Night Owls Rejoice!

A total lunar eclipse ushers in the winter solstice tonight. Will be visible throughout USA, although a bit on the late side for us east coast people. Main part of the show starts at 2:40am EST, maximum of eclipse 3:17am EST (blood red moon! cool!), end of totality 3:53am EST. Always a good show.

Here is a bad photo of the February 20, 2008 eclipse (with Regulus and Saturn as part of the dance) I shot with my old point-n-shoot camera hand held behind my binoculars:



It is tempting to stay up tonight and try again with the DSLR. Or maybe just set my alarm to catch the peak. Hmmmmm.

Good Little Rover

The Mars Rover Spirit is currently parked for the winter. Opportunity has been exploring a rock formation called the Chocolate Hills.

And to all, a good night.

The Winter Solstice came and went yesterday with me too busy to notice. But once the pre-holiday crazy rush has passed, this is the season to slow down, take a few days off from your normal routine, laugh and enjoy family, rest and recharge. We defy the long dark with festive lights, a warm hearth, and a hearty feast. It isn't just the sun that seems to stand still this time of year. I love that week between Christmas and New Year. It stems from childhood, I think, when we were out of school and got to stay home and play. Even if you have to work (which I do), that week is a special time when ordinary rules and routines don't apply. We eat lavishly, indulge ourselves, play with new toys, see family and friends, watch movies and bowl games, reminisce about the year that's nearly gone, and nap.

Whatever you and yours do to celebrate the season and push back against the dark nights, I wish you happiness and joy.

Invisible Meteors

It never fails... Now that it is peak time for the Perseid Meteor Shower, the clouds have rolled in and covered up the sky here in Atlanta. It seems like this happens every year. I envy those of you with clear, dark skies and a good view of the action. A good meteor shower is unforgettable.

UPDATE: Well, whaddaya know? It has cleared up a lot since lunchtime. Last night we couldn't see a thing but tonight might be better. One of the perils of working in the basement is that I have no idea when the weather changes. We sat outside for lunch and got rained on a little bit. I assumed that since the forecast called for more of the same that we'd be getting more of the same. Looks like we might see a meteor or two after all.

ANOTHER DAMN UPDATE: Well, we tried. Although the skies appear clear, there is a lot of light pollution in our little cul-de-sac. In particular, our streetlamp is in a very poor spot - right in the northeasterly direction we'd need to see the radiant source for the meteors. Our beautiful grove of trees is also blocking most of the view. We could see maybe 4-5 stars total in the visible sky, and I am pretty sure that at least one of them was a planet because it was so big and bright. Less than ideal. :-(

Analemma

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone!

Coolest Advent Calendar Ever

Here it is.

Hat tip: LeNelle

The Evening Sky

The last of our family left today and we had a quiet evening alone for the first time in more than a week. And the robocalls have finally ceased (runoff election was today). Ahhhhh, silence.

Did you catch the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus with the crescent Moon last night? The thin cloud layer obscured the view of the planets here, but they are still dancing with each other tonight, even though the moon has moved on. Jupiter and Venus will slowly pull away from each other in the coming days. Look toward the constellation of Sagittarius just after sundown to see the pair shining bright.

My photos of the sky tonight didn't turn out well (no tripod handy), so I've posted a shot of the October full moon instead. I worked late that day and the rising moon greeted me when I walked out of the building. Instant mood changer. As for the conjunction, here is what it looked like for people with clearer skies than ours.

UPDATE 12/4: Astronomy Picture of the Day had an outstanding photo of the conjunction taken from Austria. It shows the Moon just before and after occulting Venus.

Still Raw

If this is your kind of humor, you'll find more here.

In Case You Missed It...

Here is what the eclipse looked like from my neck of the woods. The clouds kindly dispersed right when things got interesting. We had a great view of the red moon at totality. Regulus and Saturn are also visible in the first photo.


I held my little digital camera up to the eyepiece of my binoculars to get this next shot. I was unable to hold the combo very steady for the long exposure, so I posted the least blurry of the bunch.

A "Cross Quarter Day"

No, this isn't about "mad money". (Get it? *Ahem*) Today, November 7, is a cross quarter day -- exactly midway between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. So depending on whether your glass is half empty or half full, we are either "half way into fall" or "fall is half over". Take your pick.

And right on schedule, Atlanta is getting its first frost this week.

Happy Solstice

It wouldn't be right if I didn't give you a geeky link or two.

Pity Poor Pluto

Not only is it not a planet, turns out it ain't even the largest dwarf planet in the solar system.

Alien Landscapes

Check out today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. It shows an artist's vision of what the newly discovered 'earth-like planet' Gliese 581c might look like, complete with very large and dim red dwarf sun looming low on the horizon. In addition to being a larger star than our sun, this star would look huge to planet dwellers due to the very close orbital distance (closer than Mercury's orbit around our sun). None of us will ever experience a truly alien landscape such as this, but it is interesting to speculate about what it would be like.

New Worlds and Giant Fungi

A prehistoric mystery fossil has finally been identified as being a 20 foot tall fungus. Originally thought to be a conifer, the carbon diversity of the fossil was too great for it to have been a plant. (Fungi are between plant and animal life in terms of complexity.) The fossil fungus was a variety that became extinct around 350 million years ago. Apparently, before animal life took over the planet, fungi used to rule the world. The tallest trees were only about a meter high, while towering fungi were commonplace. It would be eons before animal life grew large enough to trample the fungi into more manageable sizes. A planet full of giant fungi and miniature trees would be interesting to see. And maybe one day we will see something like that, perhaps on a world such as the one described below.

In other news, a habitable planet was found outside our solar system, orbiting a red dwarf. It is a bit larger than earth and has a very short orbital period, but its temperature range would support liquid water. No word on rotation or the presence of an atmosphere. It orbits a red dwarf star, which is larger and less bright than our own sun. Wouldn't it be cool if we ever got to colonize a new planet, and it turned out to harbor life in its prehistoric stages, with giant 20 foot fungi all over the place? Like being an alien world wouldn't be strange enough. Giant fungi! That would really be something.

The nifty illustration is a scanned image of the cover of my 1978 Avon edition of Omnivore. I would credit the artist, but the book doesn't name names.

Spring: geeky facts, cleaning, and crossing stuff off my list

It's official -- as of 8:07pm EDT, 3/20/07 (or 00:07 UTC, 3/21/07 if you want to get technical) the vernal equinox has arrived! Now here is where I would usually post a bunch of science geek links about the event. Oh what the hell. Here they are: Why are the day and night not exactly equal on the first day of spring? Because the sun is not a point source! That whole "standing an egg on its end on the vernal equinox" thing is bad astronomy, i.e. just a myth. If you are dying to know the exact moment spring arrives, here are the dates of the vernal equinox every year from 1452 to 2547. That ought to cover ya.

I'm feeling the need for sunshine and spring cleaning. Not exactly looking forward to the cleaning part of it, but we ordered a new vacuum cleaner and when that puppy arrives, I will be vacuuming every surface in the house. Cats beware!! There are dust bunnies bigger than a rottweiler floating around under things and in corners and it is high time we get rid of them. Our vintage 1965 vacuum needs the bearings re-packed, and nobody seems to want to do it even if we pay them good money, so the house has not had a decent vacuuming in months (just a quick going over with our little stick vac right before company comes).

And for some other fresh news, I'm happy to report that I am writing this post using my newly-repaired notebook computer. You know, the one that has been broken for approximately two years, that I never used because it was such a pain in the ass to get it to boot up. That one. I finally sent it in, and now that it has a new motherboard, it is as good as it ever was. Getting this sucker fixed was number one on my big damn list of shameful procrastination, so I am happy that it is now a "to enjoy" item rather than a "to do" item. I guess that one of these months I'll have to move on down the list and get a new cell phone with a local number.

Did you miss it?

If you missed the total eclipse of the moon last weekend, there is a lovely picture of it over at Astronomy Picture Of The Day.

Eclipse Watch

Don't forget there is a total lunar eclipse this evening. The moon will spend 74 minutes completely within the earth's shadow, and will appear reddish. It should be a great show. You don't even have to stay up late.

Here in Atlanta the moon will rise at 18:32 EST, just after mid-totality. The moon remains in totality until 18:58 EST. The eclipse ends at 21:25 EST. To find out when events will occur in your local timezone, click on this handy link.

To The Moon, Alice!

In honor of the first full moon of 2007, I am blatantly ripping off today's Astronomy Picture of the Day because it was so cool. [OK, not a total ripoff - I used a different image of the moon and I'm throwing in some extra links.] The moon orbits the earth in an elliptical orbit, not a circular one. Since the distance from the earth to the moon is not constant, the full moon varies in apparent size. This can be easily seen in this series of images showing twenty consecutive full moons. The slight wobble you see is called libration. Each Full Moon of the year has a traditional name (or two, or three). Once in a blue moon, there is a blue moon, like the one we'll see this spring.

I enjoy looking at and photographing the moon during all of its phases. One of the quiet pleasures of winter is to take a walk in the woods under a full moon. Without the leaf canopy, the moonlight filters through the bare branches and lights your path. Everything is still and quiet. The stars twinkle in the cold, crisp air. Lovely.

Enjoy the Wolf Moon, y'all.

Winter Solstice

Some random thoughts about the winter solstice:

I've always thought "solstice" was a pretty word. It sounds quiet and peaceful.

The actual time and date of the solstices shifts from year to year.

A Winter's Solstice was the first "new age" music I ever purchased. It is the kind of holiday music that I enjoy. My other favorite is Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas . It is a welcome change of pace from all the stuff they play on the radio and in stores.

When I moved to Massachusetts back in December of 1992, I was extremely dismayed to discover that at the winter solstice, the sun sets at 4:20pm and it is dark before 5:00pm. Gack! I hated this worse than the bone-chilling cold. There are two reasons why the sun sets so much earlier there than in Atlanta. The northerly latitude (42 N) makes the day about 45 minutes shorter on winter solstice and longer on summer solstice. But the main culprit is the longitude. Massachusetts is situated on the eastern side of the eastern time zone, while Atlanta is on the far western edge of it. Local noon is around 11:45am in Southbridge, MA, but occurs at 12:35pm here in Atlanta.

In Atlanta, (latitude 34 N) the sun will set today at 5:32pm and twilight will end at 6:00pm. The sun rose at 7:38am. Length of day = 9 hours and 53 minutes. I can live with that. And that is the worst it will be. For the next six months, every day will be a little longer and lighter!

Wishing you all a happy, peaceful, and warm winter solstice.