Tag Archives: astronomy

Aug 9 2015

Time for Meteors!

The Earth is headed through two meteor streams at this time, both pretty abundant in meteor activity, or just sheer quantities of meteoric dust. Peaking on August 12-13, the Perseid shower is one of the best known. The shower comes from the debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. It has many bright meteors and plenty of fireballs. It has often reached numbers over 100+ per hour and is well worth staying up for. Like most meteor showers, we see more meteors when the observer is on the side of the planet that is facing into the stream. This is when we are facing the morning side of night…. i.e. after midnight. So, bug spray, warm drinks, and a sleeping bag are the tools of choice. No need for an observatory. No need for binoculars. No need for lighting. Get away from the town and city scene. Get into the dark country skies, lie down, look up!

If that were not enough, the second shower (remember there are two) is the Southern Delta Aquarid which \gives us some 10-20 meteors per hour. It is a good season for meteors!

 
 
Jun 21 2013

June 2013 Exeter Astronomy Education Conference

It is that time again! I will be hosting another astronomy education conference starting this weekend! The weeklong meeting will allow astronomy educators from around the USA to discuss and try various methods of teaching modern astronomy and astrophysics. Topics that have been covered in detail in the past:

  • CCD Imaging: photometry, color work, narrow band filters, astrometry, guiding, installation, design.
  • Observatory design, construction and maintenance.
  • Available software for astronomy, science, data reduction, learning and labs.
  • Required topics in astronomy.
  • Best practices in astronomy education, pretesting, post-testing, assessment.
  • Teaching astronomy in difficult situations: limited budgets, light pollution, late nights out.

It is always a fun time, and generates a ton of communications following the event.  This year, we are once again full. We even had a wait list!  Stay tuned for more information as the week progresses.