This past Friday night I participated in a outreach event, showing off the night sky to almost 600 visitors at Astronomy Night with the Raleigh Astronomy Club at Prairie Ridge Ecostation (part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science). Fellow Solar System Ambassador Doug Lively and I as well Read more
Some members of the Raleigh Astronomy Club and I got together last Wed. night (Aug. 7th) to watch the International Space Station pass in front of the Moon. This is an event that can only been see during certain passes and only from a narrow path on the ground. – Read more
Got some great pictures of the Moon this evening. I’m working on an observing program sponsored by the Astronomical League and NASA as part of the 50th Anniversary of the 1st Manned Lunar Landing. Part of the program is to lead a educational outreach session about the Apollo Missions. The Read more
You may have heard the term ‘Messier Marathon’ used by amateur astronomers. No, this is not an attempt to run 26.2 miles carrying your telescope. Rather, this is where you try to observing all 110 objects on Charles Messier’s, an 18th century astronomer, list of of fuzzy bright objects visible Read more
Due to the abundance of rain the week before, no campers were allowed on the field for the 2019 Spring SRSP. Instead, we set up in the parking lot down by the swimming pool with the other RVs. We were able to hook up to power down by swimming pool/cafe/locker Read more
As it turns out, 2018 was not a very good year for observing. The weather was most non-cooperative especially with Hurricane Michael ruining 2 star parties for me. Finally, a good observing night! Despite accidentally turning off the power from my battery to all the downstream hardware (camera, mount, computer, Read more
At the end of December, I attempted to capture the International Space Station as it crossed the face the sun (aka a transit). Well, I failed. However, it was still a valuable experience in all the researching and testing I performed. Here are some the resources I used: http://www.calsky.com (they Read more
The fall of 2018 will not be remember for good astronomy by people in the Mid-Atlantic states. Hurricanes Florence and Michael made a mess of things in September and October for North Carolina and the surrounding areas. ECVAR was very poorly attended and all attendees except for myself and fellow Read more
On July 2, 2018 the star Deneb Algedi (a.k.a Delta Capricornus) was occulted by the moon. From a location in Cary, NC, this event could be viewed as a Grazing On July 2, 2018 the star Deneb Algedi (a.k.a Delta Capricornus) was occulted by the moon. From a location in Read more
My youngest son joined me for the fall 2017 installment of the Staunton River Star Party (SRSP). As with most star parties, it’s great to see old friends, make new ones, and just spend time together with others that enjoy the same hobby. I set up in-between fellow club members Read more