Return of Saturn

The new moon occurs tomorrow just eight minute’s past four o’clock in the afternoon.  I reviewed the sun rise and moon rise times for today, tomorrow and the next day as compared to the time the new moon happens.  And, once again, the ‘holy grail’ of observing a moon less than one day from dying or one day new-born eludes me.  Tomorrow morning, on the 13th of November, 2012, moon rise occurs at 6:41 a.m. Central, just twenty minutes before the sun rises.  If that wasn’t ‘bad’ enough, I’ll be driving the van for the Tuesday commute to work at that time.  My final rider pickup occurs at that time, so I may be able to take a couple of minutes with my binoculars to see if I can see the almost dead moon about eight hours before it is reborn as the new moon.  I don’t have high hopes though, as twenty minutes before sun rise is quite bright and the eastern horizon will be hazy unless I’m extremely lucky. And the chance of catching any sign of the extremely young moon (less than an hour old by sun set tomorrow night) is even slimmer than the crescent moon would appear at that time. 

Countertop & Backsplash Refinishing
Countertop & Backsplash Refinishing (click photo for rest of album)

I woke up knowing the temperatures had plummeted to the lower 20s overnight, leaving the sky crystal clear and killing the wind we’ve had for the past week.  Since my kitchen is completely unusable for the next week or so, I decided to pack up the van for the Monday commute, start it up (since frost completely covered all the windows) and gather up my camera equipment for an pre-dawn frigid photo shoot of the nearly dead moon.

NineteenMinsAfterMoonrise12Nov2012I drove the still cold and nearly empty van up the hill to the dead-end in front of City Hall.  I left the van running to continue the process of thawing out the windows and doors while I took the tripod and camera a few feet back up the hill to the east side lawn of City Hall.  I could barely see the new risen moon through the leafless trees lining the south and southeastern horizon.  I found a spot where the moon just clear the tree limbs and setup the camera equipment.  I took my first photo at 5:47 a.m., about nineteen minutes after the moon rose (at 5:28 a.m.).  I tried various settings and exposures, while trying to keep my hands warm and not shake the camera too much.  I took several unsatisfactory photos for about ten minutes and then returned to the van.  I needed to fill up the gas tank and get something warm to drink before heading south to pickup my first setup of riders.  My local rider had the day off because he’s a federal employee and today is the day set aside to observe and honor our veterans.

ThreePercentIlluminated0610am12Nov2012
Illuminted 3% at 6:10 a.m. Central Mon 12 Nov 2012

After filling up the van, I drove back up the hill so I could cross Main Street using the light between City Hall and the Library and just happened to look east again. I noticed the colors caused by twilight and pulled into the Library’s parking lot for a second photo shoot.  I quickly reset up the camera and took another ten minutes worth of photos before continuing on to Scooters for a warm mocha and a caramel apple scone. 

VenusSpicaSaturnWaningMoon0712am12Nov2012labeled
Venus, Saturn, Spica and the Waning Moon

I downloaded the photos from the camera and reviewed them. I threw away most of the first photo shoot because I forget to set the two second delay timer and most of them were blurry. I logged into my Astronomy.com account and downloaded the sky dome for the east-southeastern horizon to confirm and label the objects photographed above.

EastSoutheastHorizon0711am12Nov2012

I had completely forgotten that Saturn had finally come out from behind the sun to become visible once again in the early morning.  In fact, Saturn rose just nine minutes after the moon did, although my camera did not capture it in my first photo shoot, probably because it was hiding behind some tree limbs.

I also photographed the Big Dipper, Orion, Canis Major and the Pleiades, but decided not to share the photos with anyone yet.  Because I didn’t change from my telephoto lens to my normal one, I did not get all the stars in the handle of the Big Dipper nor did I capture all of the stars in Orion. 

I’ll probably miss this weekend’s meteor shower, as I will be otherwise occupied during the day and not in a location that will provided dark enough skies to properly observe a shower.   A solar eclipse occurs tomorrow, but only for those excessively lucky people who live in the South Pacific.  For more of what’s up this week, visit Astronomy’s the Sky this Week website.

Thank You Veterans

Thank you.

On this day, and every day, thank you.

For your service and your sacrifice.

***

“This year, we marked the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. We began to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. We welcomed our veterans back home from Iraq, and we continued to wind down operations in Afghanistan. These milestones remind us that, though much has changed since Americans first took up arms to advance freedom’s cause, the spirit that moved our forebears is the same spirit that has defined each generation of our service members. Our men and women in uniform have taught us about strength, duty, devotion, resolve — cornerstones of a commitment to protect and defend that has kept our country safe for over 200 years. In war and in peace, their service has been selfless and their accomplishments have been extraordinary.” — President Obama, Veterans Day Proclamation, November 11, 2012

“We are often reminded that, today, less than 1% of Americans wear the uniforms of our Nation. The sum of their service to the country, however, is beyond measure. Our rights and privileges as American citizens have been their gifts to each of us. We must not take those gifts for granted.” — Secretary Shinseki, A Message from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, November 9, 2012

“Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.” — Ulysses S. Grant

“Better to fight for something than live for nothing.” — George S. Patton

“We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

“A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.” — Norman Schwarzkopf

“Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.” — Norman Schwarzkopf

“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” — Douglas MacArthur

“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” — Douglas MacArthur

Jeans Day Friday Charity: Purple Peace Foundation

November is Epilepsy Awareness Month

Today, my emplo0yer offered us the opportunity to participate in a fundraiser jeans day to benefit epilepsy awareness and fund much needed research.  And this is not the first time my employer supported epilepsy awareness.  The organization to receive our donations collected today is the Purple Peace Foundation.  The mission of the Foundation is to raise awareness about epilepsy and provide support to those living with or affected by epilepsy. Their goal is to raise funds to provide tools which may improve the quality of life for someone living with epilepsy, to support epilepsy research, and to increase awareness and education about epilepsy.

FACTS ABOUT EPILEPSY:

About 50,000 people die in the US each year from Epilepsy (prolonged seizures, SUDEP & seizure-related causes)

Just as a sense of scale . . .

   39,520 die from breast cancer

   15,000 die from prescription overdose

   12,000 die from skin cancer

   10,228 die in drunk driving accidents

Help spread the facts and raise epilepsy awareness!

[Sources: cdc.gov.cureepilepsy.org; breastcancer.org; madd.org; cancer.org]

Epilepsy is among the least understood of major chronic medical conditions.

  • Epilepsy affects over 3 million Americans of all ages.  This is more than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Parkinson’s disease combined.
  • Almost 500 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every day in the United States.
  • 1 in 3 adults know someone with epilepsy.
  • Epilepsy and seizure disorder are the same thing.
  • There are between 20 and 30 different kinds of seizures.
  • In our metropolitan area, up to 250,000 members may have recurrent seizures at some time during their lives.
  • 1 in 10 people will have a single seizure.
  • The biggest challenge for people with epilepsy is not the disorder itself but the myths, misconceptions and stigma that surround it!

 Please join me in spreading awareness about epilepsy this month.

Grasping at Stars

Sunday morning bracing autumn walkDespite a busy weekend of van maintenance (oil change/tire rotation), hair maintenance (shampoo, cut & style), yard maintenance (leaves, leaves and more leaves and now pine needles), home improvement projects (refinishing lower kitchen cabinets) and exercise (very long walk with Apollo), I squeezed in an hour of star gazing after a night out with Terry and friends at Jack Stack on the Plaza.  I’ve been wanting to get the scope out for a couple of weeks now, but the evening skies have not cooperated, remaining hazy at best or completely cloud covered at their worst.  Upon parking the car in the driveway Saturday night, I looked up and decided the skies looked good enough to attempt some star gazing.  I didn’t even take my purse into the house.  I drug the telescope out of the garage and began hunting down more targets on my Astro Quest observing award checklist.

I did make one trip inside to retrieve my binoculars, pocket star atlas, clipboard and checklist.  I used Jupiter to re-align the finderscope and spent several minutes enjoying an interesting moon alignment (see image above).

Using binoculars, I easily found the Andromeda galaxy and the Double Cluster (between Perseus and Cassiopeia). I checked off two stars from my list, Algol in Perseus and Gamma Cassiopeiae.  Since the constellation Pegasus was nearly directly overhead, I went hunting for the Triangulum galaxy, also known as M33.  I could barely see the three stars in the constellation Triangulum, but no matter how hard I searched (with binoculars, not naked eye), I could not find this galaxy.  I should have been able to trace a line from M31 through two stars in the constellation Andremeda (Mu and Beta Andromedae) to find M33, but I was defeated once again by urban (and prison) light pollution.  I had hoped to stumble upon it with binoculars, especially since M31 was so easily visible and found (almost naked eye Saturday night, but not quite).

Cepheus constellation
Cepheus constellation

I became more chilled as the evening wore on, neglecting to put on my sweater and just ignoring the 40 degree temperatures.  The lack of wind helped shore up my illusion of warmth.  I thought I’d try one last object before packing the scope up and returning it to the garage.  I went hunting for the Garnet star in the constellation Cepheus.  With my naked eyes, I could barely make out some of the stars that form the ‘house’ asterism.  I knew the general area to look for Mu Cephei so I aimed my binoculars between the alpha and delta stars.  Whoa!  Way, way too many stars visible, thanks to the backdrop of our own Milky Way galaxy.  Staring again with just my eyes, I squinted against the light pollution, but could still only see some of the anchor stars of Cepheus and no Milky Way stars.

I gave up, because I knew I would need to study several star atlases closely and device a star hop from Alpha Cephei to Mu Cephei, a trail I would need to memorize, so I wouldn’t have to take my reading glasses on and off while attempting to observe.

Pegasus constellation
Pegasus constellation

Another star trail I need to work on is finding M15 in the constellation Pegasus.  I really shouldn’t have had any trouble finding M15, since you can draw a nearly strait line from Theta Pegasi through Epsilon Pegasi to point to that globular cluster.  Either my skies were not dark enough, or I kept misidentifying  Enif (Epsilon Pegasi) in my binoculars.

Book Review: Legend by Gemmell (5 stars)

Legend by David Gemmell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I could hardly put this book down. How did I miss reading this book when it was first published in 1984? How has David Gemmell managed to stay off my reading radar for nearly thirty years? And worse, upon finishing Legend, I learned David died six years ago. I nearly wept as I did for Virae and Druss and Rek and Serbitar. Not even sixty years old when he left us for the Forever Halls.

The themes are still thrumming through my being – Life and Death; War and Peace; Honor, Duty, Courage, Fear, Betrayal, Despair, Hope and Love. The depth of characterization surprised me despite Gemmell’s concise prose. Rarely have I been drawn to characters so adeptly and abruptly.

For a fantasy novel, Legend had less of the traditional fantasy elements (magic, strange creatures, etc.) and more close-up violence (comparable to Conan or other sword and sorcery standards) than I’ve read recently. Still, it contained some of the best fighting scene’s I’ve ever read. And it held me morbidly enthralled, watching the doomed desperate, surely futile, struggles of the defenders against the inexorable endless tide of invaders. I did not connect the dots until after I finished Legend and read up on David Gemmell’s life. Now, in hindsight, it seems all too obvious.

Legend is the Alamo spirit – or what should have been that spirit.” — David Gemmell on the influence of The Alamo in an interview with Stan Nichols in 1989.

My first foray into heroic fantasy left me gasping for more. Today is always a good day to die … or live.

Read (and joing) the discussion of this novel held during November 2012 at the Fantasy Book Club group at GoodReads.com.

May the Mouse Be With You

Thirty-five years ago I got sucked into Lucas’ Star Wars like most everyone else in the world.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched that movie since then.  More than once in a movie theatre, and many, many times since via my own home theatre.  Every word of dialog is memorized.  Every scene emblazoned on my mind’s eye.  Every soaring sound of the score composed by John Williams ringing in my ears.  It was the right movie magic at the perfect time.

So I scratched my head earlier this week when my phone kept crawling across my desk or buzzing in my pocket because of the swarm of tweets bombarding cyberspace about Disney buying Lucasfilm.  I didn’t get a chance to really delve into that development until days later, thanks to endless meetings at work.  I did glimpse some pretty funny images cropping up in my newsfeeds.

Here are a few of the ones that caught my eye:

And my thoughts on the billions Disney gave George for the Star Wars franchise? At least there will be a seventh movie. I’ll keep hoping it will better than the last three.  George doesn’t need to worry about his retirement now (not that he ever had to worry much).

Meanwhile, I’m still missing those droids I was looking for . . .

Octal October

Leaf less finallyFor over 2,500 years in our Western civilization, October has been known as the tenth month of the year and the iconic symbol of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.  Originally, though, the Romans had only ten months in their calendar; hence the “dece” in December (for ten).  The eighth month in the old Roman calendar, October, retained its name (from the Latinocto” meaning “eight“) after January and February were inserted into the calendar around 750 B.C.  (October Wikipedia article).

October holds a special place in my heart, not only because it embodies the Fall season, but because I was born on the second day of the tenth month (frivolous sidebar: subtract two from ten you get eight).  So to with octal, although I rarely think in terms of just eight digits these days.

Way, way back, before IBM introduced it’s PC (aka Personal Computer) to the world, during the mid to late 70s, my father built several home computers using various early operating systems, including CP/M and DR DOS.  Just as I began to blossom mathematically through early exposure to algebra and geometry, I cut my intellectual eye-teeth on octal, hexadecimal, assembly language and machine code.

So it seemed fitting at the end of September, that I decided to increase my daily step goal from seven thousand to eight thousand.  Are you scratching your head yet?  Or just rolling your eyes?

I am happy to report I met my new goal of eight thousand steps eighty-four percent (84%) of the time. I had five days I did not reach my goal, one of which I would have met the goal had I not accidentally reset my pedometer a few minutes before retiring for bed.

In reviewing the data collected by my pedometer, I learned I’m walking, on average, about twenty-five (25) miles per week and getting roughly an hour’s worth of exercise time in the process.  That means, since the beginning of September, I’ve put nearly two hundred (200*) miles wear on my walking shoes!  I think it’s time for a new pair, or at least a new pair of inserts.

The latter half of November will be a challenge.  Travel and holiday guests may put a crimp on my ability to meet my daily step goal.  Only time will tell.

See you next month, same step channel, same step time.

* That’s thirty-one (31) in octal, by the way.

Voted Early, But Not Often

My husband and I took advantage of early voting in our county this evening.  For this entire week, Leavenworth County, Kansas offered citizens the opportunity to vote early in a basement conference room at the county courthouse, staying open late until seven o’clock.  No mess, no fuss, no lines.  We were in and out of the courthouse in less than ten minutes.  It took us longer to read the signs and follow the posted directions to the conference room than it to do actually cast our ballots.

This is the first time I’ve ever voted early.  I’ve never even voted via an absentee ballot in the past.  I’ve always managed to be home (not traveling) on election day.  I’m very happy with the early voting process and plan to take advantage of it in future elections.

Now if I could just find and install a political ad-blocking application on my television and Facebook feed for the next few days, I’d been in heaven.