Monthly Archives: July 2017

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“Stargazing In Upstate NY” For July 28 to August 4 Posted To newyorkupstate.com And syracuse.com

Posted on July 30, 2017 12:15 pm - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

This week’s “Stargazing In Upstate New York” article is up at syracuse.com and newyorkupstate.com.

* syracuse.com/outdoors/…what_to_see_in_the_night_skies_jul8_28_to_aug_4

* newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/…what_to_see_in_the_night_skies_july_28_to_aug_4

We start the push for the solar eclipse on the 21st, including a list of scheduled events around the CNY area (and a bit beyond). The Southern Delta Aquariids are announced (with short notice) and a sneak preview mention of the Persieds is made (although the waning crescent on the night of the 12th is going to dull the quality of the shower this year).

Below is a list of scheduled lecture and observing opportunities around Upstate New York for the eclipse – this list will be reproduced in the following articles and will hopefully be added to as other locations announce events. If you know of an event not listed, please send an email with details. As always around here, we can only hope for clear skies!

Solar Eclipse Calendar

Organizer Location Event Date Time Contact Info
Albany Area Amateur Astronomers & Dudley Observatory Schenectady Solar Eclipse Aug. 21 1:22 – 3:56 PM email, website
Cazenovia Public Library Cazenovia Solar Eclipse Lecture Aug. 16 7:00 – 8:30 PM 315-655-9322 website

Kopernik Observatory & Science Center Vestal Solar Eclipse Aug. 21 11:30 AM – 4:00 PM email, website
Liverpool Public Library Liverpool Solar Eclipse Party Aug. 21 1:00 – 4:00 PM 315-457-0310 website
Marcellus Free Library Marcellus Solar Eclipse Party Aug. 21 1:00 – 4:00 PM 315-673-3221 website
Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society Waterville Eclipse Lecture, Clinton Aug. 2 7:00 – 8:30 PM email, website
Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society Waterville Eclipse Lecture, Canastota Aug. 3 7:00 – 8:30 PM email, website
Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society Waterville Solar Eclipse Aug. 21 12:00 – 4:00 PM email, website
Onondaga County Libraries NOPL North Syracuse Solar Eclipse Lecture Aug. 14 6:30 – 8:00 PM 315-458-6184 website

Onondaga County Libraries Jamesville Lecture & Solar Eclipse @ DeWitt & Jamesville Library Aug. 21 12:00 – 4:00 PM 315-446-3578 website
Onondaga County Libraries Syracuse Solar Eclipse Party @ Hazard Branch Aug. 21 12:00 – 4:00 PM 315-435-5326 website
Onondaga County Libraries Syracuse Solar Eclipse Party @ Paine Branch Aug. 21 2:00 – 3:00 PM 315-435-5442 website
Onondaga County Libraries Syracuse Solar Eclipse Party @ White Branch Aug. 21 2:00 – 3:00 PM 315-435-3519 website
Posted in: Upstate NY Stargazing - Tagged: , , , , ,

Free Astronomy Magazine – July-August 2017 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Posted on July 26, 2017 7:32 am - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (July-August, 2017) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure at www.astropublishing.com (click the link to go directly to the issue).

Free Astronomy Magazine was featured as the first of a series of articles on great free online content for amateur astronomers (see A Universe Of Free Resources Part 1) and we’ll be keeping track of future publications under the Online Resources category on the CNYO website.

You can find previous Free Astronomy Magazine issues by checking out our Free Astronomy Magazine Category (or look under the Education link in our menu).

For those wanting a quick look at what the issue has to offer, the Table of Contents is reproduced below.

July-August 2017

The web browser-readable version of the issue can be found here:

July-August 2017 – www.astropublishing.com/4FAM2017/

For those who want to jump right to the PDF download (27 MB), Click here: July-August 2017

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“Stargazing In Upstate NY” For July 21 to July 28 Posted To newyorkupstate.com And syracuse.com

Posted on July 23, 2017 7:47 am - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

This week’s “Stargazing In Upstate New York” article is up at syracuse.com and newyorkupstate.com.

* syracuse.com/outdoors/…what_to_see_in_the_night_skies_july_21_to_28

* newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/…what_to_see_in_the_night_skies_july_21_to_28

We welcome the return of the moon to our sunset skies this week at the same time that we celebrate the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon on the 20th – and the safe return from the surface of the late Neil Armstrong and the still ever social-media savvy Buzz Aldrin on July 21, 1969. The third name on that list, regretfully less-often mentioned because he stayed onboard the command module Columbia while the other two rode the Eagle module to the moon’s surface, is Michael Collins. Of all of the documentation of this mission, the above photo might be the most memorable – especially in our current, selfie-crazed society. In this picture, the only person not accounted for in the entirely of human history – and, in fact, very likely the only multi-cellular organism not accounted for in the 4.5 billion year history of the Earth – is Collins, patiently monitoring the return of the other two to the Columbia module.

As far from a selfie as a non-selfie has ever been taken. (Photo by Michael Collins, Apollo 11, July 21, 1969.)

And, because we’ve not seen Mars in a short while as of late, a little reminder is included thanks a recent release of Hubbble images of a Phobos fly-by.

Mars and a fly-by of its tiny moon Phobos. From NASA/ESA/STScI.

Solar eclipse updates to follow in the next few articles before August 21st.

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ICYMI – “NASA Unveils New Searchable Video, Audio And Imagery Library For The Public”

Posted on July 18, 2017 11:34 am - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

In the event that the original announcement made it past you, I wanted to clear the following NASA News of out CNYO’s Inbox and spread the linkage around. The original announcement was released on 28 March 2017 (RELEASE 17-035), followed soon after after by a posting to the great Open Culture website (www.openculture.com – there’s an equally great discussion about the library on the Open Culture website HERE).

Consider your desktop background needs fulfilled.

As eye candy for the post, I found the single image of NGC 4565 – my personal favorite and one of the great “work for” eye candy galaxies in medium-sized telescopes.

NASA officially has launched a new resource to help the public search and download out-of-this-world images, videos and audio files by keyword and metadata searches from NASA.gov. The NASA Image and Video Library website consolidates imagery spread across more than 60 collections into one searchable location.

images.nasa.gov

NASA Image and Video Library allows users to search, discover and download a treasure trove of more than 140,000 NASA images, videos and audio files from across the agency’s many missions in aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, human spaceflight, and more. Users now can embed content in their own sites and choose from multiple resolutions to download. The website also displays the metadata associated with images.

Users can browse the agency’s most recently uploaded files, as well as discover historic and the most popularly searched images, audio files and videos. Other features include:

* Automatically scales the interface for mobile phones and tablets
* Displays the EXIF/camera data that includes exposure, lens used, and other information, when available from the original image
* Allows for easy public access to high resolution files
* All video includes a downloadable caption file

NASA Image and Video Library’s Application Programmers Interface (API) allows automation of imagery uploads for NASA, and gives members of the public the ability to embed content in their own sites and applications. This public site runs on NASA’s cloud native “infrastructure-as-a-code” technology enabling on-demand use in the cloud.

The library is not comprehensive, but rather provides the best of what NASA makes publicly available from a single point of presence on the web. Additionally, it is a living website, where new and archival images, video and audio files continually will be added.

For more information about NASA’s activities, visit: www.nasa.gov

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

“Stargazing In Upstate NY” For July 14 to July 21 Posted To newyorkupstate.com And syracuse.com

Posted on July 16, 2017 2:45 pm - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

This week’s “Stargazing In Upstate New York” article is up at syracuse.com and newyorkupstate.com.

* syracuse.com/outdoors/…what_to_see_in_the_night_skies_july_14_to_21.html

* newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/…what_to_see_in_the_night_skies_july_14_to_21.html

As of Friday, and at present, we’re awaiting what might be a decent auroral display thanks to a massive solar eruption observed by, among others, NASA SOHO. The capture of the associated solar flare itself was captured by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory in ultraviolet on the 14th (below).

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