Eagles In Pitt County

The River Park North Bird Club sponsored a trip around Pitt County on Saturday, Feb 8, 2008 to visit several sites where Bald Eagles are known to be present. This photo was taken along Sheppard Mill Road.

Trip to View STS-122 Cancelled

Due to continued forecasts of cloudy weather at Titusville, FL and NASA predicting only a 40% chance of launch on Thursday, Feb 7 I have decided to postpone my trip to photograph this launch. The weather looks marginal for Friday as well with Saturday looking clear. However, I have prior commitments here in Greenville on Saturday that preculde an attempt other than on Thursday. STS-123 is scheduled for March 11, 2008 at 2:31 a.m. est. While a night launch certainly would be spectacular, my goal is to photograph the shuttle in daylight as it heads out over the Atlantic on the way to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-122 Update

As of Monday morning Accuweather is still showing Mostly Cloudy w/Chance of Showers for Thursday, Evening Rain but Otherwise Overcast for Thursday night, Partly Sunny and Pleasant for Friday and Clear for Friday night. For now I am postponing my trip to SC/KSC by one day and will evaluate further developments. Even if the weather suddenly breaks by 2:45 on Thursday it is not worth making the trip for Thursday. Terry has tested a text-to-cellphone function that will keep me updated on happenings at the Cape should the weather look more suitable for Friday.

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-122

No additional news from NASA this morning. Weather forecasting now starts to become either a friend or foe. Accuweather long-range (translated innacurate) forecast for Titusville is Cloudy, w/ High of 77 on Thursday and Mainly Clear low 58 Thursday night. With a 2:45 p.m. launch Thursday afternoon it's still too early to call as to the transition from Cloudy to Clear.

While you're waiting for my next blog update why not visit Greenville's Daily Reflector website http://reflector.com and view photos from the Eastern Carolina Unnatural Resources Fair held this weekend at the Greenville Convention Center.

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-122

It's eight days from STS-122 Space Shuttle Atlantis' liftoff from NASA's Kenedy Space Center. While preparations are underway for a successful launch on Thursday, Feb 7 at KSC, my preparations are underway here in Greenville to drive down and witness the shuttle launch from an area just north of Titusville, FL. As 2010 and the retirement of the shuttle fleet draws closer I felt that it was increasingly important for me personally to witness another shuttle launch. Follow my progress here as I update my preparations and trip down to KSC.

Canis Major "Great Dog"

WITN-TV's Doppler Dog and Marvin Daugherty visited our Astronomy Day activities at Goose Creek State Park on Saturday, April 7. I presented Doppler with a certificate recognizing her as our club's official "Canis Major."

Mercury Transit 2006

Ms. Linda Boyer, Program Director of North Carolina Estuarium, views the planet Mercury through a telescope provided by members of Carolina Skies Astronomy Club on the patio of the Estuarium on Wednesday, November 8, 2006. This relatively rare event will not occur again until May of 2016. Ms. Boyer, as did all other visitors, received a certificate from the club offering congratulations on viewing the Mercury Transit.

Mercury Transit 2006

On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, the planet Mercury made a rare transit across the face of the Sun. Members of Carolina Skies Astronomy Club and I set up telescopes at the North Carolina estuarium, Washington NC, to provide views of Mercury crossing the Sun to members of the public. Skies were partly to mostly cloudy during the event, but we did get enough breaks in the clouds to view the transit from time to time.

Comet P73 Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

This my initial effort at photographing periodic comet P73 Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 from ouside of Greenville NC on April 18, 2006. This is a 30 second exposure at F10 taken through a Celestron NexStar 11 telescope with a Nikon D70 camera. For reference the 3 bright stars near the bottom of the photo are manitude 11 and the comet is in the upper center.

First "SnowStorm" of 2006 in Eastern NC

The first "snowstorm" of 2006 yielded a mere dusting of snow on grass and vehicles. I took this photo then emailed it to WITN-TV's meteorologist Jamie Arnold. The photo appeared on the 6 o'clock news.

Observing Beneath a February Moon

Weather conditions this winter have been so bad that even a nearly full moon did not stop me from getting a few hours of observing.

WITN TV Toys For Tots

I presented a small telescope to Heather King (L) and Jim Howard (R) of WITN-TV in Greenville. WITN is collecting toys for the Marine Corps Toys For Tots campaign for 2005. While not a high quality instrument perhaps it will spark an interest in someone's young mind that might inspire them to learn more about our beautiful night sky.

Cub Scout Pack 826 Loopapalooza

On November 19 I was invited to by Cub Scout Pack 826, at St Peter's School in Greenville, to assist their scouts in the requirements for earning Astronomy Beltloops. The beltloops are similar to Boy Scout Merit Badges and the scouts must learn various aspects of using telescopes, learn the planets of our Solar System, and learn about other objects in our galaxy and beyond. Twenty-three scouts earned their beltloops that evening. As is sometimes the case in eastern NC the night sky was nearly clouded over by the time we went outide to do some observing. However, there were enough holes in the clouds that I was able to point out a few stars, such as Vega, Deneb, and Altair, (the summer triangle) and the constellations Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, and Perseus, and located where the Andromeda Galaxy would be if it were clear and dark. Mars was also in a clear spot for a little while and several of the adults had brought their telescopes and were able to view the planet with them.

Orion Nebula

Messier object M42, the Orion Nebula. My first attempt at photographing a night sky object with a Nikon D70 DSLR. Image taken with a Celestron NexStar 11 telescope at prime focus and F10. Exposure time 30 seconds. Taken at Mid Atlantic Star Party, November 2005.

Goose Creek State Park Photo Contest

This photo of a "Skink in a Tree" won third place in Goose Creek State Park's 2005 photo contest. This was my first formal entry in a photo contest. The photo was taken on July 16, 2005, along the Live Oak Trail in Goose Creek State Park. It was taken with a Nikon D70 DSLR using an 18-70mm lens at 70mm with an exposure of 1/180 sec at f4.8.

Solar Program At NC Estuarium

On Sept 17 members of Carolina Skies Astronomy Club presented a program on the Sun and how it affects our environment at the NC Estuarium in Washington NC. Fred Davenport provided a Celestron NexStar 11 with a solar filter, and a Coronado PST hydrogen alpha telescope, John Bray provided a 6" Dob with a solar filter and I setup my Celestron NexStar 11 with a Baader solar filter to provide visitors with views of Sunspot 897 and 810. As sunspot 810 had just emerged on the sun's eastern limb we observed a prominence emanating from it through Fred's PST. Quite an awesome view.

John Bray tried to photograph it through the eyepiece of the PST - I hope he was successful.

Photo at right from top clockwise: Fred Davenport, John & Nancy Bray at the PST, Visitor at Fred's NexStar 11, Visitor at the Sunspotter. You can view the entire photo collection at http://csac.weseestars.org/Album/

Thanks to the director and staff of the NC Estuarium for their hospitality.

Sunset Over The Pamlico

While waiting for Venus and Jupiter to appear on the evening of Sept 4 I snapped this photo of the sun setting behind the US17 bridge over the Pamlico River in Washington NC. Photo taken with a Nikon D70 SLR with 18-70mm lens at 44mm. Exposure was 1/180 second at F11.

Venus & Jupiter Conjunction

On September 4 2005 the planets Venus and Jupiter, along with the star Spica formed a lovely trio in the western sky sortly after sunset. This photo was taken from the Riverfront Walk in Washington NC looking west toward the US17 bridge over the Pamlico River. Venus and Jupiter are low in the sky in the upper left of the photo. Spica can barely be seen to the left of Venus (the brighter object).