January 04, 2012 #128 - Cartes du Ciel

I was checking for updates to my astronomy programs and found that my old standby Cartes du Ciel has been improved. Patrick Chevalley has issued version 3.5-svn1986M.

If you will check the site there is also a link to download recent data for use with this program having stars and info anywhere down to 20th. magnitude. This is still a free program! As I have said before it is astounding the amount of time and work that these great programers will undertake for the love of astronomy. Thank you Patrick and friends.

http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/start

Clear Sky - Rich

January 03, 2012 #127 - New Year, !Again!

Happy New Year

Another year has past! This poor blog has had little attention for many moons. As I have written in several posts my wife and I were traveling by camper throughout America during 2009/10 and early 2011. We had to slow to a holding pattern through most of last year due to family needs. We are now back on the shores of Lake Superior looking forward to the new year.

It was crisp (-2 below) last night and I spent some time admiring the winter skies. The moon was bright in the south with Jupiter traveling along nearby. The skies can be amazingly clear near the Apostle Islands no mater what time of year. I was hoping to be treated to the Aurora but the sun has not cooperated during this trip. There was  a great show in Indiana with lots of brilliant reds which I caught about a month ago.

As I have checked the statistics on blog usage by readers, and have found that my original posts of scanned telescope catalogs and information have been very popular since the first page was presented in July 2008. As a new years treat for those looking for more of this type of postings I am passing on an excellent site to go to for this type of info, a literal pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Classic Telescope / Catalogs and Manuals

http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/classics/

A very hearty thank you to this site and all who contributed for us to read!

Clear Sky - Rich

September 30, 2011 #126 - The Soviet Moon Program

If you are interested in the history of the moon race between the United States and the Soviets, there is a newly released book containing some high quality photos and background info from the soviet program. It's entitled "The Soviet Reach for the Moon: The L-1 and L-3 Manned Lunar Programs and the Story of the N-1 (Moon Rocket)", 1995, by Nicholas L. Johnson. This public domain book is available as a PDF from usra.edu.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/sovietReach/index.pdf

(usra.edu) has also released seven other books that may be of interest to readers of this blog. They cover lunar and planetary geology:



Guidebook to the Geology of Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona (a.k.a. Meteor Crater)
by David A. Kring

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/barringer_crater_guidebook/

The Geology of the Terrestrial Planets (1984), by M. H. Carr, R. Stephen Saunders, Robert G. Strom, and Don E. Wilhelms

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/geologyTerraPlanets/

Lunar Stratigraphy and Sedimentology (1976), by John F. Lindsay

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/lunar_stratigraphy/

Moon Trip: A Personal Account of the Apollo Program and its Science (c1989), by Elbert A. King

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/moonTrip/

Planetary Science: A Lunar Perspective (c1982), by Stuart Ross Taylor

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/planetary_science/

To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration (Tucson and London: University of Arizona Press, c1993), by Don E. Wilhelms

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/rockyMoon/

Guide to Lunar Orbiter Photographs (1970), by Thomas P. Hansen

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/photoGuide/

Clear Sky - Rich

April 29, 2011 #125 - The surface of Mercury

I was admiring the flood of orbital pictures that  are flowing back from the Mercury Orbiter - MESSENGER. This started me thinking about what astronomers were able to see of the surface in the time of great planetary observation in the 1800's. A search of Google Books turned up some gems from the period.  I found an interesting article by G.V. Schiaparelli of the Observatory of Milan entitled "Scenes on the planet Mercury" - May1890, Popular Science.

 I also found some drawings representing surface features by Percival Lowell in the 1897 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Vol. LVII).

 Imagine what these painstaking observers, that spent hundreds of nights recording dancing visions of this far world would think if they were able to examine the digital images available to us today. Ah for a time machine!

Clear Sky - Rich

March 26, 2011 #124 - Walking the Lunar Surface Again

Last night I was walking around on the lunar surface again. I was having fun looking at the LROC Zoom NAC M113168034R to locate the natural lunar bridge formed by a collapsed lava tube, which left an unbroken span still in place. This formed a bridge over what was once a flowing river of melted lunar crust. In the search through the zoom for the feature I noticed something interesting in a crater near the photos top. Attached are some screen captures. One showing the overall location, so that the crater can be found. I marked on a second copy the point of interest, and the third a 200% enlargement. The curved shadow is what caught my eye as it seems to point to an above surface projection extending from an apparent square shaped base. I understand that to the untrained eye things are not always what they seem, but it is fun to find this in the data. Take a lunar stroll and look for yourself! Hope you have some fun with this and let me know what you think.

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse/view/M113168034R

Clear Sky - Rich

March 19, 2011 #123 – East Texas the "Piney Woods"

It amazes me how life plunges on without us being aware. Then "Father Time" smacks you occasionally. I was out admiring the beautiful moon last night as it rose out of a tall east Texas pine and that was one of those reality checks. My mind was recalling the moon rises watched on our journey around America. The native Americans counted time by her monthly passage through the heavens. I find that in our travels I have forsaken the clock and calender and have returned to marking time this way. The days are too short and many pass without registering on our minds. There is trouble recalling what day it is. I remember that in my early youth I lived much like those early Americans with regards to time and now have returned to that place in my mind.

When I look at my blog I see that I have not written an entry in two and a half moons. In that interval we have traveled from "The Panhandle" down through central Texas as far south as San Antonio to live for a time in the "Hill Country", then east to the "Big Thicket". Each region is unique and fascinating to a boy from Indiana. Life is so short and there is so much to see and experience in the natural world we are journeying through. I sometimes feel a sadness at missing things but then an elation at what I have experienced and observed.

A week ago I saw Canopus above the southern horizon. Orion was high in the sky not like I'm accustomed to. As I looked at the star atlas I could see that the Magellanic Clouds were just bellow the horizon.  How I would love to see those misty apparitions!

The world news has been very sad for a while, but I still find things to lift my spirits. In our quest to understand the Universe we have discovered many new worlds revolving around far suns, we have entered orbit around Mercury, we have passed the orbit of  Uranus on our journey to explore Pluto, we continue to travel the surface of Mars, and stunning views return from the orbit of Saturn. Many new sights still remain to be seen in the future from probes traveling to far destinations and tonight another full moon will have passed. Our personal travels of discovery also continue.

Clear Sky - Rich

January 12, 2011 #122 – Deep in the Heart of Texas

The Ghost of Cactus Jack

Well, after many weeks of traveling down through the Texas Pan Handle and admiring this beautiful desert country we have found the Internet near Austin, TX.  I spent many a night under desert skies, listening to the coyotes sing their songs, as meteors, lunar eclipses, and the change from fall to winter constellations drew my eyes and ears.  I have found that I love the desert. There is something new to see every day. I feel like I did when I was a young lad.  Everything is strange to the senses. It’s like starting a new life, learning the plants, walking without the distractions that occur in the bustling areas of the US.  As a wildlife biologist in the mid-west for forty years I am experiencing living creatures that have only existed for me in books. It takes a while to get used to walking, as everything is guarded by spines, thorns, or needles, and does not have any pity on the awkward or careless. I am doing OK now, but had to remove my share and lose some blood for a while.

I have been reading a lot about the paleo-history as we travel. I have become fascinated by the early Native American Peoples of the region and their methods of living in this land. Each plant and animal seems to have been utilized in many ways and it is fun seeing what I have been reading about. I was only dimly aware that great wars were fought over hundreds and thousands of years. Native peoples moved from many places, some as far as Canada and displaced whole nations. It seems that no one was able to hold a particular region over long time spans. The people displaced and those new here then adapting to the new habitats. I just completed reading the book chronicling the journey across  this region by Cabez de Vaca in the 1540’s the first Europeans to see much of this land and live with the pre-horse native people. Another interesting book was Geronimo's Autobiography dictated at the end of the 1800's. (Both freely available on Google Books) He gives us a glimpse into growing up in the Apache Culture of the region. There is much more to see and learn. I will write as the opportunity's arise but this blog will probably be sparse for a while.

Clear Skies - Rich

November 19, 2010 #121 – Visit to a New Mexico Cinder Cone.

We visited the Capulin Volcano National Monument today. This cone shaped mountain has many analogs in the solar system. We saw collapsed lava tubes, lava flows, and lava cliffs with strata. In fact I was reminded a lot of the pictures of mars being transmitted by the rovers over the last few years. The lava is the same color and texture. The main difference of coarse is the vegetative cover.

As I stood on the crater rim at 8100 ft. I could see 50 miles across the plains. All along the rift were volcanoes in a line. The lava flow patterns were easy to identify even after 10's of thousands of years.

 As I looked east, the almost full moon was rising into the pale blue sky. As I watched, it occurred to me that we are much more fortunate than Martians would have been. Our spectacular satellite is a wonder to behold, and I think what events she has shown upon. Imagine the fire fountains spraying thousands of feet into the sky, building the cone, rivers and pools of lava, with her hanging over the scene in the night. Lighting would play in the clouds of ash and the moons light would cast wandering shadows over all. Then I wonder was any man here to take this all in. Just 8 miles to the north east is the Folsom Site where early artifacts dating around 10,000 years have been excavated. I wonder how long before this were humans in the area. I went to where they would have stood and looked back towards the mountain.

(Click to enlarge)

(A line of cones along the rift)

 (Inside the cone)

(50 miles east more cinder cones)

(Capulin Volcano)

 Clear Sky - Rich

November 18, 2010 #120 – Piazzi’s Life and Scientific Accomplishments

After my posts on the discovery of Ceres Ferdinandea I began to wonder about the life of the discoverer.  Joseph Piazzi was born in Italy in 1746 and lived to 80. During his early years he became a monk. He taught philosophy and due to some of his teachings alarmed the Dominicans and earned enemies. As a consequence he became a professor of mathematics and was instrumental in reforming the teaching methods of the time in his society.

He was able to persuade the nobility of Sicily to help him establish an observatory at Palermo, engaging Ramsden to construct the instruments which Piazzi designed to improve observational accuracy. The observatory was completed around the end of the century and he began a program of observation. Piazzi  conducted exacting observations and rechecked his observations extensively to insure accuracy. His first work was a great catalog of almost 6750 stars and the discovery of the new planet. In his lifetime he recorded over 125,000 observations and ended up with his catalog reaching 7646 stars, an amazing accomplishment.

If you would check the following link you will find a paper written on Pazzi's work with a picture taken from a portrait painting and the transit he had constructed and used to acquire his data.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/books/AsteroidsIII/pdf/3027.pdf

I have included his obituary, which covers his life in more detail, for you to read if you would like to know more. I found it in the 1827, “New and United Series of the Philosophical Magazine or Annals of Philosophy –Vol.I” on Google Books. (Click to Enlarge)



His 1814 Star Catalog is available with the introduction in Latin on Google Books. Look for "Praecipuarum Stellarum Inerrantium Positones Mediae" You can translate the Latin by opening the text version and copying it to a translator such as Google Translate. The tables are readable without translation. I have included the title page and the 1st. page of the Catalog to give you a sample of his work. It is interesting to compare his recorded positions with the current position on a modern computer astronomical chart to see the amount of change that has occurred since the early 1800's.

Clear Sky - Rich

November 17, 2010 #119 – Old Magazine and Journal Illustrations with Astronomical Themes

I mentioned in a past blog that I enjoy clipping old drawings that can be found within the pages of periodicals. In this post are a few of my favorite recent finds from the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Hope you enjoy them. (Click for a little better view)



Clear Sky - Rich