FIRST SNOW!

After a week and a half of clear and very cold days and nights (the lowest temperature here was 8°), the temps started to rise a little, and the clouds rolled in. The result was the first snow of 2009!

December 13, 2009

9:30 a.m. PST.....

Watching For Geminids

The Geminid meteor shower will peak on December 14, and we've had some very clear (and VERY cold) nights here in the northwest. I've set up my all-sky camera to watch for meteors streaking overhead. Here is a brief, bright meteor passing from west-to-east (with the resulting still-image trail included) at 5:19 a.m. on Tuesday, December 8. The last-quarter Moon shines bright, high in the southern sky.

For the daytime view from this camera, go to my website and click on the WebCam link. Enjoy...

Google Earth Feature (WAY cool)

Check out Google Earth's new "Street View" feature...

There are 1,000's of panoramic views, taken from steet level, all over the country. These images were created by a high-tech pan camera mounted on a vehicle. This particular view is of a close friend's house in the country. If you don't have Google Earth on your computer, download it! If you already have it, update it! This is very, very cool.......

Next Generation Space Flight

The next generation space flight program is called "Constellation". It is designed after the Apollo vehicles and the launch rockets are named Ares.
Ares 1-X is the test rocket for the crew vehicle. It was just rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center to launch pad 39B.

More information about the Constellation program can be found here.

Sunday Drive

I like to drive. That's one reason I drive a bus for a living. Even with all the city traffic and noise, smelly, obnoxious, barely tolerable people, and sitting for 8 hours a day, it's still the best gig I've ever had.

In fact, driving is very relaxing for me. Especially when I get the chance to hop in my car for a nice, peaceful drive up the river. Fall is a wonderful time to float through all the beautiful colors, listening to relaxing music.....(I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...)

Hurricane Rick

There hasn't been a whole lot in the news about hurricane Rick, but it is a catagory 5 monster storm off the west coast of southern Mexico. It's maximum sustained winds have been clocked at 175 mph. Fortunately, Rick has been staying out over the water, and looks to start weakening in the next few days.

Chaos

This weekend, a series of storm systems passed through western Washington from the Pacific Ocean. As the systems pass, the clouds push eastward, "piling up" against the Cascade Mountain Range.

This panoramic image shows one of the systems, after it has passed through, as it encounters the mountains and becomes chaotic and unstable, spawning thunderstorms in the mountains.

(Click on image for larger version)

Dinner Time

This year, Boone turned 11 and Sadie is 9. Over the years, we have developed some very special "bonding moments". This is one of those.....

(Please excuse the audio quality...this was shot with a Nikon Coolpix digital camera, and the audio capability isn't all that great)

Crashing The Moon

On Friday morning, Oct. 9 at 4:30 a.m., the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will crash into the Moon....on purpose. Scientists believe there is water ice hidden in at least one crater on the south pole of the Moon, where it never get sunlight. LCROSS's rocket stage will plunge into the lunar surface, inside Cabeus crater, sending up a plume of debris and (hopefully) water molecules. Four minutes later, the satellite itself will plunge toward the surface on a crash-course, passing through the plume and sending information back to Earth about it.
I'm hoping to be able to record the event from my location, using my 10" telescope and a high-resolution video camera.
If you don't have a medium-to-large telescope, NASA-TV is going to air the event LIVE from LCROSS, just before it crashes into the Moon!!!
Below, is an image of the Moon, showing the region where the impact will occur.....

The Moon, Jupiter and the Belt of Venus

This panorama image shows a pinkish haze just above the eastern horizon, shortly after sunset. This haze is call the Belt of Venus. Above it, is blue sky. Below it, is the darkness of Earth's shadow. As the Sun sinks lower and lower below the western horizon, the shadow rises higher in the east until.....ta-da.....nighttime!!!! (The white dot at the right is the Moon)

Our Solar System's largest planet, Jupiter can be seen in this image (center), while the Moon shines at right. The two are getting closer together this week, until, in a couple of nights, Jupiter will be on the right of the Moon.

Panorama

I recently downloaded a really cool program ("Auto Stitch") that creates a panorama photograph from several individual photos. Below, is my culdesac as seen in a 360° panorama. The 2-story house with the garage door opened is mine..... Click on image for a larger version.....

Boone's Ramp

Boone, my male 11-year old Daschund has been having some weakness in his back legs, making it hard for him to get up the 3 steps to the deck. I used two 2 x 6's as a ramp for him. It didn't take long for him to figure out it is much easier to use the ramp......

The Perfect Catch

After the shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station, it performed a "fly-around of the station, before departing ahead of the station. (The shuttles AWAYS do it that way)

As predicted by Heavens Above.com, the ISS passed almost directly over my location. What I DIDN'T expect, was to capture Discovery only 4 minutes ahead of ISS!!!

This video shows the shuttle crossing the sky first, then, 4 minutes later....ISS. (the motion-detection software I use captured only the events, and not the gap in between)

New Radishes

A new crop of radishes is popping up in the garden plot...

FIRST RADISHES!!

I decided to pull up the first batch of radishes tonight after work. It's been just under 4 weeks since planting them in small yogurt containers. The tops were pretty large and leafy, so I figured the radishes were almost ready. The largest one was about an inch in diameter. Very tasty.

I have several more crops growing, and more to plant in the near future, giving me a continuous supply for as long as they keep growing. I have about 24 in the ground and more in planters on the deck. Yummmmm.

Moon and Jupiter on Monday Night

The waxing gibbous Moon and Jupiter can be seen crossing the southern sky, in this 2 hour image. A single exposure was taken every 6 minutes. Jupiter is the faint series of dots just above and to the left of the bright Moon....(click on image for larger version).

Andromeda, Sweet Andromeda....

I finally finished processing an image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M-31) which I took last Sunday night. This image was created from several 1-minute exposures taken at around 2:00 a.m. on Monday, August 24.

The galaxy is located at a distance of 2.5 million lightyears away from us. (ONE lightyear is about 6 TRILLION miles!!!) All of the stars in this image are foreground stars...meaning that they are all in our own Milky Way Galaxy. We are looking through these stars to Andromeda, far, far away.

Also, the area of sky that the image covers is no bigger than the end of your pinky finger, held out at arm's length!!!! If you take a moment and consider how many stars are visible in that tiny area of sky, then imagine how many more stars there are in the rest of the sky!!!!!! Whoa!!!!!!

It's Hard Work Being A Farmer!

I pulled all of my carrots out of the ground the other day. They were all pretty strange-looking, but very tasty. I think the reason for the "mutant" carrots is because my plot wasn't tilled deep enough.

I'm in the process of expanding my garden plot, so I am going to focus on tilling double-deep for next season. Also, I think I will plant smaller carrots (4-6"). My onion and carrot plots will be twice as large as they were this year. I'm growing radishes this year on the deck, and hope to put in a large crop next spring. Still getting cherry tomatoes, too. Lots of little "greenies" on the vine!

Radishes Galore

These are my radishes, 11 days old. I started another batch of seeds today. In about 10 days, I'll start some more. By then, these should be ready to eat! This farmer stuff is kinda fun, y'know?

Pan-BBQ Chicken and Walla-Walla Onions

Taking an idea from a friend at work, I thought I would try a different kind of BBQ'd chicken......

The onion that I used for this was the largest one so far, weighing in at 18 oz. (1 lb., 2 oz.)!!!!! And I still have 20 in the ground, still growing.....

Cow Dogs

Let's take a stroll around the veggie garden.....

Summertime Fire Prevention

There are several great tips on preventing fires during this hot summer season.

This is the best one I've seen....

Jupiter and 4 Moons

Jupiter and it's 4 brightest moons. Photographed through my 5" Meade ETX-125 telescope, using a Watec 902H2 high-resolution, low-light CCD video camera.

Endeavour Chases ISS

My automated meteor-detection camera captured the International Space Station as it passed over my location at 10:12 p.m. July 16, followed 12 minutes later by shuttle Endeavour!

Vegetable Garden Update

Tomatoes, carrots and Walla-Walla onions are doing fine as of mid-July. I'm not sure when the onions will be ready to harvest....whenever the tops flop over and die. The carrots will probably be ready in September-October. The tomatoes have been loving the hot spells we've had. Temps will get into the 80's for a week or so, then cool down for a week. They went from green to bright orange in just a few days this week. Yummmmm.....

Fun With Family

Today, my son Joe, and his wife, Kerry and their four beautiful children, (l-r) Joseph, London, Grace and Langston spent the day with me. We had a great time playing, talking, BBQing (steaks and chicken) root-beer floats and playing with the robot. It was a pure pleasure having them here. My only regret was that it was cloudy, and Grace wasn't able to look through my telescope.

Maybe next time.

Joe is running for Congress in Mississippi. You can learn all about him here .

Three ISS Passes In One Night!

The International Space Station passed overhead 3 consecutive times during the night of July 9. Each pass opens with a ground-track map, with Marysville, Washington in the center, and the track of the ISS overlaid, showing the direction of travel. The corresponding video of the flyby and long exposure still shot follow. At the end, is a composite image of all three ground-track maps, as well as a composite image of all three long-exposure images.....

I'm So Happy To Be Home!!!

Boone spent the day at the Vet's...teeth cleaning, ear cleaning (had a yeast infection in one ear) and removal of a growth on his right-front leg.

He has a few teeth that have deep pockets in the gums, and will probably need to have them pulled in the future. He gets lots of stuff (dirt, food, grass, etc.) up in there and then it creates some infection and he sneezes alot. He is usually fine for awhile after the teeth cleaning, but it starts up again...

Here he is, just after getting home. (The bandage is from the I.V.). He has stitches on his other leg, up near his armpit, which will be removed in 2 weeks. He gets antibiotics 2 times a day for a week or so, and I have to monitor his stitches for any swelling, bleeding or discharge, and he needs to "take it easy" for the next 3 days. Other than that, he's just darn happy to be back home!!!

ISS Pass July 4

The International Space Station is making multiple passes over my location this month, sometimes 2 or 3 times a night.

This video shows two such passes in the early morning hours of July 4th.

Note that on the 2nd pass, the station seems to speed up briefly. This was caused by a software glitch, and not the Commander's lead foot.....17,500 mph is fast enough, anyway!

("I'm givin' 'er all she's got, Cap'n...")

International Space Station

The International Space Station flew overhead early this morning. This video sequence was captured by the meteor-detection camera here at Meadowcreek Park Observatory. The view is looking north...

(The video play-back speed is doubled...the actual pass takes twice as long)

Scouts and Astronomy

Last night (Friday), I did an astronomy presentation to a small group of Cub Scouts. I always enjoy talking to kids. They can be very inquisitive. Some of these guys are extremely smart, concerning space and astronomy. I brought my small telescope, in case we had the opportunity to look at the sky, but it started clouding up before dark. A fun time was had by all...

Northwest Heat Wave

At the time of this recording (Thursday, 10:30 a.m.) it was already 82° here. The forecast is for 85-90°!!! Yesterday, the forecast was for 75-80, and it hit 89 here. There is currently a heat advisory in effect until 6 p.m. tonight. It will start cooling off tomorrow......

A Galaxy Not So Far Away

Moondog's Dog Blog

Let's take Boone and Sadie for a romp around the "big field"......

It's A Bug's Flight

Last night, I set up the meteor-detection camera, facing east. It captured a couple of meteors, but what I thought was REALLY interesting was the flight path of a moth flying around my backyard, illuminated by my porch light. These sequences all occurred within 30 seconds......

ISS and a Meteor

Taking a little break from the Hubble mission, I set up two cameras last night to capture the International Space Station as it passed overhead.
The first photo was taken from the all-sky camera. The ISS always travels from west-to-east, so this image shows it passing from the bottom of the frame to the center.
The 2nd photo was taken from a high-resolution video camera, pointed up 60°, toward the NNE. It captured a video sequence of the pass, and created a still image. Fortunately, there is a website that predicts EXACTLY when and where the ISS will pass overhead, so all I need to do is point the camera and wait!!
I also got a bonus....a bright meteor pierced the skies about an hour later! (see video)

HUBBLE: EVA #3

On Saturday, John Grunsfeld and "Drew" Feustel performed EVA #3.
Here, John exits the airlock, then prepares the foot-restraint on the end of the Shuttle's robotic arm and assists Drew as he positions himself on the arm.
Drew's reflection is seen in Hubble's shiny outer covering as he is lowered on the robotic arm; he finishes stowing a large component in the Shuttle's cargo bay, then stows his Pistol Grip Tool (PGT) on the "mini workstation" mounted on the robotic arm.

HUBBLE: EVA #2

Today, Mike Massimino and Michael Good replaced three Rate Sensing Units and some Battery Packs in Hubble. The three RSU's contain 6 gyroscopes which help point and align the telescope.

Michael Good is working from the end of the Shuttle's robotic arm.

Here is a short (2:31) video segment of some of the activities....enjoy.....

HUBBLE: EVA #1

John Grunsfeld and Andrew "Drew" Feustel performed the first EVA (spacewalk) to begin replacing components on Hubble. Here, John and Drew exit (egress) the airlock, Drew unbolts the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2 (WFC-2), then removes it from Hubble, just like pulling out a drawer, and is lowered down to the Shuttle's cargo bay with the camera in hand. The new WFC-3 is then installed......

***Unbolting the camera was not as easy as it looks....the bolt was tighter than expected, and Drew's torque wrench kept slipping. They decided to let him use his brute-strength to loosen the bolt. Depsite the risk of breaking the bolt and not being able to replace the camera, he was able to loosen it, then use the motorized socket to remove it....whew!!!!! Close one!!!!!

Capturing Hubble

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13: Ahhhh, the long-awaited "Hubble-Hug"!

It's been 7 years since Hubble's last servicing mission, hence, this is the first time we have seen the telescope in that long...

This video has 3 parts: the first view of Hubble as Atlantis approached, the actual capture (grapple) of Hubble as seen from the camera on the end of the shuttle's robotic arm as Atlantis inches toward it from below, and Hubble finally attached to the end of the arm, flying above Earth. (all video segments are recorded as time-lapse to reduce file size and viewing times)

My next few posts will include video segments from the actual spacewalks as the astronauts replace several components. Stay tuned!

Atlantis Tile Survey

For the next several days, I will be posting updates and brief video segments covering the current shuttle mission, STS-125. As I mentioned previously, this is the LAST servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Today, the crew of Atlantis is doing an extensive survey of the Thermal Protection System, which includes all the protective tiles on the underside of the shuttle, as well as the nosecap and wing leading-edge surfaces. This survey, performed on the first full day in orbit, has been standard protocol on every shuttle mission since the Columbia accident, to ensure that there hasn't been any damage to the shuttle during launch.

This video shows part of that survey. This view is loooking at the port (left) side of Atlantis, just behind the nose, at the thruster ports. The camera, mounted on the orbiter's robotic arm, moves back, toward the crew hatch....

Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope

Space Shuttle Atlantis launched successfully today from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is a unique mission, as it is the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Several components and cameras on Hubble will be replaced, as well as some repairs which were not originally designed to be performed in space!

Something else that makes it unique, is that the astronauts will not be anywhere near the International Space Station. That means that if they have problems in orbit, Shuttle Endeavour is on the launch pad, ready for a rescue mission if needed. Needless to say, this is an exceptionally risky mission!

Here are some different camera views of the launch. I recorded them as time-lapse, to save file size and time...enjoy.....

Mother's Day Sundogs

Mother's Day started out beautiful and clear.

Rising in the east, the Sun was accompanied by a pair of sundogs....rainbow-colored reflections in the high, thin cirrus clouds, on either side of the Sun. Sundogs can vary in brightness, size and intensity, but these were a wonderful tribute to all the Mothers in our lives........

(Artificial eclipse added)

VideoBlog: Veggies and Dogs

A short tour of my little corner of the universe...

ISS and the Milky Way

The all-sky camera here at Meadowcreek Park Observatory captured the International Space Station as it passed overhead last night. Clearly visible, is the Milky Way, stretching across the view, from left to right!!

The ISS travels from west-to-east (top-to-bottom in this view). Click on image for larger view.

More Clear Skies....Whoo-hoo!!!!!

After a frustrating day behind the wheel of a 40-foot city bus, it was wonderful to come home and enjoy some nice, clear skies.
This is the Moon at 11 p.m. Thursday night.....

ISS Early Thursday Morning

Last night (Wednesday), my motion detection camera captured the ISS gliding across the sky, traveling in a northeast direction (toward the lower-left of the image)......it was visible only briefly, as it reflected the sunlight from below the eastern horizon......

Exploding Glow

Today was a cloudy day. I did manage to get in some yard work...mowed the front lawn and pressure-washed about 40 feet of my back fence. This evening, I was looking over the images captured by my northeast-facing webcam, and saw this amazing event occuring in the northeast, as the Sun was setting in the west. The sky seemed to explode in a glow briefly...

Earthshine

If you were lucky enough to have some clear skies on Sunday night, you may have seen the beautiful crescent Moon in the west, just after sunset. As the evening grew darker, the crescent became more brilliant and the earthshine (sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the dark portion of the Moon) was evident. To the left of the Moon, is a faint star in the constellation Taurus (the Bull).........

Wide-Field Saturn

What a great weekend....so far. Sunny days and clear nights. I used the opportunity to do some imaging last night. This is a wide-field image of Saturn, using a 28mm lens on a CCD camera, mounted on a telescope which is "tracking", or following the stars across the sky. It is a 10-minute exposure. I actually enjoy doing wide-field the most...it tends to give more of a perspective of the region of sky being photographed (as opposed to the previous image of Saturn, showing only the planet). Click on photo for larger version.....

Dynamic Hit Map

Here is a "dynamic" hit-map of visitors from around the world who visit my website....

FOLLOW-UP: Moondog (Worldwide) Astronomy

So far, the average daily hit count went from 5 to 18! We had 35 first-time visitors to the website just today (Friday).

Thanks to Knit Witch for chiming in from Georgia.

My "hit map", at any given time shows only the 10 most recent hits, so your location may or may not show up when I have a chance to check it. But here is how the site traffic has changed in the past 2 days.....

...and we've only just begun!!!!!!

Moondog (Worldwide) Astronomy

This is a worldwide map, showing the locations of people who view my website. (The information was taken from a "hit map" included in my hit counter).

Just for kicks, let's all see if we can plaster the map with dots....send my website address (www.moondogastronomy.com) to everyone you know, and see what happens!

***The average number of hits per day, over the past 7 days is 5.

Check back here for continuing results.......

Saturn and the Moon

We are FINALLY getting some spring weather! This weekend, we are blessed with sunny days and clear, cold nights. I took advantage of the weather and got out with my 10" telescope last night to photograph Saturn (my first Saturn images this year!). The Moon was out, too, so I shot some craters while I was at it.....enjoy.....

Because of the changing orientation of Saturn's orbit around the Sun, the rings are viewed "edge-on", as opposed to years past, when the full glory of

the rings were visible as Saturn was tilted toward us.

This over-exposed image shows 3 of Saturn's moons!

...and speaking of moons, here are some images of prime real-estate on the Moon.....

The large crater, Plato. This crater is about 70 miles in diameter! (Note the long valley at the right...)

The crater, Tycho (center) has a large, prominent central peak.

Copernicus has two central peaks!


Mountains on the Moon!

Dwight's Great Snorkeling Adventure

My best friend, Dwight, and his wife, Noreen are in Hawaii this month, celebrating her birthday. You may recall that last year about this time, I spent 9 days with them in paradise, relaxing, swimming with dolphins, and snorkeling. I had with me a small underwater digital video camera, and had a great time recording my snorkeling experience.

Dwight coudn't resist buying one, too, and has thoughtfully sent me a little tid-bit of his own adventures in Kona.....(titles and music added). Enjoy....

(HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOREEN!!!)

***For anyone interested, this video was shot with an Oregon Scientific ATC3K underwater camera. (the compression factor used to upload this video to my blog does not do the actual video quality justice!)

Worm Moon Passeth

The bright Full "Worm" Moon passes overhead...

Ok....here is the time-lapse video of the Moon crossing the sky on the night of March 9.....

Meteor March 8

Take a look near the Moon, about the "10 o'clock" position.....

Surreality

This brief (:16) time-lapse video was created by combining several 60-second exposures, looking northeast, between around midnight and 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. The star trails peeking out from behind the clouds seem almost surreal.....

Venus, the Moon (and the clouds!)

I managed to capture Venus and the Moon in their close conjunction tonight...just before the clouds rolled in and ended the show.....

VENUS IN DAYLIGHT!

Venus, in broad daylight! Taken on Friday, February 27, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. PST. I used a Meade ETX-125 (5" Cassegrain telescope), and my Astrovid PlanetCam color CCD video camera...Enjoy!!

Tuesday Night Skies

...a time-lapse video looking north from Meadowcreek Park Observatory between 9:30 pm Tuesday and 6:00 a.m. Wednesday (8 1/2 hours in 60 seconds!). When the aurora season kicks in again, this is the camera used to capture the Northern Lights!

Monday Skies

This view was taken from the all-sky camera here at Meadowcreek Park Observatory. This is the same camera which is used for meteor detection. As you can see, this sequence runs from early morning until around 5 p.m.

SUNDAY SKIES

Taken from my webcam, facing north-northeast.

My Other Ride

Last year, Everett Transit arranged with Matchbox to produce several thousand replicas of our buses. This is a one-time production, and no more of the really cool toy buses will be made. Boy, this is sure a fun place to work! (They even let me play with my very own full-sized toy bus)

GRABBING SOME CLEAR SKY

We finally had clear skies yesterday, and the temps actually hit 50!!!!! I took advantage of the situation and got in some imaging before the fog rolled in around 8:30 last night... No meteors, but a couple of aircraft flew overhead.

This first video shows a helicopter's spotlight glaring into my all-sky camera, and the still image created by the software.

The second video is an airplane. (I had two cameras going at once, so the 2nd still image shows the plane's track just below the constellation Gemini.

MOONDOG MINUTE: January 12

Snow Pan

Well, the snow has stopped, then the rains came and the rivers flooded. Now, the rain has let up and the rivers are starting to recede. You have probably seen our situation here in Washington state on the news. Fortunately, my neighborhood seems to survive these kinds of storms pretty well. Here is a brief video panorama taken from my front porch, while the snow was still around.....

Clouds clear, Vega shines!!!

This is a time-lapse video of the clouds above my location between 3:30 a.m.- 7:00a.m. The bright star at the top after the clouds clear is Vega.