Watching

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watchin' the puddles gather rain

This pandemic still has many still working at home. I’m not working at home but retired at home instead.

I did some watching. Watching the heavens (I’m not convinced about this religious heaven concept but calling the dark sky the heavens still sounds good to me) fuels my wonder.

Why bother to watch the heavens? Jupiter and Saturn are mostly huge balls of gas. Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, in fact it's cold as hell.

I believe knowledge of the night sky objects creates more wonder as you watch these objects move through the heavens.

Back to the original thought for this post, this past month (sorry this is not a site for what’s in the sky tonight) the northern hemisphere had the opportunity to view a comet zipping by. It was given the name comet NEOWISE. The strange name was assigned for a reason. The NEO part stands for Near Earth Orbit and WISE stands for Wide-field Infrared Space Explorer. The NEOWISE project is the asteroid-hunting project that discovered this comet, hence the name.

I saw the comet with binoculars on two different evenings. Sadly the suburban area around Chicago is not the best for a good dark sky. I managed to see this fuzzy stretched out dirty ice ball but I’m sure it would have look better in a darker sky. I recall seeing the comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. That one was easier to see.

 
On nice afternoons I’ll find myself enjoying a beer and watching clouds pass overhead. Clouds have pros and cons. Clouds on the ground (fog) are bad unless you’re a psycho murderer stalking their next victim (how did I go off on that tangent?). Clouds blocking the sun are good on a hot day but bad at night when I’m trying to see a comet. Of the many things I really don’t know, clouds are probably low on the list.

 

Please enjoy a few thoughts that popped up in my brain long enough to be written down: 

 

• “Stand By Your Man” - While I’m not an expert, I don’t think it applies well to grizzly bear families.
• It occurred to me that receiving long sentences doesn’t help you write long sentences. However, it does give you time to work on it.
• I’ve noticed that Tik Tok is a popular app for the younger generation. If anyone is developing an app for the older generation they should call in Ticky Tacky.
• I heard this good advice the other day: “But I’m going to take a step back and make sure that we learn the facts before we start talking about it.” - Dr. Fauci 
  

 

Even if you don’t watch the weather it will change your day. Don’t most people enjoy a good storm if they are in a safe place? No matter, the weather will find you.

If you read my last post, you should be expecting these two musical videos.

Out of this world

How do I describe a rare beautiful sight so it becomes a better memory? I also want share my experience with others? Posting my thoughts about the event here on my blog will help. So here is that post.

We made it to totality and watched the best shadow I’ve ever seen.

On Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 the shadow of the moon zipped across the continental United States (coast to coast) in about 1 and ½ hours. I heard the shadow’s speed was over 1400 miles per hour.

On the ground experiencing it the speed is not really noticeable. Only when I think about the size of the shadow and the distances do I realize this shadow is moving fast.

But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself so let’s back up a few months. I had heard of this solar eclipse coming seven years ago. Back then I thought maybe Missouri would be a great location since my brother has a place down there. At the start of this year I looked over the predicted path of totality (see an earlier post) and noticed my brother’s area was not that close. My wife has a relative in Oregon so that location was considered for awhile.

The site I used for eclipse info also offered approved viewing glasses. I ordered 15 for the family early in the year.

After we decided against the more extensive Oregon trip, I started study the path of totality (love that phrase) in southern Illinois. Early on I knew to avoid Carbondale. The crowd would be large there since the Chicago paper and TV stations mentioned Carbondale in all their eclipse stories. Amtrak even setup a special round-trip train from Chicago to Carbondale for a day trip. It sold out in 22 hours (400+ riders).

I settled on Vienna IL. There is a trail station for the Tunnel Hill State Trail on the edge of town. Another thought was to go further down to Paducah KY. As I checked the few hotel choices in that area it was apparent their prices had been raised. I found a normally priced room in a small town close but outside of the totality zone. The hotel was the Cobblestone Inn & Suites in Altamont IL (sold out, very nice and recently built).

We drove down to Altamont on Sunday with time for a tour of their National Register of Historic Places Wright House. We had stopped in Urbana for a nice lunch at a local diner. Having rode down I-57 back in February I could tell the traffic was not typical. On the motorist alert sign over the highway flashed "Solar Eclipse 8/21 .. Expect delays". I had not worried much about the traffic until then.

Eclipse day - after a quick minimal free hotel breakfast it started to become apparent most travelers around us were eclipse focused. The TV in the breakfast lounge was set to the weather channel. Cloudy weather is always an potential eclipse killer. Now I added traffic to the problem list.

I tried to capture the corona with my smartphone

After a nice start down straight country roads we merged into the traffic of I-57 again. Since I was not taking the route to Carbondale, I guessed/hoped about 50% would leave my route. I was wrong in a good way. I think about 90% left.

Pulling into the Vienna trail station we were pleasantly surprised that it was also a community park. When we stopped to ask the man directing the traffic how much it was to park, he replied with the best answer - free.

We found a nice spot under a tree to wait for the eclipse start. We were settled in about 2 hours ahead of the big event. We shared the park with about 500 (800 ??) people. The family sitting behind us were from Israel. I enjoyed talking to them. I also met two ladies from Oklahoma. I wondered why they just didn’t stop in Missouri. Their answer was better weather and more totality time.

It was hot and humid and a bit cloudy. The visitor center was air conditioned and had a “real” indoor toilet. The location is also on the Trail of Tears and some Union soldiers camped there during the Civil War.

a head turning experience

You could feel the crowd waiting for the big totality event. The moment at both the start and end was filled with cheers and gasps. Even though I knew it would darken I was surprised by how dark it became. I would say about the darkness of an hour or so after sunset.

The corona and diamond ring - phenomenal, rare, stunning, magnificent, astounding, stupendous, awesome, marvelous, ok you get the idea.

My smartphone pictures didn’t capture the corona but that’s alright with me because the experience of seeing the corona with my eyes was a treasure. I was awestruck staring at the corona and almost forgot I had brought binoculars. With the binoculars I could see the star Regulus. With just my eyes I could see what I think was Venus (might have been Sirius).

Just before totality I spotted two high flying jets. They may have been the NASA jets. Being involved in an eclipse experiment would be rewarding. However, unless the equipment was running on full automatic I probably would have messed-up.

I was surprised by a shadow spectacle.

visited Cave In Rock park afterwards

Two interesting NASA clips about the eclipse:

Oh one last thought about the experience - they had live musical entertainment. While it provided an enjoyable background while we waited, my preference would have been more pop/jazz type music. This one by Diana Krall would have fit the occasion well (better than Stormy Monday).

strawberry, rose, honey, moon

I don't think we use the names of full moons too much anymore.  If you look up the names for a full moon in June, you'll find strawberry, rose, honey.

During today's rainy afternoon, I watched a lunar eclipse.  This was only possible with today's internet technology.

Thanks to google I discovered that there was a live broadcast of the eclipse taking place on the night side of earth today.  I watched it on youtube.  So while it was cloudy, rainy and daytime here, I was watching a lunar eclipse unfold.

A few years ago I watched one from home.  The nice thing about lunar eclipses is that they last much longer than solar eclipses (hours vs. minutes).

I watched and listened to the host who told some stories about the Apollo program in addition to the full moon naming stories and various lunar facts.

The live broadcast was done through the Slooh robotic space camera.  It's a subscription service that allows members to remotely operate a telescope and take pictures via the internet.  I'm considering a membership.

If you have not witnessed a lunar eclipse you should try to catch one because the colors (rose, strawberry, reds, orange) are amazing.  The colors come from earth's atmosphere.

If you happened to be standing on the moon during an eclipse (of course you would be very famous being in that position), you would see the dark earth block out the sun but all around the edge of the earth would be a red-orange ring.  This is caused by all the sunrises and sunsets taking place.   The multitude of sunrises and sunsets paint the moon shades of red and orange.

I took these screen shots during the live broadcast.

 

too early to plan

Is seven years or so, too early to start planning an event?

How about a prediction?

A big shadow will be sweeping across the US.

I predict August 21, 2017 is going to be momentous Monday. The Moon and Sun are going to be big players here in the states that day. Right in the middle of day the moon sneaks up on the sun and gobbles it up.

It will be the first with a path of totality crossing the USA's Pacific coast and Atlantic coast since 1918 (unless you count the summer vacation my family took in 1994 - the totality of arguments over seating arrangements with the kids were record breaking) .

Having just celebrated CC’s (Christopher Columbus) big day this week, I must remind you of his great use of an eclipse. In 1503, CC and his men were stranded in Jamaica. They were having some issues with the natives, so CC referred to his astronomical tables and "predicted" a lunar eclipse he knew would take place to secure respect and fear - as well as a regular supply of food.

Remember my post about my brother’s place in the middle of nowhere? 

Guess what, this total eclipse puts his middle of nowhere place very close to the central path of the whole thing.  So of course, I called him.

“Yeah, what’s up?”  (caught him in a good mood - otherwise it’s now what the f--k)
“I’m planning a trip to visit your place.  Is August 21, 2017 open?”
(he doesn’t actually catch-on to the date at first, I repeat the year)
“Well we need to find a calendar that goes that far out.”

So what are your plans for Aug. 21, 2017?
They are looking up for me. 

Fly Me To The Moon

A favorite song covered by a favorite singer Diana Krall. If you missed my earlier post on Apollo 11 please take a look.




So 40 years ago this month much of the world got a view FROM the moon. The moon has been important to our life on earth. I recently read that the moon stabilizes the earth's orbit and without it some theorize that life on earth would have been cut short.




About six or seven years ago, I took my young grandson to Kennedy Space Center. We walked around the massive Saturn V rocket that was used in the Apollo program.


The size of this machine is hard to describe. They have a special building to display it and it is laying on its side. Here's more info on it.


At the business end of this beast are five F1 rocket engines. Just walking under these engines made the trip worthwhile. I stared up at these engines imagining the forces being created. Each one produced 1 and half MILLION pounds of thrust. That is definitely going to get you going quickly. Here's a picture I took.



Any of you actually witnessed a launch? I never have but would be interested in hearing your story.

MAN STEPS ON MARS

What if that happens the same day that some uber-celebrity dies? What will the lead/searched story on the internet be? Will it be the top twitter tweet? Well who knows - maybe twitter will be gone by then. I didn't write 'front page headline' because it appears newspapers maybe gone by then. I hope not. It will be big news. I would like to be around when it does happen. I hope that people appreciate the wonder of it all. How many people today know about the rovers that roamed around Mars landscape? Today there's a big difference between 'walking on the moon' vs. 'moonwalk'. But 40 years ago - no internet - no twitter - plenty of newspapers - big time TV news and Michael Jackson had not yet thrilled us with his moonwalk.

  

Sunday afternoon/evening July 20, 1969 (Chicago time) - As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended onto the moon they were confronted with an overloaded computer. Looking out those small windows, Neil thought he was headed for a boulder field. Armstrong takes over manual control and steers the craft to a smoother spot. I recall watching those first TV images at home. But to be honest I don't remember many details of what my parents said or who was sitting where. I do recall looking at the moon during those July nights and saying "Just think, there are people up there!" My interest of space and science has lasted and most of the Apollo details I've learned has come from documentaries and books. Of course now with the internet it much easier to find information about the Apollo program. One important aspect of the program was the 'Cold War'. The race against the Russians was what really kept the long expensive program going. I watched a CSPAN discussion with the Apollo 8 (first to orbit the moon) crew. When asked what he thought after their accomplishment, Frank Borman replied, 
"We beat the Russians"

Immediately after landing on the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared the Lunar Module (LM) for liftoff as a contingency measure. Following the meal, the astronauts requested their scheduled sleep period be postponed. The astronauts wanted to get out onto the lunar surface. I can't imagine being able to sleep having just landed on the moon.  

As he was climbing back into the LM Buzz bumped the switches with his backpack. This created another problem with grave potential. (From Buzz's book, "Men from Earth":)

 
"We discovered during a long checklist recitation that the ascent engine's arming circuit breaker was broken off on the panel. The little plastic pin (or knob) simply wasn't there. This circuit would send electrical power to the engine that would lift us off the moon...We looked around for something to punch in this circuit breaker. Luckily, a felt-tipped pen fit into the slot." 

So a pen was needed to get them off the lunar surface! They had problems sleeping up there. Not much room and chilly - plus how do you relax camping out on the moon? They stayed on the surface less than a day (21hr:36min:17sec). Missing tapes - the Land of OZ

   

Hours after landing when Armstrong opened the hatch on the lunar module, and stepped out onto the moon the tracking stations with a direct line on the Apollo's signal were the ones in Australia. One important tracking site was Honeysuckle. The TV pictures from the moon were transmitted via Slow Scan TV format, a special technique to save precious radio bandwidth. This format needed to be converted for regular commercial TV. This conversion degraded the picture quality. The people who saw the best pictures from the moon were the Aussie operators.

  

The original Slow Scan signal was recorded onto tape. NASA went looking for the tape because with today technology the conversion could be redone with much better results. NASA appears to have misplaced the tapes. Luckily those operators took some photos of their monitor screens. This web page shows the quality difference in the picture. Honeysuckle tribute web site NASA site for the 40 anniversary. Here's an article suggesting the first nation to the moon might not be the next nation to go there. Please share in the comments any memories you have of the Apollo program - thanks.