Still nothing in the Australian news. The extra time in the FIFA World Cup is one headline and a body on a beach is another headline. The Rosetta flyby does get a mention.
The New Supernovae Alphabet Soup
10 years ago
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Solar Eclipse 2010 - July 11th
Up early to watch the total solar eclipse - on a live web stream, the only one I could find. It's in Japanese and obviously from a Japanese expedition - Wakayama University. They made it to totality but then the feed appeared to fail. The location was somewhere in the South Pacific. Another Solar Eclipse I've managed to miss the opportunity of seeing in location. I did quick survey of locations I should have gone to and found a small island called Mangaia in the Cook Islands, I bet I could have caught a few bone fish as well - next time maybe. If I win lotto maybe it'll be Frazer Island. Anyway, here are the first pictures I've found on the web, from Mangaia http://www.spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Constantinos-Emmanouilidis-Prominences_1278875772.jpg
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Long Time Between Posts
Some bloggers have no trouble generating material. I expect the best approach is to bang out whatever. I have a few started and not finished I might still dig them out and post them. I was inspired today, I don't know why. A bit of cold and wet start - not working means there's no pressure to get out there. I do have lots to blog about, lots of projects in pipeline:
- Getting my video astro video camera going. I need to finish building a box of electronics so I can keep everything in one place instead of devices spilling all over the outdoor furniture and cables going in all directions. There'll be some progress on this real soon. The latest blocker was almost blinding myself when a hand dremel threw a tiny piece of plastic into my eye. A visit to the opthalmic surgeon revealed two in-grown eyelashes that he promptly removed. After a few days, last night I eventually located a tiny particle of plastic, probably smaller than 0.5mm drifting about in my eye and managed to remove it - very carefully. So (probably) no more cutting into plastic boxes until I get a pair prescription safety glasses in a few days.
- I'm getting into TikiWiki had a bit of false start about a year ago. But now I'm working on a site for 7mm profile modelling and I think I'll try turning the Sydney City Skywatchers website into a TikiWiki site.
-I'm a building a NSW 'R' Coach in 7mm, this has stalled but should restart soon. I want to log the process in the Wiki.
Oh - and I need to find a job.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Earth Hour - I just don't get it
I'm loathe to say - it's that time of year again. I think the popularisation of Science is a great objective, there should be more done and more often. For a few years now there has been an event called 'Earth Hour'. If you don't know of it, what essentially happens is that people are asked to turn off lights for an hour. The event itself originated in Sydney, Australia. The event became national and then international and I think in concept it is a good idea. However the organisation that runs it wasn't the first. A bit of research would uncover I think Sydney Observatory attempting with some success to get Sydney City buildings to turn out their illumination and then in latter years some amateur functions managing the same.
In essence though 'Earth Hour' is simply a Green marketing event, a feel good exorcism of Green and energy wasting demons. Like the concept of World Peace the participants cry 'If only it could be every day - then the world would be a better place'. Soon a lot of energy will be wasted promoting this event and the event itself will cause much wastage of energy as people are encouraged to go out and organise events for 'Earth Hour'. I can only think that the act of turning off lights is a visible signal that something is happening or maybe it's just the imprint that a neurotic Grandmother or Grandfather has had or some poor kid - who now inflicts the neurosis on us. Then nothing more is heard for another year - and someone in the meantime is getting fat. All that is achieved is a glowing, energy wasting example of viral marketing.
The outcome of Earth Hour is that people feel OK over wasting energy. I think this year they've managed to run it outside daylight saving and twilight.
In essence though 'Earth Hour' is simply a Green marketing event, a feel good exorcism of Green and energy wasting demons. Like the concept of World Peace the participants cry 'If only it could be every day - then the world would be a better place'. Soon a lot of energy will be wasted promoting this event and the event itself will cause much wastage of energy as people are encouraged to go out and organise events for 'Earth Hour'. I can only think that the act of turning off lights is a visible signal that something is happening or maybe it's just the imprint that a neurotic Grandmother or Grandfather has had or some poor kid - who now inflicts the neurosis on us. Then nothing more is heard for another year - and someone in the meantime is getting fat. All that is achieved is a glowing, energy wasting example of viral marketing.
The outcome of Earth Hour is that people feel OK over wasting energy. I think this year they've managed to run it outside daylight saving and twilight.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Quest for Power
Over the last twelve months my astronomy has been more of a course in electronics - something that in my university days I saw as nuisance and relevant only to the propeller heads in Elec. Eng. Add to that total and complete colour blindness and I'm sure you'll agree it was probably fairly pointless putting a bunch of resistors and capacitors in front of me. I was and am, much happier at a larger component level.
In the quest for significant amateur astronomy the old telescope was disposed of for a you beaut computer controlled model - a Celestron CPC8. All sorts of back-end gear was added - a filter wheel, temperature compensated focuser, field rotator (just to complicate it). Of course everything is powered and it all can be computer controlled. So everything needs power. All the electronic components use DC power and one objective was to be portable. After a few shake-down runs success looked achievable - soon however some gremlins started to show. The heavy duty marine GEL battery still capable of powering an electric outboard on a small boat - couldn't cope with the draw of most of the gear - OUCH1
So the solution is to use a Laboratory Power Supply, at least when within range of a residential power supply. Still this meant acquiring or building a distribution box for the 12V supply. This was completed with a lot of burnt fingers, cursing and trepidation. All this was fine for 12V requirements, and of course there is the few components that require odd voltages and need a step down DC-DC transformer - simple to say , however fraught with difficulties. The most significant issue is that the excess power needs to be shed and disposed of, and this is done by converting it to heat - well this is simply the outcome. The bigger the voltage drop the more heat. The problem this creates is that the electronics to handle the DC shift are compact, the cooling heat sink fins can be large. Correspondingly the housing box goes from small to large. Anyway the bottom line is a complete redesign but I should achieve a reduction in long cables thus removing another risk factor of something that trip up the scope in the middle of a run.
So I'm still out of action and almost back to step 1 but about to make a come back.
In the quest for significant amateur astronomy the old telescope was disposed of for a you beaut computer controlled model - a Celestron CPC8. All sorts of back-end gear was added - a filter wheel, temperature compensated focuser, field rotator (just to complicate it). Of course everything is powered and it all can be computer controlled. So everything needs power. All the electronic components use DC power and one objective was to be portable. After a few shake-down runs success looked achievable - soon however some gremlins started to show. The heavy duty marine GEL battery still capable of powering an electric outboard on a small boat - couldn't cope with the draw of most of the gear - OUCH1
So the solution is to use a Laboratory Power Supply, at least when within range of a residential power supply. Still this meant acquiring or building a distribution box for the 12V supply. This was completed with a lot of burnt fingers, cursing and trepidation. All this was fine for 12V requirements, and of course there is the few components that require odd voltages and need a step down DC-DC transformer - simple to say , however fraught with difficulties. The most significant issue is that the excess power needs to be shed and disposed of, and this is done by converting it to heat - well this is simply the outcome. The bigger the voltage drop the more heat. The problem this creates is that the electronics to handle the DC shift are compact, the cooling heat sink fins can be large. Correspondingly the housing box goes from small to large. Anyway the bottom line is a complete redesign but I should achieve a reduction in long cables thus removing another risk factor of something that trip up the scope in the middle of a run.
So I'm still out of action and almost back to step 1 but about to make a come back.
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Reality of Light Pollution revealed.
Here’s a quick blog, some of the detail may be lost to the fog of my mind but the conclusion is important. I’ll try to work on developing this over the next few days – before work catches up with me.
The great advantage of a few days (okay a couple of weeks ) off work – it is finally possible to catch up with unfinished projects and start a few more that can stay unfinished until – Easter I guess! It is also a chance to gather a few thoughts together. My compatriots in SOLIS (Sydney Outdoor Lighting Society) have been busy collecting and collating bits if information on the scourge of ‘Light Pollution’ . Still however, the idea that loose and extraneous photons could be a form of pollution is probably a long way off understood. When SOLIS was first formed in 1988 (that long ago) we took the fight upto City Hall (Sydney City Council). Often the response to SOLIS was one of ‘incredulity’, from the people who understood the issue especially the street lighting distributors - they tried to blind us with ‘engineering logic’ which doesn’t stack up to real science. When The City of Sydney was in full swing for 2000 Olympics many building projects had lighting components. By this time lighting was required to shown as a separate Development Application – SOLIS would like to think that this was our achievement.
It is an interesting parallel to identify extraneous lighting as pollution. Often these parallels are drawn to the CFC issues and the hole in the Ozone layer of the 70s & 80s, as well as current parallels to wastage of energy such as inefficient light bulbs. Everyone thinks the problem is about light that goes up into the atmosphere maybe even on a voyage into Outer Space. The problem is really about light coming back into us, the light is returning from out there! And that’s the rub – light travels in straight lines, when the noise level that is the random signal swamps the real object signal – the object is lost to our sight. Think about it.
The great advantage of a few days (okay a couple of weeks ) off work – it is finally possible to catch up with unfinished projects and start a few more that can stay unfinished until – Easter I guess! It is also a chance to gather a few thoughts together. My compatriots in SOLIS (Sydney Outdoor Lighting Society) have been busy collecting and collating bits if information on the scourge of ‘Light Pollution’ . Still however, the idea that loose and extraneous photons could be a form of pollution is probably a long way off understood. When SOLIS was first formed in 1988 (that long ago) we took the fight upto City Hall (Sydney City Council). Often the response to SOLIS was one of ‘incredulity’, from the people who understood the issue especially the street lighting distributors - they tried to blind us with ‘engineering logic’ which doesn’t stack up to real science. When The City of Sydney was in full swing for 2000 Olympics many building projects had lighting components. By this time lighting was required to shown as a separate Development Application – SOLIS would like to think that this was our achievement.
It is an interesting parallel to identify extraneous lighting as pollution. Often these parallels are drawn to the CFC issues and the hole in the Ozone layer of the 70s & 80s, as well as current parallels to wastage of energy such as inefficient light bulbs. Everyone thinks the problem is about light that goes up into the atmosphere maybe even on a voyage into Outer Space. The problem is really about light coming back into us, the light is returning from out there! And that’s the rub – light travels in straight lines, when the noise level that is the random signal swamps the real object signal – the object is lost to our sight. Think about it.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Philosophy, Religion, Science, Astronomy and Sharks
This blog was to be on 'Light Pollution' - that curse of all astronomers both amateur and professional. I'm a founding member of SOLIS - The Sydney Outdoor Lighting Improvement Society, more on that another time.
But I wasted a lot of time - I originally wrote this on the 27/12/2008. I've now posted it despite it's old age!
Whilst I was scanning through a weekend paper 'The Weekend Australian Financial Review' I was drawn to a photograph of a remarkable astronomical object - 'Menzel 3'. This is a planetary nebulae revealed as only modern science can - a mystery no longer and so, I was led to the article, 'Realignment of Ideas'. It turns out that this article is a book review of an anthology of works from 23 philosophers. It was originally 30 philosophers and I guess that's another story - the book itself is titled '23 Questions from Great Philosophers', the author is 'Leszek Kolakowski'.
Nowhere in the article is there a reference to 'Menzel 3', so what is the logic behind using the picture? The article about the book attempts to link Philosophy and Religion, the anthology is of articles that attempt to answer the question 'Of Being'. The book itself apparently presents each article then poses a few questions for your musings. The title of the book is however 'Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?' The book lines up some of the heavy hitters from Socrates to Husserl (who?) and with a few astronomer/science noteries lurking in there. The author of the book Kolakowski does not refer to astronomy . So why does the author of the newspaper article use the picture - it is a wonderful picture and I will post it here, it has been the APOD, and probably not a well known object - and it does look like - well an ant.
And so, why did I mention sharks in the title here, not quite as random as the Ant Nebula in the book review. Today in Perth, Western Australia, a truly tragic event has overtaken a family. A family's father was lost to a very large White Pointer shark. The chances of dying to shark attack in Australia is diminishing small, to April 2008 there have been 11 fatal attacks in the last 50 years. I guess people often just don't believe sharks will attack. I don't need to believe in sharks to know this can happen, I know that sharks exist, and I know that sharks attack people. I once was snorkelling with friends at a local beach 'Cabbage Tree Bay', nearby at a distance I saw a group of small sharks. They were the 'Grey Nurse' variety so I wasn't alarmed, they were in deep water and I was in shallow water. A few minutes later directly below me, less than a metre, the shilloute of a shark appeared, swimming across my path - certainly alarming!
The reviewer of this book is promoting the idea that Religion can explain that there is something rather than nothing, and he uses the philosophers, not all of whom actually manage to reach that particular conclusion. Some in fact come adrift and head into nihlism. I expect that The Ant nebula is used as a tag to show as 'something' and give a 'scientific' slant to the article.
And the conclusion - there's nothing philosophical about sharks in their oen environment - I expect to see them there and I expect to see them behave in a shark-like manner. Today 7/01/2009 I saw another shark article in the Sydney Morning Hearld, something about a shark swimming near a surf life saver - fancy that! Maybe that surf life-saver was swimming close to the shark. So, I expect to see astronomical objects and I expect a simple and straight-forward explanation, sometimes revealing but never a matter of blind faith. And I would never have faith in a shark - I got out of the water and walked back!
But I wasted a lot of time - I originally wrote this on the 27/12/2008. I've now posted it despite it's old age!
Whilst I was scanning through a weekend paper 'The Weekend Australian Financial Review' I was drawn to a photograph of a remarkable astronomical object - 'Menzel 3'. This is a planetary nebulae revealed as only modern science can - a mystery no longer and so, I was led to the article, 'Realignment of Ideas'. It turns out that this article is a book review of an anthology of works from 23 philosophers. It was originally 30 philosophers and I guess that's another story - the book itself is titled '23 Questions from Great Philosophers', the author is 'Leszek Kolakowski'.
Nowhere in the article is there a reference to 'Menzel 3', so what is the logic behind using the picture? The article about the book attempts to link Philosophy and Religion, the anthology is of articles that attempt to answer the question 'Of Being'. The book itself apparently presents each article then poses a few questions for your musings. The title of the book is however 'Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?' The book lines up some of the heavy hitters from Socrates to Husserl (who?) and with a few astronomer/science noteries lurking in there. The author of the book Kolakowski does not refer to astronomy . So why does the author of the newspaper article use the picture - it is a wonderful picture and I will post it here, it has been the APOD, and probably not a well known object - and it does look like - well an ant.
And so, why did I mention sharks in the title here, not quite as random as the Ant Nebula in the book review. Today in Perth, Western Australia, a truly tragic event has overtaken a family. A family's father was lost to a very large White Pointer shark. The chances of dying to shark attack in Australia is diminishing small, to April 2008 there have been 11 fatal attacks in the last 50 years. I guess people often just don't believe sharks will attack. I don't need to believe in sharks to know this can happen, I know that sharks exist, and I know that sharks attack people. I once was snorkelling with friends at a local beach 'Cabbage Tree Bay', nearby at a distance I saw a group of small sharks. They were the 'Grey Nurse' variety so I wasn't alarmed, they were in deep water and I was in shallow water. A few minutes later directly below me, less than a metre, the shilloute of a shark appeared, swimming across my path - certainly alarming!
The reviewer of this book is promoting the idea that Religion can explain that there is something rather than nothing, and he uses the philosophers, not all of whom actually manage to reach that particular conclusion. Some in fact come adrift and head into nihlism. I expect that The Ant nebula is used as a tag to show as 'something' and give a 'scientific' slant to the article.
And the conclusion - there's nothing philosophical about sharks in their oen environment - I expect to see them there and I expect to see them behave in a shark-like manner. Today 7/01/2009 I saw another shark article in the Sydney Morning Hearld, something about a shark swimming near a surf life saver - fancy that! Maybe that surf life-saver was swimming close to the shark. So, I expect to see astronomical objects and I expect a simple and straight-forward explanation, sometimes revealing but never a matter of blind faith. And I would never have faith in a shark - I got out of the water and walked back!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Getting Started
Who knows where this sort of activity may end - is it some sort of slippery slope? All experiments can have a random outcome - sometimes serendipitous, although mostly uninteresting and boring - not necessarily failure just boring. So here's hoping for some interesting serendipitous random outcomes!
Just looking through my observing log the last night I ran up the scope was the 2nd September 2008. Since then most evenings have not been worth it - mostly cloudy, or I attended a commitment such as a Committee Meeting for something - most likely astronomical related. Fortunately Christmas suspends most of these commitments and I get an opportunity to utilise a clear night.
The first topic off the rank is - the weather. I'm sure most people talk about the weather, for an astronomer it's about the clouds. Earlier this year at the Sydney City Skywatchers we listened to a great talk by Julie Evans of The Bureau of Meterolgy. She gave us lots of ideas of how to plan for the weather and told us about The Cloud Appreciation Society.
So far to-night looks like it might be clear - for a change - still about 5 hours to go to twilight. The Sydney MTSAT-1R VIS is showing some scattered cloud coming from the West. The South-East Australia shot shows about a 500Km gap. My guess is it will be line-ball, maybe clear in the early to late morning. It's been a hot humid day so the seeing will be shocking.
Just looking through my observing log the last night I ran up the scope was the 2nd September 2008. Since then most evenings have not been worth it - mostly cloudy, or I attended a commitment such as a Committee Meeting for something - most likely astronomical related. Fortunately Christmas suspends most of these commitments and I get an opportunity to utilise a clear night.
The first topic off the rank is - the weather. I'm sure most people talk about the weather, for an astronomer it's about the clouds. Earlier this year at the Sydney City Skywatchers we listened to a great talk by Julie Evans of The Bureau of Meterolgy. She gave us lots of ideas of how to plan for the weather and told us about The Cloud Appreciation Society.
So far to-night looks like it might be clear - for a change - still about 5 hours to go to twilight. The Sydney MTSAT-1R VIS is showing some scattered cloud coming from the West. The South-East Australia shot shows about a 500Km gap. My guess is it will be line-ball, maybe clear in the early to late morning. It's been a hot humid day so the seeing will be shocking.
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