars. It's always been a great place for be to go when I want to "get away" from everything, calm down, de-stress, and just relax.

I didn't call anyone to come out and observe with me, mainly for two reasons. One, I'm sick and tired of always having to be the one to call and say "want to go out?" I mean, if people were interested in doing things with me, wouldn't they be the ones calling? And second, I just wanted some time by myself, and not have to make conversation about anything - people, places, things, photography, science, etc. I just wanted to observe. I didn't even bring any music along with me; I just wanted solace.

I toured the sky. I observed nebulae, galaxies, and start clusters. I took a lot of time observing the planet Saturn, which was shining brightly in the eastern sky. The seeing was very good, and I marveled at the planet's rings (which are closing from our vantage point), the detail on the planet's clouds, and the pinpoints of light surrounding the pale, ringed apparition: it's moons.

I took some time away from the eyepiece to watch some travelers in our local area. The ISS (International Space Station) was making a bright, high pass overhead. I watched it for nearly it's whole pass; from the southwestern sky until it disappeared low in the northeast. Tonight it was the brightest object in the sky, and it had some traveling companions as well. Proceeding it (but much fainter) was the Progress supply ship, and bringing up the rear a few minutes later was the Automated Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne. As ISS was traversing the area next to the Big Dipper, Verne was rising in the southwest, taking the exact path of ISS. And as Verne traveled near the Dipper, it was even joined by another point of light journeying north to south: the satellite Lacrosse 4.

I ended my evening journey through the cosmos by sitting on the front steps and watching the constellation Orion slowly sinking in the southwestern sky, heralding the end of the winter season, and bringing the promise of warmer weather, the "realm of the galaxies" and the promise of seeing different wonders of the Universe.

Could I have experienced the same thing with people around? Possibly, but it wouldn't have been as personal.

There are times when it's good to be alone. This was one of them.

De-stress complete.

Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008

Wow, that is news you never want to hear. Sad news; news that leads you to contemplation and remembrance.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke died today. For most people he's going to be best remembered as the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey. But to me, and others of his fans, he was so much more.

He was an author to be sure. He penned hundreds of books, both fiction and non-fiction. His fantastic writings in the mid 1940's predicted communication satellites, and today those satellites reside in an orbit around the earth commonly called "Clarke Orbits."

He was fascinated by everything, and he never lost that fascination. I had always hoped that somehow I would meet him, get to talk to him; heck even receive an email from him. But like with most things, this never happened. I don't know what I would have said to him; I might have been the giddy fanboy. I don't know. But his books meant a lot to me, and still do. Not just 2001, but Childhood's End, Sands of Mars, Songs of Distant Earth, A Fall of Moondust. Too many to mention here, but they all have special meaning to me.

In this day of crappy, meaningless science-fiction, Clarke's works were actually meant to make the reader think. No stupid "fantasy" stuff. No vampires, no dragons. Just "hard" sci-fi.

(But just try to find his work in the local bookstore. Only a few titles. The "modern" bookstore has thrown the "fantasy" books in with the actual science-fiction. Don't get me started on that.)

Clarke was a visionary... a critical thinker. And the world will be a lesser place now that he is gone.

Is the Universe about to Crash?

I just read something about the "WWT" or "World Wide Telescope." Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But evil might possibly be lurking behind the name. And it might cause the destruction of the known (and unknown) Universe.

Why? Because the "World Wide Telescope" is a product of Microsoft!!

Yes, that Microsoft. The company of bugs, errors, and hacker/virus attacks. The monopolistic company who has a (near) stranglehold on PC OS's.

(Yeah, unfortunately I have PC's. But only until I get some money, then I'm all about the Mac's)

Are we going to be the citizens of a buggy universe? Will hackers and virus writers attack the Bug Nebula? And will Microsoft themselves charge "upgrade prices" for new eyepieces? Or larger telescopes to see farther?

"Yes, you can see the detail in QSO 3c273. You just need the upgrade. That will be (insert large number of monetary units) for your license key."

"I'm sorry, but 'Windows to the Universe Genuine Advantage Validation Tool' has determined your Universe to be a pirated version. To receive a key to a genuine Universe, please click here."

And what happens if you are observing something important, and the stars disappear and the sky turns blue? That brings the phrase "Blue Screen of Death" to proportions no one wants to think about. And just how would we go about rebooting the Universe? Would there actually BE a ctrl-alt-del?

Yes, be afraid people. Your existence could end at any time. When Microsoft gets involved, the Window to the Universe will be unstable.

(this article © Kevin. All rights reserved)

The Great Frozen Lunar Eclipse Adventure

The Great Frozen Lunar Eclipse Adventure
(or, how to lose feeling in your extremities while taking photos in the winter night)

It was a dark and snowy night. Well, it was semi-dark and while not actually snowing, there was a lot of snow on the ground. But it works for this story.

I had been looking forward to the February 20, 2008 total lunar eclipse for quite a while (last year, in fact). This was to be the last eclipse visible from my area until December of 2010, and while that’s only a couple of years away, it’s too long between eclipses. I had just gone through a longer drought than that, and it wasn’t pleasant. The lunar eclipse we had in March of 2007 was clouded out, and the one in August was nearly as bad; we had hazy, scummy skies at the lakeshore. So this was the last best shot for a while.

I spent the day trying to find a remote switch for my camera, among other things. But all events during the day lead up to the night.

Because it has been nearly permanently cloudy for over a month, I was sure no one had been up to the observatory (James C. Veen Observatory in Lowell, Michigan), so that meant the road probably hadn’t been plowed. In the past, this would not have been a problem, as a friend of mine cleared it off with his plow truck. However, the truck - a 1964 Toyota - finally died a horrible, lingering death last fall, so now there’s no free plow service. And we don’t even want to think how much a real plow service would charge for a .33 mile road and lot. No way.

The Clear Sky Clock for the observatory was indicating that it might be at least partly cloudy for the event, so I made plans to go up and shoot the eclipse through one of the telescopes. And that meant getting the road cleared off. After some phone calls, we got someone to go up and take care of it. I was getting all my stuff ready to go out there in the evening, when Ron called and said "I hope people appreciate this." It was a major pain (actually he said something not appropriate for kids) to clear the road. It was ice/snow/ice/snow - about two feet deep. They had to plow five feet, back up, then five feet more, etc. And then they couldn’t get the whole upper lot cleared, but there was enough for six or seven cars. Yeah, I guess we’d better appreciate it.

So I pack everything in the car: cameras (digital and film) and laptop, snow shovel (you never know), and road salt (again, because you never know) and headed out to the observatory. The skies as I left the house were crystal clear, and it looked to be a great, albeit cold, night.

As I’m driving towards the observatory, I notice something I don’t want to see: clouds. Sure, the moon was shining through breaks in the clouds, but there were clouds nonetheless. As I got closer and closer, the clouds got thicker and thicker. When I finally got to the bottom of the observatory drive, the whole sky was covered. This did not bode well for our hero. But the Clear Sky Clock had it “sort of cloudy” for the 8pm block, so I was hoping that it would clear out. I had a backup plan: I would wait around at the observatory until 9.30, and if it didn’t’ clear out I would race back to Grand Rapids to a church I know, as I’ve used their lit steeple for moon shots before. So on up the road I go. It is now 7.30pm.

I made it up fine, but was then glad for the shovel, because I had to then shovel my way to the door of the building. Remember, no one had been there since January. So I struggled to shovel a path through the previously mentioned two feet of ice/snow/ice/snow and cleared the steps. I then opened the door and went inside ten minutes later. And because it was still cloudy, I didn’t bother to bring in any of my equipment. Why haul it all inside if I can’t use it there, right?

I immediately turn the furnace up, so the library will get warm, and where I can go to warm up. I then ascend the stairs of the west dome to get everything uncovered and opened. Because of previous problems with the dome slit opening (the bottom shutter sticks to the top sometimes in the winter), I immediately tried to open the dome: yep, the shutters were stuck. And with the moon being high on the ecliptic, I needed the lower shutter to stay down. So I lowered the shutter to just above the rim, and went downstairs to the utility room to find tools. I found a hammer with a head falling off, and an old screwdriver, which I took up into the dome and proceeded to knock apart the shutters. After some straining, sweating, and cursing, the two pieces came apart! Hurrah!! I then opened the shutter, and as it was opening, I beheld a clear sky!! Yes, while I was working on the dome, the skies cleared out. I just hope they were clear all over (since I was looking northwest).

I then went over and flipped the switch to turn the dome, and guess what? The dome didn’t turn!! All the freezing and thawing had frozen the dome in place. I now had to - while working the motor switch - manhandle the dome back and forth. After a while I got it to go most of the way around, but it stuck just short of the position I needed it to be to get the moon in the telescope view. (the good news is, while turning the dome, I saw that it was indeed clear from horizon to horizon, and the full moon shone brightly into the dome.) I backed the dome around half way, climbed up on the desk, and as it came back around pulled as hard as I could until the dome moved past the position where I had to have it for the event. And even then, it wouldn’t go any farther north in that direction. There was much snow out on the roof leaning against the dome. I was lucky to get it to move that far.

All of this took about one half hour. It was now 8.15pm.

I then turned on the power to the telescopes, uncovered them, and went back down to my car to haul in my gear. I then received a call from one of the other observers who was watching the eclipse from the warm comfort of his living room window. He asked if I saw any shadowing yet, which I told him I did. The partial umbral phase wasn’t supposed to begin (first contact) until 8.43, but as the moon got closer to the umbra, there was definite darkening of its leading edge.

I attached my digital camera to the telescope I was going to use for the evening, a four-inch Takahashi refractor. It is perfect size to allow the entire disc of the moon to fill the frame. Our other telescope in the dome, a sixteen inch, is too powerful for this situation. I then rotated the camera to the correct position, centered the image, and attempted to focus.

Focusing a digital SLR is extremely different than focusing a film camera, primarily because the focusing screen isn’t really designed for manual work. It’s rare for a photographer with a digital camera to manually focus his images all the time. While it takes just seconds to focus using my film camera, this new digital took a bit of doing. And still, to be sure, I took a few shots of the moon, removed the card from the camera, and loaded the images into my computer to check the focus. After three attempts, I got acceptable focus. Now to wait for the main event.

I wasn’t going to take a lot of photos of the partial phases of the eclipse, because I have seen many eclipses over the years, and have many photos of the non-totality phases. I just wanted totality and near totality. Heck, I have a whole series of images from the August 1989 eclipse where I shot every five to ten minutes for the whole eclipse. Believe me; I’ve got partial phase images!

During this time, I’ve been receiving a few phone calls from other people about the event, and then one of the other club members came up to check it out with me. He went up in the dome while I warmed up a bit. I then got a call from my friend Sharon and her sister Sally, who missed the turn to the road and needed a bit of direction clarification. I soon had them pointed up the observatory drive. They arrived and brought their cameras in, and I showed them up to the dome. The girls hadn’t been here before, so they were taking it all in. I showed them the moon through the scope (albeit through the viewfinder of my camera, but still…) and they got their stuff ready to shoot.

To fast forward a bit, there was swapping of cameras for a while as all three of us took turns shooting photos as the moon got closer and closer to totality.

When totality arrived, I took a couple of images, and then let them have a go, and then told them we needed to go outside. When we walked out the door, it was a different sky than when they arrived, as the formerly bright full moon was replaced by a dim, reddish full moon. The surrounding stars, once dim or invisible because of moonlight, now blazed forth in their glory. I took a few minutes to point out some constellations for them with the laser, and then got to work on my next task: a wider-angle shot of the eclipse.

Just a note on the eclipse itself. We saw a hint of turquoise at times, and during mid-totality it seemed to be darker then the previous eclipses. Must have been stuff in the atmosphere causing it. Definitely darker than the January 2000 eclipse, when I previously froze taking photos.

I put my lens back on my camera, took it downstairs, put it on the tripod, and went back outside. I had been thinking of how I could get an “artsy” image of the eclipse (my idea from the summer one was to get the eclipsed moon right next to the lighthouse on the lake, but it didn’t turn out), so I went around to the back side of the observatory where I could see the moon hovering above the dome. Perfect spot. I then proceeded to take a few photos, bracketing the exposures and painting the dome with a flashlight to get it to show up in the images. I did this for a few minutes, and when I really couldn’t feel my fingers and toes, trudged through the deep snow back to the building, and told the girls they could go back up and shoot through the scope more, as I was going to warm up in the library. I did that until I could feel things again, and then went up to the dome, joining the girls as they were having fun taking shot after shot. I took a few more as we got halfway out of the eclipse, and then left them to shoot what they wanted.

We took a break for a while to warm up again, and I showed them the AV presentation, and we chatted a while about astronomy, photography, etc. We then went back up to the dome, where the un-eclipsing moon was getting brighter and brighter, and they decided to pack it up and go home. As we packed up, I moved the scope over and showed them Saturn through the main scope, and the Mars, and then the Orion Nebula. Geeked was about the right word to describe how they felt, and they promised themselves they were going to come back again and again and see more things, and photograph more things.

I closed the dome, covered the instruments, and we took our equipment out to our respective vehicles. I closed up the observatory, followed them down the drive, and went home. It was just after midnight.

Arriving home, I lugged my stuff in the house, transferred the images from the camera to the laptop, and then took it downstairs and worked on the images while I warmed up. After about a half-hour I could feel all my toes and fingers, so I finished with the photos for the night, uploaded a couple to some websites, emailed to people, and finally went to bed (a nice, warm, toasty bed) just before 3.00am. A full, rich (and cold) day.

Now I can't wait for December 2010, and the next eclipse.

The Sad Death of Instant Photos

I can't believe I didn't heard this on Friday when word got out.

Polaroid Closing Instant Film Factories

Wow. I remember when it was all the rage for people to use Polaroid cameras. We still have a SX-70 that my Dad got when it was new. As kids, we thought it was really cool to take a picture, and then watch with held breath as the image slowly appeared on the small, milky square.

We also had the regular Polaroid cameras, where you had to pull out the tab and picture, wait sixty seconds, and then peel it apart, but the "magic" of the SX-70 was so awesome!

Later Polaroid cameras used the same type of film, and I learned (in photo school) to manipulate the images as they were developing, using pencils, pens, and the like. We did some really artsy stuff back then. I remember using Polaroid backs when doing photo shoots as well.

But in this ever-increasing digital age, "instant film" isn't really needed. We have the instant gratification on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

Ah, Polaroid Instant Film. You had a good long ride. Rest in Peace.

I Got a Bad Feeling About This...

And no, it's nothing to do with Star Wars. It's about a planetarium light show.

Around here, we have a planetarium, named after a local astronaut (now deceased, unfortunately). What is also unfortunate is that they don't really do anything to pull in large crowds, and make science available to the general public. They are more interested in pandering to the rich people in town. And they, like the museum they are located at, charge exorbitant prices to see shows and exhibits. Because of this, they never have crowds. Also, because they never do anything that is popular.

One of the things that is popular are laser light shows. Now, they don't do anything to further the study and appreciation of astronomy and the sciences, but they bring some (usually) good music so the (mainly) stoners of the area can go, spend $7 each, and sit wasted for an hour. Their standby shows are Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. They have done some Led Zeppelin in the past, along with crappy music like Radiohead and Creed.

What I have said to them for years is "hey, do a Rush light show." There is a huge Rush fan base here in west Michigan, and they will have no problem selling tickets. Heck, all they would have to do is put the 2112 album to music and effects. It's perfect. And for years, nothing.

Now I hear that "sometime in 2008" there is a Rush show on the schedule. I made it quite clear that I would like to "be in on it" (I do have many contacts down there, and have "hung out" at the planetarium for years). Suddenly I see today that on February 16th there is a Rush show, featuring "a new lineup of Rush’s greatest hits." This scares me.

Why does it scare me? Because the "person" in charge of the production is frickin' 20-something years old!! He doesn't even like the music. How is he qualified to pick what songs should be used? I'm afraid he's just going to go for the popular ones, like Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio, and Closer to the Heart. Those are great songs, but probably not the best for a laser light show.

I was thinking Fly by Night, Countdown, an edited Cygnus X-1 (to name a few). But I am 99.999999% sure that these songs won't be used.

And when the show fails to bring in audiences, they will use their standard "it's not the right show for this area." And all because they themselves screwed it up. Which is too bad, because it could be glorious.

We're All Gonna Die!!!

A ginormous asteroid is going to slam into the Earth next week!!!

Oh wait... that's patently WRONG!!!

Head on over to SpaceWatch for the real story, and a link to Phil Plait's video.

Checkmate

I read earlier today that Bobby Fischer passed away. No matter how eccentric or strange he was these past years, he will always be the person I remember who popularized chess and brought it to the world stage when he defeated Boris Spassky in 1972.

I didn't realize until today that I learned chess at the same age he did - 6 years old. I never got to the Grand Master level that he did, but I was a fairly good player. Unfortunately I haven't played in years, because there's no one to play with.

Thanks Bobby. You gave me a game I was good at.

Mitt Romney = Evil

It's too bad "truth in advertising" doesn't extend to the candidates and their typical rhetoric.

Romney makes these statements that he's "from Michigan" and "knows how Michigan feels." How can he, when he hasn't lived here in years?

And backing some of Bush's ideas? That's a strike against him as well.

I've talked to quite a number of people my age and younger (I'm mid-40's) and for us, Romney's name means nothing. Heck, Milliken was governor here when I was a kid.

Romney speaks of "change" and "getting rid of the status-quo" in Washington, but he's just the same - another life-long politician who's in it for himself, and not the public.

Personally, to me, he looks like one of those slick used car salesmen that you can't trust at all. And since he's a lawyer, it makes it doubly sure you can't trust him.

I just wish the candidates would tell the truth, and not make stuff up.

And before I get flamed, I'm not a democrat. I remain neutral, and will vote who I think will do the job, not because someone tells me to. That's the problem with both parties. They demand people to vote a certain way, and if you don't do what they want, you are evil.

Again, it looks like this election - overblown as it is already - is shaping up to being "pick the lesser of two evils."

Again. Mitt Romney is evil. He cannot be trusted. Do not listen to him.

(this message brought to you by me, a non-committed individual with no party affiliations, who votes his own mind).

The True Meaning

(Yes, I post this every year)

"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
--Linus Van Pelt (and Charles M Schultz)

A New Rant Today. Can You Believe It?

And it's the same old story. People can't get their facts straight. And this time I'm going to call them out by name.

If you've read my "stories" on here before, you know how I have ranted against the media when it comes to science and scientific accuracy. And most - if not all - of my rants have been focused on one television station: WOOD TV8 here in Grand Rapids. Not only are they the "National Enquirer" and "Weekly World News" of broadcasting, their weather department is a joke as well.

(In fact today they made an intern do the weather in the morning and noon, because the actual paid people probably whined about working today. So let's let someone who isn't even a meteorologist do the forecast. Oh wait... they do that all the time. Not all of their paid weather staff are meteorologists.)

But instead of being nameless (and leaving it up to the reader to dig for the info) today I'm calling one of them out.

Bill Steffen. You Are On Notice

Tonight on their 5pm news, he said three times that there will be a big full moon in the sky tonight,

That's WRONG!!!!

You hear that Bill? YOU ARE WRONG!!!

The full moon was last night, December 23rd. At 8.15pm EST exactly. There are numerous places to get this information, but apparently this fool can't be bothered. You can find it online, in books, and there are computer programs that will tell you (I use a great program called "Moonrise.")

Their tagline on their station for the weather is "accurate forecasting." Well, it isn't very accurate when they can't even get established information correct, let alone the weather (they are 3rd in accuracy locally behind the other two stations).

I can't write about this on my astronomy club's blog, because there I have to be the "voice of reason" and can't have personal vendettas. But here I can.

I urge everyone to boycott WOOD TV8, and send them emails, letters, even call them and tell them they are doing a disservice to the public, and they should be ashamed.

Shiny Goodness - and Pain

So cool, a present for myself.

I get (for free) an upgrade to a great software package because a few years ago the company bought one of my photos. So yesterday the big upgrade came in the mail.

I go out and get it from the box, turn and trip over my own big feet. The result? A dislocated finger on my right hand. And it's the important finger: the one I flip people off with.

So I go to the med station, and they say it's not broken, just dislocated. In fact, when it happened, I popped it back in when I grabbed the finger, spouting expletives into the crisp winter air. So it hurts like a bitch.

But last night I got the software up and running, and it's really cool. But typing's a bitch.

Why does everything happen to my right hand? When I was a kid, I got the ring finger slammed in a door. Then a few years later, playing football, I got the pinky bent backward and broken. Then, many years later, while cutting a mat for a photograph, I put the cutter (razor) through my hand. Oh yeah, I've also dislocated my thumb on that hand. But now how can I give people the bird if that finger is taped to the next one? Is there such a thing as a single-hand-double-bird?

Power and Popularity

Before I get into the subject matter, I have to say right now Dell is on my "cool" list. They fixed my laptop in two days. I sent it out last Friday, and it came back Wednesday. Had a bad hard drive and a bad board. Now to load everything on it.

Okay, on to the subject...

It is a known fact in this world that the people that hold the power (be it in actuality or implied) have the friends and popularity. And once said power is taken away, the "friends" and the popularity go as well. What does that have to do with me, who has neither? Well, in about 30 days I'll have less than neither, I'm guessing.

I'm considering it quite seriously to step down and resign all my positions in my local astronomy club except for the website (which is my baby: I designed it, built it, kept it warm in the winter and cool in the summer). My term as President is up in January, and the other positions I "hold" are mine by the simple reason that no one else wants to do them (or do anything, for that matter).

So if I leave it all behind, what will I be leaving, you ask?

A position on the board of directors for the corporation; the officership; editor and publisher of the newsletter; publicity; database management; media relations; membership affairs; correspondence; public event scheduling, and meetings and programs. Oh yeah, and the website.

I currently do ALL of this. And in reality, I'm only supposed to be President. People have become lazy, and are letting me do this because they are slugabed bastards. "In the good old days" as the saying goes, we had separate people for each of those jobs aforementioned. But not anymore. And I'm sick of doing it.

I'd like to take at least a year off. A year to kick back, de-stress, concentrate on my wellbeing, do some casual observing, photography, etc. I don't want to have to worry about meetings, programs, newsletters, etc etc etc etc.

And I know that if I go ahead and do this, I will be diminished. I'm sure that - once I don't have a position of power, the individuals who "hang around" me (whether often or rare) will fall by the wayside.

Do I care? I don't really know. I've been alone so long, fending for myself, that I don't know if I would miss anything or anyone.

Perhaps if I were left alone I could find my tail (I'm supposedly called "Eeyore" by some people).

A Spanking, a Spanking!!

No, not a skit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Unfortunately it's real life, and it's happening in Massachusetts. Proposed by someone named Kathleen Wolf.

The idiots in the government, along with some really bad idiots in the public sector (see the name above), want to outlaw corporal punishment completely. Even at home.

Supposedly it's to stop child abuse. But it's not. It's just a way for a small minority of religious zealots to get their way by abusing the rights of the citizens of this country.

My brother and I were spanked when we were kids, and we both grew up fine. We weren't beaten - just punished when we did something wrong. In fact, I remember being hit with a switch once, that i had to go out and get myself. And you can be sure that I never did anything bad enough to get hit with that again.

There's nothing wrong with spanking your kids. I don't agree with child abuse, and I think that people that abuse their kids should be put to death slowly. But to take away the right of a parent to discipline their child is just wrong. What's next, you can slap their hand when they are reaching for a hot pan on the stove.

The government needs to start realizing that the citizens of this country DO NOT WANT THEM MEDDLING IN THEIR (citizen's) AFFAIRS! Make laws, but keep your noses out of a person's private business.

To quote a young River Tam: "People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."

So hey Massachusetts! Keep your paws out of our houses!!! What's next for your stupid state? Teaching Intelligent Design in schools? Will it never stop?

Comets and more comets

Tonight was a milestone for me. I saw another comet. Now, that might not be big news for some, but it is for me.

Tonight I observed the comet 17P/Holmes, a small comet located in the constellation Perseus. This was an unplanned observation, but one I couldn't turn down. See, normally this comet is way below "normal" visibility. It takes a large telescope to see it. However, yesterday the comet brightened unexpectedly by a factor of 500,000 times! It went from "need a big scope" to "naked eye" visibility in a super outburst rarely seen. Sure, comets have outbursts, but nothing like this.

So I went out and was able to see it easily in the northeastern sky. It looked starlike, and to the uninformed they wouldn't notice anything different, but I had a sky chart for the comet, and it was easy to see that the constellation Perseus had an "extra" star.

So I got to see it, and I took a few photos. And the big news for me - it was the fiftieth (50th) comet I've seen in my years as an astronomer.

Cool, eh?

Feelings About Space

(Note: Over on Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy site, some people responded to Phil's blog post about NASA mission and the shuttle. On the whole I tend to agree with Phil, but this time I have to take my own stand on the feelings about NASA, the shuttle, ISS, etc. So I posted this over there, and - since I wrote it - I am putting it here on my blog as well)...

Say what you will, but from a standpoint of “showing off” the wonders of the space program (and astronomy), there’s nothing like pointing out ISS (and the shuttle at times) going overhead to the public, especially at star parties. They are just amazed that you can see things like that.

And truthfully, no matter now many times I’ve seen ISS and the shuttles pass overhead in the night sky, I go out and look every time (unless it’s cloudy).

Some might think it’s “fluff,” but it’s also a teaching experience for the public. And any way that we can educate the public as to the wonders of science (instead of that other crap) — well, it’s a benefit.

I can tell you, in all the times we (in our astronomy club) talk about the shuttle and the station, not one individual is bored. They hang on our every word. The public is fascinated, no matter what the media says.

And personally, I feel just like a little kid again every time I see a launch, landing, docking, or even the shuttle and/or ISS going over my head. And if, after all these years, I don’t lose the excitement and wonderment, why should be be anything if not proactive in sharing it with the public?

Last week I saw the film In the Shadow of the Moon, and saw images of kids lying on the floor in front of the television watching Neil Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface. It brought to my mind that I was doing the exact same thing at the same time as those kids on the screen - I was lying on the floor of my uncle’s house with my cousins watching the drama unfold from 240,000 miles away.

And even though it’s been nearly forty years, I haven’t lost the interest, wonderment, and amazement of space and astronomy.

So remember, no matter what you think about a certain part of the space program personally, don’t forget the underlying love you have for it in general.

To the Moon

I just got back from watching the documentary film "In the Shadow of the Moon" about the Apollo program to send humans to the lunar surface.

It... was... excellent.

It makes a fine companion piece to the Al Reinart film "For All Mankind."

I'm going to see about sending an email to the people who made the movie, telling them how much I loved it, and hoping that there will be a multi-disc DVD of the film soon.

Go out and see it if you can.

It was 60 Years Ago Today....

The clear skies over southern California was ripped by a small, orange machine, and a sound never heard before issued forth from the cerulean skies... Boom!!!

The Sound Barrier was exceeded.

Congratulations to Chuck Yeager, the first. And just to prove he's still got it, just last month he went Mach 1 in an F-16.

(Tip of the supersonic hat to Phil Plait, who mentioned it at his Bad Astronomy site.)