astronomy

To switch off: your lights, on March 27.

admin

So, there it is. A few hours ago my laptop and cellphone were stolen. Wailing and gnashing of teeth will no doubt be the order of the day for a while. Meanwhile, if you have my cell phone number, please e-mail me yours so that the healing can begin.

journal, photography

Imaged: Simonsberg.

lecture

To attend: The Origin of Life (Cape Town, March 17).

astronomy, south africa, meerKAT

Imaged: Flying over meerKAT last week.

astronomy

Recently opened: Martin Lyon's new backyard observatory.

astronomy, ASSA

To attend: The 8^th Biennial ASSA Symposium, Silverton, Pretoria, 2010 October 07 & 08.

journal, blaireaux

Brilliant.

astronomy

To enjoy: http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/

astronomy, SAAO, NRF

"Concern over top SA astronomer's suspension" (Cape Times, Feb 04, page 5)

"Astronomical observatory head suspended" (Business Day, Feb 02)

"Phil Charles suspended" (The e-Astronomer blog, Feb 02)

"Chief astronomer suspended" (Cape Times, Feb 01)

"DA calls for transparency from NRF about renowned astronomer's disciplinary hearing" (DA Newsroom, Jan 29)

education
via: Hans

A different kind of Jesus Nut.

astronomy

Southern Sky News for February.

travel

atheism
via Chris

Fred on the religion of science.

evolution

To see: "Creation", a movie about Darwin. (Reviewed at skepticblog.)

stargazing in underberg

astronomy, photos, Orion's Sword

To see: Orion's Sword region, imaged from Somerset West last week by Dieter Willasch.

astronomy

Monday's partial solar eclipse.

science

100 incredible science lectures

astronomy, eclipse

Carol Botha images the December 31 lunar eclipse.

astronomy, eclipse

Anthony Ayiomamitis images the December 31 lunar eclipse.

astronomy, outreach

Makhado Crossing, Louis Trichardt (2009 Dec 31)

astronomy, events

Southern Sky Almanack 2010

Calling all astronomers in the Eastern Freestate

Astronomy

On AstroNet a posting from Wessel du Preez, who is from Senekal, Eastern Freestate:

"I would appreciate it if people with the same interests in astronomy from this area could contact me so we could share some experiences and maybe create some new ones of our own."

If you're in the area, contact me and I'll pass on Wessel's details.

Another fireball?!

Astronomy
meteor/fireball

News from Willie Koorts that another fireball may have burst over southern Africa.

On Sunday evening, 2009 October 18, glowing rings in the sky were widely reported, caused by venting of rocket fuel from a recently-launched Centaur rocket.

Last week, Saturday November 21, a bright fireball – presumably ending up as a meteorite – was widely seen over the northern parts of South Africa.

Yesterday, Friday November 27, another fireball may have been seen, over Mpumalanga. More information as it comes in.

Lunar valley

Astronomy
astrophotos

A lovely image of the Alpine Valley region, taken by Dieter Willasch. Enjoy.

VIDEO #3: Saturday's stunning meteor!

Astronomy
meteor/fireball

Thanks to Dirk Ross of the lunarmeteoritehunters blog, I've found a third video of Saturday's bright meteor.

VIDEO #2: Saturday's stunning meteor!

Astronomy
meteor/fireball

Thanks to Oleg Toumilovich for finding a second video of Saturday's bright meteor. The video was posted on the website of 702 Talk Radio (but the link to YouTube was incorrect). Enjoy.

VIDEO: Saturday's stunning meteor!

Astronomy
meteor/fireball

Saturday's bright meteor was captured on footage from the security cameras of the Mustek building in Midrand, writes Owen Swart. Check it out on YouTube – and many thanks to user @dimity123 for posting it there for all to enjoy!

Meanwhile, eyewitness reports keep coming in.

Sunset, Bloubergstrand

Journal
via Lynnette Foster

Leonid meteor shower

Astronomy
meteor shower

At least from Sutherland, the Leonids didn't appear to be in outburst this morning. Ernst and I saw one exceptional fireball (around 01:30 SAST on Nov 18), a horizon-hugger travelling from Cancer to western Andromeda and leaving a persistent trail.

Do check out Victor van Wulfen's lovely Leonid shot taken on the 15th (link to spaceweather.com).

eta Carinae

Astronomy
deep sky

From IAU Circular 9094, this intruiging news:

The central star of eta Carinae, lighting up the Homunculus nebula, has recently brightened to V=5.1.

"The star now accounts for half of the total light seen in the Homunculus nebula, compared to less than 10 percent before 1995."

"In view of the central star's 0.6-magnitude brightening since its 2006 peak… unsteadiness in 2007-2008, and 0.5-magnitude increase in mid-2009, eta Car currently merits frequent attention by additional observers."

For recent results and an historical light curve, visit this dedicated La Plata Observatory web page.

Limpopo outreach: Univenda

Astronomy
outreach report

Kos puts on a show for the University of Venda.

Sunspot #1030 is back

Astronomy
astrophoto

Oleg Toumilovich captured the return of sunspot #1030 this afternoon.

WWJW?

Atheism
dress code
Via: Gerrit

"Remember Friday, 13 November 2009 is Casual Day for Jesus.

"Let's show our unity in faith for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by wearing a blue jeans and a WHITE top."

'Unity in faith', eh? God forbid.

Astrocoffee

Astronomy
coffee
Via: Hans

Bad Astronomy at Iziko Planetarium

Astronomy
Via: EJFF

The "Bad Astronomy - Myths and Misconceptions" show at the Iziko Planetarium (Cape Town) starts on December 12. Topics of discussion include: "Were the Apollo visits to the Moon actually a hoax?", "Have aliens landed on Earth?", and "Can you tell your future by the stars?".

SGC Barnyard stargaze

Astronomy
SGC, outreach

Members and friends of the Star Gazers Club met at the Barnyard School on Saturday for an evening of astronomy.

Helix Nebula

Astronomy
astrophoto

Dale Liebenberg's current imaging project, the Helix Nebula, a beautiful work in progress.

Sunspot #1029

Astronomy
astrophoto

Newsmaking sunspot, imaged yesterday by Kos Coronaios, while presenting an outreach activity at Mvelelo Spring.

Outreach in Mvelelo Spring

Astronomy
outreach

Kos Coronaios and the Limpopo Astronomy Outreach team visited Mvelelo Spring – story and pictures after the jump.

Sad but true

Journal
humour

Sad but true what passes for journalism these days. All journalists should have http://www.snopes.com engraved on their foreheads. Meanwhile, enjoy.

Brand new Jewel Box image

Astronomy

ESO's VLT has snapped NGC 4755, the Jewel Box. Take a look for yourself.

Ecumenical sunset (Oropos, Greece)

Astronomy
photos

Anthony Ayiomamitis recently captured the Sun setting dramatically behind the Church of St Sotirios in Oropos, Greece.

Deep sky selection by Kos

Astronomy
photos

A selection of deep sky images taken by Kos Coronaios in mid-October.

Glowing rings in the night sky – last Sunday's UFO

Astronomy
space craft

Space ships over South Africa – reports and images compiled from around the interweb.

Galilean Night #1

Astronomy
outreach

Reports and photos from the first Galilean Night, on Thursday 22nd.

Happy

Atheism

Freethought Day!

To download and print

Atheism
download

For your next t-shirt.

Want mad word skills?

Via:
Chris Stewart

Need more Scrabble-fu? Go here.

Nou ook in Afrikaans

Astronomy
outreach

Die groot weergawe van die logo kan jy aflaai vanaf die IYA ouens se website.

Albatross! Get your albatross-cam!

Journal
news

What happens when you strap a digicam to an albatross and let it loose in the southern oceans?

Dr Sakamoto and colleagues have the details (and more pics).

Io transit

Astronomy
Jupiter, photos

Oleg imaged Jupiter tonight, catching Io's shadow in transit.

Dale Liebenberg images the Lagoon

Astronomy
photos

Dale Liebenberg recently imaged the beautiful Lagoon Nebula. Enjoy.

Galilean Nights: star chart and data sheets for southern Africa

Astronomy
outreach

From Thursday October 22 to Saturday October 24 the world will be celebrating Galilean Nights, an outreach activity that is part of the IYA 2009 effort.

A data sheet for each evening, as well as a star chart, has been prepared for southern Africa, tabulating basic info on the Sun, Moon, Jupiter and the starry skies.

Ons gaan op Stellenbosch, Strand, Kleinmond, en Brackenfell die "Sterreaande van Galileo" met die publiek deel, so kom loer gerus na berge op die Maan, die reuse planeet Jupiter met sy belangrike mane, en 'n paar mooi diep-ruim voorwerpe.

Hubble highlights two galaxies that are losing it

Astronomy
HST, photos

A newly released set of images, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope before the recent Servicing Mission, highlight the ongoing drama in two galaxies (NGC 4522 and NGC 4402) in the Virgo Cluster affected by a process known as "ram pressure stripping", which can result in peculiar-looking galaxies.

An extremely hot X-ray emitting gas known as the intra-cluster medium lurks between galaxies within clusters. As galaxies move through this intra-cluster medium, strong winds rip through galaxies distorting their shape and even halting star formation.

Southern Sky News for October

Astronomy
outreach

Astronomy highlights for October, including details of planned Galilean Nights events.

Icy cold Sutherland

Sutherland
photo

Jurg Wagener captures a freezing moment.

Stargazing at Makhado Mall (04 Sep)

Astronomy
outreach

Kos and Cuan hold an impromptu star gazing evening at Makhado Mall.

Moons and Jupiter

Astronomy
images, Moon, Jupiter

"What is that bright star next to the Moon?" Oleg's photo reveals all.

A randomized controlled study of naturopathic vs psychotherapeutic care for anxiety

Psychology

A fascinating paper from the latest PLoS ONE compares the efficacy of naturopathic versus psychotherapeutic treatment of mild to severe generalized anxiety.

Swan Nebula

Astronomy
deep sky, image

Dany shares his image of the Swan Nebula.

Copernicus

Astronomy
Moon, astrophotos

One of the youngest lunar craters, imaged with one of the newest astrocameras.

ISS and shuttle flyover, August 30

Astronomy
space-craft, astrophotos

At dusk, the ISS (and five minutes later, the space shuttle) made a bright pass over southern Africa. Carol, Kos, Oleg and Mitchell Krog have the images.

Galilean Nights: 22–24 October

Astronomy
IYA, outreach

Upcoming IYA event, focussed on Jupiter and its moons.

Plan and publicize early.

Jupiter video-stack

Astronomy
photos, Jupiter, O-cam

While in Sutherland this past New Moon, Hans and I experimented further with the Foton AstroCam. One of the images we got was of Jupiter, the stacked version shown here.

A crop of astrophotos from Oleg

Astronomy
astrophotos
Via: Oleg

During the recent Waterberg Planetary Festival (August 2009), Oleg photographed a variety of objects, including: the southern Milky Way, the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula, the Small Magellanic Cloud, the Swan Nebula, and Jupiter during a shadow-transit of Io.

Anthony Ayiomamitis' latest astrophotos

Astronomy
deep sky, image

Two new images from Anthony: the Tulip Nebula in Cygnus (Sharpless 2-101) and Barnard 143 in Aquila.

Dany Duprez's latest astrophotos

Astronomy
deep sky, image

Four new images from Dany Duprez to enjoy: the Milky Way near Crux, a wide-field region near Serpens, a close-up of NGC 3532, and the Sagittarius Milky Way seen through one of the domes at the Cederberg Observatory.

Limpopo Outreach: Letaba Show (Tzaneen)

Astronomy
outreach
Via: Kos

Kos & Cuan put up a show at the Letaba Show in Tzaneen.

NKOTB

Websites

http://www.carolbotha.co.za

A dangerous man

Clint

"The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos."

H. L. Mencken

I really like this fellow:

"One seldom discovers a true believer that is worth knowing."

"Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that all other philosophers are jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself."

"Religion deserves no more respect than a pile of garbage."

"Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them."

"Sunday School: A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents."

Nebulosity around HD 87643: New ESO image

Astronomy
deep sky, image

Beautiful nebulosity around the 8th mag star HD 87643 in Carina, imaged with the ESO's 2.2-m telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile.

July 19 - WTF?!

Astronomy
Jupiter, Venus

On July 19, a dark spot was observed on Jupiter. And a bright spot on Venus! Whatever is our solar system coming to!

Meanwhile, the image at right was taken by Oleg using the FOTON AstroCam attached to an 8-inch f/10 and a 2x Barlow. 306 video frames (720x480 pixels) were stacked for this composite. Notice the Great Red Spot.

Astronomy Now Online has the Venus story.

Jupiter image

Astronomy
Jupiter

Second attempt at imaging Jupiter. This time, I used Martin Lyons' Celestron 9-inch SCT and a FOTON AstroCam. The video feed was converted to a sequence of 2,700 still frames which were then processed in RegiStax 4.

The left image is one of these frames; the other is the result of the stack.

Jupiter image

Astronomy
Jupiter

First attempt at capturing Jupiter. Using "Maphefo" (8-inch f/6 Dobsonian; no tracking) and a FOTON AstroCam, 300 frames from a 720x576 pixel video feed were auto-processed in RegiStax 4.

The left image is one of these frames; the other is the result of the stack.

Zero impact

Astronomy
Jupiter

Despite late nights and compulsive alarm setting, I still haven't seen the impact mark on Jupiter.

The impact mark, first recorded on July 19, apparently transits just over 2 hours after Jupiter's Great Red Spot, and a favourable event was predicted for tonight (Saturday, August 01, at 23:34 SAST).

Despite day-long cloud, it seemed clear enough to attempt an observation late night. Maphefo (8-inch f/6 Dob) was ready and waiting, and soon after 23:00 I was keeping a vigil at the eyepiece.

The seeing was OKish, I guess. Sharp detail swam into view from time to time, and I even used the 6mm Ortho with a 2x Barlow for a barely useable 400x. Best views were at 130x (18mm Ortho + Barlow).

Despite my efforts, nothing out of place was visible in Jupiter's southern nethers.

The Southern Tropical Zone was particularly white and quite clearly defined - nice. The Northern Equatorial Belt had a pronounced dark thickening, which transited not long after the impact mark was supposed to. I'm not a planetary observer, so I have no idea what the marking is called. In any event, no shadow transits were indicated.

By 23:45 the cloud cover had increased substantially, and Maphefo was laid to rest.

By SMS came the news that neither Hans nor Ed had any luck spotting the impact mark either.

Bah-humbug.

Deep sky logbook: Richard Ford

Astronomy
deep sky, observing log

Richard Ford shares his latest crop of observations, made on July 18 at Perdeberg (Cape Town).

Barnard 133 by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Astronomy
deep sky, astrophotos, dark nebulae

A beautiful image of a beautiful nebula, taken by Greek astrophotographer Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Star Gazer's Deep Space Atlas

Astronomy
deep sky, books

Author Wayne Mitchell shares his story about writing the first South African deep sky observing book.

Some people

Atheism

"Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere so exemplified as in real life itself."

Berenice Abbott (1898-1991)

Outreach on the big screen

Astronomy
outreach, astrophotography

One of my dreams is to be able to share a telescopic view of the night sky with a large group of people. This dream is on the threshold of becoming a reality, with the introduction of a brand-new camera system, based around a Sony colour CCD sensor, developed by our very own Oleg Toumilovich, of Foton Optoelectronics.

The "Foton Astrocam System" recently came out of prototyping and the first unit is being used by Kos Coronaios for his outreach activities in the Limpopo region.

Its impressive performance on the Moon and Saturn have already been demonstrated. Now, the first deep sky images have been released.

Oleg used his 100mm f/10 refractor to image the eta Carinae Nebula on Tuesday evening. The new camera, which attaches to a USB port, delivers live images - see the sample frame.

If that's what a four-inch can do, can you imagine what a 12-inch will show?

More images, and technical details, can be browsed on the Foton Astrocam pages.

Theologic

Atheism
humour?

[A] "Hey, what are those things you are wearing?"

[C] "These are my gravity shoes!

[A] (puzzled) "What on earth for?

[C] "Well, gravity is only a theory. So I'm using Velcro and magnets to make sure I don't float away.

[A] (dumb-founded) "That's not how gravity works!"

[C] "Yeah, well, it's an explanation that I understand.

[A] (stunned) "But… Uh… So a bad explanation you understand is better than reality?"

[C] "Yup."

For winter

Humour
Via: Johann
t: 16·35

Smallest Full Moon

Astronomy
Moon, images

Tonight's Full Moon is the smallest for 2009. To image it, I made my way up to the roof-top of one of the taller buildings in town, and used extra zoom.

Response to Amie van Wyk's challenge to atheism

Atheism
popular press, South Africa, criticism

Another response – by Clinton Armitage – to Prof Amie van Wyk's recent challenge to atheism.

Interpreting texts is a tricky game

Atheism
popular press, South Africa, criticism

Some weeks ago, Prof Amie van Wyk wrote an essay that was published in a widely-read Afrikaans newspaper. Part of his essay dealt with atheism, and posed a number of challenges to atheistic thinking.

As an atheist I welcomed his essay, but as I read and re-read it I became more and more puzzled.

Books

Journal
AD&D
t: 01·22

I was going to buy a Dungeons & Dragons book this month.

Instead (but staying with the theme) I picked up a copy of Partridge's "Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities".

How many plots do you think this will inspire? Reckon my players will find them believable?

New toy

Astronomy
observing equipment
t: 00·07

I got a swanky new green laser pointer yesterday. It comes with an instruction manual.

Cloudy night

Astronomy
images, Moon, atmospheric phenomena
t: 23·29

An SMS sends me scurrying outside under the cloudy skies and upwards to the 11-day-old Moon.

First step back to the Moon: Images from LRO

Astronomy
Moon, NASA

The first images from the Moon taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have been transmitted to Earth. Enjoy them on the LRO homepage.

Dinosaurs on the Ark

Atheism
creationism

Kitty, over at Atheist Nexus, reports that a contingent of palaeontologists took a field trip to the Creationist Museum in Cincinnati, USA. The New York Times has the details.

Or if you prefer, you can get the Good News at PhysOrg.com.

The caring approach

Humourspelling

Lo and behold! The first internet message

Internet

"The first message sent over a computer network [on 29 October 1969] was supposed to be login, but it was truncated to lo by a system crash. … It took an hour to bring the system back up before login could be transmitted…"

Banks, M A (2008) On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders. Apress. p6.

In the same year, the first human landed on the Moon, Woodstock happened, and Charles Manson went on a killing spree.

Pretoria Dark Sky Weekend

Astronomy
observing event
t: 17·25

The ASSA Pretoria centre is hosting a Dark Sky Weekend on 17 & 18 July. The venue, the Lord Milner School 20km east of Bela-bela, promises near-perfect observing conditions.

If you plan on attending, please let me know.

twisst: Twitter the ISS

Astronomy
ISS, web tech
t: 19·16

If you're a Twitter user, you can now receive an alert when the ISS will be passing over your location!

If you don't use Twitter, don't worry, you're not missing much. You probably have a life already.

If you don't know what the ISS is, well, really, HEL-LO, Earth calling Luddite!!

Tunguska explosion = comet

Astronomy
explosions, comets, space shuttle

Researchers from Cornell University say that the mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion that leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest was almost certainly caused by a comet entering the Earth's atmosphere. The conclusion is supported by an unlikely source: the exhaust plume from the space shuttle.

Stars to Midnight photos

Astronomy
Journal, Sutherland

Photos from the past week-end's public star gazing in Sutherland.

do_replace(Sutherland, "stars", "snow")

Southern Sky News for July 2009

Astronomy
SSN

Learn about the Moon, stars, planets and constellations visible in the southern skies this July in the current edition of Southern Sky News.

Deep sky observing report (20 of the Top 100)

Astronomy
Deep sky obs report

Kerneels Mulder of Prince Albert presents twenty observations of objects on the "Top 100" list.

Happy birthday!

Astronomy
publications

The international journal Astronomy & Astrophysics is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. This week, A&A comes out with a free special issue that reprints 40 influential articles published in the past 40 years. Each of the selected articles is published together with a commentary highlighting the context of its publication and what we've learnt since then.

In the Light of Evolution – III

Journal
evolution, philosophy of science

The June 16 edition of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) carries a series of articles from the "Two Centuries of Darwin" colloquium. Contributors include Daniel Dennett and Michael Ruse. The PDFs can be downloaded for free.

Searching for Godot – psychohistorian.org server logs

Journal
website news

As part of the reworking of psychohistorian.org after the disastrous May Hack, I analyzed the server logs for 2008 November and December.

Waves on the edge of the Keepler Gap

Astronomy
Saturn, images

In images made possible only as Saturn nears equinox, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has uncovered for the first time towering vertical structures in the planet's otherwise flat rings that are attributable to the gravitational effects of the small nearby moon Daphnis.

The trans-empirical as a reality

Atheism
psychology & religion

A thoughtful extract from Connolly's Approaches to the Study of Religion.

Partially eclipsed Sun

Astronomy
solar eclipse, astrophoto

Monica Loubser, active member of the Unika Voortrekkers in Johannesburg, took a lovely image of the partially eclipsed Sun on January 26.

Deep sky observing notes, 2009 May 26 in Sutherland

Astronomy
Deep sky obs report

A clear night under dark Sutherland skies during the past New Moon (2009 May 26) in which I almost discover a galaxy and a star cluster.

And during which ice forms on the hair dryer as the temperature drops to –4°C and the thermometer freezes to the car roof.

Observing schedule for Sutherland

Astronomy
Journal
deep sky observing

Dates for deep sky observing sessions in Sutherland for the remainder of 2009. If you're in the area, let's hook up.

The Jewel Box and the Trifid Nebula

Astronomy
Lucas Ferreira
Astrophotos

Lucas Ferreira, recently-appointed ASSA Double Star Section director and keen astrophotographer from George, shares two of his recent deep sky images.

NGC 104, NGC 5139, NGC 2070 & NGC 3372

Astronomy
Pete Scully
Astrophotos

A selection of images by Pete Scully: 47 Tucanae & omega Centauri, the Tarantula in the LMC, and the Keyhole region of NGC 3372, the eta Carinae Nebula.

A child's prayer

Prayers

A contribution from Brother Christopher.

Case Rijsdijk receives NSTF award

Astronomy
ASSA
Outreach

Case Rijsdijk, director of the ASSA Education and Public Outreach section, has received a special award from the NSTF.

Deep sky objects in Monoceros

Astronomy
Dany Duprez
Astrophotos

Dany Duprez images the Rosette Nebula, the Christmas Tree Cluster and Hubble's Variable Nebula in Monoceros.