Time to buckle down – see you next week! (Bonus last quarter Moon)

Waning gibbous Moon (nearly Last Quarter), 6:33 AM CST 11-28-10 (12:33 UTC)
32.65′ angular diameter, 54% illumination, shining through thin clouds

Got to disappear into my cave once again and complete my Dead Sea Scrolls paper due in one week, so this is my last post for eight days. See you on the other side!

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Life lessons about difficulties, anger, and patience

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on November 11, 2010:

Here are three important life lessons I’ve learned, mostly the hard way:

First, a lesson about facing difficulties. Lots of people mistake difficult things for impossible things, because they both feel the same: they both feel difficult! But difficult things are every bit as possible as easy things, they’re just more difficult! What you feel may not be real. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Philippians 4:13 NKJV

Second, a lesson about anger. Some anger is justified, because some things that happen to us or others are truly wrong and unjust. But I’ve learned that righteous anger can still be very dangerous, because it’s easier for us to justify carrying a grudge. But a grudge that started when we were in the right is just as much a grudge as one that started when we were in the wrong. Related to that, when some people are in the right about something, they take it as a license to behave like jerks. This happens often on the road, for example. I think many people who have “road rage” had a legitimate grievance to begin with, but in response they let their pent-up anger make them dangerous. “Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” Ephesians 4:26 ESV. There’s a place for anger, but it’s a very narrow and shortlived place, to be followed immediately by constructive action and leaving it in God’s hands.

Third, a lesson about patience: If we think we only have to be patient with reasonable delays, we’re not really patient. Truly patient people are patient with the unreasonable delays as well. Impatience is a strange thing: it makes us think that being impatient will speed things up, but it’s generally the opposite. I’ve caused many unnecessary delays for myself by being impatient. Being impatient is like speeding to the gas station because you only have a few drops of gasoline left, and you’re trying to get there before you run out of gas! You’re really just going to make yourself run out of gas sooner! “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience” Galatians 5:22 ESV.

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Moon, Venus, Saturn November 21-27, 2010

Lots to catch up on from this week! First, a lunar mini-series beginning with Sunday’s Full “Blue” Moon:

10:21 PM CST 11-21-10 (4:21 UTC 11-22-10)
31.35′ angular diameter, 99.7% illumination

6:21 AM CST 11-23-10 (12:21 UTC)
31.56′ angular diameter, 96.5% illumination

7:32 AM CST 11-25-10 (13:32 UTC)
32.08′ angular diameter, 83.9% illumination

9:47 AM CST 11-27-10 (15:47 UTC)
32.34′ angular diameter, 63.6% illumination
One thing I like about the waning Moon is that it’s still there even when I sleep later!

Next, a brief “Venus Update.” For previous Venus updates, click here.

	12:40 PM CDT (17:40 UTC), November 5, 2010 Angular diameter 59.94 arc seconds 2.4% illumination Distance from Earth 25,866,740 miles (41,628,483 km)
	6:35 AM CST November 23, 2010 (12:35 UTC) Angular diameter 47.81 arc seconds 16.8% illumination Distance from Earth 32,427,864 miles (52,187,588 km) Venus photography generally works better in the daytime, as in the dark its apparent “thickness” gets exaggerated by its intense brightness.
	10:02 AM CST November 27, 2010 (16:02 UTC) Angular diameter 44.72 arc seconds 20.6% illumination Distance from Earth 34,669,885 miles (55,795,771 km)

Finally, here’s a view of Saturn, in the same format as my “Venus Updates” and on the same apparent scale:

6:43 AM CST November 23, 2010 (12:43 UTC) Angular diameter 16.20 arc seconds 99.9% illumination Distance from Earth 949,689,140 miles (1,528,376,520 km)

All with 8″ f8 homebuilt reflector telescope, 25mm eyepiece, and LG VX8360 cell phone camera.

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The Blue Moon after all! With bonus Jupiter

10:21 PM CST 11-21-10 (4:21 UTC 11-22-10)
Angular diameter 31.35 arc minutes
99.7% illumination, 10 hours and 54 minutes after maximum full phase

I was pleasantly surprised by the chance to see the “Blue Moon” after all, as the clouds thinned for awhile on Sunday evening. Crater detail may be seen along the Moon’s eastern limb, showing that the waning half of the month has begun.

One minute later I took this photo in “Blue Moon” mode just for fun! The clouds were already starting to move in again.

I spent so much time trying for the perfect shot of the Moon that I nearly missed out on photographing Jupiter, which was shining brightly early on, but almost obscured by clouds when I turned my attention toward it.

Here’s Jupiter at 10:33 PM CDT 11-21-10 (4:33 UTC 11-22-10). Clouds had obscured the Galilean Moons at that point, but, look carefully at this photo and you can see a hint of the North Equatorial Belt from about “10 o’clock” to about “3 o’clock” on Jupiter’s disk (I flipped it so North is on top). Rarely have I captured any hints of atmospheric detail on Jupiter, but the cloudy sky subdued Jupiter’s light enough to show a little more contrast. In other words, Earth’s clouds helped reveal Jupiter’s clouds!

Of course, if you really want to see atmospheric detail on Jupiter, I’d recommend that you visit Christopher Go’s website, where he’s posting dazzling pictures of Jupiter all the time, including signs as of late that the South Equatorial Belt is getting ready to reappear. My low-budget cell phone astrophotography is pretty good for things like watching the Galilean Moons orbiting, but not too good for capturing detail on Jupiter, which is too bad, because Jupiter’s largest atmospheric bands can be seen easily visually even with a small telescope.

This early morning I woke up to a surprise – once again the Moon was visible in the west, as well as Saturn and Venus in the east! I thought for sure that I was going to be able to capture two more planets and more of the Moon. But by the time I had my astro-gear set up the clouds had moved in once again! Such is the life of the astronomer.

All photos with 8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece, and LG VX8360 cell phone camera. Photos clickable for larger view.

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Blue Moon!

No, the Moon doesn’t really look blue like this at any time, nor did I take this picture today! I took this picture at 4:36 AM CDT last September 22, 2010 (9:36 UTC), and this is what came out when I was playing with the “aqua” setting on my cell phone camera. The Moon was almost, but not quite full that night. But since today’s Full Moon is called a Blue Moon by an old reckoning, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to bring this picture out! By this reckoning, if there are four Full Moons within one season, the third is called a Blue Moon. If you’re wondering why the upcoming December 21 Full Moon isn’t the first one of Winter, it’s because it squeaks in just hours before the solstice, making it the last one of four in Autumn.

More about the Blue Moon at Journey To the Stars and at Yahoo! News.

Alas, persistent clouds have been hampering astronomy at my point on the terrestrial globe, and show no signs of letting up, so I will miss the “Blue Moon” this time, alas. But I’ll be happy if the weather cooperates for the next Full Moon on December 21, since it features a Total Lunar Eclipse ideally timed for my locale! (UPDATE: I just fixed that link, so it goes to the NASA info about the upcoming eclipse, just as I originally intended.)

UPDATE: The clouds parted after all! Stop back for a new post about this weekend’s observations.

No Blue Moon celebration is complete without Rogers & Harts’ classic song. Here’s my favorite version, the one by The Marcels:

I almost forgot – as usual, my Moon picture was taken with the 8″ f8 homebuilt reflector, 25mm eyepiece, and LG VX8360 cell phone camera. Usually I use the “black and white” or “natural” color settings, but just for fun I might use the “aqua” setting “once in a blue moon” …

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Lunar Series for October and Early November 2010

Here is a series of eleven lunar photos taken October 15 – November 4, 2010, with the Moon’s apparent angular diameter given in minutes of arc. Each photo may be clicked for a larger version. Explanatory notes follow.

11:56 PM CDT 10-15-10 (4:56 UTC 10-16-10)
29.82′ angular diameter
60mm refractor, 17mm eyepiece

10:25 PM CDT 10-16-10 (3:25 UTC 10-17-10)
29.80′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

12:04 AM CDT (5:04 UTC) 10-19-10
29.75′ angular diameter
60mm refractor, 17mm eyepiece

11:44 PM CDT 10-19-10 (4:44 UTC 10-20-10)
29.88′ angular diameter
60mm refractor, 17mm eyepiece

5:39 AM CDT (10:39 UTC) 10-21-10
29.76′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

6:04 AM CDT (11:04 UTC) 10-22-10
29.99′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

11:50 PM CDT 10-22-10 (4:50 UTC 10-23-10)
30.44′ angular diameter
60mm refractor, 17mm eyepiece

6:19 AM CDT (11:19 UTC) 10-29-10
32.22′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

6:46 AM CDT (11:46 UTC) 11-1-10
32.92′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

8:10 AM CDT (13:10 UTC) 11-3-10
33.07′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

7:20 AM CDT (12:20 UTC) 11-4-10
32.86′ angular diameter
8″ reflector, 25mm eyepiece

The Moon reached apogee close to the time of the 10-19-10 photos, resulting in the smallest angular diameter at that time. The Moon reached perigee close to the time of the 11-3-10 photo, and once again began to recede from the Earth in its elliptical orbit. Perigee is now happening earlier in the lunation than in September and October, when the Moon was approaching perigee while in the thin crescent phase just before New Moon.

Reflector photos were taken with the homebuilt reflector telescope with 8″ mirror and 64″ focal length. Refractor photos were taken with the Meade refractor telescope with 60mm lens and 700mm focal length. As always, they’re all taken with my trusty LG VX8360 cell phone camera. Each photo is to the same scale on this page, but when images are clicked, reflector photos expand to 880×880, refractor photos to 557×557, since the reflector with 25mm eyepiece yields about 65x magnification, but the refractor with 17mm eyepiece yields about 41x magnification.
Observant readers will see that refractor photos are usually around midnight, usually taken “on the fly” after I get home from work, usually while walking the dog! Reflector photos are generally taken either in the early morning or on weekend evenings, much better times for lugging the 95-pound brute around.

I will keep on doing these lunar series posts whenever I can, partly because it’s fun and interesting, and partly to document the fact that, regardless of wild rumors floating around, nothing out of the ordinary is happening to the Moon’s orbit! I lack the sophisticated telescope and photo equipment that some have, but my equipment is plenty powerful enough to document what’s happening up there, and serve as a reality check against sensationalism.

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22 ESV

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Comparative views of the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn

Here’s an illustration I put together of how large the Moon, Venus, Jupiter (with the four Galilean moons) and Saturn look when viewed through the telescope. I can come up with the dates, times, and exact apparent sizes if you’d like, but this gives you a quick idea of what you would actually see through the telescope, and how large it would appear. Each picture was taken at about 65x magnification with my 8″ f8 homebuilt reflector telescope, 25mm eyepiece, and LG VX8360 cell phone camera.

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Enjoy the moments while you can, regardless

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on October 28, 2010:

The next time you attend a funeral, you’ll probably hear someone say something like this: “It’s sure nice to see you, but it’s too bad it has to take something like this to get us all together.” Yes, it is too bad, but some quick advice: don’t be too regretful about it. Enjoy the moments of togetherness while you can, no matter what kind of event brought it on. Just this last Friday my Mom had a great reunion with her three siblings, the first time all four were together since Grandma died ten years ago. They honestly wondered whether it would ever happen again, at least without a funeral, but somehow things clicked, everyone could come, and “a great time was had by all.” “Teach us to number our days …” Psalm 90:12, “Making the most of your time…” Ephesians 5:16 NASB.

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Post-conjunction Venus Update 11-5-10, with bonus Saturn and Pre-dawn Sky

Venus has reappeared! Like a faster runner on the inside track, Venus has recently passed the Earth (inferior conjunction was on October 29), and now continues to hurry ahead in its orbit. Shortly it will be illuminating the pre-dawn sky for months as the resplendent “Morning Star.” I caught it yesterday in the early afternoon, a challenge since it was only about 14 degrees away from the Sun in the sky, and I kept getting unwelcome glare in my finder scope until I managed to create some shade. Anyway, following up on my last Venus Update, my latest Venus picture takes its place in the following series:

	6:23 PM CDT, August 21, 2010 Angular diameter 24.92 arc seconds 47.7% illumination Distance from Earth 62,222,852 miles (100,137,974 km)
	5:58 PM CDT, August 28, 2010 Angular diameter 27.16 arc seconds 43.7% illumination Distance from Earth 57,092,020 miles (91,880,700 km)
	2:26 PM CDT, September 11, 2010 Angular diameter 32.85 arc seconds 34.8% illumination Distance from Earth 47,199,203 miles (75,959,754 km)
	6:13 PM CDT, September 19, 2010 Angular diameter 37.21 arc seconds 28.7% illumination Distance from Earth 41,671,869 miles (67,064,373 km)
	1:39 PM CDT, September 26, 2010 (18:39 UT) Angular diameter 41.52 arc seconds 23.1% illumination Distance from Earth 37,345,447 miles (60,101,671 km)
	4:05 PM CDT, October 3, 2010 (21:05 UT) Angular diameter 46.63 arc seconds 16.9% illumination Distance from Earth 33,248,887 miles (53,508,897 km)
	2:27 PM CDT (19:27 UTC), October 11, 2010 Angular diameter 52.75 arc seconds 9.8% illumination Distance from Earth 29,391,701 miles (47,301,357 km)
	3:23 PM CDT (8:23 UTC), October 16, 2010 Angular diameter 56.44 arc seconds 5.7% illumination Distance from Earth 27,472,436 miles (44,212,600 km)
	12:40 PM CDT (17:40 UTC), November 5, 2010 Angular diameter 59.94 arc seconds 2.4% illumination Distance from Earth 25,866,740 miles (41,628,483 km)

8″ f8 homebuilt reflector, 25mm eyepiece.

Here’s another Saturn picture. I’m hoping to get in as many good ones as possible while climate still allows. Winters in Minnesota can be famously frigid, and I expect
there will be an extended period of time when the cold finger-freezing weather (hard on cell phone batteries, too) will put a stop to my astrophotography for awhile. Unfortunately that time will coincide with some of the best early morning viewing of Saturn this year, so I’ll seize what opportunities I can find before winter.
UPDATE: I’ve been getting visits via search engine queries like “Saturn angular diameter arcseconds” and “Saturn distance from Earth November 2010”, so I’ll mention that in the picture below Saturn’s apparent angular diameter (the planet itself, not the rings) is 15.92 seconds of arc, and its distance from Earth is 966,825,301 miles (1,555,150,630 km). I get a kick out of the exact-mile precision of the distance figures that I get from skyviewcafe.com, especially for a giant planet like Saturn. That obviously must be a center-to-center estimate, because Saturn’s gargantuan diameter makes the center point (from our perspective) 38,000 miles closer to us than the edge!

7:37 AM CDT (12:37 UTC), 11-6-10, 8″ f8 homebuilt reflector, 17mm eyepiece.

One reason why I love pre-dawn astronomy is because of morning skies like this. When I first got out there the sky was still dark and gloriously starry, with Orion in the southwest. By the time I took this morning’s Saturn photo, the sky had brightened to look like this. Saturn was in the upper middle of this view:

A couple of minutes later:

And 13 minutes after that, at 7:54 AM:

All photos with LG VX8360 cell phone camera, and may be clicked for larger view, except the Saturn picture is clickable, but won’t get any larger.

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Saturn and the Waning Crescent Moon on Windy 11-4-10

The backyard doesn’t have a good view to the southeast, so I lugged the 95-pound telescope about 100 feet to the front yard and braved finger-chilling winds to capture my first photo of Saturn in which you can clearly see that it has rings! Such are the lengths to which I will go for science …

7:01 AM CDT (12:01 UTC), 11-4-10, 8″ f8 homebuilt reflector telescope, 25mm eyepiece, 2x Barlow.

UPDATE: I’ve picked up clues that a few people out there are curious about Saturn’s apparent diameter in seconds of arc, as well as its distance from Earth. According to skyviewcafe.com, at the time of this photo Saturn’s angular diameter as viewed from Earth was 15.90 seconds of arc (the planet itself; the rings are considerably wider), and its distance from Earth was 967,149,373 miles (1,555,476,041 km). I presume that’s a center-to-center distance. When Saturn reaches opposition on April 3, 2011, its distance will be reduced to “only” 800,711,647 miles (1,288,620,485 km) and its angular diameter increased to 19.21 arc seconds.

Though the moonbeams were shining between tree branches, this turned out to be my best-focused photo of the thin crescent Moon this morning. 7:20 AM CDT (12:20 UTC), 8″ f8 homebuilt reflector, 25mm eyepiece. Both photos with LG VX8360 cell phone camera.

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