Shore Excursion
Eruption Crowd
Sunset Telescope
Driveway Telescope
I have been getting quite a bit of telescope time in lately, mostly in the driveway, usually using the old 8″ Astrola. I find myself awake at 4am often enough, and can get in a pleasant hour of observing before dawn.
Holoholo – A 10.1” f/4.5 Travel Telescope
Living in the islands provides excellent observing for an amateur astronomer such as myself, but there are drawbacks. I do miss the large star parties, getting together with hundreds of other observers to see other telescope setups, to learn, and to share the sky.
Thus I have made a habit of traveling to the mainland once in a while to attend one of the larger star parties. This year I will again attend Oregon Star Party. It has been a while, the last time was 2017, the year of the total solar eclipse.
Traveling from the islands to a star party makes it a challenge to bring a large telescope. Last time I borrowed an 11”, not a bad solution, it worked, but it was not my ‘scope. This time I was determined to realize a long considered idea, to build a substantially sized travel telescope. Thus Holoholo was designed and built, a 10.1” f/4.5 travel ‘scope.
Continue reading “Holoholo – A 10.1” f/4.5 Travel Telescope”Gold Mine
So… One of those random things that get suggested by the YouTube algorithm is a guy mining gold in the Mount Baker area. I watch a one, interesting enough to kill a few minutes while I wait for a 3D render to complete.
The second video I watch is about his “New gold mine“. While he is very quiet about the mine’s location and never once mentions the name of the mine, it does look very familiar indeed… High on the side of a mountain with spectacular scenery in the background… Yes, I have been there…
Dark is Coming
Neptune at Opposition
Today the planet Neptune will pass through opposition, directly opposite the Sun in our sky. The planet will be well placed for observation all night long, rising at sunset, transiting at midnight, and setting at sunrise. If you are looking to observe Neptune, it is currently shining at magnitude 7.8 in southern Pisces just south of the circlet .
As the outer planets Uranus and Neptune move so slowly across the sky, the timing of oppositions is driven by the Earth’s orbit and occur each year at nearly the same time. Neptune’s orbital period is 164.8 years, taking over a century and a half to circle the celestial globe once. As Neptune was discovered in 1846, it has completed a little over one orbit since discovery.
…and pau.
The Kilauea eruption that started one week ago today is pau. To translate that from Hawaiian to English… Done.
The eruption had notably waned over the last couple days, comments on social media and webcam video indicating sluggish spatter within the small cones that had built up over the last week around the fissures. Last night numerous small bits of glow were visible all across the crater floor, but no fountaining was in evidence.
Today’s USGS Volcano Observatory report is clear… “The Kīlauea summit eruption that began on September 10th stopped yesterday, September 16th, and is unlikely to restart.”
So we wait for the next one, any bets?
Photographing the Eruption
