Close enough for amateurs

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.

jg 

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

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.

jg

Colors and Recovery, Lizards and Flowers

(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.

Exoplanets Presentation to Temecula Valley Astronomers

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.

jg

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

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

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

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

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