31.12.06

Stargaze on Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Time: 7 PM - 10 PM
Place: Service Road @ PV

The grant telescopes that we used kind of really sucked. It took us about an hour to set them up, and even then only mine worked. There was a surprisingly small turnout, with only Erich, Will and I, so we were about to get more done once the telescopes aligned and finished skewing. Among the things we saw were Pleyades, Hyades, the double cluster of Perseus, a quadruple star, etc. The function was set to "Tonight's Best" that had us laughing at the lame comments.

After using the telescope that took a thousand years to set up even with Mr. Percival, we went to the center of PV in between the Media Center and the art building. Mr. Percival used this really BA laser pointer that had to be imported from Hong Kong because it can blind pilots. He pointed out certain constellations such as Taurus, Pegasus, Casseopeia, Orion, Gemini, Auriga, and the Hare. He told us that in the East, Sirius and Canis Major were rising. No planets could be seen that night because none of them were above the horizon.

It was a pretty good stargaze, especially since it was intimate. Mr. Percival also talked about music afterwards, which is always interesting. I never knew he sang...!

8.12.06



Star Trails at 19,000 Feet

This is a southern night sky captured @ an altitude of 19,000 feet with a temperature of -18C. (I wish FL was that cold.) This is the Southern Celestial Pole of the Andes mountain Ojos del Salado. The whole structure is a stratovolcano, or the highest active volcano @ 22,000 feet. This was a time exposure over an hour and a half. The Milkyway in the left, Magellanic clouds, and other star trails were recorded visually here. I think it's a pretty beautiful picture. I'd love to go someplace calm, quiet and cold like this someday. It really connects you to the peace within nature.

1.12.06

Early Morning Drives

So I noticed that the sky was red this morning. It reminded me of the saying Red sky in the Morning/ Sailors take Warning" which reminded me of the song "Saints and Sailors" by the best band evar. XD But the sunrise was very colourful and bright. It had actually pourned last night around 6-7ish, which I didn't pay attenetion to because I was practicing. It was pretty initially exciting, though, even if it did make everything humid and damp this morning.
And last night (since I keep my shades open), I noticed that the moon was abnormally bright. It was cool because then I didn't trip on my way to bed @ 11:30, but still. I haven't looked on the calendar to see what the moon is doing this week, but I have an inkling that it's going to be full or close to it.
I can't believe it's December 1st already, on a different note. Like, what is that? Yet it seems like time slows down in school, which is totally unfair.



A Pelican in the Swan

The Pelican Nebula is in Cygnus [Swan] about 2,000 lightyears away; it is also just off of the east coast of the North American nebula, or NGC 7000. There are dark dust clouds in the upper left that form the pelican's head and eye. Ionized gas creates the curve in the head and the neck. This picture was altered in black and white & synthesized colours at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory.