Science Daily: Jupiter
- Heart of Jovian moon's volcanic rage December 13, 2024
- NASA's Hubble celebrates decade of tracking outer planets December 9, 2024
Month: April 2006
PS 102 Stargazing Tonight!
I have the parks department permit in-hand! They verbally confirmed it was approved a week ago, but the paperwork takes a while, so it was only yesterday that it was finally ready. Today I went over Prospect Park and picked it up. As I was walking out, I noticed it read "no vehicles in the park at any time." Oops!
Summer Star Party
The Summer Star Party is held at Shady Pines Campground, a privately owned and operated facility located in Savoy, Massachusetts. PDF registration documents and other information can be downloaded from http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/events/SSP2006/index.html. The SSP is an annual family event with activities for children an sight-seeing opportunities in the Berkshire Mountains region of western Massachusetts.
Response Coming “Real Soon Now”
Okay, that’s not the actual words used and the front office person at the Mayor’s Correspondence Unit was very polite and helpful. In fact, everyone I’ve spoken to over there has been both courteous and professional and usually downright friendly. It’s the people I haven’t been able to talk to that are the problem. The …
Trying to get the Mayor’s attention
For the past (almost) two months, I’ve been trying to get a response from the Mayor’s office regarding the New York bill A7404/S4474, The Healthy, Safe and Energy Efficient Outdoor Lighting Act. It’s seeming like a lost cause.
Northeast Astronomical Forum
The 15th Annual Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show will be held in Suffern, NY on the campus of Rockland Community College. For more information see http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.htm
Northeast Astronomical Imaging Conference
The Rockland Astronomy Club is sponsoring the first-ever imaging conference in the northeast. For some time, a similar conference has been held on the west coast. For more information, see http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaic/index.htm
PS102 Stargazing Rain Date
The stargazing was rained out on Tuesday, so we will be meeting Saturday evening. Bring a light jacket even if it was warm during the day since the breeze off the harbor can make it pretty cool.
Also, be aware that at 7:30 it is not dark yet. In fact the sun hasn’t quite set. So from roughly 7:30–8:00pm we can can play “ask an astronomer.”
Look here for a Google map of the location. Meet between first base of the middle ball field and third base of the lower one.
PS102 Stargazing Postponed
The original plan was to meet in Shore Road Park near the ball fields across from the 77th Street entrance around 7:30pm. But the weather wasn’t cooperative in spite of it looking wonderful nearly all day. The forecast was for it to turn cloudy and rainy around 7pm and the clouds rolled in pretty close to on-schedule. Rain date is this Saturday, same time and place.
Welcome to astrofoto.org!
Here you will find the fruits of our hobby. Well, for Maria it is a hobby; for Roland it is closer to an obsession. Still, this is where you will find some of the fruits of that work. In March of 2000, we purchased an 8-inch Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount from Orion Telescopes, the SkyQuest XT8.
Using the telescope was a learning experience, especially since time and responsibilities did not allowed us to get to any star parties or meet members from any clubs in the area for nearly a year. Usenet news on sci.astro.amateur was a lifesaver. Most of the time we were viewing from our 3rd story porch in Queens (in the eastern part of New York City). Views to the west were compromised by massive light pollution from Manhattan and during the coldest months the city generates significant heat that ruins the seeing even as high as 60 degrees above the horizon. Still, there are plenty of things which can be seen with the 8-inch scope, or for that matter, with our 10×50 binoculars.
In October of 2002 we moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. We no longer have the 3rd floor porch, but the skies actually seem to be darker. Some of this is because we are near the water which means that in some directions there really is less light pollution. We’ve also acquired some camera equipment and a several telescopes as Roland has gone on a shopping spree (not really, it just kind of accumulates). At this point we have a couple of smaller scopes includeing a 90mm f/5 refractor, its bigger brother, a Orion 120ST 120mm f/5, and older Tasco 60mm f/11 (or so, not quite sure), and an Orion Apex 127mm. And since the imaging bug bit, I’ve acquired a Losmandy GM-8 mount with Gemini GOTO and an older “push-to” Mountain Instruments MI-250 mount. Storage is a problem, but having enough scopes for kids activities is not.