Another ISS Lunar Transit

Last night, Saturday Dec 7th 2019, I joined several other members of the Raleigh Astronomy Club to observe and capture the International Space Station cross in front of the moon as seen from location here on Earth. Thanks to information from the web site www.transit-finder.com, we knew exactly where to set up and when to start the cameras rolling. I used my ZWO ASI385MC Cool camera attached to an Explore Scientific AR102 refractor (achromat) atop Read more…

By Mike, ago

2019 Fall Staunton River Star Party (SPSP)

Had a great week at Staunton River Start Party with my son and friends Rob, Paul, Matt, Dave and many others! The star party is great! The park staff are awesome. The diner they operate 22 hours a day during the star party is a real treat!  One night’s special was a rather delicious Philly Cheese steak;  I was also convinced one late night to partake of an ice cream, brownie and whip cream combo! Read more…

By Mike, ago

2019 ECVAR

This past week I attended my 3rd ECVAR, East Coast Video Astronomy Rendezvous at Coolbreeze Campground outside of Galax, VA.  Compared to last year’s washout thanks to Hurricane Michael, this year was a real treat! We were able to get 4 nights of observing.  I spent most of my time playing around with various features of SharpCap and trying to nail down the correct settings on my camera and software…a rather daunting task.  I still Read more…

By Mike, ago

Outreach at Prairie Ridge Ecostation

This past Friday night I participated in a outreach event, showing off the night sky to almost 600 visitors at Astronomy Night with the Raleigh Astronomy Club at Prairie Ridge Ecostation (part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science). Fellow Solar System Ambassador Doug Lively and I as well as another a dozen club volunteers provide 10 telescopes for viewing. I set up my 11″ SCT for EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) and showed off Read more…

By Mike, ago

Saturn V Talks

Last Friday evening, I provided my talk ‘ Saturn V – The Rocket That Took Us to the Moon” the residents of the Searstone Retirement Community, where my parents live. I did an abbreviated talk for 20 residents in their full-time care area and then the full talk to almost 90 residents a few hours later in their ballroom/conference room. My abbreviated talk was a little less than 30 mins. I could tell residents, their Read more…

By Mike, ago

My First Lunar ISS Transit

Some members of the Raleigh Astronomy Club and I got together last Wed. night (Aug. 7th) to watch the International Space Station pass in front of the Moon. This is an event that can only been see during certain passes and only from a narrow path on the ground. – it all depends on the alignment of the Moon, the ISS’s orbit and the observer’s location. At 9:25pm on August 7, 2019, there was just Read more…

By Mike, ago

One Giant Leap festival

Had a great time with my Astronomy Outreach partner in crime at the North Carolina Museum of History’s One Giant Leap festival as part of the Lift Off NC: Apollo + Beyond (https://www.ncsciencefestival.org/liftoffnc) events.  I gave a talk on the Saturn V Rocket as well as hosted table/exhibit with LEGO models of the Saturn V and the Lunar Module.  An online PowerPoint show of slides in available, click >> HERE (it takes a little bit Read more…

By Mike, ago

Lunar Observing

Got some great pictures of the Moon this evening. I’m working on an observing program sponsored by the Astronomical League and NASA as part of the 50th Anniversary of the 1st Manned Lunar Landing. Part of the program is to lead a educational outreach session about the Apollo Missions. The other part is the sketch or photograph the general areas of the 6 Apollo landing sites. I was able to capture Apollo 11, 15, 16 Read more…

By Mike, ago

Countdown to Launch

As part of one of the Lift-Off NC: Apollo + Beyond series, fellow NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Doug Lively and I volunteered the Countdown to Launch Event hosted by the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC.  Doug and I teamed up to educate visitors to the event how exoplanets are found, what the is probability of intelligent, communicating, extraterrestrial life in our galaxy (according the Drake Equation) and how the Fermi Paradox comes Read more…

By Mike, ago

2019 Messier Marathon

You may have heard the term ‘Messier Marathon’ used by amateur astronomers. No, this is not an attempt to run 26.2 miles carrying your telescope. Rather, this is where you try to observing all 110 objects on Charles Messier’s, an 18th century astronomer, list of of fuzzy bright objects visible in the sky from the northern hemisphere that are not planets or comets. This was my first Messier Marathon since observing 108 out of 110 Read more…

By Mike, ago