29. March 2009 by beckster.

Who says dark has no color?  Snapped this one not long after sunset while waiting for it to get dark enough to begin the Messier Marathon at our local astronomy club’s observatory south of Albuquerque.  I painted the dried Yucca stalk with my red LED flashlite.  Notice how “spectral” the colors of the sky in the background appear.

I haven’t seen this effect this pronounced before.  There was a lot of scattered dust in the air, and I’m wondering if this is partly due to ash from Mt. Redoubt’s recent eruption?

Time will tell.

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26. March 2009 by beckster.

When I got the opportunity to bring a Flat Stanley home from Texas last week,  I had no idea where I would take him for the young first grader that sent him on his journey except to show him some sights around Albuquerque.

But as the 100 Hours of Astronomy draws near, I think it’s only fair that Stanley share his load of the observing.
Flat Stanley is ready to go as seen in the photo above.

Flat Stanley is a cool project for youngsters learning to read and log his travels, you can read more about Flat Stanley online

by clicking Go Stanley!

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25. March 2009 by beckster.

Venus is very thin and scary close to the Sun right now.  Inferior conjunction is just days away!

Image above was made Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.  Nikon D70 through 5 inch refractor.

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24. March 2009 by beckster.

 This solargraph is the result of 2.5 days in the Sun at Fort McKavett.

I set two homemade solargraph “cameras” out on the field near the flagpole and let them expose from 2 PM Thursday afternoon, until Saturday night.

The sun left its path as a blotchy (it was cloudy, thus the blotches) streak on the right side of the image above.

Kentmere glossy photo paper…

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18. March 2009 by beckster.

If you look about three posts down you will see an image of a satellite flare that coincidentally happened as the ISS was flying by.

It looks like that satellite will flare again (this is for the Albuquerque area)  on Thursday and Friday nights.

Thursday’s predicted time is     20h 00m 42s

Azimuth= 38.7° NE   altitude= 35.4°  in  Ursa Major   / Big Dipper

Friday’s predicted time is     19h 38m 06s 

Azimuth= 38.1° NE   altitude= 20.7°   in Ursa Major  / Big Dipper

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