Bright Stars Wildomar

Public Star Party: 1/30/2012, Murrieta Library, 6:00 pm

2012-01-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

The Murrieta library is offering a star party on January 30, 2012. The event is free and open to the public.
The event begins at 6:00pm with a brief indoor presentation followed by star gazing in the courtyard. The event will end by 7:30. The presentation and telescopes are provided by the Temecula Valley Astronomers.

Weather permitting, the moon, Venus, Jupiter, the Orion nebula, and the Pleiades will be highlights. A show will be at 6:00 regardless of weather, so anyone making the trip will be treated to a science-oriented presentation suitable to elementary and middle school levels.

Star party news story, San Diego Source
Star party announcment, Murrieta Patch

Murrieta Library
24700 Adams
Murrieta, CA

First Blooms: 1/15/2012, Santa Rosa Escarpment

2012-01-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

I thought a few of the first blooms I observed last week on the Santa Rosa escarpment would turn out to be outliers, that is, individuals blooming so far ahead of the rest of their species that they are not good indicators of a first bloom for the species. This week I observed new individuals blooming for purple nightshade and monkey flower, suggesting that both of these species are beginning to bloom. Hoaryleaf ceannothus is also building up to peak. I estimate that this plant is about 50 % of the crest we can expect in the next two weeks when the hillsides will become white with this bush. Already, the lilac smell is quite strong. It should be noted that a couple years ago, this species experienced a significant die off.

Last week I thought my manzanita photo represented an individual not quite in bloom. This week I saw no progress amoung the manzanita blooms but a lot of listless blooms. I wonder if I missed the peak of the manzanita.

First blooms on 1/15/2012:

Unidentified. Looks similar to California Everlasting

Unidentified: I see a lot of this plant, so I shouldn't have trouble identifying it soon. I observed multiple individuals starting to bloom.

Black sage: I observed multiple individuals blooming

Wild cucumber; I observed many individuals in bloom

Other developments of interest, though not necessarily blooms:

Dead hoaryleaf ceanothus. The gray color of the distant hillside (left side of the picture) is due to numerous dead members of this species

First sprouting of a fern that grows in rock crevasses throughout the escarpment. I've never seen a bloom for it, so I'll follow it's yearly growth instead.

First bloom of locoweed. I don't see this plant on the escarpment; it occurs in a disturbed area on the approach to the escarpment

More blooming monkeyflower

First Blooms: 1/8/2012

2012-01-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

In my last two posts, I allude to protecting the natural landscape. This year, I'll try to document this landscape as its plants resume their growth. I hike the Santa Rosa escarpment frequently enough that I should be able to record the first blooms of the various plants. This series will continue till new flowerings stop, which could be as late as July.

In January, I'm seeing the transition of Autumn into Spring. On January 8, 2012, I saw the first flowerings of these plants:

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glandulosa, or possibly rainbowensis or bicolor)

Orange bush monkeyflower (typically blooms Mar-May)

Nightshade (Parish's purple nightshade Solanum parishii, Solanum americanum, Solanum Xantii or 1 of 5 known introduced species)

Ceanothus (Hoaryleaf Ceanothus, Ceanothus Crassifolius)

The "State" defends property rights

2012-01-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

On July 3, 2009, I was hiking up the Santa Rosa escarpment and saw a smoke plume three miles away. The plume was from a brush fire, small by California standards. The fire stayed small because firefighters and aircraft quickly arrived to put the fire out.

The firefighters were protecting the very homes that provoked the moratorium on construction on this ridge(seen in the 3rd photo below). Two weeks later I photographed the area. The photos below can be spliced together for a complete picture of the scene. They show homes on the ridgeline, some recently built or under construction, and a burn line that stops just short of these properties -- a testament to the concern and quality of state and county fire fighters.

This defense of these properties should be remembered everytime one of these property owners acuses efforts to impose development standards as governmental intrusion on their property rights.

Failure for Viewshed Protection; Moratorium on Santa Rosa Escarpment lifted

2012-01-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

The Californian reports that the Riverside County Board of Supervisors has lifted the moratorium on construction on the Santa Rosa Ridgeline:

Lifting Santa Rosa Ridgeline Moratorium

I'm disappointed that no plan to develop protections for this scenic area was made and that Supervisor Stone's suggestion to create an ordinance was not supported by the other supervisors. Controlling development on the ridgeline, and the broader issue of view-shed protections, brings up the issue private property rights. As reported, many citizens whose homes or plans are affected by the moratorium and would-be ordinance cite the intrusion on their property rights. Yet these same people, because of their location, are highly dependent on services from the county and state. Below is my collection of recent fires on the Santa Rosa escarpment. (Click for full size)

Fire fighters take great risk protecting homes on top of these hillsides, where steep hills, a hot and dry climate, strong updrafts, and shifting winds make for exceptionally dangerous and unpredictable fires. Three times in the past 4 years I've watched airplanes drop fire retardants to keep hillside fires from overtaking homes on these slopes. I can’t image that the small number of property owners could ever maintain the fire-fighting protections they need. (I could add road construction and other services to that list.) In light of these risks and services, it's not asking too much for residents on these slopes to work within some aesthetic guidelines.

One homeowner commented about having to look at the red-tiled roofs of the valley. I believe this was a rhetorical point and not to be taken as his thoughtful opinion, but it is a fair consideration. I detest when a developer destroys the natural contour of the land in the valley or above it. But if this resident truly doesn't want to look at the houses in the valley, he should build a ways back from the edge, which is what a view-shed ordinance would require.

jg

Best Christmas Sundog Ever

2012-01-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

I took these photos of a sundog and circumzenithal arc over my Christmas holiday. I think the sundog is the best ever, meaning most colorful that I've captured:

Sundog

Circumzenithal arc: a fragment of the arc in a condensation trail.

Press Enterprise Editorial on Global Warming

2011-12-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

This topic is for anyone who accepts the invitation I posted at this article:

http://www.pe.com/opinion/editorials-headlines/20111221-nation-climate-farce.ece

The article repeats some common errors regarding climate science. I don't wish to argue policy, as I'm not trying to assert a specfic policy toward addressing global warming; rather, I'm interested in the science and sharing what I've learned of the science.

UPDATE: As expected, none of the commenters took me up on my invitation to learn more about the climate science they were disparaging, which is not surprising. It's easier to state their opinions where they don't have to defend their sources or explain their reasoning (or lack of). The pleasant side of these misinformed opinions, like the Press Enterprise editorial above, is that they provide fodder for my astronomy presentations. Not only does the science have intrinsic value, but is also helpful to counter the propoganda and foolishness of many editorials on climate policy.

For example, a recent opinion published in the Califorian (Cult of Global Warming Losing Influence) makes this statement:

If carbon emissions were the only thing affecting climate, the global warming alarmists would be right. But it's obvious that climate is affected by many things, many not yet fully understood, and implausible that SUVs will affect it more than variations in the enormous energy produced by the sun.

I added the bold text to the astronomy angle. I'll be looking at the variations of the sun in my next presentation to the Temecula Valley Astronomers.

Location: Rancho Water District building, 42135 Winchester Rd., Temecula
Date/Time: 7:30 PM Monday, January 2, 2012

UPDATE 30 Dec 2011: My letter to the Press Enterprise was published:

Letters 12/30
Letters 12/29 (Others' responses)

The editor cut some prose and removed an "or" that was indespensible to the tone of my letter. Here's the letter I meant for publication with omitted parts in bold:

Your 21 December 2011 editorial makes false accusations against climate scientists and then says that these scientist need to work on improving their reputation. The false accusation you make is "The purloined emails of leading climate scientists have shown them manipulating data and suppressing contradictory evidence". Some emails, when removed from their context, look incriminating, and so the following organizations have examined them as well as the research these scientists have contributed to: Pennsylvania State University, University of East Anglia, US Environmental Protection Agency, UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Department of Commerce Inspector General, and the US National Science Foundation.

None have found any wrong doing in the public climate science reports, which creates two possibilities: 1) the climate conspiracy includes major universities, the US and UK governments, and the National Science Foundation or [omitted] 2) as said by the National Science Foundation, there has been "no research misconduct or other matter raised by the various regulations and laws ".

It's the Press Enterprise vs. the National Science Foundation on climate. One of you has a credibility problem.

Light Trespass Is Now a No-No in Riverside County

2011-12-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Bob Buster, John Tavaglione, Jon Benoit for your 3-0 vote passing ordinance 915 regulating light trespass. By passing this ordinance, the County now requires aim in outdoor lighting. Light trespass results from bad aim, and aiming a light is one of the easier concepts for people to understand if they are aware of the need. The right to bad aim has never been an American virtue, however, many will defend their laziness in the implementation of outdoor lighting, calling it a basic right, or this ordinance, an over-reach by the County.

I write this less that 24 hours after the ordinance's passage, and already I've received a question as to when it can be applied by a person who has endured a neighbor's bare bulb security lights and is now eager to correct the problem.

There is no reason for common security and area lighting to extend beyond one's property, and the passage of this ordinance, avoiding light trespass will become a design standard in building construction.
jg

Local articles on ordinance 915:
Californian, 12/21/11 (older articles in the Californian: Californian 11/22/11, Californian, 11/15/11, Californian 10/25/11)

Lake Elsinore/Wildomar Patch, 12/21/11

Press Enterprise, 12/21/11

KPSP Local 2 News Services, 12/20/11

Solar's Up

2011-12-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

As part of the 11-year cyle, sunspot activity is picking up. There have been sunspots everytime I've looked in the past three months. This image above combines two shots at the lowest and highest magnification I can effectively photograph at. Both are taken with a whitelight filter (a silvered mylar sheet) and I restored yellow color in photoshop. Not only can you see sunspots, but faculae too (brighter areas where magnetic forces gouge the outer layer - as though scraping an apple- revealing hotter and brighter layers). This is part of my next project: a presentation on the sun to my astronomy club on Jan 2.

Lunar Eclipse, Dec 10, 2011: Total cooperation of weather and horizon

2011-12-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

The weather cooperated and my sliver-sized view of the horizon was ideally placed on the morning of Dec. 10, 2011 to give me an excellent view of the lunar eclipse. From my location, the moon set while totally eclipsed. Consequently, the sun rose as the eclipsed moon set.

Above: Field of view looking west. This photo was taken after the eclipse

and after moonset to show my well-paced field of view.

Above: Partially eclipsed moon photographed at 5:52 PST.

At this time, the pending sunrise was not yet evident.

Above: 6:00 PST and the moon is nearly eclipsed.

A few tree twigs cloud the picture.

The eclipsed moon at 6:10 PST.

Above: (6:23 AM) The fully eclipsed moon as dawn washed it out of the sky.

Though visible in the photograph, at this point is was invisible to the naked eye.

The first photo was taken with a digital SLR camera with an 18 mm lens. All other photos were taken with a 3-inch refactor at prime focus.

Clouds lately

2011-12-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

I continue my fascination for weather and clouds. Here are photos from the morning and evening of one day.

Morning: sunrise through the fog:

Evening: Anticrepuscular rays (shadows cast by the setting sun converging in the east):

Californian cover recent star party

2011-11-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

The Californian did a fine job covering a recent star party held by my astronomy club, The Temecula Valley Astronomers:

Students Look to the Stars

I differ with the reporter's estimate of 150 people attending. The 150 was based on the PTA's handing out of 150 glow sticks to children. Assuming a few students got more than one, and that the typical family was one or two children with at least one parent, I think 175 was a more likely number.

The following night, we held a star party for a scout troop, which brought in about 50 people.

And the following Tuesday we held another star party, which was attended by at least 100 persons -- this estimate based on the number or chairs set up and filled for the indoor part of the star party.

Then I should add that last weekend I assisted with the Forest Services Explore the Stars program. I guess we had 100 people.

I share these numbers as a reminder that many people enjoy the night sky and many will support policies that protect it.

jg

Riverside County Light Trespass Ordinance 915, a boon for property rights

2011-10-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

For people who may be searching the web in regard to the Riverside Board of Supervisors introduction of ordinance 915 regulating light pollution (or more accurately light trespass), here are a few stories and the text of the ordinance. I will be commenting on this in the next couple weeks.

Ordinance 915

Californian: 26 Oct 2011

Press Enterprise: 26 Oct 2011

Valley News: 26 Oct 2011

ABC news

Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch: "county-cracks-down-on-shining-too-brightly"

riverside-county-residents-to-see-fine-for-nuisance-lights

jg

What's up for October 2011

2011-10-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

My astronomy club has assisted in the creation of astronomy clubs at some of our local schools, and we also are helping out by presenting to these clubs at their monthly meetings. I'm adapting my What's Up (in the sky) presentations for these astronomy clubs. What's good for students is probably even better for adults.

I post my What's Up presentations on my website here: What's Up

I have not always kept up this section, but I now have additional pressure to get my What's Up presentations onto my website where they can be shown to these clubs.

Below are a few star maps from the presentation that I shared with students. New ones will be available in November.

Climate Science Timeline

2011-10-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've had the opportunity to contribute to a couple recent posts on SkepticalScience.com.

Modern scientists, following in Galileo's footsteps addresses the tactic of many climate change denialists to compare themselves to Galilieo. I drew a timeline for that post, and here I'm sharing an earlier version that we decided was too detailed and did not use in the post. This one was drawn to the constraint of their page format, and it is my plan to lengthen and embellish it. I'm sharing it for those who may wish to use it as is and welcome suggestions.

The Last Interglacial Part Four - Oceanic Influences continues the discussion of the Eemian Interglacial, which was 125k years ago when global temperatures reached a degree or two warmer than the pre-industrial Holocene. If one accepts James Hansen's estimate that the Eemian was 1 degree C warmer than the pre-industrial Holocene, then we're 3/4s the way to another Eemian with its 5-9 meter higher sea levels. I contributed the ocean circulation maps used the post.

jg

Flock of lights over Wildomar and Lake Elsinore

2011-10-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

Megan reports observing fascinating patterns of lights over Wildomar at 8:00 pm last night (Friday, 30 Sept 2011). Her words:

We we're coming home from Temecula around 8pm, and at 1st thought, it was night skydiving but it wasn't. These lights looked as bright as stars in a long string. I don't know how else to describe it. They constantly changed shapes from long, to stretched out, to a ball, to all kinds of random formations. The lights we're long an a lot. I don't know how to describe the length and how they moved. The length was at least a mile long, easily, but formed into random shapes, went high in the sky, moved low, moved left, right. Nothing like this, I had ever seen. And it moved so gracefully. It was amazing whatever it was.

I have no idea what Megan saw, but I have observed similar motions from sky divers using lights, and I've observed the flocks of birds making extraordinary patterns in the sky. I offer no explanation, but have one relevent observation.

Skylark airport had a lot of skydiving activity Friday night. Skydiving is pretty routine, so I rarely photograph it, but I was impressed by the dispersal and diversity of motions of jumpers at 6:15 pm when I was outside, that I snapped a few photos, such as this one:

You can see their plane in the top middle, a chute in the center, and two in the bottom left doing their final spirals to the ground (click the picture to enlarge it).

What was I doing outside? Last night offered some stunning crepuscular rays and irridescent clouds:

Crepuscuar Rays

Irridescent clouds, showing purple, orange, and green colors

I welcome the observations of others, but please note that I won't be able to post comments promptly today.

My long lost clouds and weather photos

2011-09-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Since about 2008 I've been sending photos I've taken of clouds and weather to a local weather website called Weathercurrents. These photos appear for a week or more before being replaced by new ones. Due to my haphazard organizational skills, I figured most of my photos were lost to the ether. Recently, Weathercurrents added a page of all the photos they've received. It was pleasant to rediscover many photos that I have forgotten.

The photos from me and other contributors are here:

http://weathercurrents.com/wildomar/Features.do

jg

Energy Inputs

2011-09-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

I recently contributed to a post on Skeptical Science, illustrating the following analogy used to describe energy inputs into Earth's climate system. The metaphor was the creation of the post's author, who writes under the name Andy S. I merely portrayed his concept, and I think his metaphor ably compares the relative magnitudes of energy sources that affect the climate system.

For the entire article, see Skeptical Science: Heatflow

Temecula Valley Astromers host Dr. Marc Rayman of the Dawn Probe Project

2011-09-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Temecula Valley Astronomers are sponsoring a special presentation by Dr Marc Rayman of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who leads the ongoing Dawn Probe project which currently is orbiting and studying the asteroid Vesta. This will be an excellent opportunity to participate firsthand in a discussion involving one of our country's most ambitious and successful space related efforts.

As with all general meetings of the Temecula Valley Astronomers, this event is free and open to the public.

Monday, 10/3/11

7:30pm to 9pm

Rancho California Water District Boardroom

42175 Winchester Road, Temecula CA 92590

Comet Garradd ( C/2009 P1)

2011-09-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Comet Garradd is visible, though I would say barely visible to me. Here is a 3-minute expose at f6.3 onto a digital SLR camera at 800 ISO.

I photographed this at Explore the Stars, a monthly star party sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and held at Observatory Campground in the Cleveland National Forest. More information about this event, see this link: Explore the Stars.

Meteor over Joshua Tree

2011-09-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

I photographed this meteor while camping in Joshua Tree National Park on the weekend of 9/3/11:

I was trying to capture how much light from Palm Springs and neighboring cities pollutes the southern sky of Joshua Tree National Park. Quite a lot, as shown by this 50-second exposure. (Joshua Trees are the tree-sized yuccas, shown here, that give the park it's name.)

Eemian Globe

2011-08-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've created a rotating globe modelled after the Eemian interglacial, ~125,000 years ago.

Eemian Globe

I've been using this model to illustrate a series of posts by Steve Brown on Skeptical Science:

http://www.skepticalscience.com/LIG2-1906.html

http://www.skepticalscience.com/LIG3-1207.html

My goal was to portray a plausible shape to the Eemian sea, which cut Scandinavia off from the mainland. While at it, I erased part of Florida (in case Eemian sea level reached the high estimate of 9 meters over current) and much of the deltas next to major rivers. Like all my projects, this is a work-in-progress and I invite comments and corrections.

Circumhorizon Arc

2011-08-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

My first circumhorizon arc:

I saw this at noon on Sunday, 8/21/11. The noon sighting is consistent with the description of this phenomena on Atmospheric Optics:

colorful ice halo from cirrus clouds refracting the overhead sun
location parallel to and near the horizon

Star Party at Lake Skinner County Park, Saturday, 6 Aug. 2011

2011-08-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Lake Skinner County Park is hosting a public star party. It is free, but you need to arrive after 7:00 pm when the normal entrance fee will be waived for this event only. The star party is that the Park's amphitheater. A show begins at 8:00 pm and observing through the telescopes of the Temecula Valley Astronomers begins after the show at 8:30 (or earlier) and continues till 10:30 pm.

Primary targets will be the 1st quarter moon and Saturn and various star clusters of the summer Milky Way.

jg

Supernova update

2011-08-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had a chance to revisit the supernova in M51. I took a few photos before clouds obscured the view. Here is M51 with supernova marked by the arrow:

This is a very noisy image. It's a 5-minute exposure at f6.3 and 1600 ISO. I'm a little surprised that the supernova remains as bright as it is and that I recorded it this well in a single exposure through a 3-inch telescope.

I had planned to take several images and try stacking them, but I forgot to tighten the axis clamps on my mount, so this was the only picture that didn't have significant streiks for stars.

A star blew up 37 million years ago, and we just noticed

2011-06-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

The amateur astronomy community is somewhat aglow over the opportunity to see and photograph a supernova in the galaxy M51:

Galaxy M51

The little dot marked by the arrow in the second photo is the supernova. I took this photo using a Canon Digital Rebel SLR attached to my 8" schmidt-cassigrain telescope reduced to an F6.3 focal ratio. The photo is a 5-minute exposure at 1600 ISO, and the camera is a bit noisy at this speed. I did not guide the photo, hence, you'll see slight elongation of the stars.

Better photos, taken at longer, guided exposures, and then processed via computer, will appear all over the Internet. Though no where near the quality you may see, my photo illustrates two aspects:
1. It shows that any amateur can get a photo of a supernova, something that most of humanity has never seen, using a common camera with a slightly less common telescope and mount. For a few thousand dollars, you could have the same photograph.
2. My photo shows about what I saw when looking at the supernova on June 3/4, 2011, through a friend's 25-inch telescope. Very few people have a 25-inch telescope.

The irony is that right now, the more scientifically valuable contributions from amateurs are those images taken before the supernova. The amateur astronomy community is being asked for any images that can narrow down the time between May 30 and June 2 when the supernova first appeared. I took my first image of M51 one month ago, using a 3-inch telescope. I pointed my camera at M51 on a whim, just to see what I'd get. Here are the before and after:

For more information on contributing images of M51, see this post at Palomar Skies: amateur-astronomers-can-help-ptf-study

jg

A Good Day for Sundogs and Better for Halos

2011-05-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Where I live, May usually brings 90+ F degree days that makes seeing the rings and arcs from atmospheric ice crystals rare, but this May has been unusually cold , making for some great halos. I saw this one yesterday:

Colorful arc with ends that split on the left and right.

Lower center is my hat blocking the sun.

The lower section of the arc was not as bright nor as colorful.

My hat is barely shown at the top, where it is blocking the sun.

Most 22 degree halos I see have little color and are a single halo, rather than a split halo shown here next the sundog:

Sundog, outer ring, and inner 22-degree ring. The outer ring leads into the sundog,

suggesting some common optical property at work.

According to Atmospheric Optics, the sundog gets closer to the inner, 22-degree halo as the sun is lower to the horizon. These photos were taken around 3:30 PM, when the sun is still rather high in the sky, and accordingly, the sundog is noticably out from the 22-degree ring.

This ring was also observed by a friend and fellow sky-watching enthusiast who took this photo, probably a mile from me:

Photo by Shaun Brodie

Shaun's photo is a bit more useful in that he included the sun, from which we can trace the arcs of the two rings. Shaun duplicated and rotated his photo to create an extension of the ring. He manipulated the contrast and then drew the approximate tangents that conform to the outer ring.

According to Shaun, "The center of the secondary arc lies on the circumference of the arc/circle around the sun." I took a slightly different approach and agree with his conclusion:

An update(24 May): Per Atmospheric Optics, the outer ring is a circumscribed halo, which is also the high sun version of the upper and lower tangent arcs:
Circumscribed halo

Keep looking up.

jg

I guess this is what you do on blogs

2011-05-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

Whenever one corresponds via others' blogs, and the correspondence leads to discussion, controversy, and vitriol, one provides links. I'm not sure if I'm getting my vitriols yet, but there's still time.

I've been following a local blogger and satirist since discovering 1) he can be funny, 2) he leaks the views of a former council member whose civic knowledge I respect and admire, 3) he has shown some pro-city, pro-community attitudes, and 4) he offers a contrary opinion. Though sometimes I've applauded the contrary opinion, often I don't agree. Regardless, I enjoy hearing it, and I have a scientific curiousity about people with contrary opinions.

Since he's outed me as a reader, I'm committed to the quality of his blog. So it was in this spirit I commented on his interview with an activist whose litigation overturned a $28-dollar yearly assessment for the maintenance of our community's parks:
The Provocative Interview

Having participated in the reopening of parks through my position on a redevelopment committee and through other community activities, I took umbrage to the portrayal of our local litigant's motives and his characterization of members of the Parks Committee. My rebuttal is here:
My response

Our litigant replied to my statements here:
The interviewee's response

And ~~I'm awaiting~~ the posting of my rejoinder ~~which I'll share (when posted).:~~

Me again (17 May 11)
My May 17 comment is reproduced below

Steve's explanations are consistent with what I observed, and I was careful to qualify my inferences as inferences. We can't know the thinking behind others' overt behavior. (Is everyone with me on this?)

I struggled to not let later events rewrite my memory (e.g., Steve's opposition to incorporation and to the parks assessment). I hope Steve has exercised similar scrutiny.

Regarding Steve's humor, which I enjoyed:

Steve: The neighborhood where I live is named “Parkside” Estates, not “Collegeside” Estates – enough said.

I sympathize with this. "Parkside" does imply there would have been a park. I welcome any advice on how I can contribute to making that park a reality, seven years ago as well as today. Regarding "Estates" I trust that part of the name has met Steve's expectations, as there's nothing I can do there.

Considering Steve's presence in Wildomar politics, I welcome any public record of his efforts to make the park of Park Estates a reality. I'm inclined to believe that he has made the statements I seek, but I ask because I'm undecided as to whether breaking up the parks assessment was a means to that end or intended as a punishment.

Steve raises a good question about the RDA and Marna O'Brien:

Steve: I am informed that the good people of Lakeland Village are still trying to figure out how millions of dollars of RDA funds legally mandated to be used to combat blight conditions within their RDA boundaries were used instead to refurbish Marna O’Brien Park, which is not even located within the Lakeland Village Wildomar Redevelopment Project Area. Perhaps a future expose for Zak Turango?

Actually, our minutes are public record, so anyone "still trying to figure out how [money is spent]" may be not worth reaching out to, but I'm willing to help. And, I did offer my help, as a member of the RDA, to Steve at our first meeting. I was willing to see if the RDA had any means to assist in his dispute. The RDA has since used its voice on other issues in the community. That Steve would suggest an expose reveals more of him than it will of the RDA.
Let's put forth a testable hypothesis. I may be an idealist fool or Steve may be working too hard to find fault in collective action. (Actually, I admit to being an idealistic fool, but the question is whether it's to an extent that is detrimental to the community.)

The RDA committee I'm on was elected so that the community can have a say in what is considered blight and in how to correct it. We decided that shuttered parks were a condition of blight (which raises the question of who is fighting or promoting blight).

Marna O'Brien is a half block beyond the RDA boundary. However, the RDA can invest in projects outside of its boundary if such projects benefit the RDA. For example, we are reviewing sites for a new fire station that will service the RDA zone but likely reside outside the boundary. If this is inappropriate, it's not too late for citizens to intervene. (Before you answer, please know that if there were a fire outside the RDA, I'm Ok if you want to call the station we'll have paid for.) The same can be said for community centers, flood infrastructure, roads, signals, and even the water quality of Lake Elsinore.

But back to the park... RDA residents near Mission Trails drive southwest to reach Marna O'Brien; RDA residents near Central drive northwest; and those near Grand drive northeast. We have the park surrounded! (See map.) A park with Marna O'Brien's services is a benefit to the RDA and the greater community. Forgive the cliche but we all rise together -- but I guess we can add "fail together, too"

If there is a flaw or violation in the RDA's support for Marna O'Brien, please charge ahead and investigate, but make sure you can get the whole story before undermining people's confidence in collective action. I'm available to anyone who wants to know more about the activities of the RDA since I've been a member.

jg

And the map I sent is here (click to enlarge):

Star Party covered by The Californian

2011-05-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank The Californian for covering the star party that my astronomy club conducted last week:
More than 200 turn out to star gaze

The reporter did a commendable job of squeezing the event into the limited print. She described the enthusiasm people show and their disbelief upon first seeing Saturn in a telescope -- disbelief that they are really looking at Saturn.

The reporter attended one of the three presentations I gave, and she captured the cross-section of observing and astronomy that I share. It's always interesting to see what sticks and makes it into a couple sentence summary:

Wearing a shirt that read "Science rules," Garrett talked about meteors, planets, the moon and its orbit, the large telescope at Palomar Observatory, and the best time to see Mars in the sky.
"Mars is really tiny," he said.
He also explained to students and parents how outdoor lighting, which he called "light pollution," can block views of the night sky in developed nations, and how the science of astronomy has helped scientists learn about the Earth's climate.

Though "Mars is really tiny" would not be my first choice for a quotation, I am pleased that I must have effectively conveyed the connection between astronomy and climate science. A theme from start to finish was that astronomy is not just what's beyond our planet, but contributes to our understanding of urgent topics like global climate change. For example, detection of CO2 in exoplanets relies on the same principles as calculating CO2's increasing influence in Earth's greenhouse effect, yet global warming hoax theorists fail to include astronomers as members of the conspiracy. I hope my use of irony is clear.

jg

Trying not to see stars

2011-04-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've commented before on Native American artifacts that resemble constellations near my home in Southern California (e.g., cupula rock). My comments weren't original: Ray Williamson, in his book "Living the Sky", refers to constellations in Great Basin petro glyphs. In searching for other examples of constellations in rock art, I found this paper: http://www.uni.edu/earth/rapanui/rapa_nui_journal.html -- but the paper doesn't declare strong support for the constellation hypothesis, and in personal correspondence, the author offered his hindsight that he is now very skeptical of the constellation hypothesis. I've also sent photos of cupula rock to Anthony Aveni (Author of The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2010) who saw no reason to interpret the patterns as other than randomly distributed boreholes (see Ok, I did do the nose).

So it is with caution that I share these photos of a rock at Joshua Tree National Park:

Six, similarly sized depressions, with four in a pretty straight line.

Here is a view of the area. I'm looking approximately South. Center in the photo (and you may need to click the photo to see ths) is the pattern:

Here is a close up of the depressions, with my size-12 foot for scale:

The depressions look as worn as the surrounding rock and are even in size.

The rock at Joshua Tree is large-grained and crumbly. I believe it erodes quickly, and that people could easily make these depressions (now and thousands of years ago), but I saw no scratches or evidence hinting at human hands at work.

The depressions are in a popular camping and climbing area called Indian Cove. Joshua Tree has other Native American artifacts, so long-term human occupation is not in question. In the following photo, I noticed other patterns. The main group is in the center, but lower to the right you can see an alternating pattern of depressions:

Here is a zoomed in view showing a right-left stepping pattern:

I see many natural depressions in the rock at Joshua Tree, but I've not seen any that are so consistent in shape as these.

jg

Amboy Crater: 50 minutes North from my last post

2011-04-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Twenty-one years ago I drove across the great plains and southwest deserts of the United States on my way to California. Iraq had just invaded Kuwait and gas prices soared. I made a note of the highest price: $1.79 per gallon in Amboy California, which is near the southwest portion of the mojave desert. While in Amboy, I noticed a lava flow and prominent cinder cone and vowed to return. Twentyone years and over 2 dollars per gallon later, I returned.

Amboy Crater, viewed from the western rim (spliced together from three photos)

The drive north from Joshua Tree National Park to Amboy crosses classic alluvial fans. These alluvial features evelope the base of the mountains and form vast gradual slopes where you can drive for miles, barely noticing any elevation change.

The cinder cone rises 250 feet from the surface, making it unmistakable:

A mile-long trail leads from a parking lot to the cone and crosses the lava flow and it's varying features. Here, the flow's low, wavy shape is highlighted by the dry grass:

And here the texture is that of a pushed up parking lot, rock black as asphalt and cracked. Plants and sand exploit the cracks.

The composition of the cone has texture differences. Right is crumbly; and left, more of a charcoal color and texture comparable to graphite powders. The left also has distinct erosion channels.

A view looking down from the crater rim near the transition between textures.

A close up of the texture change:

After my visit, I found Amboy Crater on GoogleEarth, which is just like being there, unless of course, you've actually been there.

Notice the satelite photo from GoogleEarth shows streaks from the cinder cone and other features. These streaks weren't apparent to on the ground, and if they are real, my guess is that the streaks are wind deposits, darker grains blown from the cinder cone and other outcrops, and deposited onto the sand dusted flow. It is likely the winds blow consistently to the south east, something to follow up on.

Something on the sparse wildlife:

A very unusualy insect, unless I presume, you live here.

And a few plants:

Possibly a mallow or type of lilly growing among the lava rock -- another plant to identify.

Bright yellow encelia bushes peak around March and make a delightful contrast with the dark rock.

One last note: The best time to visit is Oct - March when the temperatures are mild. The lava flow heats up in the sunlight and would be dangerous for most people to cross when April-Sept temperatures start in the 90s.

More Information about Amboy Crater, Bureau of Land Management

Waking in the Desert to Anticrepuscular Shadows

2011-04-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Everyone should wake up in the Southern California desert once in awhile, especially during April. My first word upon waking is "ouch", but after recovering from sleeping on the ground, I can enjoy this type of sight:

The photo shows anti-crepuscular shadows converging on San Gorgonio (the white peak in the distance). It is common to see beams of light while looking toward the rising or setting sun -- these are called crepuscular rays. However, this is the second time I've photographed the anti-crepuscular effect -- e.g., shadows continuing to the vanishing point opposite the sun (also called the anti-solar point). The crepuscular effect comprises light rays, shadows or both. In the above photo, the ray would be the larger area between the shadows, but I can hardly call that a ray. Rather, I see only the anti-crepuscular shadows. I suspect that the conditions necessary to create the appearance of smaller light rays against a darker background are more rare than this.

jg

Some redrawn illustrations for RealClimate

2011-04-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

I redrew the illustration from Professor Ruddiman's post on RealClimate for the purpose of making them available:

Public Star Parties for 2011

2011-03-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

I'm involved in a variety of star parties this year that are open the public.

May 5: Dennis Mammana's Planetpalozza: This is held in Borrego Springs by astronomer and lecturer Dennis Mammana. There is a cost to admission which covers dinner, lecture, and observing from the late afternoon on May 5 to the early morning on May 6. See the link for information and to make reservations.

Explore the Stars: This is a monthly, free event sponsored by the Forest Service and held at Observatory Campground, near Palomar Observatory. Typically, the event is for people camping, but some people drive up the mountain for the evening. A presentation is at dusk in the amphitheater, followed by star gazing. See the link for directions and other information. The dates are as follows:

April 29, 30 (tentative, assuming the Campground is opened in time)
June 3, 4
June 24, 25
July 29, 30
August 26, 27
September 23, 24
October 28, 29

Hopping to admire the camouflage

2011-03-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

"Hopping" is a pun on the title of my previous camouflage post (stopping to admire camouflage), and appropriate, as this time I'm celebrating a frog (or toad -- identification pending). Here he is on a rock of granite that creates a natural pond referred to in my region as a tenaja.

The canyon I visit can be accessed by hopping from rock to rock -- no pun intended. Crawling through the banks puts you in tangles of underbrush which include poisen oak. Along with the camouflage of animals, I also admire the tenacity of plants that cling to the stream bed:

Above: a California sycamore with most of its root base exposed. The tree still lives, as it tendrils reach down into the bed. Notice the rock it's cradling (about mid center); I wonder how long the exposed roots have been holding this stone.

Above: a more complete view of the same tree.

Above: Another tree with an apparent tenuous hold on the bank.

Above: I believe this one to be a willow, quite thrashed by the winter rains (we have no snow melt here -- mediterranian climate -- most of our rain fall in the winter and spring months). It's leaves haven't sprouted yet. The green behind it is from a poisen oak.

Above: A velvet ant observed away from the stream.These are about the size of a honeybee and are definitely not camouflaged.

Above: one more look at the frog that inspired this post.

March 19, 2011 Super Moon (not really)

2011-03-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

I can always tell when an astronomical phenomenon is getting media attention, as friends start sending me notices. This month was a "super moon", a term I hadn't heard before. It describes a full moon occuring near the moon's perigee -- it's closest point to Earth. Therefore, the full moon at perigee should appear larger than any other full moon. As full moon occured at 11:10 am my time (Pacific Daylight Time), and perigee at 12:09 (PDT), I had no chance of seeing the super moon. But what I would have seen, had I been under clear skies at the other side of the Earth, would not have been much different from what I see every few years when the full moon is within a day or two of perigee.

Below are some photos I took in the days before and after the super moon to which I added a blue outline for ease of comparison.

Thurs., 17 March, about 40 hours before the full moon (evening photo):

March 18, about 34 hours before perihelion (morning photo; so the moon appears upside down)

March 18, 14 hours before perihion (look closely, this one appears larger than the previous two):

Hint: Look closely at the right side. The moon 14 hours before perigee fills the box and extends into the blue line on the right side, where the previous two images leave a few pixel gap.

Weather interfered with my next opportunity, the morning of March 19, when I could have photographed the moon perhaps 8 hours before perihelion. Weather interfered again the following night 7 hours past perigee. I was able to photograph the moon, but the conditions clearly show my image as unreliable or comparison:

And here is my last photo in the series, taken 10 hours past perigee under a cloudy sky:

We see little difference in size from 40 hours to 14 hours before perigee, suggesting that another14 hours later wouldn't have shown much increase in size, had I been able to photograph then. I can always photograph a gibbeous near and at perihelion to confirm my guess, a project I'll enjoy doing when perigee occurs in evening hours at my location.

So, the super moon most of us missed appears just as big and just as bright as the more frequent "almost super moons" we see every couple years. This October, however, full moon will appear near apogee, the moon's farthest point from Earth. Weather permitting, I'll photograph that one too. The difference in size with this one should be striking.

Epica Vostok Viewer Update

2011-03-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

Since having the honor of sharing my data viewer project on Skeptical Science, I've been working on a list of feature requests. I think I have most of the features requested in place and will improve their usability as I find time. I just added an important feature: the ability to flag specific data points for comparison.

For example, you can click the highest data points for CO2 levels and horizontal and vertical lines will mark the point in the same color as the graph that was clicked:

Then, if you rescale the x axis, say to zoom in on the Holocene, you can see the y values of the data points you flagged from 323 k and 414 k years ago:

As always, I continue to take requests for features. My next big change (I hope) will be allowing multiple views of the x-axis timeline, so you can directly compare the shape of graphs between different time periods. My data viewer is available here: Epica-Vostok viewer.

Zodiacal Light

2011-03-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Seven years ago I observed the zodiacal light, which appears as a faint triangular glow from the horizon up along the ecliptic. This phenomenon is visible only at dark locations; I observed it from eastern Arizona where I could look out over New Mexico -- best dark sky I've ever seen. Here is a photograph of my color slide I took at the time (a digital photo of a film original):

Zodaical light; the bright star in the middle is Jupiter

The graininess in the photo is from the fast speed film I used (200 ISO), not knowing at the time that faint phenomena requiring minute or longer exposures appear best on slow-speed, low-ISO film. Though graininess shows as noise in digital photos at high ISO settings, a good digital camera doesn't have the film equivalent of reciprocity failure -- the tendancy for high ISO film to quickly lose light-sensitivity during a long exposure.

With the approach of March, northern hemisphere observers are reminded to get their best views of the zodiacal light by watching for it in the west 90 minutes after sunset. As my only observation was near the autumnal equinox while looking east, I wanted to determine if both morning and evening offer similar views at this time of year. (Short answer: they don't.)

Below I sketched the viewpoint from behind Earth, looking toward the sun at this time of year:

I drew the Earth large enough to show the latitudes but too small to appreciate that any observers horizon is perceieved as flat, so I added the dotted lines. And the viewpoint is slightly above the Earth-Sun plane to provide better context of the locations of the sun, earth and brightest zone of zodiacal light. Notice Earth's tilt and how the same observer at evening will have a different orientation to the ecliptic (zodiacal light) in the morning.

In the next illustration, I centered Earth so that it covers the sun. You can see how angle of the observer's horizon in respect to the ecliptic changes from evening to morning:

Though you can see how the angle to the ecliptic changes as we rotate on our tilted world, the scale may give a false impression that we see less of the zodiacal light's brighter center in the morning. More likely, we see the phenomena lower, along the horizon, where it's harder to distinguish from haze and skyglow.

The following diagrams strike a compromise between Earth perceived as a flat horizon and the circle that shows our latitude.

Imagine this view at sunset:

And the 45 minutes later:

As the Earth turns, the horizon blocks ever greater amounts of the skyglow, till about 90 minutes after sunset, the skyglow is effectively blocked while enough of the bright center of the zodiacal light is still visible:

My guess at what the same bleary-eyed observer (in the northern hemisphere) would see in the morning sky is this:

Such a faint effect is easily lost that close the horizon.

So, for northern hemisphere observers, the best views are after sunset looking west near the vernal equinox, or before sunrise looking east near the autumnal equinox.
For southern hemisphere observers it's reversed: best in the morning looking east near the vernal equinox and in the evening looking west near the autumnal eqninox.

Which gives me my next problem. since Los Angeles obscures the night sky to the west of the most likely darksky observing locations I have, I'll wait for Autumn to get some eastward, morning views.

And last, by accident I filled my photo with black, but before undoing, I saved a copy, as I like how the accident accentuated the zodiacal light:

climate conversation for safe keeping

2011-02-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

In hindsight, I wish I had captured many of the climate-related discussions I've engaged in. Some, like a column by an editor of a industrial automation trade journal went missing; others lose their revealing comments; and others I just lose the link.

Here, I've captured the online comments made when my local paper ran this article on the efforts of a lobby to promote an energy tax in California:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_fa54b0ee-3bbd-5e07-846a-14029b5dec24.html?mode=story

The comments below reveal common attitudes in the resistance to addressing climate change. I'm posting them for the purpose of keeping them. Later, I may try to condense and summarize them. The comments are listed from the most recent to the earliest, a formatting choice of the newspaper, which I think is intended to promote comments by hiding when certain ideas have already been stated. In other words, later commenters are less likely to see what has already been said, so they are more likely to repeat but in their own words.

jg

arrg said on: February 2, 2011, 9:14 am
Independent: By the way, I wasn't put up to this by a science teacher, but I recently was invited by a science teacher to speaker to her class about planetary climate vis-a-vis it's foundation in astronomy. And the kids got it. I was peppered with questions about what is the normal range of atmospheric CO2, what parts of earth receive the most insolation, what temperatures are possible... It's a sin to deny our children information they'll need to deal with our mess. Let me know when you get a similar opportunity to present.

jg

arrg said on: February 2, 2011, 9:05 am

Independent: regarding your confusion between climate sensitivity and inertia, consider an oven. Try this in your kitchen: turn your oven on to 450 degrees. Does it reach 450 right away? No. It takes time. There is a lag. There is a much larger lag in the global climate system. A doubling of greenhouse gases creates an energy imbalance of 4 watts per square meter. This extra heat is partly absorbed by the oceans, so we don't see it as an immediate rise in temperature; it also goes to destabilizing icesheets, which again, we don't see as a rise in temperature. The system will reach an equilibrium at a higher temperature. This takes time and there's inertia involved. But inertia cuts both ways. It protects from seeing an immediate effect, but slowness in which it occurs means it also be painfully slow to undo. Once the planet is a warmer place, we're committed to that for some time. Inertia.

Sandycb273 said on: February 2, 2011, 8:49 am

Independent. Your last post is also factually incorrect. You don't understand either the concept of climate sensitivity or inertia in surface air temperatures as a result of the long time it takes to propagate warming through the oceans. You also clearly are confused about what it is the IPCC does ( hint: they don't 'do' science but rather summarize the work of the world's scientists studying the relevant processes). Further, you're attempting to attack by piecemeal a huge cross-disciplinary scientific question--and doing a very poor job. If you have political or economic criticisms of how to address or not address climate change as a society, perhaps those are areas where your opinion--like everyone else's--is qualified.

Independent said on: February 2, 2011, 6:55 am

Oh my, looks like some left wing environut science teacher had all his or her kiddies do a job on this article. But reality can be stranger then political fiction. NOAA published mean atmospheric carbon dioxide for the years 2002-2007. They were 372.39; 374.94; 376.76; 378.78 ; 380.90 and; 382.67 ppmv . Now using the formulas touted by the global warmest we should have had a temperature rise from 4.75 °C in 2002 up to 5.21 °C in 2007 for a total increment of about 30 °C. Now that obviously did not happen, did it. Due to this IPCC's touted 1.5-6 °C atmospheric warming for a doubling of carbon dioxide has been refuted and readjusted to a small 0.005-0.02 °C for a doubling of pre-Industrial atmospheric carbon dioxide.

"Silence Dogood" said on: February 1, 2011, 9:14 pm

'ccl'… what a bunch of sophists!

IsThisTurner said on: February 1, 2011, 8:50 pm

Although I'm sure all of the comments listed here have been submitted by experts in climate science who are obviously so very well informed, as evidenced by the absolute certainty of their statements, I thought I'd suggest an insightful book (though certainly you've all read it since you're such avid and studious professionals). "Merchants of Doubt" by Dr. Naomi Oreskes - Enjoy!

SoCalGuy said on: February 1, 2011, 7:13 pm

Con no more should rename his handle to "Con extraordinnaire"; What a bunch of bunk. First, he writes at 5:43, referring to my earlier post, "His criticism is that all science is couched in terms exactly the same as all investigators use to allow for new information--" Tricky, but the weasel words are "new information" and that's exactly my point. These scientists couch their "new information" in disclaimers because they try to sell their "new information" as "fact." It's so dishonest it's maddening. And besides, I didn't use the term "new information" in my post, those are weasel con's words. Second, comparing science with the trying of a legal case is simply absurd. Lawyers try facts and float theories in a theater devoid of absolutes. Science, on the other hand is supposed to be absolutes premised on provable and reproducable results from theories. No comparison at all. But his coup de grace is this nugget in his 5:27 post; "...even on the tiniest chance that human caused increased carbon dioxide is a threat to future generations, isn't the rational CONSERVATIVE thing to do, to try to do something about a huge potential problem?" Ay, yes, the true test of the socialist mentality; "even if there is the tiniest chance that what I - knower of all things and con extraordinnaire when I'm just a wee bit sure - believe is true, shouldn't YOU fall in lockstep and do what I say?" Uh, no.

con no more said on: February 1, 2011, 5:43 pm

The post by SoCalGuy on February 1, 2011 at 5:21 pm shows that he has been fooled by the anti fact group. His criticism is that all science is couched in terms exactly the same as all investigators use to allow for new information--"evidence suggests" "believed to be" etc.
Let's think back to the OJ Simpson trial for double murder. How was that evidence given in court? Do you remember? The blood evidence "leads us to believe" that OJ Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. OJ's actions in the white Ford Bronco 'suggest' a guilty conscience. Etc.
All scientific papers, all crime detective work, indeed virtually all rational observations are written in this way.

tks said on: February 1, 2011, 5:27 pm

@liberalsvacuum

Spain's unemployments is 20.3%, shocking, but not nearly as shocking as the 60% you reported, and the green job initiative has not been implicated.

Hyperbole is not becoming.

@Avianwatcher

I'm sure that today the midwest is disappointed to realize that the global warming predictions of extreme weather and increased precipitation in the midwest and northeast were accurate.

@GarandFan

Oil is heavily subsidized, so, yes, the small subsidies to green energy would be a step toward a level playing field. Though it probably wouldn't be necessary if we paid the "true cost" of coal and oil.

Report Abuse Admin Delete CommentFeature CommentAdd Moderators Note

con no more said on: February 1, 2011, 5:27 pm

There is nothing wrong with the hockey stick graph showing extreme atmospheric warming in last hundred years. It has been confirmed yet again by two more INDEPENDENT methods--change in temperature dependent formanifera species fossils in arctic ocean sediment cores and the changes in magnesium levels in shells. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/arctic-waters-warmer-than-in-2000-years/?ref=science
All methods of analysis point to unprecedented and unnatural warming in last 2000 years, but especially in the last 100 years--the hockey stick graph.
Repeating the distortions and deceptions of those with a profit motive to employ liars for hire as "opinion makers" to create scientific sounding false 'facts' that an uniformed public might fall for, does not change actual, measurable, repeatedly proven facts that exist independent of the profit motive.
Come on Limbaugh listeners and Fox viewers, even on the tiniest chance that human caused increased carbon dioxide is a threat to future generations, isn't the rational CONSERVATIVE thing to do, to try to do something about a huge potential problem?

SoCalGuy said on: February 1, 2011, 5:21 pm

When I read scientific journal after scientific journal publish as gospel research papers replete with disclaimers such as "scientists now believe," "the evidence suggests," "findings indicate that such and such might," "new evidence overturns what scientists once believed," and on and on, the conclusion is that much of global warming science remains based in theory not fact.
"Facts" are not couched in disclaimers, "theories" are; "Believe", "suggests," etc., are disclaimers, not factual statements. The fact that scientists themselves are split in their agreement/disagreement, and shroud their research findings in perpetual disclaimers, this itself holds true that global warming is not fact, mere theory.
To the die-hard disciples who insist the science is infallable, despite the above argument, and who despite making otherwise strong points about less pollution, energy self-sufficiency, etc., riddle me this; why won't the enviro-nazis let us build the most energy-efficient, clean fuel available - nuclear energy? If nuclear energy is the cleanest fuel available, let's build the infrastructure. It would solve all the woes you cite plus provide energy to desalinate our oceans for fresh water

What irks most reasonable people is that you social engineers don't want to practice what you preach. You live in your mansions, drive your hummers and fly all over the world telling the minions of the land to cut back, pay more taxes and suck it up. Here's an idea; why not take your socialist act to countries with 700 million, a billion and more population and tell them to cut their fossil fuel use. Oh that's right, that's not your agenda... your agenda is to bankrupt your own country while redistributing "carbon taxes" in an effort to appear a good global neighbor.
Until the science of global warming gets 100% support from within its own institution - let alone from a force fed public - go pound sand.

tks said on: February 1, 2011, 5:12 pm

Thank you to the NC Times for writing about this group. Groups like the CCL should be applauded for their efforts to improve the lives of the rest of us. It's nice to see that there are people who volunteer their time and expertise to make a positive impact. More people should follow their lead: educate themselves and actively improve their community, even when their community fails to provide any support or respect.

liberalsvacuum said on: February 1, 2011, 4:38 pm

See how spain is handling their 'green' initiative and green jobs, 60pct unemployment and bankruptcy of a country

liberalsvacuum said on: February 1, 2011, 4:33 pm

Go nuclear and stick this 'clean energy' tax where it belongs - in the trash.

Of this world said on: February 1, 2011, 4:32 pm

What Alex? Thousands of climate scientists and you're fixated with Al Gore? What was it like riding the short yellow bus to school?

Alex said on: February 1, 2011, 3:57 pm

OMG! The eco-disciples are at it again with their snake-oil science. Gore has no knowledge of science or nature. He is just the voice box for bleeding heart liberal kooks like Of-This-World who want to digress our society back to the stone age.

Of this world said on: February 1, 2011, 2:31 pm

Astonishing the number of anti-science idiots here who disrespect thousands of climate scientists. These same people are quick to believe in the supernatural for answers and beleive the talking heads paid by Big Oil. As if the future of the earth is a 'liberal' thing. No wonder this great country is in decline.

Sandycb273 said on: February 1, 2011, 1:57 pm

To GarandFan and Independent:
You both seem interested in paleoclimatic reconstructions from the past millennia. There are great resources to learn more about this so you don't continue to misrepresent the work of scientists. I suggest realclimate.org, which has a post from 2005 called 'A Dummies Guide to the latest 'Hockey Stick' controversy,' which does a good job of explaining the principal components analysis relevant to these types of reconstruction. Please don't take offense at the title--it's a good primer for anyone. Other than that, they also have links to many other reconstructions (FYI Dr. Mann is not the only scientist to work on this stuff).

Weatherman said on: February 1, 2011, 1:38 pm

New clean energy ideas? You don't invent science, you make it work. The Manhatten project didn't invent anything, they took proven science and made it work. The crazy idea the enviro whackos have that some new science will suddenly appear is laughable if it were not hurting the poor so much. You want clean energy? Build 30 nuke plants in the state right now. THAT is science.

Independently Logical said on: February 1, 2011, 1:12 pm

Thank you NC Times for taking the issue of climate change seriously and speaking with a group who clearly has relevant real world ideas. The idea of a fee AND dividend approach will help generate new clean energy ideas and investments take foot in the market place, while protecting the consumer from price changes. Additionally, it is possible for individual households to benefit financially from this plan by conserving on their own. We all know the best place to create change is in the pocketbook; this plan creates an incentive to make the necessary changes. Thank you CCL for your well thought plan.

Independently Logical said on: February 1, 2011, 1:12 pm

Thank you NC Times for taking the issue of climate change seriously and speaking with a group who clearly has relevant real world ideas. The idea of a fee AND dividend approach will help generate new clean energy ideas and investments take foot in the market place, while protecting the consumer from price changes. Additionally, it is possible for individual households to benefit financially from this plan by conserving on their own. We all know the best place to create change is in the pocketbook; this plan creates an incentive to make the necessary changes. Thank you CCL for your well thought plan.

jimispapa said on: February 1, 2011, 12:23 pm

Jobs Please! Kick the green out with the progessive liberals who ruined the business climate of California. Just what we want to increase the cost of living is a tax or fee no one can afford

arrg said on: February 1, 2011, 11:43 am

Independent:

I don't understand multivariate regression and other techniques used by Mann, Bradley, Hughes, and my hypthesis is that you don't either. Recall that the National Academy of Sciences (whose standards for scientific discourse are higher than mine and even yours) reviewed MBH and found no fundamental flaws that overturn their result. Your need to debunk the hockey stick would have some relevance if you could show that a single scientific body relied solely on it. You can't. It is the preponderance of evidence (including several temperature recontructions by different researchers) that convinces the scientific community of the reality that we are initiating a global climate change that entails great risk.

A good place to learn about the Hockeystick is at the National Academy of Sciences website. Do a google search on "nas review mann, bradley hughes"; look for the site pnas.org.

Buford T. Pittfellow said on: February 1, 2011, 11:22 am

Who cares what these people think?

Why in the world should we be listening to the coal lobby?
Or any other lobby for that fact?

Independent said on: February 1, 2011, 11:19 am

Derek: Mann is Mr. Hockey stick.

His hockey stick, or should I say hokey stick, pattern is used to push his now questionable GLOBAL WARMING THEORY.

Derek said on: February 1, 2011, 10:59 am

Independent wrote: "Mann needed to show he was right so he ignored a different data set of 34 tree cores from the same area that showed no dramatic warming in recent history, and WARMER temperatures in the middle ages."
I don't think you understand the word "global" in the term "global warming".

Citizen6 wrote: "The point is NOT to increase tax burdens but to incentivize more sustainable solutions."

No, social engineering is not the answer. Better to correct the market failures and then let the market sort it out.

Citizen6 said on: February 1, 2011, 10:22 am

Thank you, CCL, for speaking the truth and offering a constructive solution. The point is NOT to increase tax burdens but to incentivize more sustainable solutions. If you are using cleaner energy you wouldn't pay as much; if you are more energy efficient, you would benefit, not pay. We need to put the rewards on things we want more of (healthier economy, cleaner energy, more stable climate system) and tax the things we want less of (air pollution, Middle East oil dependence, energy brownouts, and waste). I'm amazed Bilbray supports this, but I'm very glad to hear it.

Independent said on: February 1, 2011, 10:21 am

Businesses are leaving California because high taxes and intense regulation damage their ability to compete.

Boeing moved hundreds of jobs from Long Beach to Oklahoma City, why, so it can become more affordable to the government.

Northrup Grumman also moved from Los Angeles to Virginia because of tax and Environut regulations.

What other operations have moved due to regulatory madness in California?

Boat building, data centers, electronic game design ,online services, solar panel manufacturing, nutritional supplements, software development, medical research, computer R&D, aerospace components and assembly, and on and on the list goes.

Independent said on: February 1, 2011, 10:07 am

Mann used selected tree-ring data to prove that air temperatures had been stable for 900 years, then soared off the charts in the 20th century.
Mann had to somehow make the Medieval Warm Period (about A.D. 800 to 1400) and the Little Ice Age (A.D. 1600 to 1850) disappear.
He graphed data from trees on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia.

Here he carefully selected just 12 trees from the 252 cores in the CRU's Yamal data set.
Mann needed to show he was right so he ignored a different data set of 34 tree cores from the same area that showed no dramatic warming in recent history, and WARMER temperatures in the middle ages.
Obviously he did not include the conflicting data set.

Weatherman said on: February 1, 2011, 9:10 am

Just what the homeless and unemployed need in CA, more taxes to pay. The left are bent upon destroying the state. Not a Biz in the state not at least reviewing moving out now. Try collecting your taxes then democrats.

arrg said on: February 1, 2011, 8:59 am

Garandfan: I don't think you understand the Medieval warm period. Can you show that it represents a global temperature change of more that 0.5 deg C? Can you show that it was global and not regional? There are north-south see-saw mechanisms that disrupt heat exchange between the southern and northern hemispheres. These can cool one hemisphere while warming the other. A look at the GISP2, Vostok, and EPICA temperature reconstructions show the medieval warming period, as well as the little ice age, to be very subtle events compared to the global scope of doubled and quadrupled atmospheric CO2 levels. Regarding the East Anglia emails, can you show that they disprove any of the science? CRU's datasets look pretty much like NOAA's and NASA's. Are they all corrupt? If someone stole your private information, I would consider you the victim. If that information where taken out of context and paraded before an ignorant mob as proof of the mob's belief in a conspiracy, I'd still defend you. If a close look at the emails revealed nothing, again, I would defend you and castigate the perpetrators of the theft. Ethically, you're on the wrong side.

jg

Avianwatcher said on: February 1, 2011, 8:28 am

Just for fun let's ask the people of the mid west and east how they feel about what "global warming" is doing to them.......today!

GarandFan said on: February 1, 2011, 8:20 am

con no more - then explain the "medieval warming period", since you are so enamored of "facts". You forgot to drag out your hockey stick diagram. Ooops! That was a bit of fiction as well, wasn't it? Maybe you can explain the East Anglia emails - you remember, "the dog ate my data". Why not trot on up to the Northeast and explain 'global warming' to them right about now? Better yet, regale us with all those Monster Hurricanes that were going to follow Katrina.

BigBadJohn said on: February 1, 2011, 8:05 am

There's an old adage that if you tax something you get less of it. Too bad we can't tax these environmental pretenders whose only tangible motive is to destroy the economy.

arrg said on: February 1, 2011, 8:04 am

Con no more: it is so refreshing to read your comments and to know that someone here knows the state of the science. We are committed to a global change greater than anything humanity has experienced in the past 10,000 years, and without drastic cuts in our emmissions, we'll get a total temperature change comparable to an ice age (but in the warmer direction). The Earth will survive, but the agriculture needed to support 7 billion inhabitants is threatened. Global climate is a recipe for famine.
Others: every credible scientific society on the planet agrees on the points made by Con No More. Zaphod, Speciallist, Garandfan: name a single peer-reviewed science journal that you've read. Or, just name any peer-reviewed science journal, whether you've read it or not.
jg

GarandFan said on: February 1, 2011, 7:40 am

Reading this article leads me to believe I've followed Alice into the rabbit hole. Talk about "jabberwocky". A 'fee' (aka tax) will be added to the cost of fossil fuel. This will raise the price on everything. But not to worry, this 'fee' will be returned to the consumer in the form of a 'dividend' - less of course the amount necessary to run the huge bureaucracy needed to run it. Somehow the bureaucracy will determine the amount apportioned to each family (aka income redistribution). Green energy will now be 'competitive'. Huh? How? It's being subsidized! That's not competition. But again, not to worry. Green energy producers will find ways to reduce their costs. Oh? Where's the incentive to reduce costs? They've got a protected price structure in their favor. Obviously the Climate Clowns didn't learn anything when they were going to 'save us money' by deregulating the electricity market. We all know how well that turned out. I've got the feeling that somewhere, George Orwell is laughing his head off.

con no more said on: February 1, 2011, 7:37 am

I see we have a couple of posts by our friends who have been fooled by FOXnotNews and/or been lied to by Limbaugh.
Denial of facts does not make global warming go away.
(1)Carbon dioxide is increasing at an alarming rate in our atmosphere.

(2)Carbon Dioxide causes green house warming.

(3)Carbon dioxide is the natural thermostat that increases the atmospheric amount of other green house gases (water vapor, methane) as it increases in the atmosphere.

(4)The extra heat retained in our atmosphere by these extra green house gases make storms more severe and crop failures more likely.

(5)The increased carbon dioxide in our atmosphere can be traced directly to humans burning of 200 million year old fossil carbon by the isotopic signatures of the carbon in the atmospheric carbon dioxide.

(6)The major reason that our weather has not gone completely haywire yet is the huge carbon dioxide sink (or sponge) provided by ocean water that cover 2/3rds of this planet.

(7)The carbon dioxide absorbed in the ocean sink has been so vast that the acid levels of the ocean are changing with resultant massive death among sea life that relies on calcium carbonate shells (corals, oysters, and most important the "grass" of the sea, coccoliths at the base of the ocean food pyramid).

The above seven are verifiable facts. If you do not understand one of these facts, don't think that listening to a hired gun "opinion maker" on AM radio or FOXnotNews will change that fact. Lies don't change facts. Facts are facts.
The only question is what to do about the problem. Do we stop using fossil fuels cold turkey? Do we phase them out slowly? How slowly? What much phasing out can our economy bear and what is too much? These are the questions honest conservatives, moderates and liberals are asking.
Let's get to some solutions like discussing a carbon tax, cap and trade (originally a Republican idea!, slowing our use of fossil fuels by conservation, financing research into non fossil sources of energy, etc.

We need to be responsible. Think about our children's future. Don't just jump on the band wagon with the liars because they call themselves Republican or Conservative or even Christian. The liars are not really any of those. They are amoral. They will say whatever they are paid to say by those who find "morally challenged" opinion makers a convenient tool to provide political cover to hide behind while they get wealthy at the expense of our children.

Derek said on: February 1, 2011, 7:37 am

A carbon tax would internalize a negative externality of gasoline usage, making it easier for people to make rational choices. Correcting market failures is ALWAYS good for capitalism!

Yanqui said on: February 1, 2011, 7:15 am

Yeah, let's throw gas on the fire. We're not broke enough, especially in California. Let's go totally, radically liberal in our thought. Let's give China all the push and shove we can. They are not worried about Warming, only the liberals in the USA.

Independent said on: February 1, 2011, 6:08 am

A carbon fee on fossil fuels would not even the playing field for alternative energy sources, it would cripple our weak economy more then it is now ,and speed the transition to a depression.
We need technical answers that solve battery charge rates, capacity, and cost.
Once those hurdles are overcome, AND an inexpensive home charging system is developed to handle 2 to 4 cars per household along with the required grid capacity, then the market will drive change not your wishfull pie in the sky thinking.
Forcing expensive technology onto the masses will only push us into a depression, for if the US consumer has to be forced into capitulation what make you think the rest of the world can afford an overly expensive inadequate system.

speciallist said on: January 31, 2011, 11:54 pm

"People need to understand that the science is settled," she said.
These women are dangerous. If people take this crap seriously, we are Doomed.

ZaphodB said on: January 31, 2011, 11:25 pm

More bureaucracy, more taxes, and redirecting cash (with the bureaucrats taking a good chunk of it) to the pet projects of a single group, based on a Hypothesis that has failed multiple tests. NO THANKS.
Anthropogenic C02 Based Global warming is a Hypothesis, and the Scientific method is about experimental testing of hypotheses, which the AGW Hypothesis has failed in several cases, and therefore doesn't pass scientific muster on the basis that any disproof invalidates a Hypothesis, and requires that it be restated. Science is not about consensus. Copernicus showed the Ptolemaic universe was invalid when the consensus was that the Universe was heliocentric. A single disproof is all that is required, under the Scientific Method, for an entire theory to fall, yet we keep hearing AGW touted as fact despite multiple inconsistencies in its assumptions and predictions as measured against observed fact, not to mention clear omissions (atmospheric dust and cloud cover) in the models.
This state is in enough trouble as it is. What we need is LESS taxes, LESS bureaucracy, a lower cost of living and business (and energy, which is mostly carbon based, is a primary input to the cost of everything), before this state winds up bankrupt. Oh wait, it already is, thanks to decades of the left's half-baked ideas.
We need a lot less of the left's "do-good" and a lot more of unfettering those who actually DO SOMETHING.

What's Up in the Sky, February 2011

2011-02-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

As part of my What's Up presentations to my astronomy club, here is my summary of the February sky. I'm a little late, but this presentation is good for another month, and will be good next year in February, too.

My presentation is in Flash and can be viewed at this link:
http://www.brightstarstemeculavalley.org/whatsup/WhatsUp.html

Star Party 11 January 2011, Murrieta Library

2011-01-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

The Murrieta Library is hosting a star party from 6-8 on Tues., January 11. The Temecula Valley Astronomers will be providing their telescopes to look through and a presentation.
Start time is 6:00 pm. An indoor presentation begins at 6:15 (Between 6:05-6:10 pm, the International Space Station will pass overhead).

Weather permitting, Jupiter and the moon will be prominent in the evening. Uranus is also visible in a telescope along with many fine star clusters.

Update: As of 12:30, 1/11/11, the weather outlook is not promising. However, the star party will continue regardless of weather. Sometimes we get breaks in the clouds; sometimes a telescope will bring out the moon and Jupiter though light clouds obscure them, and there will be in indoor presentation for anyone making the trip.

Update (1/14): The Murrieta Patch covered the star party: http://murrieta.patch.com/articles/star-party-at-the-murrieta-library-draws-families-to-view-jupiter-moon-and-orion

jg

Astronomy: What's Up in the Sky in January 2011

2011-01-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

My astronomy club, The Temecula Valley Astronomers, begins each of our general meetings with a "What's Up" overview of the night sky. As of January 2011, I'll be giving the What's Up presentation. I've posted my first presentation given at our January meeting here: What's Up, Jan. 2011.

There are numerous references for current night sky information. So, I'm adding one more, which raises the question of why should I attempt to create something original. I hope to blend illustration with personal observation to make the night sky more accessible to those I reach in my community and the greater online community. And I hope to learn by being accessible to others.

Comments, questions, and criticism are welcome.

jg

Some highlights from What's Up for January 2011:

Sun pillar

2011-01-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

A sun pillar, that could be a mundane ray of light:

I watched this effect for 3 minutes till it faded. The beam never changed it's orientation over the 3 minutes.

jg

3 bright moving lights over Lake Elsinore, Jan 6

2011-01-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

Driving West this evening, about 7:30 pm, I saw three lights over the basin of Lake Elsinsore do a little dance in the sky. I wasn't alone observing this. The initial impression was of the meteor scene from the movie Dinosaur. There were three objects with trails and more than once one of the three would merge with another. I thought perhaps military helicoptors with lights, but I'm more inclined to believe it was a night parachuting activity, as the movement of the lights, and their proximity is consistent with parachutes.

I observed the lights on Scott Road, and lost them as Scott Road nears the large hill with the transmission towers. however, I thought one of the lights that I could still see while the other two were cut off by the silhouette of the hill appeared to wink out on it's own, though a pilot turned off his light or flare.

I'm eager to learn if others observed this.

jg

cold weather atmospheric optics

2010-12-31T09:19:00.000-08:00

Astronomy is a 24-hour hobby, as I'm always seeing something worth capturing. Below is a Christmas sundog and an exceptional shadow from a contrail.

Sundog photographed on Christmas day

Contrail casting a long shadow

Vostok icecore and Earth's orbit graphs

2010-12-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

Almost two weeks ago, I had the honor of guest posting at Skeptical Science, sharing my latest illustration project, the Vostok Viewer, an interactive graphing tool that displays data from the Vostok icecore alongside calculations of Earth's orbit (data sources: Vostok; orbit; modern CO2).

My guest post: Skeptical Science: Ice data made cooler

I received a lot of constructive feedback and have started adding the suggested features. I've exposed my version 2 and qualified it as beta (in progress), as I have a couple known programming bugs:

A cautious user (someone not trying to evoke a failure) will have the benefit of displaying graphs, adjusting their scale, and showing and hiding labels for an informative yet uncluttered display.

My known bugs are:
1. Displaying the modern CO2 graph while viewing a pre-modern time era will create a later failure where orbit graphs fail to update when changing time periods.
2. The graph labels may fail to align with their graphs when time periods are changed.
jg

Tangential Arc

2010-12-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

On Dec 1, I saw for my first time, a tangential arc, an optical effect caused by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals. Also visible, though barely perceptible, was a circumzenithal arc. The top right photo was manipulated to bring out the color of the circumzenithal arc.

I highly recommend the website Atmospheric Optics to learn more about this an other related phenomena.

Palaeoclimate graphs from Vostok Ice Core and Orbit Calculations

2010-11-29T12:34:00.000-08:00

I have envied the climate charts I've seen in Wikipedia and in science journals showing temperatures, CO2, insolation, and orbit parameters over the past million years, so I decided to create my own viewer: Vostok Viewer

I've taken the data from these sources:

Petit, J.R., et al., 2001, Vostok Ice Core Data for 420,000 Years, IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2001-076. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.
Astronomical Solutions for Earth Paleoclimates. A&A 428, 261-285 (2004), DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20041335; Laskar, J., Robutel, P., Joutel, F., Gastineau, M., Correia, A.C.M., Levrard, B. : 2004, A long term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth.

and created this:

...which is a Flash-based viewer that allows you to see graphs of data from these sources and to zoom in on specific periods, such as the Eemian:

My program is crude at this time. I plan to add more features for controlling the appearance of the graphs as well as flexible views of the timeline (so a user can focus on any period rather than those I've configured). And of course, I'll add other data sets, but for now I hope to iron out the features using the data I have.

I started this project when I wanted to see if observations I was making about the Eemian held up for other interglacials. I saw a strong correlation between summer insolation at 65 degrees N and the onset of interglacial temperatures. This correlation was consistent with what I've read from science journals. However, from my Vostok Viewer, I'm observing that the correlation isn't as visually striking for the interglacials at 240 kya and 325 kya:

The green line in the above graphs is June insolation at 65 degrees N. For the onset of the Holocene and Eemian, you can see that the green curve corresponds to rises in temperature (yellow) and CO2 (lavender), but in the earlier interglacials, the solar forcing peaks before the peak in temperature and CO2.

This discrepancy invites more study from me. Are there see-saw effects that delayed warming in Antarctica or are there margins of error in the dating of the CO2 and temperature values? Is it time for me to open the book on more sophisticated data analysis? I'm sure the climatologists know. Here, I'm trying to do my homework before asking.

Dark sky Wildomar, a standard for preservation

2010-11-14T12:15:00.000-08:00

I'm using the Milky Way as a metric for local light pollution. I don't expect to restore the skies of ten years ago, rather, I hope only to keep the Milky Way visible from typical backyards. Below is a photo of the Milky Way on August 12, 2010 from my backyard. Though the contrast is poor, our galaxy is still visible to the naked eye and to the camera.

Photo: Region near Sagitarius and Scutum.

Comet Hartely 2

2010-11-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just started following comet Hartley 2. It's faint, but detectable from moderately light polluted skies. Below is a wide-field view taken with a 28mm camera lens and an inset taken with a 3-inch telescope at a focal ratio of f5. (Click to enlarge the photo.)

Op Ed promotes geoengineering; my letter refutes

2010-10-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

As an informed citizen, I try my best to correct misunderstandings on the science of climate change that appear in local media. This gives me plenty to do.

Eleven days ago, The Californian ran this op-ed by Dana Milbank in which he argues that we need to consider geo-engineering should efforts to control greenhouse gas levels fail.

Climate Change Plan B

I agree with him to the extent that we are failing miserably to control emissions and that some geo-engineering solutions may need to to considered to buy us time, but his description of many geo-engineering options and describing them as opportunities that haven't been explored is ignorant of the science. It is disturbing that columnists say such things and then are allowed additional op-eds before their previous errors can be corrected.

My letter ran today:

Geoengineering

The defining feature of my article is that it's 200 words. I'm also guilty of a little political manipulation. I refer to the conservative side of me recognizing that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I used the word "conservative" for it's original meaning: tending to conserve the resourses we have. But, I was writing for the paper, and during election season, so I knew people will read "conservative" in it's political sense, where conservative on ecology and conservative in political outlook do not mix.

The issue is not to convince liberals or anyone open to scientific conclusions that climate change is real and dangerous. The issue is in convincing conservatives, as they have to be part of the solution. Climate change is becoming the frog in the boiling pot of water experiment. Next year continues to look only slightly worse than this year. We do not hear the clicking of the rachet.

Of couse, as an animal loving liberal, I've never boiled a frog for myself. I hope I don't have to, and I hope humanity doesn't take the global experiment much farther.

jg

Orbital forcing 135 kya

2010-10-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm building a viewer that will show orbital configurations with climate data from the Vostok ice core (and from other sources when I get to them). Below is an orbital configuration from 135 kya. Assuming I've reconstructed this time correctly, it shows an orbital configuration that puts the solstices at right angles to the Earth's semi-major axis (blue line connecting perihelion to the sun). Such a configuration should cancel out the effect of eccentricity, an effect that can heat the hemispheres unequally. In this configuration, no hemisphere gets its peak summer at perihelion, where it would otherwise get significantly more solar energy. Notice how the insolation graphs of 60 degrees N and 60 degrees South cross at this time. Click the illustration to enlarge it.

I'm sharing for the fun of learning about climate, especially the astronomical component of Earth's glacial and interglacial phases. This illustration is an elaboration of one used in my Earth, Orbit, and Climate presentation, which I've recently updated. I claim no scientific credentials; just an enthusiasm to learn and share, while inviting criticism.

Stopping to admire the camouflage

2010-10-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

You really have to admire the camouflage of these horned toad lizards:

Can you see the lizard?

Here's another photo with my shadow almost holding the lizard (almost, because I didn't want to scare it away):

And another view:

Supervisor Marion Ashley fails to understand basic lighting design yet speaks

2010-10-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Today's Californian covers the Riverside County Board of Supervisors review of light trespass, brought before the Board by Supervisor Tavaglione (http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/article_9b21982f-eb68-506a-b736-428477b26114.html).

The article reports Supervisor Ashley saying that

"most commercial properties before the board in the last decade or two have been vetted to ensure they are dark-skies friendly and 'There's probably not a lot more they can do unless they turn the lights out'."

Ashley reveals some misunderstanding of lighting and light trespass. Set aside for the moment that the County has allowed numerous violations of the lighting ordinance on commerical properties, light trespass refers to bad aim, and there is a simple solution.

Consider this photo of an arc around the sun. Notice how the photographer (me) is using the object in the foreground as a shield to block the bright direct light of the sun. I'm not advocating turning off the sun, but shielding it so I can see and take the photograph.

Now observe these lights. The top one is typical light installed by a developer, and shines more light on the neighbor's house than it shines on the property on which it's installed. This is bad design, wasteful use of energy, and light trespass.

The bottom photo is a properly shielded light, and everyone can see (and sleep) better.

Light trespass regulation isn't about denying anyone the right to light their property; rather, it requires that they do just that, light their own property.

The real advantage of a light trespass standard is that developers will stop installing lights that will be subject to a legal complaint. Instead, they should use lights with reflective hoods that aim all the light onto the property the light is intended to illuminate. By using all the light, the property owner will get effective lighting with a lower watt bulb.

Update 20 Oct 10. The Board voted 5-0 in favor:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/article_fe72a3aa-f71e-5467-970f-8db0bca2ffb5.html

Riverside County Considers Regulating Light Trespass

2010-10-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

Riverside County is considering a light trespass ordinance that will give a property owner some legal recourse to deal with an intrusive light. In doing so, the County will be recognizing the concept of "light trespass," a term I first heard used by the International Dark-sky Association. It's a good term, accurate, simple to understand, and describes a pervasive mis-use of light. I've been approached many times by people asking me if there's anything they can do (legally) about a neighbor's annoying light. "No," has always been my answer. Now, I'll say "wait."

It should be noted that a light trespass regulation doesn't stop anyone from lighting their own property; rather it stops them from lighting their neighbor's property. I've never met anyone who likes having a neighbor's bright light shining into their bedroom windows; and I've never met anyone who insists on the right to light a neighbor's property. I think a lot of people, however, will fall in between: they will want to retain the right to not have to care what type of light fixture they install; thus, they see their right not to care as greater than another's right to enjoy darkness.

I do foresee some challenges, depending on the scope of the ordinance. If the ordinance will not be retroactive on home owners, then it will be difficult to invoke. How does one prove that an intrusive light was installed after the ordinance went into force? One would have to photograph the surrounding properties before the light was installed. Not many people would think to do this before the offense.

Businesses will balk at anything that's retro-active, yet they are some of the worst offenders. Some consider it their right to shine bright white light beyond their property and into the sky as an indirect means of attracting customers or to cater to the perception that light makes for safety, and therefore, more light makes for more safety. (I accept that well aimed light may enhance safety. Businesses should be allowed prominent signs and well lit entry ways. It's when they neglect good design and illuminate indescriminately that the net gain is reduced by the nuisance, glare, waste of energy, and light pollution.)

Billboards are very indescriminate about how much light they use and where they shine it. A downlit design is available. We should require that it be used, especially in the 45-mile radius of Palomar Observatory. No light trespass standards applied to new construction can save money and energy, as well as protect the nightsky. All of these are benefits in addition to the intended goal of freeing people from intrusive lighting.

I recommend that cities encourage the County of Riverside and leverage it's efforts in order to adopt their own lighting trespass regulations. Residents should consider contacting their county supervisors to support the development of light trespass regulation. This issue os schedule for discussion on Oct 19, 2010.

jg

References:

http://www.swrnn.com/southwest-riverside/2010-10-15/news/rivco-board-of-supervisors-to-consider-proposal-to-limit-outdoor-lights

Update: 16 Oct. 2010: I've added some light trespass examples.

This is the type of lighting that the ordinance would address. Notice how far beyond the property these lights shine. Here's a close-up taken with a zoom lens:

The grand opening of Gerrome's Furniture in Murrieta demonstrates a business thinking the sky is their advertising space that they have the right to stomp on research at Palomar Observatory.

The search lights are a violation of Murrieta's civic code. The night I took this photo, I went into the store and had a promising chat with the manager. I said intervening via code enforcement would be a lose-lose situation, and perhaps Gerome's would consider after their opening to bring the lighting the store inherited within the city's code. The manager struck me as genuinely concerned and gave me contact person at the corporate office. However, the contact number didn't work and so I tried contacting other departments at Gerome's corporate office and made polite inquiries via their phone message system. None of my inquiries were acknowledged, and since then, Gerome's has added more snshielded white lighting to their building.

Candidates for Wildomar City Council on Light Pollution

2010-10-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I've asked the candidates for Wildomar City Council to comment on light pollution (see part 1). In my offer, I asked to print what they said or offered to summarize their views. Some accepted my offer to summarize. Others provided quotable prose. I intend no bias in either form of comment, just an acknowledgement that in my summaries, I may have erred and will make corrections. I also put the candidates comments or summaries in an arbitrary order. No bias in sequence is intended.

This project started with a promise to myself to meet each candidate. After getting my first response, which was a pleasant experience, I realized I might be doing a service to the community by capturing and sharing all of the candidates' views.

Though this post is an opportunity to put candidates on record, the real benefit is that these candidates have done the cause of protecting the night sky a great service. They all believe a starry night is a part of Wildomar that they wish to protect.

Ben Benoit (my summary based on a telephone conversation):

I learned that Ben and I both own the same type of telescope. His scope and that he complimented me on the recent astronomy night in the park suggested a genuine interest in astronomy, and therefore, an appreciation for protecting the night sky. He doesn't see dark skies protection as an impediment to commercial growth, but it may not be reasonable to correct via punitive measures lighting that, though in violation, was given an approval by the appropriate agency, such as County before incorporation, and City, after. As I relayed examples of newly constructed facilities that are in violation of our lighting ordinance, he offered to examine whether these new projects were given approval by the County or City Planning Department.

Sheryl Ade:

I think dark skies/bright stars one of the hallmark lifestyle elements of Wildomar.

I can tell you that I've worked and lobbied over the last year to bring in a new Planning Director for Wildomar. We now have a new Planning Director - Matt Bassi. I will be meeting with him this week to discuss a number of things "Wildomar" and will bring up the importance of the light pollution ordinance. We also have a new public works director, Tim D'Zmura and a new City Engineer, Steve Palmer. All have excellent qualifications and will, I believe, add value to our City planning, development and building processes. I will make sure they all understand that the light pollution ordinance is of significance to our community and give them some background (as well as your webpage).

I'll request that they look at the issues you mention in your email as well as direct them to contact you regarding the Clinton Keith lighting issues.

Tim Walker:

I agree with you that we need to keep our sky as dark as possible. I remember when I first came here in 1979. I purchased my property and was amazed at how many stars there were. Coming from inner-city LA we had no chance to see the beauty that was up there.

The lights of the cities of Temecula and Murrieta drive me crazy. I do want our town to keep light pollution under control. The developer's that will be coming to our city will need to address this in their plans. I'm not sure exactly where the city stands on this. I will try to find out and make sure that all of our concerns are heard.

The business owners that are here now cannot be forced to change their lights if they have been approved before building. I had to place shields on our lights when I had my first company here. The county was very concerned about the Palomar Mountain Observatory. That was 20 years ago and you can see that they let us all down.

Hopefully we can maintain our beautiful skies for our children and grandchildren.

Marsha Swanson:

I am totally in favor of saving our night sky. I have lived here for 36 years and the night sky was the first thing I noticed when we moved in. I also really appreciate the time and information you give to our kids at the park.

Martha Bridges (summarized based on conversation and correspondence):

Martha has shared with me on a couple occasions that she feels we need to protect our night sky. She says that city councils and planning departments in the valley need to be proactive in protecting our sky with strict enforcement of codes, and careful monitoring of what developers and individuals choose for outdoor lighting. Martha sees a need for balancing the protection of our environment against the drive for commercial development she sees being advocated by most of the other Wildomar Council candidates. Martha also describes herself as an active environmentalist and sees the night sky as part the environment she wishes to protect. Most notably, she has offered to help me in addressing current violations of our lighting ordinance regardless of the outcome of the city council election.

Kristan Lloyd (Added 12 Oct 2010):

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this issue.
I believe that dark skies are an important feature of our community's rural nature and it's disconcerting that community members have noticed that enforcement of our lighting ordinance falling by the wayside.

Wildomar is very fortunate to have informed and dedicated community members that are passionate about preserving our community for future generations. I would like to see the city council making all efforts to include more of the wealth of knowledge that individuals have to offer with a community committee that addresses issues such as this one.

I have recently read several articles regarding dark skies and its ability to engage our special needs children as well as keeping us in touch with something that is bigger than ourselves. These articles referred to out in nature camping experiences but with our busy schedules we should be able to walk out into our own backyard and see our skies without a haze of light pollution.

Safety is always brought up as an issue but studies have shown that outdoor security lighting does not reduce crime and uses approximately 800 pounds of coal each year per light.
I am very interested in learning more about the alternatives that are available that will put safety first and foremost for the community while also keeping light pollution down so we can all experience a rural night sky. These options need to be brought forth to the city council, staff and planning commission so that future projects not only meet the current ordinance but take advantage of all possibilities available to protect our night skies.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Light-Pollution-Can-Affect-the-Environment&id=646446

Issa and 'Climategate'

2010-10-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Being a follower of climate science, it has been difficult to not hear about the "climategate" scandal, which is based on the theft and misinterpretation of private correspondence between scientists. I commented in my local paper before on this issue and invited critics to reach me here. This otherwise non-issue returns with my House representative commenting on the need for investigation, as reported here:

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/09/23/23climatewire-rep-issa-would-lead-climategate-probe-if-hou-44766.html

I examined my representative's climate change position, which didn't address my concern, so I sent this inquiry (and received an acknowledgement that my comment had been received):

The 9/23/10 New York times says that you will be ramping up an investigation into "climategate" if Republicans take the House. I have been studying climate science and would like to know 1) whether the New York Times accurately portrayed your intentions and 2) what are your plans regarding oversite of climate science and an investigation of "climategate"
thank you,

After three days with no reply, I send this letter to my local paper:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/letters/article_33584c5a-db25-5a54-b455-971944a77ab9.html

As of today, I have not received a reply from my representative. It's possible that he has been too busy responding to other inquiries made before mine: e.g., http://www.change.org/petitions/view/stop_investigating_climategate_already
(I just discovered the above petition today and was disappointed by the lack of date information; it doesn't say when it started nor when it will end.)

Politicians have tried to intimidate scientists before. Such behavior is going on as I write, for example, yesterday's Washington Post covers a similar situation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/05/AR2010100504908.html

jg

Dark skies and Wildomar City Council Elections

2010-10-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

In the Nov. 2010 election, Wildomar will elect three council members. I have sent each of the six candidates for city council the following question (see answers):

I would like to know your view on protecting a part of our community's rural nature, that is a fairly dark nighttime sky. Like Temecula and Murrieta, Wildomar has adopted a light pollution ordinance. Much development in Temecula and Murrieta shows that these communities have forgotten to enforce their lighting ordinance. Wildomar is beginning to slip in the same direction with the new developments along Clinton Keith as well as with retrofits to some churches and community group buildings. I believe a dark sky is a rural quality that can be preserved while we still develop economically. I would like to know if you see the issue as I do, and if so how you would protect our night sky.

Below are examples of what I'm refering to. Each of these photos shows lighting installed after Wildomar's incorporation, and each is in violation of Riverside County ordinance 655 and Wildomar's ordinance 8.80. I cite both ordinances because some of these developments would have been approved by Riverside County before incorporation.

Unshielded white light used for Class II application (supposed to be low-pressure sodium and any use of white light must have full cut off shielding)

Unshielded white light on building and white light used for parking lot.

Liberal use of unshielded white decorative lights.

Class II lights should be low-pressure sodium. The main structures on this property use unshielded white light floodlights (not shown)

As with any open-book test, my question gives away what I think is a correct answer. My goal is not to expose a candidate for a view I would find contrary, but rather, to invite candidates to consider, if they haven't before, the value of a dark sky as part of the community they love and wish to serve, and that there will be challenges and opportunities. I do not expect violations of the lighting ordinance to get the same treatment as violations to health and safety. Nor do I wish an antagonizing relationship with any business that is in violation. But I do consider the beauty of our night a quality of life issue, a trace element that cannot be forgotten, and I think it should be a matter of pride, a symbol of support for the community, for a business to comply with all of their community's policies.

I will be summarizing and sharing my responses from the candidates in a follow-up to this post.

jg

Brush fires

2010-09-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

The center of this picture shows a hill that burned about 10 years ago. The hill is split at the middle of the picture by a dark vegetation line showing where the fire stopped. The left side burned, the right didn't. The left is now mostly grasses and small herbs; the right is chaparral, consisting of large bushes that are mostly 4-6 feet high but can get up to 10 feet high.

My region offers ample opportunities to observe brush fires. The chaparral and forests are dry throughout June through October. The 14-20 inches of rain per year falls mostly in the winter months.

I've been watching the recovery of the above hillside to see if it restores the vegetation it had before the fire, or whether the fire, helped by the following ten years of lower than normal rainfall, has pushed this brush into grassland. Throughout this range and along the slopes of the one I'm standing on for the picture, you can see a transition from brush to grass. The brush I'm standing among has many scorched logs, but unlike the burned area I show above, it has had either time or time during adequate rainfall to recover.

As I turn my back and continue west, I encounter a blend of brush and grass that looks ready to burn:

This brush is difficult for people to walk pass through, unless you're small enough to use the coyote trail in the middle. Here too is evidence that climate is promoting a change in ground cover. Most of the tall bushes in this picture are a species of ceonothus and most are dead. Three years ago these hills bloomed thick with their white flowers in late winter, but last winter, there was noticably less bloom on the hills.

Continuing along the trail, I reach an area that has burned within the past two weeks.

What is remarkable for me, other than the constrast between detail before a burn and the simplicity after, is how smooth the otherwise impassable ground is, that is, unless there is a rock outcrop:

Rocky outcrops present another intrigue: fire seems thorough, and its ashes cover all fragments of vegetation and most of the rock, but here are there are rocks that appear to have been completely missed by the scorching:

If rocks had any sense of time, they'd go mad. A break from the monotany must be a fire, for then you get bouts of rapid weathering. You can see the accelorated exfoliation on many rocks, parts where the outer layers flaked off, exposing clean rock among the charred surface.

The contrast between the flaked areas and charring is remarkable, but so is the only remaining yucca plants:

The yuccas look like little white flags amongs the coals, demanding a closer look:

These yucca sport the only green to be found on any vegetation in the burn. Here's an unburned yucca for comparison:

In its first season, the yucca grows to the size shown here. In the second, it puts up a flowering stalk. At this time of year, all the stalks are dead and laying next to their dead hosts; these yucca die after they flower and bear fruit.

I suspect that the fire started near the road. In this picture, you can see the burn extend to a ravine (not seen) and then vegetation and homes appear on the other side.

A small trail of charred ground extends from the road in this ravine, enlarges to engulf the area I passed through, and then ends at a perimeter defined by bulldozer tracks, torn bushes and broken rock, and evidence of flame retardant.

(Flame retardant on a rock)

(bull dozed sugar bushes)

(A defiant stick, all that's left from probably a manzanita)

It is my plan to monitor the recovery of this area over many seasons. My observations will include the untouched, burned, bulldozed areas as well as the unburned plants that got covered with fire-retardant.

Back to my roots

2010-09-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

My initial fascination with science (not counting dinosaurs), began with the study of botony and my perceived need to be able to identify any species of tree while passing at 50 mph. However, identifying everything one may find while hiking is a lot more difficult. I've started collecting my plant photos in an interactive plant identification guide that will, if nothing else, help me to know when I've already photographed a specific species.

My plant identification guide can be viewed here: http://www.brightstarstemeculavalley.org/science/ImagesEverything_botony.html

One clicks a category or attribute on the left and the selections get narrowed down and results are displayed on the right.

I'll be improving the interface while continually adding images and new species. The main problem I need to fix first is the biome filters (chaparral, montane, riparian, etc.). I need to make these add each set they describe. Currently, if you click two biomes, my program removes all species except those I've tagged as being in both selected biomes. This is first on my list of enhancements.

jg

Earth, Orbit, and Climate for Sierra Club, 23 Sept

2010-09-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

Thurs, 23 Sept., 7:00 pm at the Rancho California Water District building in Temecula, Ca, I'll be presenting the latest version of my talk on Earth, Orbit and Climate. In Earth, Orbit, and Climate, I share what I've learned in the past few years about the astronomical foundation of climatology, and specifically, the roll of Earth's orbit in governing climate over millennial time scales. I also discuss greenhouse gases and Earth's carbon cycle.

I draw heavily on the following resources:

Trenberth, Fasullo, Kiehl: Earth's Global Energy Budget
Pierre-Humbert, Principles of Planetary Climate
Laskar, Robutel, Joutel, Castineau, Correia, Levrard: 2004, A long term numerical solution for insolation quantities of Earth (Astronomical solutions for Earth Paleaoclimates)
Petit et al., 2001, Vostok Ico Core Data for 420,000 Years (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/vostok_co2.html and http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/vostok_isotope.html)
Kopp et al (Nature 17 Dec 2009)
Hanson, Storms of My Grandchildren
NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (source of Earth, Venus, and Mars images used in illustrations)

My revised presention will be online within the next few weeks (current version: Earth, Orbit and Climate). My new version will remove the section on the solar system, which was pretty weak (on my part; no reflection on my source). The most exciting change is that I've added a section on the Eemian interglacial in which I've used astronomical solutions, CO2 levels, and temperature data from the above references to illustrate the Milankovich theory of climate. Below is an illustration from the presentation.

Within a few weeks I hope to update the online version and provide elaboration here for the fun of sharing as well as exposing my work for educational criticism.

Eemian orbital forcing

2010-09-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Astronomical solutions for paleoclimates generates Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, tilt, climatic precession, and insolation) over a span of 50 million years in the past to 20 million years in the future. One of my slow learning projects has to been to use the output from this program to create illustrations of orbital configurations at key climatic transitions, such as the Eemian interglacial. When graphed, data of orbital parameters often look like this:

(Diagram redrawn from Wikipedia and IPCC 4th Assessment Report)

For a scientist, this is useful, but not being a scientist I looked for a display that I would find inituitive and useful for explaining what I'm learning to others. I'm not going for precision, but rather, for an illustration that can show the change and show when some orbit parameters would have a collective warming or cooling influence. For example, the following contains my exaggeration of orbit eccentricity and tilt:

Tilt is a stretching of the 4-season ring so that the points of summer and winter solstice are elongated. Elongated means tilt is high, making summers and winters more extreme. Eccentricity is the blue elipse, which is exaggerated in relation to Earth's real orbit so that one can easily see when a solstice occurs near perihelion or near aphelion, and then intuitively recognize that this can make a northern hemisphere summer or winter on top of tilt milder (winter near perihelion or summer near aphelion) or more extreme (winter near aphelion; summer near perihelion).

So here are three orbits from the Eemian, starting from right to left, 30,000, 27,000, and 24,000 years ago:

I think I captured the orbits correctly (according to my analogy) in the top half of the diagram. The bottom half is wrong, but I'm keeping it as a puzzle for me to ponder how to fix (the right Earth should be paired with the left orbit; and the left, with the right, but I still want the tilt oriented to the sun).

Using Astronomical Solutions, I gathered the mean monthly insolation for June at 60 degrees North latitude. I chose 1000-year intervals to minimize the numbers I have to chart. I included eccentricity, tilt, and climatic precession. Also, I generated the insolation for 60 degrees South latitude during December, so I could compare the Northern summer's solstice to the Southern summer's solstice. One can see a big difference in insolation as a result of the two summers occuring at opposite ends of Earth's orbit. I also throw in some Holocene values to compare astronomical forcing of the Eemian to today.

Next, I hope to get some data on CO2 increases from warming (which in turn would warm the Eemian further) and add some illustrations of possible arctic and ocean feedbacks that will have added to warming or would have contributed to the rise of atmospheric CO2.

Lizard on mirror

2010-09-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Amateur astronomy presents numerous surprises. In this case, a friend of mine was having trouble collimating his newtonian reflector. Astute problem solving quickly determined the cause:

This photo shows the view down the aperature of a rather high-end telescope he uses for imaging. The sacrosanct mirror is at the bottom of the tube, and the blurry foreground shows the telescope tube and secondary mirror.

The lizard appears to be a species we refer to as alligator lizard, for the pattern of the scales resembles an alligator's scales.

jg

NOSS 3-2(A) and NOSS 3-2(C

2010-08-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

While photographing Perseid meteors two weeks ago, I observed two bright satelites travelling in what appeared to be tandem. I turned the camera to their path and caught the photo above. I was surprised to see that they were actually travelling in parallel courses, but with one following the other.

Friends have helped me identify these as possibly Naval Ocean Surveyance System satellites NOSS 3-2(A) and NOSS 3-2(C).

Stars and Strips

2010-08-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've said before that the light needed to illuminate a flag is not a major problem in light pollution, but I've also said that automating a lighting task (whether its for security or patriotism) often leads to complacency and then to neglect. I think this flag in a Temecula business park shows the concept well: this business was patriotic the day it mounted the flag and lighting. The flag is nearly gone, but the energy use and upward lighting continues.

Public Star Party, Saturday June 28, 7:45-10:00

2010-08-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Temecula Valley Astronomers will set up telescopes at Marna O'Brien Park. My best guess at how the evening will play is as follows:

At 7:45, Venus is visible in the west, and maybe Saturn. Saturn will be low and barely detectable to the naked eye. I do not know how well it will be viewed in scopes, but a view is possible before it sets around 8:30 (allowing for the high western horizon).

8:00 pm is the official start. I'll be doing a shortened version of my presentation on Exoplanets. Bring your own chair. During the presentation, people are welcome to wander about looking through the telescopes.

By 8:30, the presentation will end and it will be dark enough to see some star clusters, globular clusters, nebulae, and double stars.

At 9:00 there will be a drawing for Galileoscopes donated by The City of Wildomar. I described these in more detail in a previous post.

At 9:10, the gibbeous moon rises. The moon will wash out the fainter objects but be a fine target itself. Also by this time, Jupiter should clear the trees to the east and be visible in telescopes.

Experience tells me that after telescopes are given away, the crowd thins out, so I'm guessing an end time near 10:00pm.

Below is a map.

Light pollution articles and letters in local press

2010-08-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here's an example of what I'm trying to preserve by drawing attention to light pollution:

(Of course, I'm trying to protect our window to this view; I don't claim to be personally saving the galaxy.) I was trying to photograph Scorpius, but I couldn't help getting a part of Sagitarius and the milky way.

This photo was taken in the desert under a cresent moon. I think the exposure was around 3 minutes with a 28 mm lens.

Of course, I'm over-joyed when writers speak to the topic of light pollution:

Mark Ritter: Sometimes it's not so good to see the light, The Californian 7/26/10
Mark Ritter: Let there be less light, The Californian 8/9/10

And I followed up with a letter: Light pollution letter, The Californian 8/18/10.

Perseids, part II

2010-08-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

A couple more Perseids from the morning of Saturday, Aug. 14.

Perseids and Imposters

2010-08-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Between 3 and 4 AM on Aug 13, I watched for Perseid meteors from my backyard. Along the light pollution theme, I'm glad to say faint meteors are still visible from my community, but barely.

This photo shows a meteor from last night:

...but I can't claim it as a Perseid. The original wide field image shows that it is an interloper, coming from a different direction than the Perseids (which radiate from Perseus):

A Perseid is in the following photo. The constellation of Perseus is in the lower left and the meteor is in the lower right, however, Blogger's image compression erased the meteor trail, so I've added a closeup below.

I was photographing with a 28mm lens at f4 and ISO of 400. Exposure times varied between 30 and 60 seconds. I will try again tonight using a faster setting, e.g., F2.8 and perhaps shorter exposure times. The faster setting will make any meteors brighter, but I'll need to user shorter exposure times to minimize the sky glow. The disadvantage of shorter exposure times is that I may miss meteors in the time between exposures.

Eemian is pronounced 'aim-ee-un'

2010-08-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

In climatology, Eemian refers to the previous interglacial period about 125,000 years ago. I've only read the term, so I needed a proper pronunciation. Web searches, dictionaries, even the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology failed me, so I asked a scientist who joked that being raised by meteorologists left him no clue on how to pronounce the word.

Then, I contacted the Dutch Consulate. I'm posting the reply for the benefit of others who may have to pronounce this word:

I understand that it can be difficult to pronounce Dutch words, such as the river Eem. You would pronounce Eem, as in the English word 'aim' (as in: I aim for something). So: Eem = 'aim'. For the pronunciation of Eemian, it would be: 'aim-ee-un'. So the letter 'i', you would pronounce like a 'e'. And the letter 'u', like in the expression 'um'.

My thanks to the Dutch Consulate.

jg

Wildomar Star Party, August 28, 2010, Marna O'Brien Park

2010-08-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

The City of Wildomar and the Temecula Valley Astronomers are sponsoring a star party at Wildomar's Marna O'Brien Park on August 28. A show will start at 8:00 and run for a half hour, followed by observing through telescopes; and last is a drawing for telescopes. The telescopes being given away are the Galileoscopes: a low-cost, yet functional 50mm telescope. This telescope is best suited as a learning activity, as it needs assembling. I put one together last year, and found the directions easy to follow. However, I do recommend reading the directions and test fitting the pieces (to ensure you're putting the correct piece in its place) before assembly.

This is the third annual star party Wildomar has sponsored in its three years since incorporation. Last year, the event was announced by the Press-Enterprise, which interviewed me, and the Press-Enterprise article was reported on by The Californian here. But best of all, the Valley News sent a reporter to the event and published a follow-up story that is no longer on their website ("Astronomy outing draws standing-room-only-crowd"). It is a shame that the Valley News article is not available, as I wanted to commend the reporter for not only being there but for not using flash photography.

As last year's event drew 300 people (a conservative estimate based on the number of raffle tickets --one per person), this year's may be equally large.

Update: Last, I should add that the person most responsible for making this event happen, this year and previous years, is Community Services Directory Paula Willette. Thank you, Paula.

Update 2: map to Marna O'Brien

Depending on the position of Saturn in the sky, viewing may start first to allow attendees to see Saturn before the show starts.

Another reason to study climate science

2010-07-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

I consider myself an informal student of climatology, and as such, I've been learning what I can about the topic through science journals, scientists' blogs, and books. Though this self-guided method provides a window into the scientific concensus, it also leaves gaps. Stephen Schneider's work was one of my gaps.

I learned today that Stephen Schneider has passed away. He was probably the greatest climate scientist whose name I didn't know, that is, till I read his book Science as a Contact Sport. "So this was the guy who...." was my reaction throughout his book; I had heard of his contribution but not his name, and now I'm enjoying the pleasure of associating his name with his acheivments.

I will continue to study climatology the hope of further understanding his contributions.

spider with a face

2010-07-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

I find faces on insects to be quite creepy, and intriguing. Can you see the face on this one?

Photo taken on 7/16/2010, San Diego, CA

Palomar Observatory Information

2010-07-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Below is a jpg version of a PDF flyer I've created to give local decision makers some information about the importance of protecting Palomar Observatory. I created it a couple years ago and this is an update to which I've added the exoplanets imaged by Palomar Observatory.

PDF versions of high and low resolution (and file size) are available here:

PalomarInfluence_lowRez.pdf

PalomarInfluence_highRez.pdf

Drawing Board

2010-07-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

A test of animated GIFs (admittedly, of low image quality). CLICK the GIF to see the full size.

Sea level estimates (png and jpg):

Timelines in jpg and png format:

I'm using this post to share some work-in-progress illustrations that will undergo a lot of revision and personal discovery for me. If they turn in to anything, I'll share.

Red still means less; yellow, more.

Close enough for amateurs

2010-06-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Above is a photo I took this morning around 4:40 am (PDT) of the partially eclipsed moon. Having observed many sun- and moonsets, I thought I had a good chance of being in the right place to catch this eclipse crossing the horizon while at it's maximum (peak shadow). Living in a valley, I have a high horizon, and I had planned to set up my scope about a 1/4 mile farther from the slope. When I checked on the moon at 4:00 am, however, I knew that within +/-10 minutes my front yard would be suitable. The plus or minus 10 minutes could easily be corrected by moving a short distance along my street, which I didn't need to do.

Partial Lunar Eclipse for West Coast Observers -- that's me!

2010-06-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to capturing photos of tomorrow morning's partial lunar eclipse. Since a partial lunar eclipse is expendable, meaning, not essential for me, I can use it to conduct an experiment.

I know there are plenty of software programs that will show where an astronomical object will be from one's location, but the reason I dabble in science and astronomy if the fun of making my own predictions.

I live in a valley with western slopes capable of obstructing tomorrow morning's moonset. Since this moon set is near the summer solstice, I'm going to use observations of where the sun sets to estimate the location of moonset. If I'm wrong, I won't capture the delightful partial eclipse on a picturesque ridgeline. I pictured the geometry of the eclipse in my head and then drew it.

Here is the geometry I imagine for sunset at my location:

Below is my estimate of the geometry at 4:40 tomorrow morning:

If I get pictures, I'll add them. I put this up quickly for the fun of posting my guess before the event occurs.

Colors and Recovery, Lizards and Flowers

2010-06-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

(Update 12 Jun 10: I've added plant identifications under each photo.)

Within the last three years, the region south of Palomar Observatory burned. This fire displaced many people for a few days and even jumped an eight-lane lane freeway. This year I noticed an abundance of a plant commonly called "deerweed", though I object to the "weed" part of its name.

Close up, it looks mangy, and often is, but even closer, you can appreciate the yellow are red of tiny flowers all along its stems, which give the hillsides their color:

(Deer weed, Lotus scoparius)

The burned hillsides are covered in this plant. I pass these way several times each year and have been doing so for the last five years. So I think the abundance of this plant this year is exceptional and I wonder if there is a connection between the prolific spread of this plant and the previous fire.
I was limited by the road's lack of safe places to park that also afforded views of the slopes. Here is a hastily taken photo, but it gives an impression of the dominance of this plant:

Also along these slopes this time of year, I noticed horned toad lizards. Cute little guys:

Not far from where I took the above photo, I saw a snake with the head of a larger horned toad lizard it it's mouth. It was still working on the shoulders as I startled it. I had one of those bad lens cap moments. By the time I removed the lens cap, the snake tumbled, doing a barrel roll, off of the path with the lifeless lizard still in its mouth and disappeared in the brush.

Lesson: Stick to still life photos. So I captured a few favorite flowers blooming at the beginning of our dry season. This is perhaps my favorite in this region. The petals look like they are made out of cloth:

(Yellow Mariposa Lily, Calochortus weedii; not to be confused with the Calochortus clavatus, which also grows in this region and is called by the same common name)

And this one's tiny red sparks glow even when in shadow:

(Indian Pink, or Fringed Indian Pink, Silene laciniata)

I made no digital enhancements to this or any of these photos.

jg

Exoplanets Presentation to Temecula Valley Astronomers

2010-06-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

I'm presenting my show on exoplanets to my astronomy club tonight. A map to our meeting place is available here: Temecula Valley Astronomers meeting place.

My show, as well as my understanding of the content, has evolved. I've posted an older version that I will be updating after I finish my presentation here: Exoplanets

Not yet included on my online version are illustrations such as the following:

Illustration: WASP-18b grazing it's star's surface.

Such an event is expected to occur in the next million years,

assuming current Tidal Dissipation Theory is correct.

Above is the closing sequence of illustrations explaining how the moon is moving outward due to tidal forces transferring angular momentum of Earth's spin to the moon's orbit.

The above effect can happen in reverse when the star is spinning more slowly

than the planet, like WASP-18b:

Above: The massive planet WASP-18b is orbiting at 0.02 AU and rotating faster than the star.

Here I've shown it pulling the tidal bulge of the star,

resulting in a loss of angular momentum and a closer orbit.

Tidal Dissipation Theory is based on observations of binary stars and of our solar system's gas giants. WASP-18b is a middle case between these and therefore a test of Tidal Dissipation Theory:

Astronomers project that within 10 years further observations of this system will show detectable change due to tidal dissipation. If such change is not observed, it will force a re-examination of Tidal Dissipation Theory.

As a lay observer, I see it plausible that tidal dissipation theory will be get revised. As pointed out by the review of the research (both review and paper printed in Nature 27 Aug. 2009), the chances of finding a planet with 1 million years left is 1 out of 1000; yet WASP-18b's discovery was 1 out of 320, a number in itself that's questionable given the newness of this area of research. I eagerly await the results, that is, whether 10 years reveals a decaying orbit.

Update: It looks like I'm on the activities list for the Julian Starfest on Aug. 7/8; I plan to show Exoplanets then, which gives me two months to enhance, embellish and take requests.

Desert color

2010-05-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

The vivid color of desert vegetation never ceases to amaze me. This year's flowering seems a bit prolonged, but that's just my personal observation. The first photos were taken on 5/29/10.

Flame throwing ocotillo (above). Ocotillo grow throughout the Southern California deserts, e.g., near Palm Desert and Borrego Springs. This one resides on the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. I made no enhancements to the photo.

Close-up of the ocotillo flowers (above). No enhancements to the photo.

Something from the Stonecrop family (above). Being in the shadow takes away some of its vivid color.

A Cholla Cactus forest (above) marks the elevation change from Colorado (lower) desert and Mojave (higher) desert where Joshua trees grow.

Looks like a garnish (above), but I didn't try it. Besides, vegetation is protected at Joshua Tree, as it should be.

The next set of photos were taken a week earlier, under an overcast sky. For these, the saturation levels were increased about 10 percent.

Here's an amazing bush that occurs sporadically:

This resembles a poppy, but may be something from the mallow family...

... and is very tiny, as shown by the size 12 shoe. Frequent readers will notice I have new shoes :)

A flowering Mojave Yucca stands out in the distance.

Reaching the yucca is challenging, for nearly every square foot of ground looks like this:

The yucca up close:

A beaver tail cactus from a month earlier (2 May 2010):

Probably Indian Paintbrush:

Exoplanets, an astronomy presentation

2010-05-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

My first presentable draft of a presentation on exoplanets is on my website here. I will be presenting this in a lecture format to my astronomy club in June. After that, I may be presenting it at the Julian Starfest planned for August 7/8, 2010.

I'm using Flash media to create a Powerpoint-type of slide show, but the Flash format allows me to mix in interactive animation and eventually replace the jpg-image based illustrations with animated ones. I find that by not dealing with the page formatting hassles on Powerpoint, I can create my presentations more quickly, and then I'm left with a format that can be copied to the Web.

This presentation began with some help I received from Bob Grumbine's blog on understanding brightness temperatures and EM wavelengths. This made me a little more alert to the underlying concepts to what I was reading Nature about the detection of exoplanets and then the analysis of their atmospheres and temperatures.

As with all my projects, this is an ongoing learning process for me. I'll be embellishing (and correcting) my material, but as is, I think have a good introduction for the lay person. My online presentation lacks my narrative, and there are a couple interactive illustrations that need directions. I'll work on adding this when I can. I should also add the caveat that page loading is a little slow. I'll down-grade the image quality for faster loading when I can get to that and ensure that I don't mess up my source files.

Comments are welcome.

jg

Butterfly collection, part 2

2010-04-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

More butterflies and moths photographed in Southern California on April 16 and 17, 2010:

Same species, inside and out, and also shown below.

Exoplanet orbit simulation

2010-04-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

I've just created the first part of an interactive illustration of the red/blue shift detection of an exoplanet. The program illustrates how the planet's mass and orbit radius affects the red and blue shift of light from the star. You can see the real program here: orbit

This will be part of my June 7 presentation to the Temecula Valley Astronomers.

Butterflies

2010-04-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

This isn't an abstract painting or Photoshop treatment; it's the blurred image of a swallowtail butterfly that wouldn't land. I can see why people used nets and toxins to capture these subjects. Nowadays, digital images are cheap and I could keep at it till I got a couple lucky shots:

My other subjects kindly landed long enough for me to get their pictures:

(These are all the same species; the blue is visible only when the wings are open)

(a moth?)

I regret I don't know the common or scientific names for these creatures, but posting these where I'll find them again is the first step. I'll add the names as I learn them.

I believe that this one, from two weeks earlier, is the Quino Checkerspot, a species that invites developers who find it on their real estate to partake in humanity's effort to protect the biological diversity of our planet. --a way of saying they are listed as endangered.

I'll verify the species type when I can.

jg

Earthquake

2010-04-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

At about 3:40 pm, Easter Sunday, I had the chance to enjoy perhaps the longest-in-duration earthquake I've ever witnessed. The following day, the newspapers announced a magnitude 7.2 quake, centered near Mexicali, Mexico, which was about 100 miles from where I was.
Most earthquakes I've felt made me think of someone sliding a giant spatula under the house. This one felt like someone tried and then had to scrape the pan vigourously. While watching some furniture shake, I wished I could capture the effect with my camera, but it was not nearby. About 5 minutes afterward I noticed the chandelier still swinging, and figured that will have to suffice. Below is the chandelier at two end points in its swing, with one superimposed on the other.

Ok, I Did Do the Nose

2010-03-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

In my title I'm alluding to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the scene where members of the witch hunting crowd admit to adding the nose and hat to their suspected witch. The significance of this will come later.

Some time ago I shared a possible archeoastronomy artifact from my region refered to as cupula rock. A photo is below:

I've hypothesized that this rock contains constellation images that the Native Americans, likely Luisano, thought worthy of representing. My only support for this notion other than the apparent similarity of some patterns to constellations is a mention of this behavior in Ray Williamson's Living the Sky and a fleeting conversation with a local Luisano who said "yes, our ancestors did that [carved constellations]". Verification or refutation has been on my to-do list.

Recently I had the opportunity to see Professor Anthony Aveni of Colgate University and author of many books on archaeology speak on the Maya calendar and the significance of 2012. Professor Aveni is motivated by the anxiety among young people he's met that 2012 bodes ill. His work assures us that there is no reason to believe the Maya made any prediction about 2012 other than it being the time when, like an odometer, their calendar turns over. Since the lecture, I've read his book 2012: The End of Time. A main thrust of this book is that it appears to be an American (U.S., not Native) tradition to project our views onto ancient cultures, and he cites a list of cults and doomsayers from throughout American history.

I sent the photographs displayed here to Professor Aveni. Speaking as someone who has examined countless artifacts and sites, he offers the opinion that there is no compelling reason to see constellations in this rock. He recommended another of his books, Uncommon Sense, in which he argues that maps are a product of western culture. My conjecture on this rock is not too different from projecting my own map of the sky, or of elements of the sky, onto a past culture. Fair criticism. He adds that this is only his opinion, but I went out of my way to get it, so I'm eager to share it here in connection with (or correction to) the previous post I made on this topic.

I would add one update from my previous post. I had thought one star in my proposed Cassiopeia was a natural indentation. I've recently returned to the rock and this indentation looks less natural than I had first thought.

And now my joke: Am I projecting my concept of the stars onto this rock? Here are the photos I sent him and so I have to admit: well, yes, I did draw Cassiopeia:

Cassiopeia traced from a photo and overlaid on the image

Hypothetical Cygnus (also called the Northern Cross):

Ok. I did place the paper circles.

Hypothetical Hercules (butterfly shape on the left):

Yep. My hand was in this one too

(Update, 6 April 2010: I just learned that within the past week, someone of Native American descent, asked at the Reserve to see "the star rock" saying that her grandmother had told her about it. Two possibilities come to mind: one, my sharing of this rock evoked someone's curiousity or influenced a memory; or two, there is some cultural history of this custom or specific rock outside of my influence. Humility suggests the latter, but either are possible.)

Exoplanet soup starter

2010-03-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

I've been teased by friends telling me that among amateur astronomers, I'm a "star gazer" rather than an astronomer. The distinction is this: if you're at a star gazing/astronomy event and you go to bed by 10:00 pm, you're a star gazer. I think the biggest change to star gazing in centuries is the discovery of planets around other stars, such planets are also called exoplanets. Before these discoveries, we star gazers wondered if there were other planets around the stars we see. Now, we know.

With the discovery of 400 exoplanets, and 70 of these having transiting orbits (where the planet passes in front of the star from our point of view), I'm finding the excitement of new discoveries in this field comparable to the first time I looked at 51 Pegasi and said, "there's a planet around that star."

Every year I try to create a presentation for my astronomy club. So this is my soup starter for a short presentation. I don't know where it will lead me.
(Click the diagram to enlarge it.)

All of the information in the above illustration comes from excellent review in Nature 17 Dec. 2009 by Geoffrey Marcy, a lead discoverer of exoplanet. Marcy's review included a diagram of the exoplanet, which I've borrowed form, but added comparisons of this other solar system to our Earth and Sun.