Month: October 2008

And this one is geeky instead of gamey. Er, I didn’t quite mean that it was stinky, but anyway… I first read about it in technical journal (I forget which one, they all sort of blur together in my aging brain), but apparently I’m behind the curve on this one (another sign of advancing age) …

Another Reason to Buy a WiiRead More

If you’re into geeky videos, you’ll find some at the AIP Journal Chaos YouTube site. Some of the videos are fascinating, like the one currently highlighted on their page, which shows thermal convection. Watching it is kind of like staring into the campfire, it’s mindless, but somehow soothing. If’ you’ve got a Lava lamp, the …

Geeky Physics VideosRead More

This lesson is s general introduction to astronomy including safe daytime observing. Our main class activity for the next month (yes, 4 weeks!) will be recording the appearance of the moon on every clear day possible. If your child misses a few days of observing, we will combine our observations in class. The star chart …

Session 1: IntroductionRead More

The fall 2008 session is just getting underweigh. The 4th and 5th grade sessions will be covering the same material although the in-class discussions may be a little different to accomodate the children’s specific questions and interests. The overall theme will be the solar system and we will survey the different parts comparing and contrasting …

Fall 2008Read More

This is information for members of the PS102 Astronomy Club and their families. The intent of this section is the provide access to the club meeting materials and additional resources to help your children learn more about astronomy and develop a general interest in science. For the 2008 spring session, I tried to put the …

PS 102 Astronomy ClubRead More

The moon, Jupiter nad Venus will all fit within a 4-degree circle tonight. With the sun setting early this time of year, it should be dark enough by between 5:00 and 5:30 pm to get out and see these.   By 6:30 pm, they will start to dip into the haze near the horizon.  If you …

Moon, Jupiter, Venus ConjunctionRead More

October 12-18 is Earth Science Week! PS 102 will be kicking off the Astronomy Club that week and unfortunately, we don’t have our first outdoor event planned until the following week on Oct 24 (see "Upcoming Events" in the sidebar). The week’s activities focus on in-school lesson plans (with suitable opportunities to do the "in-class" …

No Child Left Inside!Read More

Due to the poor forecast (complete overcast by 7pm), this event is CANCELED. The weather outlook for both Friday and Saturday is poor, so the rain date will not work. We will have another outing in December, to be announced later. Original announcement: In conjunction with the PS102 Astronomy Club, I’ll be hosting a brief …

CANCELED: Stargazing at Shore Road ParkRead More

On Monday, Oct 6, MESSENGER made it’s second pass around Mercury. The spacecraft doesn’t have enough fuel to just pull up to the planet Star Trek style, so it has to make a series of looping passes, shedding a little velocity and angular momentum each time. But it wasn’t all navigational changes; MESSENGER took the …

Mercury FlybyRead More

There is a short opinion piece at the NY Times web site called "A Little Less Light" which makes good reading.