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Category Archives: space
McDonald Observatory Workshop Debrief
I spent 3 days at McDonald Observatory in late June at a workshop for astronomy and physics teachers called “light and optics” and it was fantastic. The observing was the most incredible part of the whole experience although the workshop content … Continue reading
Astronomy Fall Final Exam Info
The fall 2010 astronomy final has 45 multiple-choice questions and it’s open notes. I reserve the right to refuse non-hand-written notes or anything else I don’t like during the exam. There is a review question-set but it is NOT a … Continue reading
CAST Days 2 and 3
Friday I started out the day at “Space Weather” presented by 2 UT Dallas scientists – Dr. Mary Urquhart and Dr. Mark Hairston. Their work is based on the CINDI instruments on board a orbiting satellite C/NOFS. One VERY cool … Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, exoplanets, moon, NASA, observing, physics, robotic astronomy, solar astronomy, solar system, space, star names, stellar astronomy, Student Astronomy, sun, urban skies
Tagged C/NOFS, CAST, CAST2010, CINDI, ImageJ, Mark Hairston, Mary Kay Hemenway, Mary Urquhart, McDonald Observatory, MONET, UT Dallas
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InOMN @ Bellaire HS Rain or Shine!
The clouds won’t keep us from celebrating International Observe the Moon Night tonight from 7pm – 9pm at Bellaire High School. We have a large space reserved for some virtual moon observing inside the school. I have booked the multipurpose … Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, constellations, Houston, Lunar Exploration, Lunar Planetary Institute, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, moon, NASA, observing, robotic astronomy, Social Networking, solar system, space, Student Astronomy, urban skies
Tagged #InOMN10, InOMN
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Lunar Research Project
Bellaire will be participating in the Lunar and Planetary Institute lunar research program which gets students involved in actual lunar science research work and a chance to publish the results. This program is designed to get high school students involved … Continue reading
Free Astronomy Tools
My latest Houston public library sidewalk astronomy event was moved indoors to the “program place” on the 4th floor so I thought I would throw together some free and easy astronomy tips to share. When the weather won’t cooperate there … Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, asterisms, astronomical history, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, constellations, Houston, Lunar Exploration, Mars, meteor shower, moon, NASA, observing, robotic astronomy, sidewalk astronomy, solar astronomy, solar system, space, star names, stellar astronomy, Student Astronomy, sun, urban skies
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Summer Stargazing at George Observatory
On Sunday August 1st 2010 Houston had a rare and fantastically clear, low humidity night. I headed out to the George Observatory with a few other members of the Fort Bend Astronomy Club to take advantage of a rare chance … Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, asterisms, Astronomy, constellations, Houston, observing, software, space, star names, stellar astronomy, urban skies
Tagged asterisms, constellations, star names
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Review of Anathem by Neal Stephenson
So I finally got around to reading/listening to Anathem by Neal Stephenson and wow what a great book. There are a lot of things to say about why I loved this book but here’s the gist. I couldn’t put it … Continue reading
Unknown Moon Day 3 – LRO has evidence for water on moon?
Another excellent talk about The Lunar Poles from Ben Bussey Jonhs Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. Hot off the presses Mini-RF data from LRO. Sweeeeeet. It looks like LRO has confirmation of what looks like water in some of the … Continue reading
Unknown Moon Day 2 ZOMG REAL MOON ROCKS!
Apollo Moon Rocks Vault – Remote Sensing 101: Chandrayaan M^3 found water – Lunar Evolution from an expert Continue reading
Posted in astro blogs, astronomical history, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, Houston, Lunar Exploration, Lunar Planetary Institute, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, moon, NASA, Planetary Society, solar system, space, Universe Today
Tagged Apollo Landings, boing boing, Chandrayaan-1, lunar evolution, lunar formation theory, moon map, moon rocks, M^3, remote sensing
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Unknown Moon Day 1 – You can see IR with a camera phone
You can see IR with a camera phone. Hadley rille images from Apollo are deceptive, ALTA boxes are great for teaching reflectance. Continue reading
Sidewalk Astronomy Daytime Edition 7-19 & 8-16 at HPL Central
Sidewalk Astronomy at HPL Central July 19 and Aug 16th. Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, Houston, Library Science, Lunar Exploration, moon, observing, sidewalk astronomy, solar astronomy, solar system, space, stellar astronomy, Student Astronomy, urban skies
Tagged Houston Public Library, HPL Central, moon, sidewalk astronomy, sun
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Unknown Moon at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Starting tomorrow and running through Friday I will be attending an education workshop called Unknown Moon at the Lunar and Planetary Institute near Johnson Space Center. NASA and Houston have a history. The fact that LPI and JSC are the … Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, astronomical history, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, Education, Houston, Lunar Exploration, moon, NASA, observing, sidewalk astronomy, solar system, space, urban skies
Tagged Apollo Landings, clementine, human spaceflight, Johnson Space Center, LCROSS, lpi, LRO, moon, my moon, president's vision for space exploration, selenology, todd the moon, unknown moon
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Rosetta Flyby of Lutetia Today
The ESA spacecraft Rosetta is set by flyby the asteroid Lutetia today providing a close-up on the primordial stuff of our solar system. This isn’t the final destination for the spacecraft but we all get to enjoy this close encounter. … Continue reading
Posted in asteroids, astro blogs, Astronomy, ESA, observing, Planetary Society, robotic astronomy, solar system, space
Tagged asteroid flyby, ESA, Lutetia, Rosetta
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SDO provides best images of sun ever
SDO gives daily high-res images of the sun that you cannot miss. Check them out NOW. Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, Earth, NASA, observing, robotic astronomy, solar astronomy, solar system, space, stellar astronomy, sun, Universe Today
Tagged iPhone apps, SDO, SOHO, solar astronomy, solar cycle, Solar Dynamics Observatory, solar storms, STEREO, sunspots
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Animated Solar System Rendered in HTML & CSS
Animated solar system rendered in HTML and CSS Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Computer Science, Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, moon, Pluto, Programming, Saturn, software, solar system, space, sun, web apps, web development
Tagged browser specific, css, html, solar system, webkit
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Chandra and VLT find Microquasar
ESA and NASA find most powerful microquasar to date and the results are surprising for scientists. Continue reading
Solar Dynamics Observatory Online!
The Solar Dynamics Observatory is open for business and man are the first light images amazing!! Be sure to see the videos which are better-than-HD quality. share
Posted in Astronomy, astronomy eduction, NASA, observing, robotic astronomy, space, stellar astronomy, Student Astronomy, sun
Tagged first light, SDO, Solar Dynamics Observatory
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Solar Observing Online
Big Bear Solar Observatory SOHO Spacecraft STEREO Spacecraft The sun will become more and more active as it the 11-year solar cycle swings from the slow and quiet to the loud and wild. You can follow along using some online … Continue reading
Posted in amateur astronomy, astro blogs, Astronomy, astronomy eduction, observing, software, space, Student Astronomy, sun, urban skies
Tagged Big Bear Solar Observatory, SOHO, STEREO
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Spring Break Star Party
Come out to the Bellaire High School track this Wednesday from 7pm – 9pm for some solar observing and some star gazing! share