by Pamela | Apr 12, 2008 | Astronomy, Observing
The nearest star to the Earth is easily observed during the day. It just happens to be called the Sun. The problem is, it’s quite close and this can make it very hard to observe safely without hurting yourself or hurting your eyes. The current speaker, Lee...
by Pamela | Apr 11, 2008 | Astronomy, Observing
One of the hardest things you can observationally do in astronomy is spectroscopy. You have to guide really well to keep the light on the slit. You have to calibrate the sensitivity across you chip (flat fielding like you do in imaging), the sensitivity as a function...
by Pamela | Apr 11, 2008 | Astronomy, Observing
So, if you’re like, you may not own a telescope (story later, because I know you’ll ask). Like me, you may love looking through telescopes, taking images through telescopes, and just being able to intellectually get your hands dirty doing observational...
by Pamela | Apr 11, 2008 | Astronomy, Observing, Stars
Variable stars come in many forms – there are happy little regular stars, widely separated and merrily circling ones dancing an eon long dance. Some white dwarfs – dead stars, cooling into stellar embers of stars – become vampires as they...
by Pamela | Mar 19, 2008 | Astronomy, Observing
Let me just say, I’m always looking for a good reason to go to Texas and especially the Houston area. My entire trip last week was wonderful, and the dessert in San Antonio was a special treat. After going to see Lucy Friday, Saturday was spent lazing around San...
by Pamela | Feb 24, 2008 | Astronomy, Meetups, Observing, People, Personal
Want to get involved in taking data? Visiting with researchers? Getting others looking up? Here are some ways: The GLOBE at Night: Starting Monday February 25, the GLOBE at Night program is asking everyone in the world (which would include you) to go out, look...
