Durham Performing Arts pictures

I attended the Open House for the Durham Perfoming Arts Center tonight. I managed to be standing right beside the Plensa sculpture when it was lighted. Jaume Plensa himself was there too (pic of him in my photostream below). Our arts center is beautiful--I went inside and sat on every level including the uppermost seat in the place. The seats are extremely comfortable with plenty of leg room, whether you have the expensive seats or are in the upper section. I drank some hot chocolate and managed to nab a cheese cube or two, but it was crowded around the food, natch. I even got a picture or two of the crescent Moon with Jupiter and Venus, which was spectacular once the clouds left town.

What's flying around up there anyway?

Neat site I just discovered at spaceweather to track what satellites you can see from your location (what time and where to look):

"US and Canadian readers, enter your zip code ... hit Go!, and you will find out what is going to fly over your area in the nights ahead. There are hundreds of satellites in Earth orbit; we cut through the confusion by narrowing the list to a half-dozen or so of the most interesting. At the moment we are monitoring spy satellite Lacrosse 3, the International Space Station, the Early Ammonia Servicer, and the Hubble Space Telescope."

Heck if you are looking up there in the night sky, you might even spot the lost NASA tool bag, estimated value $100K. It was lost in the current Shuttle mission and it's now streaking across the sky.

As uploaded to youtube (just a few seconds long) of the streaking tool bag:



Happy sky-watching!

Things that make us go BOOM! Or not.

Looks like this Wednesday is going to be a big day in the science world. Nerdlingers like me are awaiting the re-enactment of The Big Bang. So hold on to your um, gravity and stuff. It's being done with a 17 mile long atom smasher that's being fired up on Wednesday:

GENEVA - It has been called an Alice in Wonderland investigation into the makeup of the universe - or dangerous tampering with nature that could spell doomsday.

Whatever the case, the most powerful atom-smasher ever built comes online Wednesday, eagerly anticipated by scientists worldwide who have awaited this moment for two decades.

The multibillion-dollar Large Hadron Collider will explore the tiniest particles and come ever closer to re-enacting the big bang, the theory that a colossal explosion created the universe.

The machine at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, promises scientists a closer look at the makeup of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.

Now if you really want a better understanding of what's going on, please do go take a look at the cheesy but catchy music video that the folks at CERN put together:



The article goes on to say:

It will still be about a month before beams traveling in opposite directions are brought together in collisions that some skeptics fear could create micro "black holes" and endanger the planet.

So have a great month!

In the Dog Days of Summer

We are in the midst of the "Dog Days of Summer" which is the period of time in the summer generally from the first part of July until mid-August. In ancient times, this period of time was when the brightest star in the sky, Sirius (also called the "Dog Star"), rose and set with our Sun.

The ancient Romans recognized the "Dog Days" and called them caniculares dies ("days of the dogs") for the Dog Star.

They thought that the rising and setting of the big bright star Sirius with the Sun added to the heat we normally received from the Sun, making it extra hot during this period of time.

The ancient Greeks actually gave the Dog Star the name "Sirius" and for them, the rising of Sirius with the Sun was the sign that annual flooding of the Nile would begin.

Happy Dog Days and at least, unlike the ancients, we have a Locopops around the corner to help get us through the Dog Days.

Happy 4th of July.

Or Perth Day, as is the case in the picture below. Not my picture, it was taken by Antti Kemppainen in 2007, and here's a little about it from NASA:

click pic to make it larger

Durham tonight

Sun setting in the west . . .



Standing in nearly the same spot, 30 minutes later the Soltice Moon rises in the east . . .



A few more photos. Continuing construction of the Transportation Center . . .



The New Improved Durham Bull and the Lucky Strike smokestack . . .



Part of the AmTob Complex & some skyline:



A beautiful evening.

"Soltice Moon" Illusion on Wednesday night

NASA says:

Sometimes you just can't believe your eyes. This week is one of those times.

On Wednesday night, June 18th, step outside at sunset and look around. You'll see a giant form rising in the east. At first glance it looks like the full Moon. It has craters and seas and the face of a man, but this "moon" is strangely inflated. It's huge! [Moonrise here in Durham will be at 9:00 pm Wednesday night. -- DBP]

You've just experienced the Moon Illusion.

There's no better time to see it. The full Moon of June 18th is a "solstice moon", coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.

Sky watchers have known for thousands of years that low-hanging moons look unnaturally big. At first, astronomers thought the atmosphere must be magnifying the Moon near the horizon, but cameras showed that is not the case. Moons on film are the same size regardless of elevation: example. Apparently, only human beings see giant moons.

Oh, and also, there is no such thing as a full moon either according to this.

Moon rises over Topsail Island, 2006:

Saturday 3.29.08 from 8 to 9pm

It's Earth Hour North America.

Sure it's largely symbolic, but what could it hurt? It's an interesting way to take time to talk to your family & friends about conservation. A way to see that other people care too. A way to ratchet up everyone's awareness.

On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.

See also Embrace the Dark Side.

shoutout to Z for this

See the ISS & Space Shuttle on Wednesday night

These can be seen with the naked eye. It's very cool to spot them. You can do this--it's not hard.

NASA explains here:

Depending on your location on the Earth's surface, the spacecraft's position in orbit and the time of day, you may be able to see either the space shuttle or the International Space Station, or both, as they orbit about 386 kilometers (240 miles) above the planet. A spacecraft will be seen as a steady white pinpoint of light moving slowly across the sky.

For each shuttle flight, the Flight Dynamics Officers in NASA's Mission Control Center use sophisticated computer software to predict when and where the shuttle will be visible to people on the ground. Now that station assembly has begun, they also will predict where the space station will be visible from the ground. For rendezvous and docking missions, both will be visible at the same time once the two vehicles have docked in orbit and only one listing will be necessary.

You can go to this page to pick your state and then your city to get your times for sighting. Remember! 90 degrees is directly overhead.

For Durham (more sighting dates and times at the link):

Satellite . . Local Time . . Duration . . Deg Elev . . Approach

ISS . . . . Wed 3/26 8:24pm . . 5 minutes . . . 68º. . 11º above SW
Shuttle . . Wed 3/26 8:26pm . .5 minutes . . . 72º . .11º above SW

You can also spot the newly launched Jules Verne ATV satellite too:

ATV . . Wed 3/26 8:20pm . . 5 minutes . . . . 59º . . 11º above SW

ISS: International Space Station

Wed. night: Full lunar ecplise on a full moon

If the clouds stay away, the lunar eclipse Wednesday night should be a treat. One of my fondest childhood memories is standing with my dad in the backyard while we waited for the shadow to overtake the moon--his voice still conveying wonder that we'd sent men there who'd walked around. When he was a boy, he'd whisper in the darkness to me, such a feat was unbelievable.

In this article explaining the 5 stages of a lunar eclipse, Sky and Telescope says, "All of the Americas will have ringside seats . . . weather permitting."

Viewing Details per National Geographic News:

Wednesday's eclipse officially gets underway at 8:43 p.m. ET, when the moon's eastern edge slips into Earth's shadow.

The 50-minute totality begins at 10:01 p.m. The eclipse ends at 12:09 am Thursday.

Up to three total lunar eclipses occur a year, but some years have none. The next one won't occur until December 21, 2010.

Moonset and Earthshine over Atlanta tonight . . .

In Atlanta for a few days and snapped these pictures from my hotel as the thumbnail crescent Moon was setting . . .

Beautiful "Earthshine" -- a phenomena that Leonardo Da Vinci solved, sometimes called "the Da Vinci Glow."