First Light: Celestron NexImage

I haven't been crazy about the Meade LPI, so I thought I'd give the Celestron NexImage a try. First impressions--a bit noisier on Mars, but three times faster capture. I can also use equinoX to drive the camera, which is much easier than how I had been capturing with the LPI. Hardware is still the 10" LX200+Televue 2x Barlow+Televue 2.5x Powermate (12,500 mm efl, f/50). Processed 1000 frames in KIS, stacked best 400, multiple passes with small wavelets. Histogram & smart sharpen in PS CS2.

This image is sub-par, and it's my own fault. It was cloudy all afternoon, so I didn't plan on setting up. But when I went outside at about 9:30 and saw clear skies, I quickly set up on the driveway. The scope never had a chance to reach ambient--it came out of the 70° house into the 50° air. The image was bouncing all over the place. I just wanted to try out my new camera.

Ugh

When the CSC says seeing is 2/5, it's a waste of time to try and image. I shoulda just gone to bed. We're on the back side of a cold front, so the seeing is gross, and since the temperature dropped more than 10 degrees since sundown, the scope never had a chance to get to ambient temp.

Feeling Guilty About:

Getting an invite in the work email to join the Austin Women's Forum and wondering, "Is that a good place to meet women?"

I Wish I Had Made This Picture

I did take the 6" dob out last night. Seeing was good enough to image, but the wind was whipping all over--would have been frustrating.

The Other Side of Mars

Keith's Image Stacker and Astra Image (via Virtual PC). Spiffy.

GeoTrax

"But honey, it's educational!"

(Actually, it is. Ian's saying lots of words, like, "no kitty" and "kitty stop.")

Are You Tired of Mars Yet?

Don't worry, the Moon is coming back around.

No Dam Astronomers this week due to clouds. A few folks went last night, but I stayed home and shot this from the back yard just before the scope dewed up. This is from a five-minute stream on the wedge. I tested the long exposure with Starry Night first, and there's not enough planet rotation to worry about, and the wedge takes care of the field rotation. It's OK, but I'd like to find the way to the next level. I don't know if it's collimation, focus or camera. I suspect it's all three, and money is the answer to at least of two of them. *sigh*

Reprocessing

Click to view full size.

When I first posted the Mars on the left, I said it was as good as I was going to get unless I learned some new processing technique. Well, I did. Multiple, small passes with wavelets in KIS, and a minor touchup in Photoshop. Amazing.

My Best Yet

With the time change and the planet rising earlier, it's easier to stay up late enough to image Mars. This is my best yet, from Tuesday night (11:20 here).

I replaced my cheap barlow with a Televue 2.5x Powermate, and I can see the difference. The Powermate and TV barlow give me an effective focal length of 12,500 mm (f/50!) in the 10" LX200. Apparently, the LPI likes as much magnification as I can give it. Seeing was about 3/5. Still shooting 2.5 minute streams, about 900 frames total, 400 or so stacked.

I also changed up the processing a bit. Instead of going all out on the sharpening the first time around, I made several passes with a much lower setting. Each one got a little better, and I avoided the "ring around the planet."

And for the record, anti-vibration pads really do work, and work well.

As Big As The Moon, Part 2

Click here to scientifically prove that Mars was as large as the full moon on October 29, 2005.

Thanks Andy!

Still not convinced? Here's a picture I made from my front porch, looking east just after sunset.


And this is just for fun.

As Big As The Moon

The CSC said we were in for poor seeing, so I almost didn't set up. Glad I did, though.

These have not been resized like all the others--I added my cheap 2x Barlow to the Televue Barlow, giving a nominal focal length of 10,000 mm. That's f/40 in the 10" LX200. I was worried about being able to focus at that much magnification, but I think I did OK. I tried a new trick: I used the Universal Access system preference on the iBook to enlarge the display 2x, and then focused the image on the screen. I think it made it easer to see when I was approaching focus.

These are pretty close to the view I got at 515x through the eyepiece. For allegedly poor seeing, I was impressed.

Mo' Mars

Two o'clock Wednesday morning. Seeing could have been better, and the temperature was falling, so I was fighting two problems. It's not a bad shot, but still not as nice as the one I took out at Linda's. Maybe it's shooting surrounded by houses and concrete, instead of miles of pasture. Whatever it is, it's frustrating.

First Light: Meade Super Wedge

I made a very nice deal with Todd for his modified Meade Super Wedge to use with the LX200. I had read lots of info online about aligning the wedge, and either I'm doing it wrong (possible), or it's just not as difficult as some folks make it out to be.

I found instructions on an iterative method of aligning that were easy to follow. Start level and north and follow the Meade instructions to align on Polaris using the wedge controls, then goto a sync star and align on it with the hand paddle. Meade thinks you're done at that point, but I continued: Goto back to Polaris, which will almost surely not be centered, and take out half of the error using the wedge controls. Goto the alignment star again, which will be off-center since you just moved the wedge, recenter it with the hand paddle and sync again. Repeat the process 4 or 5 times, and you should be accurately aligned. I found that 4 iterations was enough to not show any drift at all at low power, which was all I was after. Took about 15 minutes, maybe less.

The Mars shots I made weren't all that great. It was still too early, as the planet was only 45° up. I wasn't really dressed for the weather, so I packed it in. Tonight's plan is to set up at dusk, and grab a nap until around 2:00 and try again.

We're Number One

Texas #1 in BCS Rankings

Say it with me, it feels good, "The number-one Texas Longhorns ..."

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Vacuum Cleaner 1, Piglet 0

Dear Brad

I take it back--you're back on the list.

Your Former Pal,
Jeff

Dear Brad

All is forgiven. Don't do it again.
Now, go get the Sox.
Your Pal,
Jeff

Lynkeos or Keith's Image Stacker?

Lynkeos or Keith's Image Stacker? Flip a coin. KIS is a bear to use well, but sometimes it's worth it. Aristarchus from Friday, 14 October 2005 at the dam.

Lynkeos:



Keith's Image Stacker:



I wonder if I can realign the stack in Lynkeos and sharpen it up some more.

My Shit List

George Bush
The Republican Congress
Barry Switzer
Osama Bin Laden
Brad Lidge

Aristarchus and Mars Redux

I drove to Houston yesterday afternoon for David's 40th birthday yesterday, and instead of driving back to Austin, I headed out to Brenham to my sister's place. (These guys really need to update their blogs, don't you think?)

I made the right choice--the weather was pleasant, and both transparency and seeing were above average. I took both of these around 3:00 this morning.



North is right in this image of Aristarchus. Maybe this wasn't the best month to shoot this. The sun was a little low on Friday, and little high on Saturday. I don't know quite how I got the weird colors, but I'm not complaining.



Best Mars yet. This is from a 150 second stream, 2 1/2 minutes. I'm reluctant to go any longer, both because of field rotation and planetary rotation. I'm pleased with the shadow details. This is probably as good as I'm going to get, unless I learn some new processing techniques.

Dam Pictures

I didn't stay up late enough Friday night at Mansfield Dam, so my Mars isn't as good as I would have hoped under average-to-worsening seeing.


On the other hand, I'm not too disappointed in this two-image mosaic of Aristarchus and Copernicus. Didn't matter what I tried, but the sunlit side of Aristarchus crater would be overexposed.


Missed most of the regulars at the dam, but met a nice couple who had just purchased a new LX200GPS 10", the new version of my scope. Between JB & myself, we were able to get them up and running. Showed the moon in the big 30mm eyepiece to several visitors while waiting for Mars to get high enough to view.

Copernicus @ f/20

Theophilus Reprocessed

Reset black level, resharpened.

Copernicus & Plato

Be sure to click on these to view them full size. I think they are my best yet. We had much better seeing tonight, although it was still probably just about average.

A two-image mosaic of Copernicus and Mare Insularum.

Another two-image mosaic, this time of Plato, Mare Frigoris and the lunar north pole.

Both images: LX200 @ f/10, LPI, best 20% of ~360 frames, stacked & darks removed in Lykenos, levels adjusted and sharpened in Photoshop with the FocusMagic plugin.

Lunacy

It was really a waste of time to try to make any pictures last night. Looking at the moon was like looking at the bottom of a swimming pool, so these are all pretty soft and noisy. Still, I figure it's good practice for the future.

Rupes Recta, the Straight Wall.

Southeast Mare Imbrium. That's Archimedes at the top, and Eratosthenes at the lower left.

Compare this view of Theopolis to the same area three days earlier.

Tycho in the upper left, and Clavius in the lower left. The lunar base in 2001: A Space Odyssey was in Clavius, and the monolith was in Tycho—the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly (TMA-1).

One of my favorite sites to observe. Plato and Alpine Valley. No sign of the rille in the bottom of the valley, but no surprise. Maybe a craterlet or two inside Plato?

Animated Mars

1 image every 10 minutes for 80 minutes:




Best single image:



10" LX200 @ f/20, LPI, Best of 360

Theophilus Again

Not as nice as the fellow in Chile's picture, but not too shabby. That's Theophilus crater in the lower left, and Tranquility Base National Park in the upper center.


10" LX200 @ f/6.3, LPI, best of 360.

Leather

It smells like a tack store.



It's kind of neat to get furniture that doesn't come with an allen wrench. Foley's had a sale, and we took advantage of it.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

From CNN regarding Supreme Court Justice nominee Harriet Miers:

The White House has denied accusations of cronyism and Bush said, "I've known her for more than 10 years.

Cronyism.

Now, if he had known her for more than 11 years …

Second Light

Much better. We had way better transparency and seeing, and I stayed up late enough to let the planet get much higher this time. I also took out the diagonal and shot straight-through, so the scale is slightly different.

I'm not sure what changed, but I kept having all sorts of over-exposure problems. I'd turn the gain way down, but the highlights still had no detail in them. I finally added my ND13 neutral density filter, and it took care of the issue. Time to do more research.

LPI First Light

I purchased a Meade Lunar-Planetary Imager (LPI) Thursday, and got a chance to try it out last night at the Dam in the LX200. Thank you Richard for the loan of the Televue 2x Barlow.



It wasn't the best of nights. The seeing was below average, and we had a pretty good breeze swirling around. Add to that my impatience--Mars was only 35° off the horizon--and you've got a pretty poor image. Still, it's better than my first attempt.

Meade ships the LPI with some Windows software that I tried out with craptacular results, so I used the OEM Mac driver from Sonix and processed with Lynkeos.

Took me seven attempts to find a good combination of exposure & gain. The final image is the best 150 or so out of 360 frames.

Hotter 'n Hell

It was 107° on my front porch Sunday. In the shade.

Meanwhile, the Homeowner's Nazis Association looked at the calendar and decided to padlock the swimming pool. For this I pay $600 a year?

Rita

Not a drop of rain. Some high clouds overhead, more to the east, and a light, steady northeast wind. I'm actually a little disappointed.

I talked to my Dad in Nacogdoches this morning. Their power was out and they were getting pretty steady rain--about half an inch an hour was his guess. They had a few small branches down, but nothing more.

Hurricane Watch

It's official: there is no bottled water left in the city limits of Austin.

There's been a weird sort of pregnant tension in the air today. Something's gonna happen, but what and when still remain to be seen. I don't have anything to add to what's been on the news, except I don't think it's going to be a big deal *here*. We'll get some (needed) rain, and maybe some limbs down, but if the lights even flicker I'll be surprised.

You wouldn't know there's a huge storm around the corner from the Clear Sky Clock. Check this out:

I mean really, 0% cloud cover & better than average transparency? I wonder about their forecast model. On the other hand, the clock's usually pretty accurate.

I'm weirdly excited about a big blow, and a little disappointed that the storm seems to be turning east of us. Don't misunderstand--I don't want death and destruction, but it's kinda neat to get a break in routine.

In astro news, we had good seeing last night. I had Mars in the 6" DSH @ 300x--supposedly the theoretical limit in that scope (and my limit on eyepieces)--and it looked like it could have taken more magnification. Dave Rivenburg of Dam Astronomers posted this picture. My view wasn't quite that good, but it wasn't that far off.


I'm really starting to get the itch for an better astrophotography setup before Mars's opposition at the end of October.

Hook ’Em

Texas 51, Rice 10.
Temperature at kick-off on the sunny side of the stadium, where David & I were sitting: 106°

I don't think I'm one of those guys who goes ga-ga for sports. I don't watch Sportscenter every night before bed. I don't have a NASCAR sticker on the back of my car. But I do like Texas football. There's just something about getting together with 80,000 of your closest friends and watching the game that's satisfying.

I don't recall having "school spirit" when I was actually in school. Sure, I was proud of my College and my University, but I didn't obsess over it. (Unlike the folks that attend that other fine school in Texas, where they follow that silly collie dog around, beating each other up and calling it "good bull.")

Our observation on turning 40: We're now officially invisible to women born after the Bicentennial. Or if we do somehow drift into her peripheral vision, we're "scary old guy." As in, "Euww, you're as old as my Dad." I suspect Dave & I are a lot alike in that we started admiring college girls in college, and never stopped.

It was kinda weird being back on campus. There's been a lot of construction since we were there, so I don't recognize a lot of things any more. The intramural field that was across the street from my dorm has a new dorm sitting on it. I wonder if my name is still carved in the sandstone on the roof of Prather Hall.

Tycho

Tuesday evening the family was out in the front yard. I had just mowed, and Tanya & baby Wade from across the street were visiting. From down the street comes this cat. He's friendly enough--he played with the neighbors for a minute, and tolerated both toddler boys. I picked him up and commented what a nice-looking cat he was. I'm a sucker for stray cats. Ask Oscar, he showed up and hung around for 16 years.

As we went inside, this cat comes along. Fine, he's clean and well-mannered. I take Buddy for his evening walk, and we pass a woman on the next block setting out a dish of food.

"Did you lose a cat?' I asked.

"No," she replied. "I'm looking after this stray. He's almost white, with dark stripes on his legs and tail."

"Oh. I know him. He's in my house. Do you know where he belongs?"

She explained that the folks across the street from her had him, but left him behind when they moved. She already has two cats and just couldn't keep a third.

The timing is interesting. I had been talking with another couple in the neighborhood (you meet a lot of people walking the dog) about adopting their cat. She was allergic to him, and was looking for a new home. I was all set to get back with them when this stray showed up.

Anyway, he's spent two nights with us and we bought a bag of food, so I guess he's ours now. Meet Tycho:



I guessing he's about 9 months old. His coat is extremely soft, and judging by his markings, I think he's half-Siamese, and half tabby. He's definitely got the blue eyes, dark points and the Siamese voice. His disposition is super-sweet; he lets Ian pick him up and carry him around. You can hear him purring from the far end of the house.



Naming him was fun. I originally started with Descartes, but it just didn't roll off the tongue quite right. Besides, I can just imagine trying to spell it for the girl at the vet's office. I like the way Tycho rhymes with "psycho." And if you think about it, he's bright in the middle with rays coming off of him, kinda like this:



And if we should wind up with a second cat, we could name him Kepler.

Nacogdoches

Some random notes from the weekend.

Dad's deer lease isn't as dark as Linda's place in Brenham. I was surprised by the size of the light dome from Nacogdoches, 15 miles away. Transparency was pretty good, so I'm not sure how much was due to humidity, but a third of the sky just was washed out. Now that I know, I won't haul the big LX200 out there.

But the stuff I did see was impressive. I finally got M33 (Triangulum Galaxy), which is just too dim from home. I tried for a month 2 years ago with the 6", and the best I got was a general glowing patch. This time I caught hints of the spiral structure, even. M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) totally filled my largest eyepiece, nearly a 1° field of view. Also saw a few dim NGCs in the north that I didn't make notes on.

I stayed out until about 0200, when Mars was high enough to look at at 260X. The best view was through a light-blue filter, which made the tiny sliver of polar cap really pop out.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Got Mom's new scanner set up, and installed a ceiling fan in their dining room. What a good son I am. I didn't even take Dad's bait on how the slow response by the Feds to Katrina was the fault of the Louisiana governor. "I got it in an email! Of course it's true!" Man, how did my politics get so polarized from my Dad's?

Theophilus

I had a really long look at Theophilus last night through the 6" dob. It was sitting right on the sunlit side of the terminator, and the floor was still dark, but the central peaks were all lit up.



I didn't realize it until I started looking at pictures of it today, but the Apollo 11 landing site is just to the north of this crater. I've always struggled to ID it in the eyepiece, but I've got a pretty good feel for the landmarks now.




I don't really remember when I first developed an interest in astronomy. I had a buddy in elementary school & Cub Scouts who had a Tasco refractor, probably a 60 mm. I don't know that I ever actually saw anything other than the moon through it. We looked at the stars at Scout camp some, but not much. (In hindsight, I'm kicking myself for making 2 different trips to Philmont Scout Ranch, which has probably some of the darkest skies I'll ever be under, and not even thinking to look up at night.) Years pass, wives and comets come and go, and in 2000 I wind up in an apartment complex across from a fellow with a telescope. One night he shows me Saturn and Jupiter, and the hook is set. Still, it's not until I land in my current job when Robert hands me a copy of Astronomy magazine and a bootleg of Starry Night do I actually do anything about it. I have a little money, Mars is coming around, and there's a telescope store between work and home. About the same time, Miki loans me her old Meade ETX-90 RA. We looked at Mars through it a couple of times, but I knew I wanted more.

So in September of 03 I bought a Celestron C6-N, a 6" f/5 newtonian reflector on a lightweight equatorial mount. I was hooked. My wallet will never be the same. Accessories soon started showing up--a home-built observing chair, a rolling footlocker, an eyepiece kit... I think the biggest mistake was showing up at Mansfield Dam on Friday nights. Once I looked through Ralph's C11 and Todd's 10" LX200GPS, I caught a serious case of aperture fever.

Actually, it was worse than that. I had Gear Acquisition Syndrome on top of Aperture Fever. There's no cure, you simply have to learn to live with it. I started scouring Astromart looking for a big SCT of my very own. I started getting shakes and chills, so I posted a Want to Buy ad. That's when Tom offered up his 10" LX200 Classic, so Trudy & I drove off to South Texas last summer and picked it up. I sold the 6" Celestron to Robert.

Aperture fever went into remission. I love this telescope. It's big enough to go deep, but portable enough to move by myself. I still have ongoing case of GAS though. I added up how much I've spent building an eyepiece collection over the last two years and came up with a figure that I don't think I should share with my wife, at least not until I buy her an expensive piece of jewelry or furniture, or both.

This spring, Hardin Optical decided to get out of the telescope business. They put a lot of things on sale, and I picked up another 6" newtonian, this time an f/8 on a Dobsonian mount. I didn't need another telescope, but this one has been $99 (!) well spent. It takes about 30 seconds to set it up, most of that being the time required to open the front door and carry it out to the driveway.

And the little ETX-90? I took it in trade for some web design work, so I still have it. It works super with a full-aperture solar filter on it.

I'm starting to think I should rename this post, "The One With All The Links In It."

Sleep

For the last two nights, the CSC has predicted better than average seeing, so I've had the telescope and camera set by the back door to go out and try again on Mars. It's transiting around 0530 this week, which isn't really that early. I don't seem to have trouble waking up, but actually getting out of bed has proved problematic. This morning I started dreaming I was in the back yard setting up. Yup, it was the classic "dreaming you're awake" dream that seems so real until weird things begin happening. I was putting the telescope on the tripod when Todd came out of the house carrying an eight-foot long refractor to piggyback on top of the LX200 as a guide scope. Which was fine, but I had to tell him I didn't have any rings for it.

Whatever.

Whining

Back from my sister's place in the country. She says all that stuff growing on the field is "Snow on the Mountain;" I say it's a week's work of allergies. The big gob of goo behind my forehead is finally going away, and I think I only left half a lung behind in the shower this morning.

The boy got to ride Squeak and had a good time. It worked out best with me riding behind him--poor Squeakers. She was a good girl though, more interested in eating the yummy lawn than what we were doing on her back. I haven't ridden in years, and my thighs let me know about it that night with a good case of "sewing-machine-leg." Ugh.

The sky refuses to cooperate. Friday was Dam cloudy. Saturday was mostly cloudy & hazy in the morning, and the CSC said it was supposed to stay that way in Brenham, so I didn't schlep the scope along. Naturally, Saturday night wasn't awful once you got above the haze. Clouds followed us home Sunday, and cleared up beautifully Monday night, right about the same time my sinuses decided to go on strike.

Still, after watching the news, I don't really feel like I have a right to complain about anything these days.

Mars

My very first Mars photo. Remember when I said I needed to get up earlier? I shot this at 4:30 this morning.



It's OK, but I think I can do better. I'm not sure how, though, using the afocal setup. I just can't seem to get a sharper focus. I'm using a Hartmann mask, so I'm fairly confident my focusing is about as good as I can get it with the stock focuser. Maybe it's the zoom level on the camera having to be so far in in order to get a decent image size. There's likely some field rotation--this is 20 frames @ 1 frame per 5 seconds, so it's nearly 2 minutes in alt-az. I'll try next with the wooden wedge, but not until I practice aligning it first.

More Politics

"We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th."
George W. Bush
Press Conference, September 17, 2003

"As we mark (the 60th anniversary of V-J Day), we are again a nation at war. Once again war came to our shores with a surprise attack that killed thousands in cold blood."
George W. Bush
Speech at Naval Air Station North Island, August 31, 2005

Tell me again why we're at war in Iraq? I thought Bin Laden was the culprit behind the surprise attack.

Dawn Patrol

Have I mentioned that the boy's bus comes way too early in the morning?

It's OK, because I'm getting to see some early morning sights that I'd otherwise miss. Mars was still nearly overhead at 6:30, and very crisp in the 6" dob. Here's a simulated view:



No polar cap at all.

And apparently I've been looking at the moon at the wrong time of the month, because holy crap! that's an amazing view of Aristarchus. I know, I've talked about it before, but wow--it looked almost as good as the picture. The weird part was the blue shadows, since the sky was so light.

I gotta start getting up earlier.

Dam Friday

I was surprised--I expected more people. Andy, Ralph, Jonathan, David, and some people I didn't meet down at the far end with a little ETX--and that was it. The sky started out poor, cleared a little, then started clouding up about 11:00.

We did have a whole bunch of kids with their parents. I had the laptop running Starry Night, and we looked at the Lagoon (M8), the Hercules Cluster (M13) and Albierio. All crowd pleasers in the 10". One little girl proclaimed that Pluto was her favorite planet, "because it's the smallest planet on Earth." When told that M13 is 25,000 light-years away, she asked "If you were an astronaut, is that where your tanks would run out?"

New object: Splinter Galaxy (NGC 5907). With such poor transparency, there wasn't much to see. A fuzzy line with no structure. Need to try again under darker, clearer skies.

The Type 6 13mm with the 6.3 focal reducer works out well on M13. Just about the right combination of FOV (40') and magnification (120x).

Lights Out

I had a routine doctor's visit yesterday which ended up with a blood draw for lab work. After the tech finished, I was a little light-headed, but nothing serious. Until I stood up and the lights went out. "Why am I laying on the floor?"

I'm such a baby.

Meanwhile, why do we have to have such nice nights during the middle of the week when I can't stay out late? I laid out on the front yard and watched the stars come out--Vega, Arcturus, Antares ... People ask, "How do you know what that star is?" I never have a good answer for them. It's like looking at a map and knowing where Texas is.

Politics

In their own words:

“We have high confidence that [the Iraqis] have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about.”
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing, 10 April 2003

"We owe them something. We will finish the task that they gave their lives for ..."
George W. Bush
Speech to Veterans of Foreign Wars on the subject of American military deaths, 22 August 2005

I just don't get it.

M13

"It always make me think of fireworks going off."

"I don't know. It looks like a dandelion to me. Did you buy weed killer?"

Aristarchus

OK, so the view in the telescope doesn't look quite like this picture from Apollo 15, but I'm really enjoying this lunar feature. The rilles have caught my attention--they look just like dry river beds in the 6" Deep Space Hunter. They're much easier to spot than those up North in Alpine Valley.

This was one of the first places on the moon I ever really looked hard at, thanks to Richard. It was one night at the dam while I was using the C6-N, and the terminator was between Aristarchus and Herodotus.* Now, I know the moon is rotating, but it's awfully slow. So I was amazed to watch the terminator move up the crater wall of Herodotus over the course of the evening. Cool. That was the same night I discovered that a 5" APO blows a 6" Chinese newt out of the water. I'm not down on the small newt--heck, I bought another one--but it didn't take me long to discover its limits.


Day 3 of school, and you'd be amazed at the difference in the boy. We're out waiting for the bus this morning, and he's all happy and babbling. Bus pulls up, and he's off across the street, pulling Trudy along behind him. The steps on the bus are as high as little three-year-old legs can navigate, but he didn't slow down until he hit his seat. I went out and tapped on his window, and he gave me a huge grin.

Trudy & I had to drop his supplies off with his teacher, so we beat him to school. As we're leaving, he comes trucking around the corner at the far end of the hall, pulling his Nemo backpack behind--a boy on a mission. We ducked into the corner and hid, sort of, amazed at our happy child. Looks like this school thing isn't so bad after all.

*I don't really know all these names--I look them up. I'm not a total loonie, yet.

Yeah, I'm Talking About You

And by cool kids, I mean my buddy Coach Stupid. Be nice to him--he's had a hard day.

Meanwhile, it's the first day of school. The boy has delayed speech development, so it's off to Special Ed for him. This is a good thing. For one thing, we get a break on day care. He wasn't too sure about getting strapped into a seat on the bus, but seems no worse for the wear tonight.



Oh yeah, we were gonna blog astronomy. Two weeks ago was the Central Texas Star Party, or more accurately, the Central Texas Cloud and Humidity Party. Friday night was OK, but poor transparency and low clouds to the south made the session unremarkable. I met a couple of new folks, and was able to sneak a few peeks through a couple of 18"+ dobs. Turnout was lower than expected--we speculated that heavy rains in the area scared a lot of people away. Got my pin for finishing the small scope list. Couldn't have done it without goto, since you couldn't see half the stuff in the south to hop from.

Friday last was regular Dam Astronomers night and the Perseids. We actually had good seeing and transparency at the dam--a rarity these days. Saw several meteors, and a lot of smoke trails. I mistook the first one for a contrail, not having seen one before. A pretty fair turnout from the public, although one woman was a little upset that she wouldn't be able to see Mars for another 4 hours, and no, it wasn't going to be "as big as the moon."

But, speaking of the moon, I'm pretty sure I finally saw the rille in Alpine Valley. It could be another case of averted imagination, but I did see something. I'm still hoping for good seeing and solar angle to coincide. The hard part may be that angle thing, since the better time to view seems to be third-quarter. Every time I've looked out the window at 3:00 a.m. this summer, it's been wall-to-wall cloudy.

Saturday was Austin Under the Stars, and another exercise in frustration, as the evening started cloudy and never got better. Ian had a good time running all over the soccer field, stopping only to climb any stepladder he came to. He looked through an unattended small refractor, but seemed unimpressed. I didn't even bother to take a scope out.

Another Astronomy Blog

Why, you ask. Why does the world need the 13-millionth blog? Because, dear Internet, I thought it might be fun.

Besides, all the cool kids are doing it.