Author: Roland Roberts

Weather permitting, this will be visible to all New Yorkers who can get outside. At this point, the weather looks like it will not be visible here in the northeast US.   

Last night was Halloween (how’s that for stating the obvious). I brought out the 8-inch Dob and set up by our stoop to show trick-or-treaters the comet (and yes, we also gave out candy). The weather was not very cooperative with clouds in the northeast until about 7:50pm by which point most trick-or-treaters were packing …

Halloween CometRead More

Wow! I haven’t been paying attention lately; I heard there was a comet which had undergone an significant outburst, but my experience with comets hear in Brooklyn as been "that’s nice" and that’s about it. But after reading how bright it was, I went outside tonight with my 10×50 binoculars and tried to find it. …

Comet 17/P HolmesRead More

Last week, I took a class on Spring and Hibernate which sounds pretty strange unless you happen to be a Java programmer in which case it makes perfect sense. So this week, I’ve been busy trying to put my new-found knowledge to work at work. Okay, I warned you, boring stuff. Meanwhile, the basement continues …

Boring StuffRead More

Hmm, since I last took time to write we’ve come back from our vacation to Missouri, went on a vacation to the Berkshires (annual camping/astronomy trip), came back from that, emptied our basement and begun "remodelling" (in quotes because ripping out the walls and digging out the floor is more like "reconstructing"). Oh yes, and …

Too Much HappeningRead More

Hubble Creek is a small creek that runs through the edge of town in Jackson, MO and, except in the driest of conditions, always has a small flow of water with a few pools where water may be as much as three feet deep. There are some small bluegill and sunfish, plenty of minnows and …

Crayfish in Hubble CreekRead More

After a 24-hour delay, we made it to St. Louis. Having lost the first day of our vacation to travel woes meant we lost our scheduled day of unwinding and went straight into activities. Friday evening was still pretty laid back and apart from accumulated sleep deprivation, Saturday was fine. The kids had fun in …

Made it!Read More

But not by choice. We’re stuck after storms mangled all air traffic in the northeast. So the first day of vacation was spent in the airport. Let’s see, it started with car service giving us repeated assurances that they would be there in a few minutes (4-5 minutes, then 4-5 minutes later it would only …

Visiting Charlotte, NCRead More

I'll be setting up my 8-inch Dobsonian in Shore Road Park in the middle of the ball fields for stargazing with PS102 children and parents.   I know it's a bit late for a school night, but there's not many choices for this year.  Rain date will be Monday, same time and place.