Poor Pane Andov

Pane Andov doesn’t like it when we talk about how bad his ideas are over at 2012hoax.org.  In fact, he’s sent an email demand that we remove the page on him because it ‘blacks his name’.

Well, Pane, we’re happy that you have read the page on you.  I’ll make you the same offer that I make to everybody: If there is something that is factually incorrect on the page discussing your ideas, please demonstrate that it is incorrect, and I will fix it.  What I will not do is take the page down over a hollow and empty threat that you are going to have your lawyers contact the FBI.

 

 

That bright star next to the moon tonight….

…. was Jupiter, again.

I swear I get more questions about objects that are planets than I do anything else.

Oh, and by the way, the bright star you’re seeing in the morning, on the way to work, is Venus.

That bright star next to the moon tonight…

Was Jupiter.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I posted here. The time has flown by! In case any of you actually missed me, I’ve been very busy over at 2012hoax.org.

Really pretty view of Orion this morning

As I was walking out of the house this morning, I happened to see a really pretty view of Orion and Canis Major in the South. Orion was near zenith, and Sirius was burning brightly just below and to the left. Off in the East Venus was peeking through the trees. I wished I had the scope set up and about 1/2 an hour of time to take it in, but I had to get to work.

That bright star next to the moon this morning…

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That bright star next to the moon this morning…

That bright ‘star’ next to the moon this morning was Venus. Check them out tomorrow for an even better show: They will be right next to each other!

Scale Model of the Earth and Moon

As well as the scale model of the solar system in my previous post, I will be using a scale model of the Earth and Moon in order to show distances, as well as demonstrate eclipses.   For this model, I used a 1″ wood ball, and a 1/4″ wood ball.  I drilled holes in them, and glued them onto bamboo Shish Kabob skewers.

Then I painted the moon a gray that my wife had in her craft paints, and  also painted the ‘Earth’ to vaguely resemble a globe.  I can’t say that I’m an artist.  If I work really hard, I may someday be good enough to be fired from a sweatshop operation in China.

To use this I’ll be using a pair of spring clamps, and a yardstick (or reasonable approximation thereof).  The proper distance between the Earth and Moon at this scale turns out to be 30 inches.

Scale Model of the Solar System

At Fremont Peak Observatory this Saturday, I will be doing an activity for the kids that involves a large scale model of the solar system.  We’re not going to do the entire solar system, just some of the inner planets.

I really wanted to make the scale model of the Solar System as outlined in “Worlds of the Solar System” activity on the NASA Night Sky Network, but the materials for it turned out to be much more difficult to obtain than I anticipated.

You can in fact order ‘Dylite’ (a.k.a. ‘Smoothfoam’) balls in various sizes… if you are willing to order multiple units.  I don’t want twelve of the  1 & 3/8 inch balls, I want two!  The local crafting store has a very limited selection of these.  I could get the 4-inch ball but not the 3 & 7/8 inch one.  Plus, they’re expensive!

So, a different solution needed to be found.

Being pressed for time, and unable to find the materials, I resorted to rendering the model in 2D instead of 3D.   In the PDF file is a handout page with correctly scaled pictures of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune).  Dwarf planets need not apply, apparently, but they are too small to be made in this 2D model anyway.

In order to accomplish my project, I printed two copies of the handout page in color.  I then used a glue stick to glue the back of the planets (before I cut them out) and pasted each sheet onto cardstock (a file-folder would work here too).  After letting them dry for a while, I then used scissors and a craft knife to cut out the pictures.

At this point, I had two pictures of each planet.  I quickly learned in the next step that the smallest planets (Mercury and Mars) are too small to do this next step.  The larger planets worked fine, and the larger rocky planets (Earth and Venus) could go either way .

The next step is to glue the two pictures of each planet together around bamboo Shish Kabob skewers (which I stole from the drawer in our kitchen).  For this step I recommend using ordinary white glue.  It wouldn’t work on regular weight paper, but on the cardstock it softened it up enough to mold the cardstock around the skewers.  This works great for the gas giant planets.

When I got down to Venus and Earth, however, it was much more difficult because of the small sizes of the circles.  When I got down to Mars, it was impossible.  I resorted to using a single cut-out, and placing a drop of glue on the back, then laying the tapered tip of the skewer into the glue.   I repeated this for Mercury.

In retrospect, this would work well for Venus and Earth as well.  If you wanted to, there is really no reason why the planets have to be double-sided, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

I used the label page printed on plain paper, and glued the labels around the skewers using a glue stick.

I’m actually fairly proud of the result.

Interview with Doug Brown playing on KCBS radio.

An interview with Doug Brown, President of the Fremont Peak Observatory Association, talking about the observatory’s situation is now playing on KCBS radio.

What we lose if Fremont Peak Observatory closes:

In a blog post back in May the Frog Mom in California posted about visiting Fremont Peak State Park,  and visiting the observatory:

When we admired Saturn through the telescope, I was dumbfounded. I had never really seen Saturn before I guess. It was so perfectly round and so black-and-white bright that it looked, as my friend Sue put it, “like a sticker on the lens.” A postcard perfect Saturn.

All I can say is get back up here on one of the next two weekends (August 22 or August 29) because after Labor Day the observatory may not be there anymore.