Sunday, July 15, 2012
Picture Imperfect!
I went to the lake to take a picture a picture of the sunset. I have practiced and practiced. I got to know my camera. I took the moon, night fireworks, stars just before dawn and I have them developing as we speak.
I thought, however, that I ought to disclose everything, lay it all out in the open, be an open book. So I am revealing first he very first picture I took. I was trying to catch the sunset, but turns out Texas is not wanting for trees. Too many trees made it hard for me in my Chrysler to catch the sunset in time. let's get it over with, this is it.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
NuStar in the Hole!
NuStar( Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Arrayon) is a probe to search for black holes that was launched into space on June 13, 2012. It was a very busy day with so many errands to run I could not watch it live. I was able to get updates on my twitter page on what was going on. Basically, this telescope was successfully launched and I hope there is a great camera in this device. I will be watching first hand on its return and will get to feed my fascination for black holes.
After that the week just got busier and there was no time for blogging. I did get time to take a lot of pictures and have been practicing taking good shots with this film camera. its a lot harder than it looks. I would go digital but this camera, if you get everything set right, takes some awesome pictures. I have not lost my commitment to getting an incredible shot of the night sky.Which is why tonight I dedicate my night to taking more practice pictures; fingers crossed. If anything I will enjoy looking at the stars and might even identify some new clusters.
After that the week just got busier and there was no time for blogging. I did get time to take a lot of pictures and have been practicing taking good shots with this film camera. its a lot harder than it looks. I would go digital but this camera, if you get everything set right, takes some awesome pictures. I have not lost my commitment to getting an incredible shot of the night sky.Which is why tonight I dedicate my night to taking more practice pictures; fingers crossed. If anything I will enjoy looking at the stars and might even identify some new clusters.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Black Holes
There are stars in our universey which one cannot see.
- Jean Audouze
I started my book on black holes by Clifford A. Pickover and I loved it, mostly because it is interactive. I learned to calculate the mass of a black hole, at a very basic level though I'm no astrophysicist or anything.
I found out that a black hole is not anything you will ever be able to see but an astronomer can collect information that suggests that there are black holes out there. That is why many people think they are a figment of many astronomer's imagination. I hope not since that is a future project of mine. The pictures of such an event can be incredible.
http://news.discovery.com/space/2011/04/13/black-hole-zoom.jpg
- Jean Audouze
I started my book on black holes by Clifford A. Pickover and I loved it, mostly because it is interactive. I learned to calculate the mass of a black hole, at a very basic level though I'm no astrophysicist or anything.
I found out that a black hole is not anything you will ever be able to see but an astronomer can collect information that suggests that there are black holes out there. That is why many people think they are a figment of many astronomer's imagination. I hope not since that is a future project of mine. The pictures of such an event can be incredible.
http://news.discovery.com/space/2011/04/13/black-hole-zoom.jpg
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Oh starry night!
Looking at the stars always makes me dream,
as simply as I dream over the black dots
representing towns and villages on a map.
Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining
dots of the sky be as accessible as the
black dots on the map of France?
- Vincent van Gogh
June 9, 2012
I spent some time today working my camera and getting everything ready for my big night. It turns out I picked a great day to do this, because there were so many stars that I could see with the unaided eye today. I wished I had a telescope ( I know-baby steps). I noticed that one cluster keeps popping up on exactly the same place every night. I step out of my back door, take three steps and there it is when I look up. Unfortunately, numerous attempts to take pictures of this with my camera have failed me. I still have no picture. I think because its not a digital camera the setting has to be just right in order for me to take a picture in the dark. So its back to the drawing board. I guess I could take a good shot of the sunset to cheer myself up for now, since the camera seems to take good shots of everything else.
as simply as I dream over the black dots
representing towns and villages on a map.
Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining
dots of the sky be as accessible as the
black dots on the map of France?
- Vincent van Gogh
June 9, 2012
I spent some time today working my camera and getting everything ready for my big night. It turns out I picked a great day to do this, because there were so many stars that I could see with the unaided eye today. I wished I had a telescope ( I know-baby steps). I noticed that one cluster keeps popping up on exactly the same place every night. I step out of my back door, take three steps and there it is when I look up. Unfortunately, numerous attempts to take pictures of this with my camera have failed me. I still have no picture. I think because its not a digital camera the setting has to be just right in order for me to take a picture in the dark. So its back to the drawing board. I guess I could take a good shot of the sunset to cheer myself up for now, since the camera seems to take good shots of everything else.
All kinds of information
June 8, 2012
I wanted to find my next star cluster tomorrow and take a picture. I am rushing to the store right now (note to my big brother-the kids are fine, being well taken care of and I will only be a minute at the store), and I will get this camera working today and pratice using it to take these pictures and tomorrow I will have an actual picture of star clusters that I recognize. Good luck to me.
DID YOU KNOW:
Mars "...has plenty of evidence for a history of running water and enticing evidence for liquid water laying recent tracks within the soils."
Space Chronicles by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, p 78
Thursday, June 7, 2012
...to Venus!
June 5, 2012
The transit of Venus was when planet Venus crossed the sun. It happened today and it was not very easy to see.
Whenever the sun is involved you cannot look directly at it because you will damage you eyes. The weather did not help, there were clouds everywhere making the whole exercise frustrating. The sun did not reflect on my white paper so that lovely trick did not work. So I gave up and sat behind my computer to admire images shot by others. If I wanted to see it for myself again I would have to live until 2117 which is the next time this will happen again. It turns out a lot of this stuff is hard to view and record without equipment which I am still working on. Until then I will go back scaring myself to death reading about asteroids and planning for some stargazing on my next night off.
The transit of Venus was when planet Venus crossed the sun. It happened today and it was not very easy to see.
Whenever the sun is involved you cannot look directly at it because you will damage you eyes. The weather did not help, there were clouds everywhere making the whole exercise frustrating. The sun did not reflect on my white paper so that lovely trick did not work. So I gave up and sat behind my computer to admire images shot by others. If I wanted to see it for myself again I would have to live until 2117 which is the next time this will happen again. It turns out a lot of this stuff is hard to view and record without equipment which I am still working on. Until then I will go back scaring myself to death reading about asteroids and planning for some stargazing on my next night off.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Dragon
May 31, 2012
The spacecraft Dragon has landed successfully. Actually it splashed into the pacific ocean, but considering other vessels like it have exploded upon descent into earth, this is awesome. In fact, this successful mission by Space X, was historical. I watched with fascination all afternoon while grabbing at dirty dishes and preparing spaghetti for dinner.
Apparently it was carrying over a half a ton of experiments and equipment. Having private American companies that are able to accomplish some of these missions would not only take a load off NASA, it would also create greater opportunities for space exploration and discovery.
Who knew space research could be so engaging. I hope to learn more about it and will be watching the next spacecraft- NuStar- launch into space June 13. For now its preparations for birthday fun and more reading.
Image URL:
http://8.mshcdn.com/wp-content/gallery/nsas-mission-control-2/space-x-dragon-and-iss-connected.jpg
The spacecraft Dragon has landed successfully. Actually it splashed into the pacific ocean, but considering other vessels like it have exploded upon descent into earth, this is awesome. In fact, this successful mission by Space X, was historical. I watched with fascination all afternoon while grabbing at dirty dishes and preparing spaghetti for dinner.
Apparently it was carrying over a half a ton of experiments and equipment. Having private American companies that are able to accomplish some of these missions would not only take a load off NASA, it would also create greater opportunities for space exploration and discovery.
Who knew space research could be so engaging. I hope to learn more about it and will be watching the next spacecraft- NuStar- launch into space June 13. For now its preparations for birthday fun and more reading.
Image URL:
http://8.mshcdn.com/wp-content/gallery/nsas-mission-control-2/space-x-dragon-and-iss-connected.jpg
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