Tag Archives: Ryan Goodson

Students And Educators! Sally Ride EarthKAM Winter Mission Announcement, January 27-30, 2015

Posted on January 15, 2015 8:21 pm - - Leave a Comment

Greetings fellow astrophiles!

The following announcement came through the NASA Solar System Ambassador email list (for which Ryan Goodson and myself are current SSA’s planning several events for the year. If you or your organization is looking for lecturers, please contact us!). Participants will be allowed to select locations on Earth to take images of using the Sally Ride EarthKAM on board the International Space Station.

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If you apply and get some camera time, please grab a snapshot of CNY for us! Details below:

Students and educators are invited to participate in the Sally Ride EarthKAM winter mission scheduled for January 27 – 30, 2015. Guide your students in hands-on research as they program a camera aboard the International Space Station to take pictures of specific locations on Earth. The optional online curricula at the Sally Ride EarthKAM website are targeted at middle school students but are adaptable for other grade levels. All students and educators are welcome, including participants in afterschool programs.
 
For more information and to register for an upcoming mission, visit the Sally Ride EarthKAM home page at https://earthkam.ucsd.edu/. 

If you have questions about the EarthKAM project, please email ek-help@earthkam.ucsd.edu.

Posted in: US/NASA - Tagged: , , , ,

Maker Hall At The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration – 17 January 2015

Posted on December 27, 2014 8:01 pm - - Leave a Comment

Greetings fellow astrophiles!

The posted email below from Mary Eileen Wood of Ying-TRSEF and OCC (and CNY’s most active STEM educator!) is an announcement both for interested CNYO members and anyone else who might have a club, organization, or garage full of kid-friendly equipment who might want to set up a booth to participate in the Maker Hall festivities. This will be my 3rd such event (Ryan Goodson and I having run CNYO booths at the two events (announced HERE and HERE) in 2014) and I can tell you that these Maker Faires are THE place to be for anyone interested in (and interested in promoting) STEM education.

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If anyone has interest in hanging out at the CNYO (and NASA Solar System Ambassador) booth, please let me know at admin@cnyo.org. If you’ve an organization that wants to participate, please contact Mary Eileen Wood using the contact info at the bottom of the email:

For the first time, the MLK Committee is incorporating a Maker Hall into the Dr. King Celebration, giving the STEM community the Fowler High School gymnasium. TACNY members can once again delight a diverse array of families from our community with science and technology!

Wonder what a Maker Hall is? It’s basically a Mini Maker Faire – lots of stations with fascinating hands-on activities for all ages that engage families in exploring great Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fun.

The adventures already include the IEEE station with flashing circuits, the NASA Solar Ambassador’s space rocks, OCC’s “virtual engineering” center, the U.S. Army team’s hands-on gear set up, DIY spaghetti engineering, Rotary’s basketball math … and whatever YOU would like to bring!

* Register ASAP to volunteer for the Maker Hall – we are preparing for 500 attendees!

* Our Hall’s volunteer shift is 10a-3p, so you will be provided with a free lunch!

* This link gives you the flyer (PDF) for recruiting more volunteers.

* This link is the invitation (PDF) to attend the Dr. King Community Celebration. Send it to everyone you can, so we have LOTS of people at this great STEM party!

* Questions? Call Mary Eileen Wood at 315-468-1025 or email trsef@verizon.net.

* Plan to dress comfortably and have a GREAT time!

Posted in: Ying-TRSEF - Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

A Busy Week – Comet Siding Spring On The 19th, Orionids On The 21st, Partial Solar Eclipse On The 23rd, Kopernik AstroFest On The 24th & 25th

Posted on October 17, 2014 3:56 pm - - Leave a Comment

Greetings Fellow astrophiles!

Several upcoming events of note – three of which depend on the weather, one of which is a go either way.

1. October 19th – CNYO @ Happy Valley For Comet Siding Spring

NOTE: Please contact us at info@cnyo.org, on our Contact Page, or on the Facebook Page about the event. This is event is weather-permitting and is a one-time event (no rescheduling)! Keep track of this website for updates on the 19th.

2014oct16_marscometComet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring is going to side-swipe Mars at 2:27 p.m. Eastern time at a distance 1/3 that of the Earth-Moon distance. That’s an astronomical close-call by all metrics! That’s close enough that NASA has reportedly taken steps to protect its robot fleet in Mars’ orbit.

Now, this is a rare and special event, but we’re going to miss the closest-approach by several hours (waiting for sunset at 6:15 p.m., that is, then the additional wait for the sky to get darker). The view of Mars and Siding Spring through a single eyepiece should be great, but it’s going to require a dark, dark location to see them both well. To accommodate this, Ryan Goodson will be leading a session at Happy Valley outside of Parish, NY.

Yes, THAT Happy Valley.

Odd history aside, this is a dark sky location if ever there was one in CNY. If you’ve interest in attending, we ask that you contact us via the methods listed above for directions and so we can get a head count. Mars will set around 9:00 p.m., so this session with the drive North should still get you home by 10 p.m. (Unless you decide to stick around for some additional observing).

2. Orionid Meteor Shower, Peaking The Morning Of October 21st

2014oct16_orionid_radiantThe constellation Orion is appearing earlier every evening, marking the beginning of the winter observing session (and return of some of the best objects the Night Sky has to offer the well-insulated amateur astronomer). Those staying up late (or waking up extra-early) will be treated to the first spectacle Orion has to offer in the form of the Orionids, which peak early Tuesday morning. This shower isn’t known for quantity (10 to 25/hour) but has been known for some particularly brilliant shooters. This is also a chance for those who’ve never seen Halley’s Comet to say they’ve at least seen a teeny, tiny piece of it, as this comet’s debris field is the feeder for this late-fall shower.

As with all meteor showers, dark skies = better skies. As for observing the shower itself, your best bet is to lie down with your feet pointed at Orion, then wait (patiently) as the shooters shoot over your feet and towards your head.

3. Partial Solar Eclipse, At Sunset On October 23rd

NOTE: This event is weather-permitting and can’t be rescheduled! Keep track of this website for updates on the 23rd.

We had a limited glimpse of the recent total lunar eclipse just a few weeks ago, now have a chance to see the tables turned in the form of a partial solar eclipse. This will be a small clipping of the Sun by the New Moon and will happen VERY close to sunset – close enough that we’ll miss most of the eclipse when the Sun sets below the Western horizon. Because of that, we’re still looking for an observing location that’s up high and with a low horizon. Our plan right now is to meet at the parking lot next to the Onondaga Lake Inner Harbor Amphitheater (where we ran our first-ever CNYO session) but we’re also considering the southern end of the Onondaga Lake Parkway. We will make final decision in the next few days.

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We’ll have about 25 minutes (5:44 to 6:09) of partial solar eclipse if the skies hold and the horizon’s low. More details (like location) to follow as we finalize event details.

4. Kopernik AstroFest 2014, October 24th & 25th

Our friends (and, for some of us, fellow members) of the Kopernik Astronomical Society are getting ready to host their annual AstroFest, always one of the very best events of its kind in New York. Having already posted the official announcement on cnyo.org, I’ll leave you to the Kopernik AstroFest website to learn more about the Friday/Saturday festivities. Several of us are still planning on attending both days of the event and are willing to carpool down. Please drop a line to info@cnyo.org or our Facebook Page for arrangements.

Posted in: CNY Science, Kopernik - Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CNYO Observing Log: International Observe The Moon Night, 6 September 2014

Posted on September 13, 2014 1:41 pm - - 1 Comment

Larry Slosberg and I (Ryan Goodson) arrived at the Onondaga Creekwalk at 7:30 p.m. for the CNY edition of the International Observe The Moon Night. We quickly realized that the Moon would be obstructed by a row of large buildings, making this locale not ideal for the night. We decided to scout other locations.

After a quick walk to The MOST, we found the perfect spot on the same sidewalk shared by both a vacant building under construction and the ever-trendy record store The Sound Garden. Our fear was that foot traffic would be slow, but the Moon was well positioned and slowly traversing its way over The MOST, so we decided this would be the spot.

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After a quick set-up (and by quick I mean lightning fast – a couple NMT’s – whadya expect?), our earlier fear of lack-of-traffic was quickly replaced with the anxiety of too many onlookers and not enough scopes! I had set up Dan Williams’ 8” scope, and Larry was equipped with his car dwelling 12”. Thankfully, Dan Williams and Raymond Dague of the Syracuse Astronomical Society made an appearance and aided Larry and I with the part of the outreach I call the splainin’ (that’s okie for explaining). Larry was certainly the star of the show with his use of common objects to put stellar sizes in perspective. Dague and Williams both provided excellent commentary about the Moon and what turned out to be a far bigger hit – Saturn and Mars!

After pointing Williams’ 8” at Saturn, the comments ranged from, “That has to be fake,” to “Get the hell outta here! I’ve never seen anything so incredible!” Since this was a night dedicated to the Moon (albeit nearly full – maybe next year we get a petition making the rounds to move the special occasion to a first quarter date), we had to go back to our lunar companion and get a few oohs and aahs from those views as well.

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For the reader wanting the specifics, the scope I had used was an 8” F6.5. The eyepieces used for both the Moon and the planets were a 31mm Nagler (43x magnification), a 12mm Delos (110x magnification) and for the steadiest moments I would use a 2X Celestron Ultima Barlow in conjunction with the Delos to yield that sweet spot of 222x for Saturn. Through the 8” F6.5, this view revealed the ringed planet, the Cassini Division, 4 moons, and subtle surface detail (the surface detail part probably only seen by the more experienced observers in the group). In fact, it was this view that a group of Chinese tourists seemed most excited about. One of the last of the public onlookers to leave had stated that the night had been the most magical she can remember.

The Moon was viewed through both scopes and always filtered. The views were big and bright, with most of the questions relegated to wondering about the maria and larger craters. A young college student said she was excited to finally have tidal lock splained in a way she could understand-thank you Larry Slosberg for relating information in such a candid way!

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Before wrapping the event up we pointed toward a number of double stars and talked a bit about the large number of planetary systems being discovered by professionals and amateurs alike. The session closed around 9:45 PM, and we went home energized and ready for the next CNYO event.

Posted in: Observing Logs - Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An Astronomical Trifecta For Ryan Goodson And New Moon Telescopes

Posted on July 23, 2014 9:16 pm - - 1 Comment

Greetings fellow astrophiles,

Having a master scope builder in our own backyard has made the lives of several CNYO members very easy. Not only is Ryan Goodson a great observing partner, but he has either brought or built many of the best scopes that make their way to our library lectures, later-night school outings, county parks, North Sportsman’s Club, or his own observing base at New Moon Telescopes HQ. To that end, I’m happy to help Ryan and NMT celebrate a unique astronomical milestone this summer, having pulled off recognition in three prominent astronomy magazines.

1. Feature Article In Astronomy Technology Today

2014july14_ATTTo begin, Ryan contributed a combination technical analysis/product review based on a hot topic he’s been pondering from the builder perspective for over a year now. The article, “Calculating The Perfect Telescope Size Post Paracorr Type-2,” is one of the feature articles in the May-June 2014 issue of Astronomy Technology Today, one of the great amateur astronomy magazines that features contributions from the broader amateur astronomy community.

For those who missed their chance to pick up a copy at Barnes & Noble this year (the only place around here that we now carries it), ATT and their editor Gary Parkerson have allowed CNYO to reproduce the article in PDF format for your reading pleasure.

Download The ATT Article HERE

Several of us in CNYO are subscribers to ATT (I ripped this PDF from my subscription) and we encourage you to geek-out bimonthly to product reviews and expert opinions from real users in our community. From the article:

Calculating the Perfect Telescope Size Post Paracorr Type-2

And the perfect telescope size is…?

The perfect telescope size is… It’s a line that invites critique and insight from every corner of the astronomical community. Having built a number of telescopes for clients all over the U.S., I have called three of my New Moon Telescopes my own: a 12.5-inch f/4.9, a 16-inch f/4.5, and a 27-inch f/3.9. Outside of those three Dobsonian-style telescopes, I have also owned various refractors and binoculars and a large arsenal of eyepieces. But since I build Dobsonians-style telescopes (okay, “Dobs”) for a living, however, I will limit my opinion to that particular style. My opinion of the perfect Dob size has changed over the years as my observing habits have also evolved.

2. A NEAF Shout-Out In Sky & Telescope Magazine

2014july14_SkyTelNMT had a great showing at the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) this past year (and several of us stopped by the booth looking for free samples). In their own coverage of event highlights, the venerable Sky & Telescope Magazine (also worth your considered subscription – their list and coverage of important astronomical events is certainly one of the best ways to know what the month holds for amateur astronomers the world over) focused in on NMT’s new aluminum bearing design. Kudos to John Giroux for spotting the bearings first.

A snippet from the August 2014 issue is shown at right. Their brief write-up of the bearing design is reproduced below:

24. www.newmoontelescopes.com New Moon Telescopes had a great display of its custom mid- and large-aperture Dobso- nians. Of special note were the company’s new lightweight-aluminum altitude bearings with a textured powder coating that produced just the right amount of “stiction” for a Dob mount.

3. Star Product Designation From Astronomy Magazine!

2014july14_starproduct_indexTo soon be announced in the September issue of Astronomy Magazine, NMT’s 12.5 f/5 Dobsonian telescope has been selected as a Best-Of by the other venerable oracle of events and celestial highlights. An excellent notch in Ryan’s belt that several of us already knew all about. As a shameless plug, I’m the proud owner of the first NMT production model, a 12.5″ f/5ish Dob known affectionately as Ruby (for the red MoonLite focuser). Now over 3 years and many, many observing sessions in, I’ve yet to want for another telescope. Not even interested.

Stay tuned for more press when the official publication comes out. In the meantime, a hearty congrats to Ryan (and Heather and Lily!) and NMT on the astronomical trifecta!

Posted in: Product Reviews - Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,