So, you got the Telescope…
Any of you out there get a telescope for Christmas? I hope you have taken it out, OK, maybe it’s been too cold so you’re chomping at the bit. No matter what telescope you received, there are some important things to do
The Night Sky by Eric Erickson
The Mysterious Star of Bethlehem
From Matthew 2:1-2 – “behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem” … “for we have seen His star in the east”. The story starts with a mystery. Wise men from the East see a star in the East, heralding the
Did You See That?
Most of us are at least a little freaked out by things we experience that we cannot explain. Is there a shadow universe out there full of scary creatures? Do they sometimes reveal themselves at night in the form of weird lights
No Green Stars?
It would be amazing! A brilliant emerald in the dark night sky. But no, we won’t be seeing any green stars. Too bad. Starlight is a continuous electromagnetic spectrum from gamma to radio, and the visible light portion is an itsy-bitsy piece.
Telescope Mounts 2
Last week I offered the simple and easy to use altitude-azimuth mount. This week I’ll discuss the more complex, not-so-easy to use, but essential for astrophotography, equatorial mount. To reiterate, the altitude-azimuth is simple and easy to use. It works best for
Telescope Mounts 1
A good telescope needs a good mount. Question is, what’s a good mount? Let’s explore that piece of equipment underpinning the thing you look into that’s pointed at some object far away. For a good dance band, it’s all about the bass.
Constellations
This week I take Sky & Telescope’s educational section and condense it. Their section is titled “What are Constellations?”. Beginning with the word constellation, it comes from late Latin language (cōnstellātiō) and translates as “set of stars”. OK, that makes sense. So,
Dearest Santa with Deeper Pockets
OK, let’s set the bar higher and go bigger. After all it’s for that special someone and you do not want to disappoint. Once you get through the plethora of beginner telescopes there is a plethora of more advanced telescopes. The sky
Dear Santa
When I was 11 years old, 12 years old, and 13 years old I asked for, hoped and prayed I would get a telescope for Christmas. I didn’t specify – any telescope would do! It didn’t have to be that 525x beauty
Cook Pizza on Venus
How hot is your pizza oven? Some “craft pizza” ovens get close to 1000ᵒ F! That’s so hot you can cook a pizza in about 3-4 minutes or turn it into charcoal in 5. The surface temperature of Venus is similarly hot,
I’m Gonna Move You Baby!
In the 1960s singer-songwriter Jaime Brockett did his comedic version of a Leadbelly epic song about the “USS” Titanic and the pugilist Jack Johnson, throwing in a massive pile of hemp rope for effect. “They wouldn’t let Jack Johnson on board -they
Marfa Lights on Mars?
Marfa Lights are an enigmatic, controversial phenomenon. Some dismiss them as nothing more than atmospheric distortions of car headlights from the distant highway. Others offer more complex answers, from extraterrestrials to will-o’-the-wisp. No one has a definitive solution to this mystery. The
Report from McDonald Observatory-1
I like to talk about defending our night sky and how to reduce or prevent light pollution. We in the Canyon Lake area are blessed/cursed. We’re blessed with pretty good night skies, cursed in that we know light pollution is progressively ruining
Hear it for Hill Country Night Sky Month!
As a person interested in astronomy, I have a vested interest in the best night sky quality possible, and for now that depends on where I am. In Canyon Lake our night sky is decent, in Houston it was…no…it pretty much didn’t
Be Careful with That LED!
The LED revolution is in full swing! Seems everyone is switching from whatever (incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, etc.) to LED. Why not, they save money, produce little heat, and last a long time. Oh, and the others are either out or on their
Meteorites of Life?
I believe life is firmly ensconced throughout the universe, not limited to Earth. That said, we haven’t found definitive evidence of life anywhere other than Earth. So, why my belief? Organic compounds. They’re everywhere! Not just organic compounds either, amino acids and
Saturn & Jupiter are in the Sky
Get outside about and hour or so after sunset and be treated to the Saturn and Jupiter show! Later in the evening is even better as Saturn is prominent in the south/southwest and Jupiter climbs in the southeast. Saturn was at opposition
Why do Stars Cluster?
Remember school dances? Or, perhaps you go to school dances now. Either way, as I recall, when not dancing everyone would tend to gather into clusters. Each cluster seemed composed of similar kids, or at least kids with similar interests. Stars don’t
Tidally Locked Worlds
Ever wake up in the dark from a bad dream and say, well, it’ll be light soon, it will be better. We inhabitants of Earth are lucky in that way, we have night and day. What would it be like to live
Orbit and Tilt – Are You Dizzy Yet?
I admit it. For a long time during my enthusiasm for astronomy, I had a hard time wrapping my head around terms such as the ecliptic. The September issue of Sky & Telescope magazine re-boots a column originally named Beginners Page. It
JWST Shoots SMACS and gets Smacked!
I’m sure you have at least heard about the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) incredible initial images. At first, I was a little underwhelmed. The images just didn’t move me the way Hubble’s Ultra Deep Field did. Then I found out JWST’s
What Does it Mean – Part 2
Last week I made it into Messier of astronomy terminology and hopefully much of it made sense. Unfortunately, some terms or concepts do not lend themselves to descriptions that themselves are clear to everyone. Ecliptic: I forgot this one last week.
What Does that Mean? – Part 1
Well, I’ve been blathering on about astronomy for a while now and using terminology familiar to astronomy buffs. If you’re not into astronomy maybe the jargon I use just confuses, and that’s not unusual. I’m mystified by the terminology used in the
Gaia’s Galaxy
Don’t know what Gaia is? In Greek mythology Gaia is a goddess and the mother of all Earthly life. Gaia is also Earth, the planet we live on. There’s way more to it but not for this article. The Gaia I’m talking
Sagittarius Time
This is the time of year when Sagittarius reigns supreme. It’s a little low now but getting better each day. Sagittarius is busting with things to look at. Our Milky Way galaxy verily pours out of Sagittarius’s teacup spout as its steam
Summertime Sights 2
Last week I started our summer sky tour with two easy sights: Polaris and the Summer Triangle (Vega, Deneb, and Altair). Then two more challenging objects – a couple of globular clusters – M92 & M13. I noticed when looking at the
Sum-Sum-Summertime
It’s officially summer on Tuesday, June 21st, at 4:14 AM CDT for those wanting to know. Summer solstice and its counterpart winter solstice in December are seasonal indicators of change. Change in the length of daylight hours/nighttime hours. They and their intermediaries
We Know you’re out There Planet X
No, we don’t. But we think it needs to be out there, or the behavior of several distant objects becomes difficult to explain. So, come on, show your planetary disk. Astronomers have been looking for it since 2014, after astronomers Scott Sheppard
Solar Cycle 25 is On!
It began with little fanfare in December 2019, just before COVID-19 became the never-ending story. A new solar cycle. Just so you know, it’s number 25 since we started paying attention to them, with cycle # 1 documented in 1755. The Sun
More Suns, More Fun?
Until the late 1980’s the thought of other stars having planets, much less entire planetary systems, was the stuff of science fiction, not science. Then bang, the first one was found, and a paper published in 1988 by Canadian astronomers Bruce Campbell,
All Aligned up and Raring to Go
NASA announced recently that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is aligned with all four of its science instruments. Remember, the telescope is a 21-foot diameter mirror composed of 18 separate hexagonal mirrors in three sections, that had to be folded for
Full Moons and Four Seasons
Full Moons are the same worldwide, well, not exactly. Like everything else in the celestial sphere, the Moon looks different depending on the hemisphere you’re in. The north and south hemispheres show seemingly inverted Moons versus each other. Trust me, it’s not
The Trouble with Space
No, space didn’t do anything wrong and there isn’t (as far as I know) anything catastrophic coming our way. After centuries of study, space, like gravity, still defies genuine understanding. Oh, wait, gravity is a puzzle piece, a critical part of the
Out of the Blue, Into the Black
Transition from the light and certainty, into the dark and uncertainty. This is the story of mass’s endpoint, at least within the context of relativity. Still, it’s beyond explanation, a mystery. Once mass goes beyond 20 solar masses it can happen but
Brilliant Blue Dot
From the past two weeks: Sun-like stars up to around 8 times the Sun’s mass will evolve into a white dwarf surrounded by multiple shells of glowing nebulae, and called planetary nebulae. Stars more massive than 8 solar masses and up to
Beyond Planetary Nebulae
Last week I accounted for the evolution of stars like our Sun, and up to 8 times its mass. The end game is a white dwarf, most likely with spherical shells of gas and debris flowing away. Intense radiation from the white
Planetary Nebula – The Fate of Our Sun
It’s “very dim but perfectly outlined; it is as large as Jupiter and resembles a fading planet”. This notation was penned in January 1779 by French Astronomer Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix. He was describing an object he thought he discovered, finding later
We’re Going to Europa!
Radioing his final report, Professor Chang described his crew’s harrowing experience. He is the only surviving member, their spacecraft is destroyed, his space suit is nearly out of air. This radio transmission was from the surface of Europa, in the book 2010:
Venus’s Mysterious “Ashen Light”
January 9, 1643. A Jesuit priest and astronomer named Giovanni Battista Riccioli is observing Venus with his little refractor telescope. He notes the night side of Venus seems to be lighter than usual and names it “The Ashen Light of Venus”. Over
It’s not Magic, it’s Astronomy
In ancient cultures, those who studied the natural world and used their knowledge to practice their craft, were revered, sometimes feared. They wielded power with their knowledge and abilities. To most if not all the “commoners” their craft seemed magical. But it
The ISS
In 1990, while I was still a productive citizen, I luckily got to see plans for Space Station Freedom. This was at the Johnson Space Center, always a great client to visit. Back then my contractor ID gave me access to many
Gravity makes a Lens
James Webb Space Telescope Update: As of 5 days ago the JWST is continuing to complete set up functions that will make it the b_ _ a_ _ telescope it is designed to be. It is orbiting within L2 (Lagrange point 2),
How do we Measure that Far?
February 26 is Astronomy Night at Tye Preston Memorial Library in Canyon Lake. We start at 7:30 INSIDE with a night sky and safety orientation. Last month we enjoyed the company of 60 guests, so come on out and see what’s in
Pittsburgh – Friend of the Night Sky?
This seems unlikely, but a new dawn is breaking in the big city. Or should I say a new night is breaking? Can you believe, the city of Pittsburgh is going night sky friendly, no, really, they are committing to it! Our
Bugs in Space?
During my working life I worked in a company born during the original space race. Really, our company was hatched in NASA’s Skylab space station, from the MLM (Microbial Load Monitor) module. That piece of equipment led to McDonnell Douglas forming a
We’re Going to Venus!
Well, it’s not like “We’re going to the Catskills!”, that exclamation by Miriam Maisel in the Prime show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”. Her family spent 2 months each summer enjoying the amenities of a southeastern New York state resort. Back in the
Winter is Binocular Time
It’s winter, and that means lots of binocular ready sights up in the night sky! Most families have binoculars of one type or another, for hunting, sporting events, even the ballet. Dig’em out of the closet, clean them if needed, and wait
James Webb Update
My fingers might be stuck. They have been crossed since Christmas day, the day the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took a ride. That ride, inside an Ariane 5 rocket went smoothly and JWST was on its way to a point nearly
The Matrix Revealed
From a distance it all looks pretty smooth, the same in every direction. The Cosmic Microwave Background is a barrier, beyond which we are unable to peer. It is also nearly as old as our universe and appears smooth -from a distance.
Making a Stellar Tossed Salad
When I was in high school, I worked for a while in a local restaurant, washing dishes. Sometimes the restaurant got so busy I was given the pleasure of making tossed salad. I suppose being the dishwasher my hands were expected to
Looking Forward in 2022
The James Webb Space Telescope finally made it into space! Whoo-Hoo! It was launched on Christmas day, at 06:20 am CST from the European Space Agency’s French Guiana site. Nestled in an Ariane 5 rocket until it reached an altitude of 870
Where do Comets Come From?
The first comet I saw was Halley in 1982, though I tried in 1973 to spot Kohoutek but couldn’t see it. Kohoutek was a bust, literally, it broke up. Halley was a disappointment, so dim. In 1996 comet Hyakutake arrived and made