Good grief! Winter hasn't even started and the Northeast has literally been blasted by a "Monster" ice storm, bitter cold temperatures and follow-up snow storms. Enough is enough! Sitting out the winter in the south is terrific, but we've been through many storms so we fully understand what people and property at home are going through and hope and pray "Mother Nature" calms down for the Northeast over the coming winter months.
I still haven't had the telescope out for any stargazing. Light pollution, moisture in the sky and just a hint of laziness is hampering my observing. To boot, the sky is relatively void of planetary objects for a while. Orion is creeping higher in the sky which will be worth setting up for.
I hope you all had a change to observe the "largest" full moon of 2008! If not, there will be another chance to see the "largest" full moon of 2009 in January. Saturn is slowly making its way into the night sky. The rings of Saturn are a real crowd pleaser to view but they are slowly tilting and will soon "disappear!" Fear not, they're tilting edge-on and as they are very thin, the rings will "disappear" for smaller amateur telescopes. However, without our sun's light reflecting off the rings we may actually begin to see other features of Saturn. We may even be able to pick out one or two of Saturn's larger moons. Now that'll make me take out the scope!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Till next time....
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Grumblings about the weather and things to do!
December 3, 2008
This afternoon we welcomed two fellow Winnebago Travelers to our campground. Phil and Carol S. settled in a short distance from us. They’ll be here for a couple of evenings and to top things off, the weather is looking nicer into the weekend. All we seem to be hearing on the weather front is that it’s cooler than normal in central Florida for this time of the year! Sure, we’re looking forward to the 70’s and we’re stuck in the 60’s and 50’s! I know, all of you sure “feel” for us down here!
We have to wear long pants and sweaters! Grrrrr!! At night we have to add a jacket to our outer wear! Actually, I’m not writing the above to complain, I’m angry because I’m one of those folks who can catch a cold easily when the temperature fluctuates so much… and I did! Of course, it wouldn’t have any thing to do with how busy we’ve been, enjoying Disney, biking, walking, shopping, eating, every thing outdoors and working! Come to think of it, it’s more likely that I caught the cold at work. Disney Quest has hot and cool attraction areas, some attractions that we oversee require a great deal of fast movement and there are lots of people to come in contact with!
As for astronomy, I’m trying to take advantage of getting out observing before the moon goes beyond its first quarter and Jupiter and Venus are still visible. Pretty soon the night sky will be void of any planets for a while; they will be entering a position in their orbits that doesn’t favor our position to view them. I guess we’ll just have to adjust and go back to looking at all those “faint fuzzies” and double stars the sky has to offer.
One of the “events” I really want to try here at the campground is what is referred to as, “Sidewalk Astronomy!” A number of years ago an amateur astronomer in California wanted to bring the night sky to people who rarely think about looking up at the night sky. Either their locale (city) or daily routine fails to offer them the opportunity to enjoy some spectacular (and free) visual treats the night sky has to offer. He would pack up his telescope, and head for any busy street with lots of people walking by. After setting it up, he would then, simply invite them to look through his telescope at the most common, bright celestial objects that were visible in the sky between all the city lights and buildings. People were awestruck! Many had never looked at the moon through a telescope let alone see a planet’s detail with their own eyes.
Now I have a mission!
Till next time!
This afternoon we welcomed two fellow Winnebago Travelers to our campground. Phil and Carol S. settled in a short distance from us. They’ll be here for a couple of evenings and to top things off, the weather is looking nicer into the weekend. All we seem to be hearing on the weather front is that it’s cooler than normal in central Florida for this time of the year! Sure, we’re looking forward to the 70’s and we’re stuck in the 60’s and 50’s! I know, all of you sure “feel” for us down here!
We have to wear long pants and sweaters! Grrrrr!! At night we have to add a jacket to our outer wear! Actually, I’m not writing the above to complain, I’m angry because I’m one of those folks who can catch a cold easily when the temperature fluctuates so much… and I did! Of course, it wouldn’t have any thing to do with how busy we’ve been, enjoying Disney, biking, walking, shopping, eating, every thing outdoors and working! Come to think of it, it’s more likely that I caught the cold at work. Disney Quest has hot and cool attraction areas, some attractions that we oversee require a great deal of fast movement and there are lots of people to come in contact with!
As for astronomy, I’m trying to take advantage of getting out observing before the moon goes beyond its first quarter and Jupiter and Venus are still visible. Pretty soon the night sky will be void of any planets for a while; they will be entering a position in their orbits that doesn’t favor our position to view them. I guess we’ll just have to adjust and go back to looking at all those “faint fuzzies” and double stars the sky has to offer.
One of the “events” I really want to try here at the campground is what is referred to as, “Sidewalk Astronomy!” A number of years ago an amateur astronomer in California wanted to bring the night sky to people who rarely think about looking up at the night sky. Either their locale (city) or daily routine fails to offer them the opportunity to enjoy some spectacular (and free) visual treats the night sky has to offer. He would pack up his telescope, and head for any busy street with lots of people walking by. After setting it up, he would then, simply invite them to look through his telescope at the most common, bright celestial objects that were visible in the sky between all the city lights and buildings. People were awestruck! Many had never looked at the moon through a telescope let alone see a planet’s detail with their own eyes.
Now I have a mission!
Till next time!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
December 2, 2008
The conjunction of the moon, Jupiter and Venus was beautiful. We all got a chance to have a good look at them before the clouds set in. Even the bright lights of Disney’s Hollywood Studios didn’t spoil our view. Here’s a photo taken from the parking lot, under a street light, resting the camera on someone’s van! (Venus is below the moon and Jupiter is at a right angle to the right from Venus.)
The moon will begin to rise higher into the sky but Jupiter and Venus will stay reasonably close for a few more days.
We made our way from HStudios to EPCOT. We thought we’d take in the “Candlelight Procession” and Christmas reading at EPCOT. Neal Patrick Harris was the guest reader but the line prohibited us from getting in to see it. Back we went to HS! We planned to see the Osborn/Sylvania 5+million Christmas lights set up on all the building of the “Downtown America area of Hollywood Studios.” WOW! “Snow” streaming off the building tops, Christmas music and every so often they would play an upbeat (loud) rendition of a Christmas song and the lights would “dance” to the music! It’s a must see. The lights will be there till after the holidays.
It seems so strange, everything says Christmas, but having the sun, mild temps and no heavy outer clothing certainly doesn’t say New England!
Till next time!
The conjunction of the moon, Jupiter and Venus was beautiful. We all got a chance to have a good look at them before the clouds set in. Even the bright lights of Disney’s Hollywood Studios didn’t spoil our view. Here’s a photo taken from the parking lot, under a street light, resting the camera on someone’s van! (Venus is below the moon and Jupiter is at a right angle to the right from Venus.)
The moon will begin to rise higher into the sky but Jupiter and Venus will stay reasonably close for a few more days.
We made our way from HStudios to EPCOT. We thought we’d take in the “Candlelight Procession” and Christmas reading at EPCOT. Neal Patrick Harris was the guest reader but the line prohibited us from getting in to see it. Back we went to HS! We planned to see the Osborn/Sylvania 5+million Christmas lights set up on all the building of the “Downtown America area of Hollywood Studios.” WOW! “Snow” streaming off the building tops, Christmas music and every so often they would play an upbeat (loud) rendition of a Christmas song and the lights would “dance” to the music! It’s a must see. The lights will be there till after the holidays.
It seems so strange, everything says Christmas, but having the sun, mild temps and no heavy outer clothing certainly doesn’t say New England!
Till next time!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Settling in and back to work
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Since the October Topsfield Elementary School “Star Party” we’ve packed, headed south and returned to work. How appropriate, we’re “Navigators” at Disney Quest. My refractor hasn’t seen “light” for over a month and to boot, the celestial event I’ve been looking forward to see might be clouded out!
If you haven’t noticed the very bright objects in the southwest of the early night sky, I’d suggest you take a look. Jupiter, Venus (extremely bright) and the crescent moon are in conjunction. All three will form a beautiful triangle on the night of December 1, 2008. I’ve been talking it up around our campground but we’re currently experiencing some severe weather which may carry over to Dec. 1st. I hope all of you get a chance to see it. Actually, I’m having fun trying to see how long I can get away with my secret identity (Prof. Cosmo Q. Redshift). I’ve begun posting a “What’s up Tonight” info sheet on the Club house bulletin board. I post it (along with a photo of the Prof.) when something interesting is presenting itself in the night sky. So far, I’m still anonymous!
On our way south, we experienced our first motorhome tire blow-out. Fortunately, everything worked out in our favor. Now we have five old tires and one new one! The problem is, we wanted to replace all of them in the Spring of ’09… with larger tires! That means I’m going to get rid of a brand new tire! We hope we don’t have another flat on the motorhome before we return home! If we do, we’re certainly not going to toss out two new $350.00 tires, we’ll just have to keep the same size tires and replace only the old ones. Oh decisions, decisions!
Clear skies and Happy Holidays to all of you!
If you haven’t noticed the very bright objects in the southwest of the early night sky, I’d suggest you take a look. Jupiter, Venus (extremely bright) and the crescent moon are in conjunction. All three will form a beautiful triangle on the night of December 1, 2008. I’ve been talking it up around our campground but we’re currently experiencing some severe weather which may carry over to Dec. 1st. I hope all of you get a chance to see it. Actually, I’m having fun trying to see how long I can get away with my secret identity (Prof. Cosmo Q. Redshift). I’ve begun posting a “What’s up Tonight” info sheet on the Club house bulletin board. I post it (along with a photo of the Prof.) when something interesting is presenting itself in the night sky. So far, I’m still anonymous!
On our way south, we experienced our first motorhome tire blow-out. Fortunately, everything worked out in our favor. Now we have five old tires and one new one! The problem is, we wanted to replace all of them in the Spring of ’09… with larger tires! That means I’m going to get rid of a brand new tire! We hope we don’t have another flat on the motorhome before we return home! If we do, we’re certainly not going to toss out two new $350.00 tires, we’ll just have to keep the same size tires and replace only the old ones. Oh decisions, decisions!
Clear skies and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Stuck in doors!
All the rain along the east coast has curtailed any stellar observing and quality RVing so we've been doing a lot of baseball watching along with winter planning. The economy is on all of our minds and we're all waiting for the "other shoe" to fall as our Government attempts to correct a wrong that, from what I understand, they started! We've been hearing about gas/fuel shortages in the southern states, which certainly isn't sitting well with all our RVing friends as we head into late fall and winter.
To change the subject, the sun continues to be very "quiet" as the Solar Minimum continues. That means we've had near zero sunspots to watch "dance" across the sun's surface (with a solar filter). I hear it's been the quietest period since they've been recording solar activity. Currently, I use a "white light" solar filter, which only permits sunspot observing. Some day I'll get into a Hydrogen Alpha solar filter/scope which will give grand views of solar promenances and the churning/burning of the solar surface. The only caveat is that the cost of such a filter/scope is very high! The night sky is still clinging to the summer and fall constellations. The summer guardian, Hercules is reluctantly passing on the "night watch" to his winter replacement. Each night you can see the winter guardian, Orion, climbing into the sky a little earlier. Jupiter manages to continue to give us some exceptional views of it's moons and cloud bands. An especially cool event to watch is the shadow of one of it's moons as it transits (crosses) the surface of the giant planet. It's a challenge to "catch" the moon transit visually with smaller amateur telescopes but most rewarding to say you've seen it. If you're lucky enough to watch a Jupiter moon transit with a 12" or better telescope you might be able to see the moon that's making the shadow... and that's a treat!
I think there's some blue sky coming our way, there's hope for a clear sky for all activities out of doors!
To change the subject, the sun continues to be very "quiet" as the Solar Minimum continues. That means we've had near zero sunspots to watch "dance" across the sun's surface (with a solar filter). I hear it's been the quietest period since they've been recording solar activity. Currently, I use a "white light" solar filter, which only permits sunspot observing. Some day I'll get into a Hydrogen Alpha solar filter/scope which will give grand views of solar promenances and the churning/burning of the solar surface. The only caveat is that the cost of such a filter/scope is very high! The night sky is still clinging to the summer and fall constellations. The summer guardian, Hercules is reluctantly passing on the "night watch" to his winter replacement. Each night you can see the winter guardian, Orion, climbing into the sky a little earlier. Jupiter manages to continue to give us some exceptional views of it's moons and cloud bands. An especially cool event to watch is the shadow of one of it's moons as it transits (crosses) the surface of the giant planet. It's a challenge to "catch" the moon transit visually with smaller amateur telescopes but most rewarding to say you've seen it. If you're lucky enough to watch a Jupiter moon transit with a 12" or better telescope you might be able to see the moon that's making the shadow... and that's a treat!
I think there's some blue sky coming our way, there's hope for a clear sky for all activities out of doors!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog! If you're wondering just who "Prof CQR" is. Why, it's me! Professor Cosmo Q. Redshift is the "character" I developed as part of the "Star Parties" I hosted at various elementary schools when I was active in the North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club in Groveland. Professor Cosmo was decked out in a cranberry red lab coat with stiched on "glow in the dark" space objects, a curly long white hair wig, the large "elderly" wrap around sun glasses (that fit over your regular glasses) and, of course, a red light! The Professor heralded from the "Starry Night University!" I miss "getting into character" once in awhile but since retirement we've enjoyed hitting the road in our Journey motorhome. But, as many of you who know me, you know I still manage to "get into the role" every now and then while at a campout.
So, if you care to follow us as we "explore" the sky and the great land of this country just visit my blog every now and then!
Dave
So, if you care to follow us as we "explore" the sky and the great land of this country just visit my blog every now and then!
Dave
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