Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Astronomy

First Day of Summer

Solstice

Today is the first day of summer. The above is a screenshot captured from the Archaeoastronomy website where the eight significant stations of the Earth’s orbit are depicted: solstices, equinoxes and cross-quarters.

Now, it is time to brace yourselves for the inundation of the greenbats cries about global warming, regardless of summer being quite a natural phenomenon. It’s all about their political agenda, not about the weather.

From Joe Bastardi via The Patriot Post:

I have stopped trying to argue with someone who refuses to look at anything but that which supports his own position. It’s pointless. So in an effort to end a debate quickly, I now politely ask individuals to explain how CO2, given how small it is relative to all around it, actually changes the entire system. That usually stops it with most of the crowd. Like many things I see with new age forecasters today, they will jump on one weather factor and not understand its behavior is because of everything around it.

The second thing I do is put the ball in their court. This requires knowing what went on historically with weather/climate. So I ask what the perfect number is for CO2 in the atmosphere. An example: Dr. Bill McKibben – one of the people I am frequently amazed with because his comments indicate he either does not know and understand what the weather has done before, or does and refuses to let that get in the way – runs a group called 350.org. He and his team want CO2 at 350 ppm (parts per million). So let’s just go to 350 ppm and see what it was like.

First, here is CO2 on the “correct” scale, which is the percentage of the atmosphere. This is not what you commonly see, which is the amount of CO2 in parts per million, where CO2 is grossly over-represented. The scale should be from one to a million, not a tiny fraction of a million.

[more]

21 Jun 2014 by Astronomy Environment Global Warming Greenbats

ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment

Southeast Asia

This is an interesting thing to watch live streaming from the International Space Station. It is a high definition view of the Earth below taken from one of four HD cameras aboard the ISS. I screen captured the image above of somewhere over Southeast Asia as the ISS sailed off to the south pacific. Read the entire description of the experiment at APOD.

This is a good site to find out the current location of the ISS. Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE: I watched the streaming video as the ISS approached the terminator and was surprised to see the full moon rising in the distance.

Full Moon Rising

UPDATE II: This is looking back at the setting moon at about 1815UTC 5/16/2014 as the ISS passed into western Canada.

Moonset

Click on the images to enlarge.

14 May 2014 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science

Vernal Equinox

Vernal Equinox

The first day of spring is finally here, although we already have longer days than nights (12hr, 10min of sunlight today) and the temperatures have been spring-like for weeks. The wildflowers and cacti are in bloom and the garden flowers are open. The Red Bird of Paradise shrubs in the courtyard are sporting their seasonal growth. We expect to see their colorful flowers as early as May or June.

The image above is a screen capture of the dynamic depiction of the grand octal earth orbital clock at Archaeoastronomy.com. I captured the image when planet Earth paused briefly at the Vernal Equinox position in the orbit. Click on the image to enlarge (slightly).

20 Mar 2014 by Astronomy Environment

More Solar Activity

Sunspots

There is a parade of sunspots crossing near the solar equator today. I went out this morning and captured the sunspots with my usual setup of the Canon SX-40 through the cheap little solar filter from Rainbow Symphony. Click on the image to enlarge.

AR 1974 is pointed directly at the Earth and could produce flares. AR 1975 and AR 1976 look to be more intense and will be pointed earthward in a day or so. This could mean auroras in the arctic, communications and electrical grid blackouts or enhanced radio communications as in Ham Radio. Or, it could mean nothing at all.

We have seen from the past that the presence of sunspots generally means warmer temperatures on earth while the absence of them for prolonged periods tend to bring cold periods called minima. Some examples are the Maunder Minimum, the Dalton Minimum and the 1900 Minimum. There was an unnamed minimum in the 1960’s that had Time and Newsweek predicting a new ice age. But, we know how the news media wants to bend things around to capitalize on sensationalism to sell copy, I guess. Or maybe to put forth a political agenda. I think we all know how the media operates these days.

Reference: Correlating Sunspots to Global Climate.

12 Feb 2014 by Astronomy Global Warming Science

Imbolc – Halfway to Spring

Imbolc

Today marks the cross-quarter event of Imbolc, the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Here in Arizona, we are having a mild winter thus far; today’s high was 59° with broken clouds and no precipitation hitting the ground, although we could see virga several times today as we were out and about.

The image above is a screen capture of the dynamic depiction of the grand octal earth orbital clock at Archaeoastronomy.com. I captured the image when planet Earth paused briefly at the Imbolc position in the orbit. Imbolc and the other cross-quarter names come from the Celtic to describe the seasonal mid-points in ancient times. Click on the image to enlarge (slightly).

03 Feb 2014 by Astronomy Environment

Solar Activity

Sunspots 01FEB2014

Huge sunspot AR 1967 erupted with an M6 class solar flare a couple of days ago. It is not aimed directly at Earth, but scientists predict a 45 percent chance of auroras at high latitudes when the CME glances off the magnetosphere tomorrow. I photographed these two active sunspot regions around noon local time in Arizona. Solar north is up. Click on the image to enlarge.

There was a larger event in late December when the prediction for auroras was such that perhaps they could be seen at lower latitudes, but alas, nothing here at latitude 34. It is possible at this latitude (I have seen auroras in Southern California) so if we live long enough we may see them again here in our Arizona dark skies.

01 Feb 2014 by Astronomy Science

Mars Rover Opportunity Tenth Anniversary

Opportunity

Originally envisioned as a three-month Martian experiment, rover Opportunity managed to exceed its lifetime projection forty fold. I missed posting this yesterday, so here it is today.

From APOD and NASA:

On January 25 (UT) 2004, the Opportunity rover fell to Mars, making today the 10th anniversary of its landing. After more than 3,500 sols (Mars solar days) the golf cart-sized robot from Earth is still actively exploring the Red Planet, though its original mission plan was for three months. This self-portrait was made with Opportunity’s panoramic camera earlier this month. The camera’s supporting mast has been edited out of the image mosaic but its shadow is visible on the dusty solar panels arrayed across the rover’s deck. For comparison, a similar self-portrait from late 2004 is shown in the inset. Having driven some 39 kilometers (24 miles) from its landing site, Opportunity now rests at Solander Point at the rim of Endeavour Crater.

26 Jan 2014 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science

Categories

Archives