Moon When Leaves Are Green

Well people the final count is in, I took over 1800 images on our vacation to the Kelowna/Winfield area, that's right I have enough images to post 5 a day for the next year. The trip was a huge success with the great hospitality of my daughter and boyfriend slash great cook and for putting up with us for a whole week, well maybe mostly me, I tend to ask a lot of questions like, " What day are we going to the observatory?"; "How far is it?" ;"When are we leaving?"; in the car on the way to the observatory, "So how far is it?" ;"Do you have a map?" "How much further?"; "Are we there yet?"....................................................................................,

"I'm hungry", okay the last one wasn't really a question and I don't think I actually said that, .. oh wait, yeah I did, never mind.

The first thing you notice when flying into Saskatoon is the total flatness, which can be good if you are taking pictures of Moonrises as the above May Full Moon, or "Moon When Leaves Turn Green Moon" , the name given it by the Dakotah Sioux. May's Full Moon is also known as the Flower Moon, because that's when flowers start to bloom in places other than Saskatoon, it is the smallest Full Moon of 2008 since the Moon is at apogee (furthest from the Earth) at 252,722 miles, it is approx. 12.3% smaller then the December 12, 2008 Full Moon which will be at perigee (closest to the Earth) at 221,473 miles.

Notice the beautiful red color of the Moon, again this is because the Moon being so low on the horizon it's moonlight has to travel through more of the Earth's atmosphere, particles in the atmosphere scatter the blues and allow the reds through to be enjoyed by us, the picture above illustrates this , the lower the Moon the deeper the red color.



This coming Sunday at 7:53pm edt the Phoenix Mars Lander will touch down on the Martian surface. The lander will hit the Martian atmosphere at around 13,000 mph, the use of parachutes and thrusters will slow it down to 5 mph in seven minutes to land on it's 3 legs, a very tricky and complicated procedure, less then 50% of powered landings are successful.

Notice on the above map the lander will be further north then any previous landers, hopefully will be able to gather ice water to perform various test to see whether or not it could have supported microbial life.

WARNING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED, didn't know how to edit the first couple seconds of my sequel to my first Observatory video.

Astrostuff You Need To View Astrostuff

I was going through an astrostuff type of magazine and picked out a few things I really, really, really, need. My wife is always telling me that I exaggerate way too much, I don't see it, can't remember the last time I did, but instead of me saying I really,really,really need this astrostuff, I will say I need this astrostuff.

The nicest telescope. There is a rule of thumb with telescopes, if it's bigger than you, it's nicest.

This scope is so nicest that when you look through the eyepiece, the nebula/galaxy/ even star clusters will be in color, just like the Hubble! It is a RC optical systems 20"truss system. Base price is nicest too, around $54,300.

Below is what I have, sure it's nice, not nicest nice, but nice.

All I'd have to do is call up NASA tell them the type of scope I have, the nicest scope, and they could hire me out to do work for them when they send probes to the Moon/Mars, like they did with Parkes observatory and Apollo 11. Lets say they pay me $1,000 an hour, for even just 54.3 hours, the scope would be paid up for in just a couple of days. Just to keep my wife happy I'll cut what they pay me to $500.00 an hour, don't want to be accused of exaggerating, the scope would be paid up in just 4 days.

Next, because of the size of the nicest scope, you have to have a nicest observatory to keep it in.



Sirius Observatories sell the nicest university model for, well it doesn't even say, but it's their nicest and again , work for NASA , the observatory would pay for itself in just a few days.

Below is what I have, it's more in the category of cute, which is fine for puppy dogs, but when your dealing with astrostuff you need at least nice, preferably nicest.



Now, because you will be spending a lot of time in your nicest observatory working for NASA, you'll need a Sony LCD TV. Full 1080p HD, and only $3,600, that's only 7 hours of working for NASA. Below is what I have. Oh wait , I don't have one yet, all the more reason to get one. There are more nicest astrostuff I need such as nicest eyepieces, camera, fridge, sofa, stove, but it will have to wait till I get the basic nicest stuff first.

The space shuttle Endeavour unlocked from the International Space Station at 7:56 am EDT. Sunday morning, one day earlier than planned to allow the shuttle to land Tuesday before Houston has to prepare for Hurricane Dean. Below is a picture of Hurricane Dean taken from the space shuttle. To keep up with the shuttle news NASA TV has all the latest happenings.

New Observatory

Wayne Parker of Glass Tiger fame (bass player), has his own company called "Skyshed Observatories". After many years in the planning stage he has just rolled out POD "Personal Observatory Dome". I have just received mine today. It is extremely affordable and of the highest quality. Observatories are the ultimate accessory for any amateur astronomer, as it keeps away stray light, keeps the dew down and off your lenses and mirrors of your scopes, and allows you to leave your scope and equipment set up which saves hours of labor and time which can be better put towards viewing time. I have posted a few pics of the observatory.