I dug up one of my favorite spring thunderstorm photos. Figured this would be a more appropriate representation of the pending Equinox. One of my favorite element of this photograph is how I took it. I was the passenger in a vehicle and snap this photo while driving at a decent speed. It looks so peaceful, still and calm. It looks like I was standing with a tripod, not on route somewhere. Truly the "calm before the storm". Enjoy the photo.
March 19, 2009
Last night I went to view another IIS docked with the Space Shuttle view as it passed over my region. It was partly cloudy so I left the binoculars behind and dragged some audio equipment with me.
I tuned to 145.8000 and started listening. Before I was able to see them passing I heard communication. It was very cool and the first time I heard something broadcasting from space. It made me think of how people likely felt with the first pass overs of sputnik.
The audio was mostly different people quickly stating what I suspect was Ham Radio call signs followed by their location. Almost all of the locations were 'California'. It also reminded me of listening to shortwave and picking up a faint signal. It was very interesting.
I plan on trying to follow more fly-overs as they occur this week. I am glad to have an audio back up for when the clouds get in the way.
I enjoy paying attention to this happening over me while other people don't even think about it or pay any attention to it.
March 18, 2009
Mark your calendars!!!
March 20th, 2009 at 11:44am
I included a photograph I took last summer that should get you in the mood for spring and the warmer weather it promises.
I might be a little over optimistic this year. We have a few more snow falls into April. As they say, "April snow, brings May something....."
The one thing I am not looking forward to this year is my willow tree in my front yard that has been used as a rabbit food station over the winter. I suspect there is a slim hope of this tree making it. Rub your lucky rabbits foot for me!
Enjoyed a good view of a fly over of the shuttle and the international space station the other night. Will try to catch a few in a row while they are docked to each other. Wish me luck! I am going to try to observe some fly overs that are close to or just after the sunsets!
March 12, 2008
Date: March 11, 2008
Equipment: Skywatcher 10" Dob, Stellarium 0.9.0, accessories
Viewing Duration: 8:52pm to 10:05pm
(not including set up and take down)
Location: Back Deck.
Light Pollution: Heavy light pollution to the east. Very good seeing. One house light on timer south of me that came on occasionally. Was only set to stay on for a short period.
Weather: +3.1 deg C, Wind W 19 to 31 km/h, baro press 100.9
First Light: 17mm, 13mm, 8mm, 5mm Orion Stratus
Observations: First target was mars. Amazing views. Second target was Orion Nebula looks great with the 68deg Field of view on the Stratus. Was Particularly pleased with field of view on the 8mm. Next Target was the Pleiades cluster. With the 17mm the field of view was a little narrow but still a nice view. Next target, Sirius, looks great. Preferred to use the 17mm on Sirus. Next was the Andromeda galaxy. This is the first time I found it. My preference was the13mm. At this point I made minor adjustments to my finder scope to fine tune it. Next target was Saturn and enjoyed it particularly with the 8mm and 5 mm. Finished looking at Saturn with the 13mm. Dragged my daughter out to have a quick look even though it was after her bed time. Next stop, Regulus while I still had the 13mm in place. Then it was off to the moon started with the 8mm, then 13mm, and the 17mm ended up the best. Pulled out the antares nd25 filter to cut back on the light and examined the moon for some time. Great terminator viewing this evening. lots of crater in crater views and great viewing. At first the antares filter made it seem like it was cutting the view back a little to much but once my eye adjusted to it I liked it alot! Using the 2" 28mm that originally came with my skywatcher I snuck in a final wide view of Orion Neb and the entire sword (with some minor movement) and one more view of the moon. Temp was dropping pretty fast and I had to get up early so I called it a night and packed up.
Summary: Love my new Orion Stratus eye pieces! Glad I got them. And I love Stellarium as it helped me to star hop to Andromeda and view it for the first time. Thanks also to everyone at Cloudy Nights for the information and help!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)