Right now there are two active asteroid sample-return missions in space Read now : Hitching a ride on an asteroid to travel back to the birth of the Solar System about Managing projects through people. By Samuel L. From robotic telescopes to an asteroid pretending to be a moon on Mars, here are four articles about asteroids. Read now : Asteroids about Managing projects through people. How can studying asteroids allow us to have a better understanding of the formation of our solar system? Read now : Revealing the surface of an asteroid using robotic telescopes about Managing projects through people. Read now : Can a space rock from Costa Rica reveal the origin of water on Earth?
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In China, as in many other cultures, there is evidence of interest and observation of the sky from many years earlier than written documentation suggests. Examples of pottery now held at the Beijing Ancient Observatory and dated to the Neolithic period over years ago show images of the sun, and intricately carved animal shells and bones depict images of the stars as well as astronomical events such as star explosions which may date back as far as BC.
It is possible that the observation of the sky in a scientific sense was first undertaken as a way of marking time and recording events within a recurring pattern in order to create a calendar. A calendar marks the seasons and helps farmers to know when to plant and harvest their grain. Like many ancient societies, China based its calendar upon the phases of the moon but then added extra months.
It is designed to give you a robust and up-to-date background in areas such as UK-based students are encouraged to make use of the SCONUL Access.
We run a popular undergraduate physics programme. We pride ourselves on being a centre that is internationally recognised for the quality of teaching and research and hope that you will enjoy learning a little more about us through this site. Read the University’s advice and daily updates for staff , current students and prospective students.
Physics Blog Keep up-to-date with what’s happening around the School with this new blog written by our staff and students. UoN Physics YouTube channel. Physics Foundation Programme Have you decided you would like to study physics but don’t think you have the right qualifications?
Calendar of Cosmic Events: 2020-2021
By Aparna Kher and Anne Buckle. Check out the dates and times for astronomical events like equinoxes, solstices, meteor showers, eclipses, supermoons, and more. Take advantage of a moonlight-free sky and look up for some stars and planets. This Full Moon is named after the plentiful corn harvested in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere around this time of the year.
A New Moon in the sky means no moonlight to hinder your view of stars and planets.
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Physics and Astronomy at St Andrews
Mallen Research by Ronald W. See Christian Prayer Books for proof of this concise definition. In June A. From A.
Astronomical events and highlights of 20including supermoons, People around the world converge at the Stonehenge, England to celebrate the.
Programme website: Astrophysics. Join our student services and admissions teams in regular live chat sessions to find out more about studying with us. The scope of our research is as wide as the cosmos we explore. Our students undertake thesis-related research from the outset, but in parallel with structured education in relevant background knowledge. In the first year there is a reading group that covers the basics of astrophysics in a series of tutorials.
Also during this year, you will take a variety of advanced courses in physics and astrophysics, as advised by your supervisor. Not only will you be surrounded by a wealth of expertise at the Royal Observatory, but our historic setting also provides a constant reminder of the importance of astronomical advances throughout the centuries. Graduates from the Institute for Astronomy are among the most highly sought-after candidates for academic and commercial positions.
Work Experience at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (ROE)
A range of high-quality resources for Physics and Astronomy are available on the web. Click here for Physics subject specific resources. Supports students across the UK by running space projects and hosting conferences and workshops.
This simplified Easter Dating Method was produced by Ronald W. Mallen did not occur until later in many countries e.g. in September in England.
We are aware that as of early July , there were some easing of restrictions, but for the time being, Group activities that involve crowds of people at both the observatory and the Memorial Hall, will remain suspended. These measures are being closely monitored and we shall introduce activities when we are in a position to ensure the safety of both members of the Group and members of the public. We will of course keep you updated via this website and on our Facebook pages.
The Hampshire Astronomical Group operating from its Clanfield Observatory base on the borders of the villages of Horndean and Clanfield is reputed to be one of the best equipped amateur observatories in the UK. Our observatory is situated on the edge of beautiful South Downs National Park. Like so many other organisations over the past three months, we too have had to close the observatory facilities and cease all activities due to the Coronovirus Pandemic.
At the moment we have cautiously opened the observatory for members to use, but we are maintaining the social distancing guidance very closely. Unfortunately we are not yet in a position to be able to open the observatory for visits by members of the public, although we are keeping this under constant review. If you wish to visit the observatory we are expecting to be able to make some evenings available after the New Year; please keep an eye on our website for details.
Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition
If you would like to be involved in its development let us know. The following notes are intended to provide guidance and instructions to Applicants when preparing an application for travel and subsistence funds and the rules and regulations by which such awards are governed. The aim of the scheme is to fund access to a range of Astronomy facilities for the UK community, all these facilities are free at the point of access. PATT applications can only request travel and substance to support competitively awarded science observation time.
Any other costs associated with the research, such as post-doc salaries, equipment and Applicant time, are assumed to be covered by relevant research grants awarded.
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Our specialist engineers design and build instruments for many of the world’s major telescopes. We also project-manage UK and international collaborations. Our project scientists carry out observational and theoretical research into fundamental questions such as the origins of planets and of galaxies. Inspiring young people and the wider public is one of the STFC’s main objectives. This is achieved through a focused programme of public engagement, promoting careers in science, engineering and technology to maintain the quality of the UK programme.
In line with this commitment UK ATC offer a limited number of work experience placements over the course of a year. The first step is to download and complete the application form, please indicate which week you wish to apply for:. Typically all students will hear within two weeks of these dates whether or not they’ve been successful.
Funding and fees
Researchers find gas cloud pulsing in synch with distant microquasar. Debris in Kepler supernova remnant clocked at 23 million mph. Hubble offers explanation for dramatic dimming of Betelgeuse. ALMA spots unusually stable galaxy shining early in cosmic history. Hubble tests techniques for finding biosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres. Sub-glacial melting, not flowing rivers, may explain martian channels.
Astronomy Now. MENU. Home · The Magazine ▻. About · Current Issue · Subscribe · Renew Subscription ▻. August last issue · September last issue · October.
One of Earth’s five mass extinction events may have been triggered by the violent death of a distant star, a new study suggests. A small, soft smacked into Costa Rica on April 23, And it carried dust older than our sun, as well as clues regarding how life formed on Earth. If you’ve seen a worrying headline about an asteroid passing too close for comfort on Nov.
Spacecraft made of carbon-foam bubbles could zoom from Earth to Alpha Centauri in years, driven solely by the power of the sun, a new study finds. Our Milky Way galaxy has mysterious, cold gas clouds that shot out from the galactic center “like bullets,” according to a new study. China has built a testing ground for its first Mars mission, Tianwen-1, which launched to the Red Planet in July and aims to land a rover on the surface in April Amazon has official approval to deploy a new satellite constellation for broadband service.
Planets Visible in the Night Sky in London, England, United Kingdom
After an unusually short gestation the new Society was born on 10 March with the first meeting of the Council and the Society as a whole. An early setback, when Sir Joseph Banks induced the Duke of Somerset to withdraw his agreement to be the first President, was overcome when Sir William Herschel agreed to be the titular first President, though he never actually took the Chair at a meeting. The original objectives were simply the promotion of astronomy; the newer subject of geophysics, which had been steadily gaining ground in the interests of the Fellows, was added later.
William IV also agreed to be the Society’s Patron; every subsequent monarch has followed suit. From the early years meetings were held where astronomical research and discussion could be aired. Rooms were subsequently rented, for 50 guineas, from the Medical and Chirurgical i.
We are creating a unified UKRI website that brings together the existing research council, Innovate UK and Research England websites. If you.
This astronomy calendar of celestial events contains dates for notable celestial events including moon phases , meteor showers , eclipses , oppositions , conjunctions , and other interesting events. Most of the astronomical events on this calendar can be seen with unaided eye, although some may require a good pair of binoculars for best viewing. Many of these events and dates used here were obtained from the U.
Events on the calendar are organized by date and each is identified with an astronomy icon as outlined below. Please note that all dates and times are given in Coordinated Universal Time UTC must be converted to your local date and time. You can use the UTC clock widget below to figure out how many hours to add or subtract for your local time. January 3, 4 – Quadrantids Meteor Shower. The Quadrantids is an above average shower with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak.
It is thought to be produced by dust grains left behind by an extinct comet known as EH1, which was discovered in
Welcome to the School of Physics & Astronomy
stars as well as astronomical events such as star explosions which may date the Mawangdui site near Changsha, in Hunan province, south China in
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Inicio > The 12 Galactic Energies and the 12 Rays (English)
The 12 Galactic Energies and the 12 Rays (English)
The 12 Galactic energies and the 12 Rays of Light
We know that the sun "travels" in the sky through the 12 zodiacal constellations. Each one transmits certain type of energies and an archetype to our incarnated being in this space-time.
Thus, to manifest the positive qualities of our star sign has always been a great goal to achieve.
As the Earth manifests the new energies, we are also called to embrace this change in our lives.
Constellations and Galaxies
The zodiacal constellations form a circle around our sun (as it is seen from Earth). Similarly, there are 12 huge galaxies forming a circle around the Milky Way (our galaxy).
Although the Milky Way and Andromeda are the dominant members of the Local Group, they are encircled by twelve large galaxies arranged in a ring about 24-million light years across. It is called the "Council of Giants".
This information was revealed by Professor Marshal McCall of York University, Canada, and was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
In which way are we affected by this?
Throughout history, each time humanity is ready to take an evolutionary leap, scientific breakthroughs help us to become aware of the role we play in the universe and our relationship with the whole.
When we, as incarnated beings, become aware that we are here to fulfill our souls' designs, our goals and the way we approach life change completely. We become more willing to hear the voice of our Higher Self, and our personality starts to adjust to a higher plan. Our souls' objectives become our own objectives, and we get ready to bring Heaven to Earth, which is our most important task.
Star signs give us useful qualities to express ourselves in this incarnation. In the same way, there are archetypes that provide our souls with distinctive energies and qualities. These energies are galactic energies, since our souls perform tasks beyond this solar system and this galaxy.
While meditating about this, I received the following information: since Metatron's Cube is the geometric pattern that originates everything in the universe, it is also the geometry that interconnect these 12 galaxies with the Milky Way and Andromeda (which now are two different galaxies, but in a distant future they will become one).
Inside Metatron's Cube there is another geometric pattern called the Fruit of Life, which consists of 13 spheres. One of them is in the middle of the pattern, and the other 12 are located in different positions around it. Thus, the energy of these 12 galaxies is combined around the Milky Way in the same way that the spheres of the Fruit of Life do.
Galaxies and Divine Rays
The next information I received is that each one of these 12 galaxies emits towards the Milky Way the energy of one of the 12 Rays.
Since our souls were originated in distant galaxies and each soul carries the energy of one of the Rays, the picture is complete. The qualities each soul is trying to express are the soul's Ray qualities, and the archetypes that souls follow are the Ascended Masters that work with the Divine Rays.
The following step...
The following step for those who are willing to follow the call of their Higher Self to leave behind the archetypes of the personality and become part of a more comprehensive and significant model, is start working with the energies of the Rays and the Masters, integrating them to their everyday life little by little.
I share the following meditation I receive to integrate these 12 Divine Energies:
Integration of the 12 Galactic Energies and the 12 Divine Rays
1. I place myself in a comfortable position and start to relax. I focus on my breathing. With each inhalation and exhalation my physical body becomes more and more relaxed, and my mind starts to quiet...
2. I ask my soul, the most precious part of my Self, a Spark of Divinity, to join me completely. I feel my soul's warm and light in my heart.
3. I invoque the presence of Master El Morya, Master Joshua, Master Serapis Bey, Master Paul the Venetian, Master Hilarion, Master Lanto, Lady Portia, Lady Nada, Mother Mary, Lady Vessa Andromeda, Lady Quan Yin and Pallas Athena to surround me in a circle of light. I feel their loving presence and I breath within the field of energy they have created all around me.
Note: the names of these 12 Masters are given only as a guide. According to the information channeled by Natalie Glasson, as the Earth and humanity grow and evolve so do the Rays and their Chohans. The Rays have become stronger than ever before, they are integrating deeply as one as are their Chohans, which is making it increasingly difficult to distinguish which Master is overseeing which Ray. Many people continue to use the information that was given years ago as their guide to connect with the Rays. As time doesn't exist on the inner planes, people on the Earth can still connect with the past Chohans and they will assist us lovingly.
4. I visualize a huge Metatron's Cube inscribed within a circumference formed by the 12 galaxies. Inside the Cube I see the 13 spheres that form the Fruit of Life. The Milky Way is in the middle sphere.
5. I connect myself through my heart with the 12 galaxies around the Milky Way, and with the 12 Divine Rays that they emit.
I visualize the 12 galaxies radiating the 12 Rays of Light towards the 12 spheres of the Fruit of Life that surround the sphere in the middle, where the Milky Way stands. I see how these 12 spheres start to shine with the bright colours of the 12 Rays:
6. The 12 spheres radiate towards the central sphere the united energy of the 12 Rays. The Milky Way receives in its core this united energy, which becomes more and more powerful, until in a burst of light it spreads towards every star, planet and each one of the celestial objects inside the galaxy, permeating everything with this Divine Light.
7. The Earth receives this united light in her core, and transmits it towards our hearts.
8. I receive these Divine Energies in my heart, my physical body and my light body. The 12 Masters around me help me to hold these 12 united energies.
9. My light body glows with the colours of the 12 Divine Rays, which is inside the Earth's light body, the Sun's light body, the Milky Way's light body, and the huge light body that is formed by the set of the 13 galaxies. I realize that "As above, so below".
10. Remaining in this state of light and expansion, I ask my soul about the Rays and/or Masters I am called to work presently. I give myself some time to get the answer, and then I meditate about this.
11. I connect myself with Mother Earth, holding the light and love of these Divine Rays in my heart.
12. I thank the Masters for their protection, guide and love, and I get ready to work in unity with my soul.


The ISS flyover will be visible under clear skies in Ireland during the month of December 2015. A brilliant star like object will blaze across Irish skies tonight at 6:34pm chased by another bright object for just 1 or 2 minutes. The objects are the 100 billion euro International Space Station (ISS) with 6 astronauts on board, and a re-supply spaceship called Cygnus.
The objects should be visible in the skies over Ireland as broken cloud cover is forecast for the time of the flyover. The International Space Station will be blazing across the sky for the next few weeks (Dec 7 – Dec 27) with 6 astronauts on board. The times and direction to see ISS are posted in the chart below.
Location: Westport, Mayo, Ireland
The following CYGNUS sightings are possible from Monday Dec 7, 2015 through Wednesday Dec 9, 2015
For more information visit the NASA “Spot The Station” website.
Here is some video that I got of the last ISS flyover in Ireland on the 10th of June last at 11.06pm. This flyover lasted about 4 minutes but I only got about 3 minutes of footage. The camera was struggling with focusing on the ISS. If we are lucky to to have clear skies this evening and tomorrow evening, we will see the Cygnus cargo delivery spacecraft trailing behind the ISS trying to catch up to it!


NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history by flying on Mars on April 19. At 10:49 am (PDT), the tiny helicopter spun its carbon fibre rotor blades and lifted itself into the thin Martian air, rising to a height of about three meters above the ground, before settling back down to the ground. Since this ground breaking flight, a further three flights have been completed, with the latest one taking place on 30th April.
But given the huge costs of this mission (and many others like it planned), many have been asking what the benefits to humanity are and whether or not the huge sums used to fund these programmes could be better spent on more urgent needs?
Ingenuity’s flight is the culmination of more than seven years of conceptualisation, building, testing and hope by the flight team. originally scheduled for April 11, the flight has to be delayed to permit an update of the helicopter’s software. A high-speed spin test on April 16 showed the change would work, setting the stage for the April 19 flight.
With the successful completion of test flights, NASA has indicated it will be scheduling in more tests to figure out the full operational capabilities of the chopper.
“The Ingenuity technology demonstration has been a resounding success,” associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen said in a statement Friday.
“Since Ingenuity remains in excellent health, we plan to use it to benefit future aerial platforms while prioritizing and moving forward with the Perseverance rover team’s near-term science goals,” he added.
While NASA’s Perseverance rover, which successfully landed on February 18, has a clear goal, which is to study rocks and soil samples found on the planet to establish if previous life existed there billions of years ago, the objective of Ingenuity helicopter are not clear cut.
Originally, the Ingenuity helicopter’s task was to show its flying ability, given the differences in atmospheric pressure and gravity found on the planet compared to Earth. The air’s density of the red plan is only about 1 percent that at sea level on Earth. This makes it incredibly difficult for the helicopter’s blades to push against that thin air hard enough to get off the ground. The success of these test flights proves that powered flight is possible in Mars’ thin atmosphere.
Which is all well and good. But what does it mean for those living on Earth right now? The contention being that space exploration of this scale is unnecessary given the humanitarian problems, from COVID 19, the environment catastrophe, hunger and malaria that Earth is facing in this current moment? Perhaps these huge sums could be better spent to solve these humanitarian problems.
However, this argument fails to address the fact that the research and development that goes into these massive projects inevitably benefits Earth, directly and indirectly. True, we may not be able to visualise right now the direct healthcare benefits of Ingenuity helicopter’s ‘wow’ moments but make no mistake, there is much behind-the-scenes preparation and research into materials and software that has gone into this program that is bound to trickle back and benefit us all.
If in doubt, just think of the knowhow that previous space exploration has generated which has in turn been applied to healthcare and lifesciences, from digital imaging technologies, prosthetic limbs, heart pumps, cochlear implants, freeze drying, HACCP and water purification. NASA played a large part in their research and development.


Dr. Abdul Kalam is distinguished for his contributions in the field of rocket engineering. He established the Rocket Engineering Division in Thumba and particularly important system needed in this field such as pyrotechnic, composite material technology and reinforced plastics etc. He worked on the early single stage Menaka-l and Menaka-ll Rockets, Rocket Assisted Take-off Motors and Flight Test of Controlled Rohini RH-560 Rockets.
He was Project Director of the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) which was completed in a 7-year time frame. Thereafter, he worked as Director of Aerospace Dynamics and Design Group of VSSC, Trivandrum and also Director, ISRO Launch Vehicles/Systems at ISRO HQ, Bangalore. These assignments were directed towards the design and development of advanced technology elements for launch vehicles/systems. This was a pioneering achievement involving indigenous launch vehicle design capabilities and project management for high technology complex space projects. About a hundred national institutions and industries were involved in project realisation.
Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam is given Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Awards for 1986 in the field of Space and Aerospace for his pioneering achievements involving indigenous design of space vehicles & rockets which has great potential to take India into the outer space.


Universe Sandbox 2 Download is a popular space simulation strategy game for Windows PC. With regular updates, the developers keep improving the images and graphics. In this learning based game, you can interact with different worlds in the universe and even create new worlds according to your imagination. If you are fascinated by astrophysics and space concepts, this would be a great option. There is no fixed mission or battle, and you need to create fun universes, explore existing universes, enjoy the scenery, or cause chaos. With endless possibilities, Universe Sandbox keeps you busy for a long period of time.
This is all about the universe and what happens in it. If you have a knack for this type of exploration that delves into the mysteries of the universe and you haven’t tried this game yet, you’re missing out. Take a look at what this game has to offer and let us show you exactly why it’s such a great choice! Produced by Giant Army, this game can be played on Microsoft Windows Linux and Mac. It has 10 out of 10 reviews and ratings on Steam. Need we say more?
There is practically no limit to what you can do in this game. Create any type of planet or modify the Earth to your liking. He can also manipulate what happens in the universe, such as meteor collisions and black holes. Everything you do results in an immediate reaction to your planets and their surroundings. This results in hours of challenging physics for fun. The possibilities are endless. In-Universe Sandbox 2 Free Download you can experience an accurate simulation of the universe. And the best thing is that it really allows you to go crazy with all the settings available. You can make a super dense star with even more massive planets and see what happens. A You can try putting a supernova in the middle of the solar system and see how it happens. Create towers and be the owner of your own universe.
The game explores a genre that has yet to catch on to a great extent. The gameplay in Universe Sandbox 2 PC Game Download is quite easy to understand. Everything is just a scheme in which you can also from your friend’s state, create your own things (even if other objects are sometimes destroyed) and, above all, experience the great immensity of space. Universe Sandbox 2 is one of the best games that debuted in the market. While the market is full of new superhero toys and models that are best sellers as such. The game also allows you to create your own systems.
Both real and fictional simulations appear in the Universe Sandbox, with each region of outer space placed by default or based on the player’s preference. The real simulation includes the solar system, which includes eight planets, five minor planets, more than 160 moons, and hundreds of asteroids. And predictions of future events like the collision of the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way which will occur in 3.8 to 4.5 billion years. During the game, the player can learn about regions with the 100 largest objects in the solar system, the 1000 closest stars to the sun or the 70 closest galaxies to the Milky Way. A visible size comparison of the largest known stars and planets can be explored, and real-time animations of events such as the asteroid Apophis passing close to Earth in 2029 can be viewed.
As such, judging Universe Sandbox 2 Download as a game is unfair. It does not come with power-ups, levels, bosses, battles, or objectives. Based on the Sandbox model, just like Minecraft and Roblox, this space simulator focuses on giving you a fun learning experience. While the game has limited configuration options, the space simulator gives you plenty of mod options. It allows you to customize the time and place. It is worth noting that some of the mods do not work as intended. While these bugs and fixes can be annoying, they don’t hurt the deals.
this is different. You should keep in mind that the game is nude. It can find quite a few bugs, and it also ignores a lot of articles. The good thing is that Universe Sandbox 2 runs smoothly on many computers. If you like playing with the universe and don’t mind Universe Sandbox 2 being empty, go right ahead. But if you want to wait until the element is complete, or don’t want to play without a fixed goal, for now we urge you to find a different way to destroy the universe.
Universe Sandbox 2 Features:
Make or break your planets
The game allows you to explore outer space both on a complex and large scale. Therefore, the game gives you a way to realize the paths of the universe with your own hands! You can collide planets, a supernova with a star or even go through different historical events.
easy to understand
The game is about how each person gets the slightest idea about the universe. This means that the game must reach the masses. This, in turn, again means that the game should make it simpler and easier for everyone to understand. The game language and gameplay are also very easy!
familiar with nature
The game contains a lot of information that should be provided to the users, whenever they want. This game not only makes physics interesting, but also unknown to you, there are many who are affected by the game and continue their studies in this field! So the game has a very informed side too!
It’s a simulation game! Graphics play a big role in simulation games, which is why I also played Universe Sandbox 2. You can feel the planets around you and feel like you’re becoming one with what’s around you there. Although it may sound pretty fun right now, that’s the power of graphics.
- Material System – Build planets from hydrogen, iron, rock and water.
- Star flares and choppy paths
- Procedurally generated stars and planets
- Black holes distort light
- dark matter
Universe Sandbox 2 Download information:
- Genre: Casual, Indie, Simulation, Early Access
- Developed By: Giant Army
- Platform: PC
- Game Size: 0.97GB
- Repack By: GOG
- Version: v29.0.1 – Early Access (Latest)
- preinstalled game
- polished graphics
- Smooth game engine
- time control
- quick reboot
- Game Freeze Errors
- Some functions do not work
- fantasy physics
Universe Sandbox 2 Minimum System Requirements:
- Operating System: Windows 7SP1+ (64bit*)
- Processor: Dual core 1.6GHz
- Memory: 1GB RAM
- Graphics: 512 MB video memory, Shader Model 4.0
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 2 GB of available space
Recommended System Requirements:
- Processor: 2.6GHz quad-core
- Memory: 4GB RAM
- Graphics: 1 GB of video memory
- DirectX: Version 11
How to Universe Sandbox 2 Free Download for Pc?
Step 1 – Click the download button, you will be redirected to our download page
Step 2 – Click the Download button
Step 3: Your download will start The free installer created officially from hdpcgames.com
Step 4 – Download and install the file and then you can install the game
Step 5 – With a good internet connection, it will be easy to download the game
Step 6 – After the installation is complete, you can enjoy Game for free
If you still have problems or want to report bugs, please contact me.
Is Universe Sandbox 2 free?
No, the game is not free. You should be around $30.00 to enjoy the game.
Can you create your own simulations in Universe Sandbox 2?
If you can! But for this you will have to purchase the premium version of the game and only then can you create new planetary systems.
Is Universe Sandbox 2 too big?
Universe Sandbox 2 takes up quite a bit of space. It occupies about 2 GB of your device memory.


Watch 360-Degree Sunrise, Sunset from Total Solar Eclipse Over Lexington
Many traveled to Lexington County for Total Eclipse 2017. People from Florida, Texas, Washington D.C. and more brought their families to places like the
Lake Murray Dam to experience the eclipse from the center line.
Ken Ketchie, publisher of High Country Press in Boone, North Carolina, visited a friend in Lexington whose son, a software engineer, was using his drone to capture the special event.
Here is the beautiful, 360-degree video of the sunrise and sunset that he witnessed 100 meters above their home.
Ketchie’s drive back to Boone, normally a three-hour trip, took about five hours due to the traffic post-totality.
See the photos that Ken published from the eclipse here.


Title- A Universe From Nothing: Why is there something rather than nothing?
Author- Lawrence M. Krauss (Afterword by Richard Dawkins)
Genre- Cosmology, Science
Pages to date- 2,139
Krauss presents a comprehensive, mind-blowing look at the universe as it is today and how it came to be. His presentation is phenomenal.
Much of the scientific language was lost on me. While I could understand the broad concepts of what he was saying, as well as the implications of them, the specifics were hard to grasp. This is merely because it is targeted at a more educated audience.
The Verdict: A Universe From Nothing is a great choice for anyone interested in cosmology, but the uneducated reader (like myself) will have to push through until the final chapters to really be satisfied. A stellar work, just not the universal (pun intended) leisure read.


Picture Templar publishing
Molly's Moon Mission
from Duncan Beedie
07 June 2019
Informations from the publisher
"Molly the moth lives in the back of an old wardrobe. She loves her home and her family but she yearns for adventure. So by day she helps her mother look after the larvae, and by night she prepares for her space mission to the MOON!
It's no easy feat for a little moth to fly all the way to the moon - but Molly is not a moth to give up on her dreams."
A particularly impressive story about determination and couragefor children from 3 years
Little moth Molly lives with her mother and siblings in a spacious wardrobe. Molly is a lovely little moth who loves her family and she has a dream. Molly wants to fly to the moon. The mother dismisses this as a flue, tries to explain to her young daughter that this will probably remain a dream, but Molly cannot be demotivated by it. During the day she helps her mother and in the evening and at night, she prepares for her lunar mission. A few days later, the launch succeeds, Molly shoots the light, the moon and lands, but it is not the moon she reached. A parlor fly explains to her where she actually died. She, too, doesn't think it's possible that Molly will reach the moon, but Molly believes in herself, keeps her target in mind, she flies on and lands again on what she thinks is the moon and again she is taught to someone else. Thus the little moth flies from one large light to the next always in the assumption that this is the moon. Their determination and courage are very admirable. Surely there are moments with Molly that she doubts and sadly is, but there is no giving up for her and actually Molly manages to do it. But what she finds is as different as she imagined and she misses her family until she is suddenly almost buried under a giant shoe. The astronaut Molly encounters is very surprised. A moth on the moon, he would not have expected. But who now believes that the story is the end, who is mistaken, now it really starts, because molly has a lot to do as the first space moth. What exactly she does there and whether she finds her back to her family, I don't tell you, after all, you have to discover something yourself.
It is a wonderful story, with fantastic images that, through the most varied angles and proportions, beautifully illustrate how almost impossible it must be for a small moth to reach the moon. Especially beautiful are the many surprises that are waiting for you as a viewer, because just like Molly we are left by the picture bookmaker in the assumption that the light lands on the Molly, or that she is actually aiming for the moon. The resolution takes place only when flipping. In addition, the book captivates with large-format illustrations over a double page in combination with smaller image sequences in a series that capture Molly's bustle wonderfully and provide a dynamic of the action.
The moon fascinates as long as there are humans. The desire to fly to the moon has a lot and even if this moon mission is only meant to show the children that seemingly impossible is possible if one believes in it, it is also exactly the flight to the moon of the children enthusiastic.
Our reading children all had their own ideas of a flight to the moon and life on the moon. How to fly to the moon today, most people know from the media, not least through the mission of Alexander Gerst, but life on the moon imagines it differently.
In the story, she was also fascinated by the witty narrative language and the traditional saying adapted to the story, such as "A small step for a little moth!!? "
The message of the story is clearly recognizable and arrives very intensively with the children even without further discussions.
The heart of the reading children has taken Molly by storm. Amazing what such a small moth can awaken for strong feelings.


A flash of light across the sky Friday night had many people around the tri-state area taking to Facebook and Twitter to ask - did you see that?
The "that" in question was a fireball, according to the American Meteor Society. The organization logged more than 470 reports of fireballs Friday night in New York, Connecticut and other states along the east coast.
A fireball is a meteor that is brighter than Venus according to the AMS.
"Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day," according to the AMS website. "The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight."
Did you see Friday night's meteor? Tell us about is in the comments below or send us a photo to firstname.lastname@example.org.
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"A gardener exhibits great faith when planting a seed"
20 December 2010
Lunar Eclipse Tonight
The moon appears totally covered by shadow as the earth passes between the moon and the sun, during the lunar eclipse in this Jan. 9, 2001 file photo taken in Kiel, Germany.
HERIBERT PROEPPER/AP FILE PHOTO
Tonight and early tomorrow morning we have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the last lunar eclipse of 2010!! Beginning at about 11:30 pm, it is best seen with the naked eye or binoculars. See the following post which contains a link for more information about this event.


Films set in space have always been about more than just, well, space.
With the release and subsequent success of Gravity, it’s worth considering the tradition that the film finds itself a part of, a tradition that an audience may only be semi-conscious of during the 90 minutes of Alfonso Cuaron’s story.
There are subtle homages to films of Space Cinema Past dotted throughout Gravity, but there’s three that I feel are worth exploring as the archetypes of all modern films set in space.
In doing so, it’s possible to get an idea of just how dense Gravity is, how lofty Cuaron’s ambitions are despite the film’s ridiculously lean run-time, and that on the surface its narrative is quite straightforward and singleminded, in comparison to those below.
Also, while we’re in space, here be SPOILERS.
1. Space as nightmare – Alien
Probably the most used and abused style of space film, it really hasn’t been surpassed by Ridley Scott’s Jaws-in-space. The alien to me is the manifestation of all of our nightmares about space: cold, dark, unspeakably unnatural, and in every direction it leads to death. The creature itself is slithering, dripping, screaming mortality.
There is nothing so horror as the alien in Gravity, but where it really evokes the idea of space as a nightmare is in the fragility of our lives in space. The Nostromospaceship in Alien is a hulking, clunking piece of machinery, held together as much by the will of its crew as it is the advancement of our technology. So too are the shuttles and space stations of Gravity – essentially drifting coffins of technology, foolishly pretending that they can sustain life when there is nothing but death all around.
To live in space is unnatural, a fallacy, and Gravity shows us that a film doesn’t need rows of hyper-extending teeth to make our nightmares real.
2. Space as psychology – Solaris
I’m using Andrei Tarkovsky’s version here for reference. Solaris uses the isolation of space travel as means of exploring a character’s innermost psychology. The act of stripping the person from their normal terrestrial lives, jettisoning them from civilisation, allows a film to explore what makes a person human, and explores their desires, their failures, the essential keys to their humanity.
Gravity takes a far less ethereal and cerebral approach than Tarkovsky did in Solaris, but the journey of Sandra Bullock’s Dr. Ryan Stone is one that reflects the tradition best exemplified in the earlier film. Her physical travel in space is complemented by her psychological quest, one that is only possible in the quiet of space, in the remoteness of it, in the ability to lose all the paraphernalia of life and see the core of our existence exposed.
At its core, at its most pure, Gravity brings existence down to its essence: breathing. Every inhalation, every exhalation, they’re all felt during the 90 minutes – you feel them counting up, you feel them running out. And this is without even considering the visual rebirth of Stone, complete with umbilical cord and amniotic buoyancy: a space embryo.
3. Space as humanity’s past, present, future – 2001: A Space Odyssey
Easily the most influential and the most highly regarded of all space films. Kubrick’s magnum opus has after shocks of influence in just about every scene set in space ever filmed. I won’t try to condense the thematic concerns of 2001 into a short paragraph, but it’s the exploration of our past, our present and our future as a life form that I think is worth addressing as a major element of Gravity.
Kubrick’s film covers vastly different landscapes, vastly different spacescapes, and covers almost an infinite amount of years in its 142 minutes. Cuaron’s only takes 90 minutes and one major setting to cover what is only a few hours in the life of its main character. The scope could not be more different on the surface, and yet to me they are remarkably similar.
Kubrick was interested in the unity of life, in the unison between our origins and our endings, between the lifeless matter of space and the organisms that flourish on earth. And in between, the joy and sadness, the love and cruelty, the full spectrum of emotional existence that we have. It’s huge.
Cuaron is, as mentioned, far leaner yet I think aims for the same unity of vision. The ending of the film is so primeval it is primordial, taking us from the heights of advancement and technological mastery to the origins of it all. To really see this, it’s worth considering the title. If anything, Cuaron is drawing attention to the one thing the film lacks: gravity. It is an exploration of what happens to us without gravity, what happens to us in space.
The film is a question about life, its meaning and purpose, and about what a miracle existence actually is. To rise about the nightmare, to explore who we are and where we come from, and then what our ultimate purpose is.
It is, like so many space films, more than just a film set in space.


FBackup is developed by the same team and using the same platform as Backup4all. We’re very proud to announce that as of May 31, 2017, Backup4all started its service on the International Space Station.
Backup4all was deployed on the ISS crewmembers’ laptops to back up their research data and have a fail-proof restore available. These laptops have a higher than normal failure rate on orbit due to radiation, hence the vital need to be backed-up constantly. One of the main reason Backup4all was chosen to be used on the ISS was its straightforward usability.
You can read more about this on our blog: http://blog.backup4all.com/2017/05/back ... e-station/
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Article in Los Angeles Times by Molly Hennessy-Fiske, July 18, 2019, p. A1
This year is the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 astronauts landing on the Moon. Article includes stories of Frances Northcutt, Christine Darden, and Sylvia Salinas Stottlemyer.
Also see the blog post about Margaret Hamilton, another key figure.
The Civil Rights Act had just passed and the slide rule was giving way to computers when Frances “Poppy” Northcutt arrived at NASA’s Houston campus in 1965, eager to join the space race. But her job title stunned her: “computress.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Northcutt
Northcutt, then 22 and fresh out of the University of Texas at Austin with a mathematics degree, soon learned that at NASA, men were engineers, women “computresses” or “human computers,” with less status and less pay.
But Northcutt persevered, and three years later, during the Apollo 8 mission, she would become the first woman to work in Mission Control. …


Sima AdhyaHead of Space
Sima Adhya is a recognised expert in space science. She earned a doctorate from University College London where her dissertation involved modelling satellite orbit perturbations due to the effects of solar radiation.
Prior to joining Hamilton at Lloyd’s, Sima served as Head of Space at Starstone (known formerly as Torus) since 2011 and held the same position at Sciemus for four years before that.
Sima’s team of Hamilton at Lloyd’s underwriters is made up of space specialists Mike Thorp and Jon Ashby. Both were Sima’s colleagues at Starstone.


When the Stars Spoke
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The Zimmerman Center kicks off its “Susquehanna Earth, Water, and Sky” lecture series Wednesday, February 12, when York County Astronomical Society founding member Gregory Markowski presents “When the Stars Spoke”. This talk explores what our area’s ancient American Indian peoples would have seen in the sky and the effect it had in their lives. Cycles such as the Sun’s rising and setting, the phases of the Moon and the observations of certain stars rising or passing overhead are just a few of the things that these people observed, remembered, and planned for. These celestial events continue today, but there are so many diversions and obstacles to seeing them we need to use printed calendars, public announcements, and essentially somebody else, to remind us when something is happening. Markowski revisits that ancient knowledge, forgotten and obscured by today’s technological society.


By Caleb Henry, SpaceNews, December 19, 2019
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission gave HawkEye 360 the approvals it needs to launch and operate 15 additional satellites for radio-frequency mapping from low-Earth orbit. The license, issued Dec. 10, permits HawkEye 360 to launch up to 80 satellites over 15 years in order to maintain a constellation of 15 operational spacecraft.
Herndon, Virginia-based HawkEye 360 has three pathfinder satellites in orbit today, and 15 more under construction by the Space Flight Laboratory at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies. The FCC said the first three satellites will not count towards the 15 since they were authorized under an experimental license.


1. Talking to Alan
I made the mistake, years ago, of telling Alan that I had explained to a roomful of fourth graders that it probably made sense that Pluto’s status as a planet was revoked. It made sense, I told them, because we now know that there are other bodies beyond Pluto, some larger than Pluto itself, orbiting the Sun in the dark, distant recesses of our solar system. I told them that Pluto is one of that vast group.
I said all this to Alan who was sitting across the dining room table from me. The words had barely left my mouth when his characteristic grin went grim. And his son who was also at the table almost jumped and with a startled look on his face turned to look at his father, waiting to see his reaction.
There was no particular reaction. Alan smiled (although as I recall it, his eyes had widened a bit), and he patiently said, “I’ll have to explain it to you sometime, Dave, when we have more time.”
2. Listening to Alan
Last Friday, Alan sat before the cameras, as he has been for a week, now. He and the New Horizons science team were talking to the press about the things they had learned that day from the most recent images from New Horizons.
They were all science in that press conference. Talking about methane ice and nitrogen ice and carbon monoxide ice. About flowing glaciers of nitrogen. About ice mountains and in-filled craters. About Sputnik Planum and Hillary Montes and Norway Montes. About Pluto’s atmosphere extending out 100 miles from the surface.
Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute link
And then there was a question directed to Alan that brought up that word, planet. Here is what he said.
You know, there’s been this controversy where astronomers and planetary scientists have largely been on different sides of it. I think that you and the public just like we on the science team can pretty well tell what we’re dealing with.
[At this point, for a brief moment, his eyes sparkled and his mouth betrayed a smile. And then he continued...]
It’s very hard not to call an object like this with this level of complexity, an atmosphere, with potentially an internal ocean, certainly with complicated seasonal cycles, and certainly a big complicated system of moons … uh … a planet.
I think I just got that explanation he promised.


Royal Astronomical Society – Library and Information Services in Astronomy Conference (LISA IX)
LISA IX: Multidimensional Astronomy Librarianship
From Open Science to the Preservation of Astronomical Heritage
About this conference
Library and Information Services in Astronomy (LISA) is a series of scientific meetings for librarians and scientists that aims to provide a platform for discussing the current state and future direction of information maintenance, retrieval, delivery, preservation as well as evaluation and information literacy in our profession.
LISA conferences cover diverse topics including collection organization and management; publishing; tools for working with astronomical literature; and reports on collaborative projects.
All attendees are expected to adhere to the LISA IX Code of Conduct.
View the conference website: https://lisa9.org/
Information about previous LISA conferences can be found at http://www.eso.org/libraries/lisa.html


Did you get a chance to see the super-moon this past weekend? Well if you didn’t, just ask the hundreds of people who showed up to Loveland Pass for some moonlight riding. Snowboard Colorado was on the scene to experience all the madness first hand. The pull-off at the base of the road run was filled by 9pm and the drop-off at the top followed shortly after. The moon was bigger and brighter than it has been in nearly two decades and it provided many shredders with some well needed night riding.


Political reforms in Czechoslovakia were met with brutal suppression by Soviet forces.
In the West, Paris was plagued by riots and the United States was shocked and polarized by protests against the impasse of the Vietnam War and racial inequality, as well as a series of horrific assassinations.
Fifty years ago, a space mission lifted off that would change our world forever.
No one had ever built a craft that was meant to land from space using nothing but rocket power – much less one to do so on the Moon.
Even NASA seemed to be trapped in a crisis of confidence.
On January 27, 1967, the space program suffered a devastating setback when the crew of Apollo 1 died in a tragic launchpad fire.
“Earthrise” is an iconic photo of Earth rising up from the Moon’s horizon that’s considered one of the most important environmental photos ever made. Anders, using a Hasselblad 500 EL equipped with a 250mm lens and custom 70mm Kodak Ektachrome film, first captured a black-and-white photo of the Earthrise. By the time he got it, the Earthrise had passed out of view from the window Anders had been looking through. Anders: Wait a minute, just let me get the right setting here now, just calm down. Lovell: Well, I got it right – aw, that’s a beautiful shot…Two-fifty at f/11. “It has not been widely known, for example, that the spacecraft was rolling when the photos were taken, and that it was this roll that brought the Earth into view,” NASA writes.
Here’s a fascinating 3-minute visualization by NASA that recreates how the photo was shot in real-time. (joking) Anders: (laughs) You got a color film, Jim? But then Lovell spotted the Earth through a different window. Lovell: Hey, I got it right here [in the hatch window].
This spider-like machine could only operate in the vacuum of space and would be carried to the Moon by the CSM.


Picture the solar system’s largest telescope, a telescope as long as the island of Manhattan, incorporating a lens the size of a football field: an instrument possessing the resolution to examine earth-like planets around neighboring stars light-years away. Now picture a paper airplane. Could the latter lead us to the former? The answer is: perhaps.
At the turn of the millenium, it was the brainchild of a group of innovative scientists at one of the world’s most secretive research facilities, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, located about 40 miles east of San Francisco. LLNL, or “The Lab,” as it is locally known, is run by the Department of Energy with a primary mission of studying things nuclear — both reactors and bombs. Within its brain trust, a lot of interesting and out-of-the-box scientific ideas get hatched and built in ancillary fields ranging from advanced computation to genomics. The Eyeglass is one such out-of-the-box idea — it would be about 22,000 miles out of the box, in geostationary Earth orbit.
The Eyeglass concept is based on a few simple, well-known facts about telescopes, namely: bigger is always better. Bigger gets you light-gathering power; larger telescopes can see dimmer objects because bigger apertures collect more light from dim objects. Bigger also gets you sharper images at high magnification. The fundamental limit on image sharpness, called the “diffraction limit,” depends on the diameter of the collecting aperture; larger apertures give sharper images. On Earth, for apertures above a few meters, atmospheric distortion limits the resolution of terrestrial telescopes, but in space, there is no atmospheric distortion and the achievable resolution rises steadily with size; if you build it, it will see. The largest optical telescope currently in space, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, has an aperture of 2.4 meters, which has allowed it to image some of the most distant objects in the known universe.
At the time it was launched, the Hubble Space Telescope was the most ambitious optical instrument in space and after a somewhat rocky start, it became one of the great success stories for NASA. An astronomical success leads inevitably to the question: what can you do for a follow-on? At Livermore, they don’t look for incremental improvements. Roderick Hyde and the Diffractive Optics Group at Livermore started with a nice, meaty goal: how can you put a telescope in space some FORTY times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope?
Well, the first thing you have to do is reexamine how you design a telescope. The Hubble telescope, like many others, uses a single very large, curved reflector machined to incredible precision as its primary light-gathering element. The design goal of Eyeglass was to expand the main element to a diameter of 100 meters — about a football field. Making a single reflector 100 meters in diameter with an optical precision of roughly 1/100 of the diameter of a hair was out of the question; even if you could make the reflector, how would you loft it into space?
Most high-performance telescopes, like the Hubble, are “reflective” telescopes. Their main optical element is a curved mirror. The big advantage of using a mirror is that it lets the telescope be fairly short, just a few times the diameter of the lens. (the Hubble, with a 2.4 meter diameter, is 13 meters long.) Most people’s conception of a telescope is a bit different than this: the common notion of a telescope is a long tube with lenses, not mirrors, at each end. This old-fashioned type of telescope is called “transmissive.” Transmissive telescopes are by their nature quite long, with a distance between the two lenses that is many times larger than the diameter of the main lens. A transmissive telescope with a 100 meter diameter lens would need to be thousands of meters long. This does not seem, upon first consideration, like a good thing.
But if you’re putting a telescope in space you can take advantage of one of the features of its destination: there’s a lot of space in space. When the nearest interfering object is forty thousand kilometers away, a distance of a kilometer or two doesn’t matter much. Even better, you don’t actually need to build a tube between the two lenses; you simply put your main lens into one orbit, and then put the other lens (and the camera and associated electronics) into another orbit a few kilometers away.
Another nice thing about long transmissive telescopes is that the mechanical tolerances required on the optics are much less than the requirements on a reflective telescope, permitting a thinner, lighter optical structure. In fact, the main lens of the Eyeglass could be as thin as a sheet of paper, if it were an unusual type of lens called a “diffractive lens.” A diffractive lens is a microscopic pattern of marks (or ridges) on a sheet of glass or plastic that effectively turns the surface into a hologram of a lens. In its simplest form, a diffractive lens consists of a series of circular grooves machined into the surface. (A simple version of such a lens, called a Fresnel lens, is commonly used in overhead projectors.) The Eyeglass would use as its main lens a 100 meter diameter diffractive lens, which could be a thin membrane. A thin plastic lens wouldn’t be very stiff or strong, of course, but in orbit, with almost all effects of gravity cancelled by orbital motion, the lens would experience free-fall conditions; little stiffness required.
Once you’ve solved the many problems in building a 100-meter diameter thin plastic lens for space (and there are a lot), you still face a big problem: How do you get it up there in good shape? All currently available space vehicles, whether shuttle or heavy-lift rocket, have about the same payload space: about 4 meters diameter and about 10 meters long, give or take a bit. This means that a 100-meter sheet of plastic is going to have to get crumpled, folded, or otherwise stuffed into the tube of the rocket, like a sleeping bag going into a stuff sack.
And that’s a bad thing, because although transmissive lenses have looser tolerances than reflective elements (and diffractive lenses have, in some ways, even looser tolerances), one thing they can’t tolerate is being crumpled up. Any undesired fold, wrinkle, or buckle in the surface of the Eyeglass diffractive lens would irreparably damage the optical performance,. The only way such a surface was going to go into a rocket would be if it were collapsed into a smaller shape along a precise, controlled set of creases, whose locations and structure could be chosen in such a way as not to degrade the optical performance.
Hmmm…flexible planar surface, lots of folds…sounds like origami. Well, Rod and his engineers thought so, too, and so they did what all good engineers do when presented with a new problem: they did a literature search. It turns out that origami has been to space before. Back in the 1980s, an origami-based folding solar panel designed by Koryo Miura flew on a Japanese satellite. While Miura’s solar structure was not applicable to the Eyeglass, Rod and his team thought (correctly, as it turned out) that there might be other origami structures that might just work.
And there were. Rod’s research led him to my own work in computational origami, and a phone conversation revealed the happy coincidence that I lived just 5 miles away from LLNL. I paid him and his team a visit, where he laid out the story of Eyeglass pretty much as you’ve just read it, and we were off. Over the next few months, I met with the Eyeglass team several times and adapted several different structures from origami usage to telescope application. We needed a structure that was radially symmetric (so that it could be spin-stabilized), that collapsed on a finite number of creases, that ultimately fit within a cylindrical form factor (i.e., a rocket). After considering several different configurations, the team settled on an origami structure, which we called the “Umbrella” structure after its resemblance (in the furled state) to a collapsible umbrella, that was scalable, had mass-producible parts, and folded from a large flat disk down to a much smaller flanged cylinder.
Of course, origami is the tiniest tip of the iceberg of engineering that needed to be carried out to develop lenses, hinges, assembly and alignment, support, et cetera. Many design issues arise only after you get into the nitty-gritty of building something real, and so the Livermore team set out to do exactly that. With funding from LLNL and DARPA, over the course of a year, the Eyeglass team built a 5-meter prototype to test out the folding structure and the ability to build and assemble the individual facets of the lens into a complete folding structure.
The figure at the top of the page shows the completed 5-meter prototype (behind the author). The lens was tested by hanging it in the rig shown and firing an expanded laser beam at it from about 100 meters away, then examining the focal spot at a similar distance on the other side. Although the first prototype was not built with diffraction-limited components to reduce cost, it worked and performed as predicted. The next phase of work at LLNL was to be further analysis and evaluating alternate segmenting strategies, as well as looking at scaling to even larger sizes. Anyone for a kilometer?
I say future work “was to be” because subsequent work was not funded—at least, not as far as I know. And why make that qualification? Well, there’s two directions such a telescope can point: it can look up; and it can look down. Those folks who were interested in the down-looking versions certainly wouldn’t be telling the local origami consultant about any further development. But next time you look into the night sky, if you see a twinkle that doesn’t seeem to be in the right place, look hard: it just might be a bit of origami looking back at you!*
For further description of the Eyeglass, see the LLNL Diffractive Optics Group web page.
*That’s a joke. You wouldn’t actually be able to see it.


See the night sky through telescopes. Learn about Hale and Hubble, and more. Talks and access to star-gazing telescopes are free, but tickets are required for access to viewing through the historic 60-Inch Telescope.
For ticket requests, email us at MtWilsonAstronomyNight@gmail.com
Two tickets per request, exceptions made for families.
For safety reasons, all visitors must be 12 or older, and visitors 12 to 18 must be accompanied by adult, no exceptions. All visitors will be responsible for own transportation to observatory.


Every year, Space Week is an event that takes place during 4th-10th October, around the whole world to celebrate the contributions of Science and technology in the field of Space. Our Prep students at DBS, have been completing a range of activities this week to raise their awareness of Space Week, STEM skills, and Space Careers.
Y3-4 have been completing astronaut training, including: measuring moon craters, space walking and re-creating the phases of the moon.
Y5-6’s astronaut training included a range of different physical activities to strengthen their mobility, bone and muscle strength, to complete Mission X.
Y7-8 studied Space in the news, recreating their own article and news broadcast show.
Lastly, the Y9s have been looking at how we deal with big numbers in Science and Maths on a daily basis, by using standard form to represent numbers that would otherwise take us a while to write! They have even created a beautiful display demonstrating some common distances between the Sun and the different planets using standard form.
On Thursday we were lucky enough to have a presentation by the entrepreneurs who started up the business Space Zab. They shared the effects of gravity in space and how we can recreate this on Earth, including some fantastic designs of rockets, habitats and rovers, some of which were even made using a 3D printer! Students were also made aware of a range of space careers, including astronauts, space doctors, space engineers, and nutritionists, who have all contributed to the developments and technology we have in the space industry today. Space Zab are convinced that we could be living on the Moon or on another planet in the next decade or so, and have definitely opened all of our eyes as to what is out there, and left us in absolute awe of what is yet to become – of which, are generation of students, will definitely be a big part of.


Not only was June 21st the longest day of the year, the weather was absolutely beautiful. We were lucky to be able to enjoy the evening outside. We went outside at 8;30 after the kids had gotten ready for bed and stayed out until the mosquitos can out, about 9:30pm. It was not dark enough to see the stars when we went inside That finally came another hour alter.
Technorati Tags: wordless wednesday,summer solstice,longest day of year.


As we are ushering in the Indian New year today, let's know more details about the Indian calendar system. In India, like everything else, every region/ state has their own variations of the calendar. However, the underline themes remain the same which is based on the Moon & Sun positions. It has 12 months and every month is generally 30 days.
The names of Hindu months (with corresponding English months) are as follows: Chaitr (March-April), Vaisakh (April-May), Jyaisth/Jeth (May-June), Asadh (June-July), Shravan (July-August), Bhadra / Bhadw (August-September), Ashvin (September-October), Kartik (October-November), Agrahayana/Margsheersh (November-December), Paush (December-January), Magh (January-February), Phalgun (February-March).
Although most of the variations have Chaitra as their first month, however, some regions have slight variation. Thus based on the new year month a calendar follows, Hindu calendars can be further classified as Chaitradi (beginning with Chaitra month), Ashadadi (beginning with Ashad), and Karthikadi (beginning with Karthik).
LuniSolar & Solar Calendar
In the Indian New Year, since ancient times, both lunisolar, as well as a solar calendars, is in use in India. Lunar calendar months strictly follow the lunar cycle of two lunar fortnights (Shukla paksha- Waxing moon & Krishna paksha – waning Moon). Interestingly, the lunisolar calendar is basically a lunar calendar that has some intercalation rules to synchronize it with the solar year. Leap months (adhik maasa) and occasionally, skipped months (kshaya maasa) are introduced to achieve this. In a solar calendar the months are aligned with rashi or zodiac (Nakshtras). Each month begins with sankranti (entry of sun into zodiac). Malayalam calendar, Bengali calendar and Tamil calendar are examples of Indian solar calendars.
Amanta & Purnimanta System
The Hindu calendar either follows amanta system or purnimanta system to identify the end of a lunar month. On the amanta calendar, one month ends and the next begins with amavasya tithi( New Moon). Telugu calendar & Gujarati calendar are examples of amanta calendar. Purnimanta system reckons month ends and next month begins with Poornima Tihit(Full moon). The traditional Hindu calendar popular in north India is a purnimanta calendar.
Samvat or Samvatsara ( meaning a “year” in Sanskrit) is a term that is used to refer to a year in various Hindu calendars. As we are ushering in the Indian New year today, let's know more details about Samvatsara.
The “Saptrishi Samvat”, is the oldest calendar in the world and is still followed by the Kashmiri people in India. The most commonly known samvats are Vikram Samvat, named after Great King Vikramaditya and Shaka samvat named after Satavahana dynesty’s King Shalivahan. In modern India Saka Samvat is adopted as the official national Calendar India.
The Gregorian calendar year 2022 corresponds to year 5098 of the Saptarishi Samvat, year 2079 of Vikram Samvat , and year 1943 of Shaka Samvat.
Hindu new year falls on shukla paksha(Full Moon), pradipada tithi (First day) of Chaitra month and is also called Chaitra Shukladi. 2022 Hindu new year falls on Saturday, April 2, 2022. Vikram samvat 2079 starts on this day.
According to the Legend, the Saptarishis had once assembled at Hari Parbat (Sharika Mountain where the presiding deity of the Kashmir valley eighteen-armed Goddess Maa Jagadamba Sharika Bhagwati resides), When the first beam of sunlight touched her Swayambhu Shrichakra form, to pay obeisance to her. This very moment formed the basis of calculations for the Navsamvatsara or NAVREH, and the beginning of the Saptarishi Era. Thus named as Saptrishi Samvat.
Vikram Samvat is associated with Raja Vikramaditya and was developed by well known ancient astrophysicist “Varahmihir” in Ujjain. Ujjain, located in the tropic of Cancer, is considered the best place to study astrology and is historically associated with important space research centres, time calculation etc. Vikram Samvat is ahead of the Gregorian calendar by 57 years.
The Saka era is believed to have been founded by King Shalivahana of the Shatavahana dynasty. Some scholars calculate Saka Era from the birth of Shalivahana, while some suggest that it marks the victory of Shalivahana over Vikramaditya. The historical consensus is that it began in 78 AD.
It is adopted as the National calendar of India in 1957 by the Calendar Reform Committee headed by renowned astrophysicist Dr Meghnad Saha. The Saka Calendar bears a deep connection with the history of India. Its creation and usage are steeped in the Golden era of the Maurya and Gupta rule. The adoption of the Saka Calendar as the National Calendar of India is a tribute to the advanced intellectual capabilities of the old time.
The Saka Calendar is recognized beyond Indian borders, in countries where the influence of Indian culture is prominent. It is used by the Hindus of prominent South-East Asian countries like Java, Bali and Indonesia. Bali celebrated Nyepi, the Saka New Year. Nepal’s accepted calendar, Nepal Samvat is clearly an evolution of the Saka Calendar.
Panchang - The Daily Calendar
Panchang is the astrological daily calendar based on the Indian calendar. Daily panchang is one of the most popular reference manuals for astrologers and people of the Hindu community who rely on a day's planetary position to determine auspicious timing, festivals, vrats etc. Panchangam (a Sanskrit word meaning Five attributes) refers to the five attributes of the day - Tithi (lunar day), Yoga (luni-solar day), Vara (weekday), Nakshatra (constellation), and Karana (half of a lunar day). These five limbs represent five sources of energy, both visible and invisible, as denoted by these segments in a day. Location, Time Zone, Time and Date etc... are very important in determining the accurate panchang for a particular day.


Lunar Phases Candle, Celestial Collection: JKM Soy Candles - Large 9oz Size
NEW! Lunar Phases Candle, Celestial Collection: JKM Soy Candles. How perfect is this one - the moons become more vibrant as your candle burns!
- Scent: Galaxy - Eucalyptus • Neroli • Vetiver
- Large: 9 oz size
- Burn time: 45 - 65 hours
- Coconut, soy, beeswax + wood wick
- Clear glass jar with black screw top lid
- Hand-poured in Michigan
This guy has cool friends you'll like!
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My travels between London and the United States have given me opportunities to capture some incredible phenomena in the night sky. While most passengers are sleeping, I have seen dramatic weather, stars, meteorites and even the Northern Lights out the window.
So may I present "In-Flight Entertainment" - an A4-sized 40-page hardback book containing a collection of photographs I have taken at 38,000 feet.
All proceeds from the sale of this book went to support a charity I care passionately about that supports initiatives to help young people in education and as they prepare themselves for work - Big Change. See my STRIVE Challenge blog if you want to understand why Big Change became so special to me. Many of these images are now on sale as prints at pcwilliams.picfair.com - all proceeds to Big Change. Click/tap to see all the images
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I am a fifth year graduate student working with Elena D'Onghia at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
I run computational models of galaxies to understand how small galaxies grow, interact, and ultimately build larger systems like the Milky Way.
My work focuses Magellanic spirals - galaxies that, like the Large Magellanic Cloud, have misplaced bars, single spiral arms, or irregular features. Much of my current work is focused on how these galaxies can contribute gas to our own galaxy in the form of cold gas streams, and how the satellite population may be different around these galaxies.
You can also check out our group's Github page to see publicly-available code.


Price: full set $165; score $45
Commissioned By: The Plymouth Community Band, Carl Battishill, Director, in honor of their 50th anniversary
Duration: ca. 10:00
Grade Level: 6
The cosmological theory of dark energy in the universe is one that seeks to explain astronomical phenomena that otherwise elude simple description. For all that can be explained through the interaction of visible parts of the universe, there are still patterns of motion, rotation and expansion that don’t follow the rules of physics as they are observed. Thus, as several physicists have suggested, there must be matter and energy interacting with the universe that can’t be detected – for instance, a black hole which defies observation because of its high density but can be inferred because of how objects act when nearing it is an example of the influence of dark matter. Dark energy is even more pervasive and ethereal, accounting for an estimated 73 percent of the composition of the universe as we know it (while visible matter, such as stars and planets, comprises less than one percent). Although the influence of dark matter remains largely a mystery, it is theorized that the sheer amount of dark energy present in the universe has the capacity to completely reshape the cosmos, pushing solar systems further from each other, tearing apart galaxies and, eventually, even perhaps accelerating the velocity of all the universe’s matter to the point where it disassembles into subatomic particles (a theoretical phenomenon of the end of the universe called simply “The Big Rip”).
Daniel Montoya, Jr.’s Dark Energy is inspired by this strange phenomenon, attempting to envision within music the awe-inspiring force which this invisible entity commands. He accomplishes this in the piece through a remarkably disparate dichotomy of musical motives. The first of these two ideas is one of stasis: an immense stillness evocative of a staggering void; a steely near-nothingness through which only an occasional particle or glimmer of starlight passes. At the opening of the work, this mood is set through the use of an orchestra of crystal glasses, painting an ethereal and alien constant. Out of this shimmering unison, a sonority begins to build is long, slow tones initiated by the piano and sustained throughout by an enlarging collection of winds. Chords begin to form in the void, but avoid typical resolution – instead, oscillating through major and minor modes as though they were tumbling in a zero-gravity vacuum. As more voices enter, the texture becomes more frayed – more agitated – and accelerates until an implosion (an effect created by the performers blowing fast air and suddenly stopping simultaneously) representative of the Big Bang sets the dark energy resolutely in motion.
The second of the two musical ideas begins here, with virtuosic fluttering that give the impression of light-speed travel accompanying the opening long tones, now accelerated greatly into a repetitive rhythmic motive. Some of the space the energy traverses seems to be more congested, while other parts are more vacuous, but the motion continues on, relentless in its journey. This second mood – unlike the first, which seems completely devoid of emotion – has an imposing and almost threatening nature to it and, at its most cacophonous, bears down with a hard-edged fury. After an initial climactic encounter, the texture resets to one of sparse (but still active) surroundings. The opening mood begins to set in more firmly, presenting its more objective view in a spacious brass chorale. From there, the race is on to the finish as the moods interweave in the briskest tempo of the work, spinning out of control until briefly interrupted by the opening crystal glass unison. The musical implication is that some of the opening material will return, but the respite is broken by a return of the fast music, performed with such violence as to spin wildly apart with only the vacuum remaining – evocative of The Big Rip tearing all matter asunder, leaving only the darkness of space.
Dark Energy is Montoya’s sixth work for symphonic winds and is dedicated to David R. Gillingham.
Program note by Jake Wallace
Please credit Jake Wallace when reproducing or excerpting this program note


9 Songs For The 9 Planets Of The Solar System and One track featuring original sounds from Mars!
Athens, Greece – Experimental musician and author Billy Yfantis, releases the Sci-Fi/Space album entitled “Entering the Solar System”. The album features 9 instrumental tracks composed for the 9 planets of the Solar System, plus 1 track called “Landing” consisting of re-worked sounds that were originally recorded on the planet of Mars by NASA. The album was composed and recorded in Athens, Greece by Billy Yfantis who used a mix of virtual instruments and field recordings. Each track represents the sonic aesthetic perception of each planet while “Landing” is the re-editing of sounds created by InSight’s robotic arm as its camera scanned the surface of Mars.
The Solar System was formed 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of an enormous interstellar cloud. The majority of the system’s mass consists of the Sun along with the other 8 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The whole scientific concept was a major influence for Billy Yfantis who is deep into Science since he is an active researcher of the University of West Attica. Billy commented on the new release: “Although my Ph.D. research is on a different field, Astronomy and Space have always been my passion. I believe that it was time to explore Space musically through the path of the virtual music technology.”
“Entering the Solar System” Tracklist:
Listen to the new album here:
Billy is already working on the creation of several promotional videos to visualize the Sci-Fi experience of the new album. In the meantime, check out a promotional video for the older track “Floating in Space” (The Noisy Whispers Compilation album) that was recently posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFYXic9xT1s
The new album features Space music with songs that vary from Film Music, Ambient, to Krautrock. The only way to understand the spirit of the album and visualize this interstellar exploration is to follow the instructions:
Grab your headphones!
Enjoy an out of Space experience!
About Billy Yfantis
Vasileios (Billy) Yfantis holds 2 Master Degrees in Information Technology and is a Ph.D. candidate in the University of West Attica by conducting research on e-government. Billy has been working on music since the late 1990s by experimenting with tape mixing and sound design. Billy is playing digital keyboards, but prefers to express his artistic dream through the electronic sounds that come from unusual machines. He has experimented with the recording of vacuum cleaners, electric blenders and other strange sounds that have resulted in musical releases. Moreover, Billy has authored books on music, business and science while from times to times he speaks about the electronic governance at scientific conferences all over Europe.
Krautrock legend Harald Grosskopf (Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, Cosmic Jokers): “I always like electronic music made by younger musicians who consequently follow their personal instinct, rather than trying to copy what’s already been made in the past, in the spirit of: Whenever you meet Buddha kill him. Keep on tracking Billy!”
Tom McLoughlin (Director of the movie “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives”): “I really dug his music!! VERY cool stuff!!”
Phil Lanzon (Uriah Heep): “I like the track ‘Waiting for the battle.’ Great riff. I can see this as soundtracks to Psycho – punk movies and the like.”
Steve Whitfield (Producer and engineer of The Cure, The Mission UK): “This music is crying out to be used in films but at the same time it’s great to just sit back listen and immerse yourself in them without any moving images and let your imagination run wild!”
1. Entering the Solar System (Full album, 2020)
2. The Noisy Whispers Compilation (Full album, 2019)
3. The Mysterious Trip (Digital single, 2018)
4. Dust Not Found (Digital single 2017)
5. Crossing The Line (Digital single 2016)
6. The Electric Blender Session (Digital single, 2016)
7. The Missing Link (Digital single, 2015)
1. Is Prog Rock Really Progressive? (2020)
2. Hip Hop Goes Science: Volume I (2019)
3. Metal Goes Science: The Academic Metal Bibliography (2017)
4. Disadvantaged Populations And Technology In Music (2017)
5. City Streets Of Europe (2017)
6. Punk Goes Science: The Academic Bibliography Of Punk (2015)
7. The Lost Lyrics (2013)
8. The Commercial Exploitation Of Color As A Consumer Stimulus (2013)
Find Books by Billy Yfantis here:


Moon Chalk Color Set designed by Nikolas Bentel
Push, pull, rotate and roll on any chalk friendly surface to create murals and sidewalk doodles. Render shooting stars, lunar landscapes and starry nights from dots, lines and curves. Will defy gravity if used on the surface of the moon.
Set of 3 includes:
- Cosmic pollen: 3" x 3" x 3" (7.62cm x 7.62cm x 7.62cm); a particle floating weightless mid-air ballet a rolling gesture;
- Lunar rake: 3.64" x 2.21" x 2.21" (9.25cm x 5.61cm x 5.61cm): push, pull and meditate on lines, make crosshatch formations;
- Satellite stack: 2.88" x 3" x 3" (7.31cm x 7.62cm x 7.62cm); airway transmission, temporary sidewalk, wave, concentric circle
- Moon Chalk is made from 100% chalk
- Easily washes off any surface
- Color set includes red, blue and yellow
- Made in China/Fabrique en Chine
Returns accepted on damaged or incorrect products only.


|Laghu Samrat Yantra with the Clock Tover of City Palace in Background.|
Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Sawai Jai Singh in the early 18th century. There are many Observatories built all around the world but Jantar Mantar of Jaipur is considered to be one of the biggest in all of them. Jantar Mantar is combination of Religion, Science and Art. The name Jantar Mantar is derived from Sanskrit Term Yantra (Instruments) and Mantras ( Formula in this Context Calculation) Yantra was further changed by Jantar translates as Magical. So Jantar Mantar translated in English as Magical Calculations. Jantar Mantar of Jaipur was Part of five Observatories built in New Delhi, Ujjain, Varanasi, Matura and Jaipur. The Jantar Mantar of jaipur is biggest in all of them and is in very good Condition; With Thousands of Tourists it also attracts Astronomers, Astrologers and Scientists every year from all around the world.
The Observatory Consists of many Giant geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars and so on. . . At old time local astronomers use it to predict the weather for farmers, announcing eclipses and the arrival of monsoons. The Instruments here can tell the time with the accuracy of 2 seconds. Jantar Mantar, of Jaipur celebrated astronomical observatory is also have a Status of World Heritage Site presented by UNESCO. Jantar Mantar is Situated in Jaipur City only Just near the City Palace So you can cover both the Places at the same Visit. On the Whole it’s a Must See Place when you Visit Jaipur.
|Samrat Yantra (Giant sundial) with other Instruments.|
|Jai Prakash Yantra at Jantar Mantar, Jaipur.|
|I forgot which one was this but I liked the Lines.|
|I love the Sizes of these Instruments You really enjoy Clicking Them.|
|Stairs of Samrat Yantra (Giant sundial)|


Astronomy Night is in need of a Coordinator!
We would like to hold an event on campus in the evening where students could stargaze, and participate in astronomy related activities or art projects. We are looking in to some local programs to provide equipment. We don’t have this on the calendar yet but there are several astronomical events in 2018 and 2019 that we might be able to view.
Please contact Charlene at email@example.com if you would be interested in helping us plan this event!


The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Wednesday that it will extend its contract with the private space transportation company SpaceX to cover five additional missions. This will result in an increase in the value of the partnership between the two organizations by $1.4 billion.
As a result of their collaboration to transport personnel to and from the International Space Station, SpaceX and NASA will have a secure and stable future thanks to the contract. The newly contracted launches will continue their relationship until the year 2030 and will raise the overall contract value to nearly $5 billion for 14 astronaut flights that are fully operational.
In 2014, SpaceX and NASA signed their first agreement together. It included coverage for six different astronaut launches and had an estimated value of $2.6 billion at the time. In the year 2020, NASA carried out a crewed demonstration mission, which marked the first astronaut launch to take off from US territory since the Space Shuttle program was discontinued. This mission was a crewed demonstration mission. Since then, SpaceX has been in charge of normal launches, and the company is planning to send its fifth fully operational trip into space this fall.
This pact builds on an extension of a contract that NASA offered SpaceX in February for three extra flights of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The space agency had already suggested in June that it wanted to sign on for even more flights when it gave SpaceX the extension of the contract.
In a blog post from that period, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that they have decided to keep the International Space Station operational until 2030. “Because of this extension, additional crew rotation trips are going to have to be flown in order to maintain a safe and sustainable flight cadence over the entirety of the space station’s remaining planned operations.”
Recent events have cast doubt on whether or not the International Space Station will continue to function past the year 2030. This is because Russia, the United States’ primary partner on the ISS, has recently threatened to end space station cooperation in the midst of mounting geopolitical tensions caused by the country’s invasion of Ukraine. However, NASA has stated on multiple occasions that it is certain the space station would continue to operate in the same manner as it always has. Due to the fact that the Russian-controlled component of the space station provides the essential propulsion to maintain the International Space Station (ISS) in orbit, NASA is unable to acquire full control of the ISS at this time.
The extension of NASA’s contract with SpaceX demonstrates the space agency’s faith in both the continued operation of the International Space Station (ISS) beyond the year 2030 and in Elon Musk’s leadership of SpaceX, which, in spite of some early cultural tensions with the space agency, has become one of NASA’s most trusted contractors.
On the other hand, Boeing (BA) likewise possesses a contract under the aforementioned program. The company’s astronaut spaceship, which goes by the name Starliner, has been plagued with development problems and technical snags, but Boeing has just finished an uncrewed test flight. Now, the corporation is focusing its efforts on launching its first crewed expedition sometime in the early years of 2023.
NASA has made it abundantly clear that it continues to have faith in Boeing. In a statement released in June, NASA’s director of commercial space, Phil McAllister, commented on the agency’s decision to extend SpaceX’s contract by saying that “(h0)wever, we will need additional missions from SpaceX to implement our strategy of having each commercial provider fly alternating missions once per year.”
According to McAllister, “Our objective has always been to have a number of different providers for crewed transportation to the space station.” “SpaceX has been reliably flying two NASA crewed missions per year, and now we must backfill those trips to assist the agency in meeting its long-term needs in a safe manner.”
Read More Financial News Here


Montreal Science Centres
For over 30 years the Montréal Planetarium has introduced people to the wonders of the stars and space. This season's schedule includes seven multimedia productions: Asteroids, Lost in Space, L'Univers du Petit Prince (French only), Tomorrow, the Moon, A Night of Magic, The End of the World, and The Star of the Magi.
Science, entertainment complex with interactive science exhibits and high-tech innovations and immersion theatre located in the heart of Old Port of Montreal.
A Montreal landmark and the only museum in America dedicated to water.


Outer Banks Lighthouses Workshop 2023
In April 2023, Lerro Photography sponsored two separate photo workshops in North Carolina’s Outer Banks and Cape Lookout National Seashore. The first segment was two nights and three days on the Outer Banks. On the first evening, we photographed the Oregon Inlet Life Saving Station until sunset. From there, we took a break for dinner and a few hours of sleep before meeting at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at 2:00 am to take night pictures.
Thunderstorms were moving in, so we had to move quickly. We did get about 20 minutes of Milky Way time before clouds and storms moved in. As the storm progressed, the photographers captured some incredible images with lightning bolts behind the lighthouse. Once the rain started, we took shelter in our cars and drove north to our sunrise location, the Avon Fishing Pier.
After sunrise, we crossed the mainland to photograph bears and other wildlife at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. As we explored the refuge, we were fortunate and came upon a mother and her cubs.
That evening, we met up at the Roanoke River Lighthouse and took pictures at sunset and for an hour at night. After a few hours of sleep, the group met at the Bodie Island Lighthouse. We spent a couple of hours photographing the lighthouse with the Milky Way from several angles. At dawn, I dressed up in a lighthouse keeper uniform and posed on the walkway between the keeper’s house and the lighthouse. Sunrise produced terrific images as a hazy, yellow sun rose above the horizon. After sunrise, we returned to Alligator River for more wildlife photos.
On the last evening, we met up at Currituck Beach Lighthouse. After photographing the lighthouse, we walked to the bay beach and photographed several birds, including an osprey. At dusk, we took zoom pictures of the Fresnel lens at the top of Currituck Beach Lighthouse. This ended the Outer Banks portion of the workshop.
The next day was the start of the Cape Lookout portion of the photo workshop. To get to Cape Lookout, we took a small car ferry to the island’s north end and drove 12 miles down the sand road to the lighthouse and beach camping area. After setting up camp, we stayed in our cars for the afternoon as heavy rain showers made their way through. At sunset, the sun peaked through the clouds and gave us good lighting for silhouette shots. We made a bonfire for the evening and hung out because heavy clouds were rolling through the area.
We traveled around Cape Lookout the next day to see the village and abandoned buildings. For sunset, we photographed wildlife as well as the lighthouse. Later at night, the skies cleared, and we could snap the Milky Way with the lighthouse in the foreground. It was well worth the wait through all the bad weather. After about an hour, the clouds rolled back in, so we returned to camp to wait for sunrise. After sunrise, we packed up camp and returned to the ferry, ending the Cape Lookout portion of the workshop.
Below are photos taken by the participating photographers and myself.


About the Project
As part of the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Initiative, the AAO will build a new optical multi-beam laser collimator that be incorporated into a precision instrument that will land on the moon.
The project is part of a collaboration between AAO and lead partner, Advanced Navigation, who were awarded a $5.2M Moon to Mars Initiative: Demonstrator Mission Grant. The laser collimators will be incorporated into Advance Navigation’s space-qualified Light Detection, Altimetry and Velocimetry (LiDAV) sensor called LUNA (Laser measurement Unit for Navigational Aid). The prototype sensor will be delivered to US-based space systems company, Intuitive Machines, as part of NASA’s ongoing Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
The AAO was chosen to design and build the laser collimator for the LUNA device due to AAO’s proven expertise in the area of precision astronomical instrumentation.


The Agile Fox Friday Foto – 11.30.2012
After a year and a half of including a ‘pic of the week’ at the end of my weekly training summary, I’ve decided to let it stand as a post of its own. I’m also implementing a rule that the Friday Foto needs to have been taken sometime in the last week. No recycling. I am doing this to keep me engaged in building my photography skills, and to make me work harder to get fresh shots. Click here to see my previous Friday Foto posts.
Mark your calendars!
Full moon party on September 19th, 2013. At 7:08PM the rising full moon will be perfectly timed with the setting sun to appear directly behind this peak from this vantage point I have staked out. I think it would be cool to have a bunch of people up on the summit that I can shoot from below.
This is 13,795′ Mt. Arkansas which sits at the head of the Arkansas River just north of Leadville, CO.
I shot this photo last Sunday night as I was driving home. When I left Leadville, the sky was bright and the moon appeared to be quite high in the sky, but as I drove further up the canyon everything darkened and I could tell I might be able to get in a shot of the moon rising above a ridge. The rich alpenglow was a nice bonus, and the fact that the moon was coming up right over the summit was cool. It was one of the cleanest skies and most brilliantly white moons I have ever seen. Magnificent!
I used a 300mm telephoto and figure that I will have at least a 450mm setup for this time next year, and possibly even more if I go with a teleconverter. The sunset will ensure that there is enough light for the foreground and should make for some dramatic portrait opportunities. We’ll have to be quick, though. The moon moves by its entire body width in only 2 minutes. Not very noticeable when it’s overhead, but smoking fast when rising from behind the horizon.
Posted on November 30, 2012, in photography and tagged Friday Foto. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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