Author: Roland Roberts
Made it!
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 …
Visiting Charlotte, NC
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 …
TV Turnoff Week Stargazing (PS102)
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.
Canon DSLR and Canon Support
Well, I’m not a happy camper after a recent go around with Canon’s online support. I exchanged email with Mike Unsold of ImagesPlus about getting both of my Canon 350XT (aka Digital Rebel XT) cameras working at once. I had originally purchased ImagesPlus after emailing Mike and learning you could control more than one camera …
Robotic Astronomy
No, this isn’t what you do once you’ve fallen asleep and your body goes on autopilot…. I recently caved in and bought a new laptop with Windows XP. I despise Microsoft and now have to deal with self-loathing for my collapse. But this allowed me to also jump to my main goal which is to …
Worlds in Comparison
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has a wonderful program called Family Astro that has various activities you can do with groups (such as families) that are fun and impart some astronomical insight. One of them is called Worlds in Comparison and involves making a set of models of the planets to the correct relative …
PS102 Science Fair Post Mortem
I’ll put this in the better late than never category. The PS102 Science Fair has come and gone. Jonathan did a report on Mallard Ducks. He was quite proud of it in the end, but Maria was about ready to scream before it was done. Jonathan had to do all the illustrations and writing, but …
Northeast Astronomical Imaging Conference (NEAIC)
This will the be second year this event has been held, providing a venue for east coast imagers who can't make it to the west coast event. Last year's event was well worth the cost with the opportunity to meet other imagers, hear fascinating talks and techniques from people who have, in some cases, literally …
Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF)
This is the premier astronomy event on the east coast. Our family always goes to this one to see the displays, hear the talks, connect with friends and participate in the kids activities. If the weather permits, there is a solar observing party held outdoors with specialized telescopes using hydrogen-alpha and calcium filters to see …
Total Lunar Eclipse
Two total lunar eclipses in the same year! Well, this one is a tough sell here on the east coast because it starts shortly before moonset and becomes total a mere half hour before moonset. If you missed the event in March and can't wait until the next one in February, find a place with a low western horizon to watch as the moon slowly turns a deep orange and fades into the skyglow at sunrise.
If you live on the west coast or will be traveling there, this eclipse should be a darker one than the event in March since the moon will pass closer to the center of the Earth's shadow than it did in March.
The Rockland Astronomy Club is having a viewing party for this event.