A Breathtaking Window on the Universe: A guide to the observatory at the Roque de Los Muchachos
Today I sent my book off to the printers. It should be on sale in 3-4 weeks.
astronomy
Curiosity is sitting on a stream bed
The Mars rover Curiosity is driving over a dried-up stream bed. Looking at the gravel under Curiosity, NASA scientists say the water must have flowed about 1 m/s and been somewhere between 10 cm and a metre deep. That’s a lot of water, although it was probably billions of years ago.
Time Lapse of La Palma’s Night Sky
Michael Kunze has a great time lapse of La Palma’s night sky. You can see it at: http://www.sky-in-motion.de/en/zeitraffer_einzel.php?NR=14 His website is well worth a look.
Fireball seen on Jupiter
Early on Monday 10th September, amateur astronomer Dan Peterson spotted a fireball on Jupiter. Another astronomer, George Hall, checked his videos and found that he’d caught it on camera. The fireball was probably a small comet slamming into the giant planet. Temprano el lunes 10 de septiembre, el astrónomo aficionado Dan Peterson vio una bola de fuego en Júpiter. Otro astrónomo, George Hall, comprobó sus videos y descubrió que había…
Star Party in Brena Baja on Friday
Friday 31st is a full moon. It’s also the second full moon in August, which makes it a blue moon. There will be a Star Party on Friday 31st in La Polvacera, Breña Baja. It starts with a talk (in Spanish) from 6-7 pm The astronomical observation runs from 7-11:30 pm in the basketball court. If you’ve got a telescope, please bring it along. If not, come and look through someone…
Goodbye, Neil Armstrong
I was 7 years old when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon. My parents were always strict about bedtime, especially when I had to go to school in the morning. This was the only exception that I can remember. Mum got us up at about 2 am to watch the landing live, and I’ve very grateful to her. “That’s one small step for a man, one giant…