solar and lunar eclipses

When the moon passes between the earth and the sun, we have a solar eclipse. When the earth is between the sun and the moon we have a lunar eclipse. There can be total and partial eclipses. These pictures are of total eclipses.

medicine wheels

Making a "medicine wheel", is easy. As the earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to swing from south to north and back south again over the course of a year. The southern most position marks the beginning of winter (winter soltice). The northern most position marks the begining of summer (summer solsitce). As the sun travels north, we come out of winter, when it is halway there, that is the begining of spring (spring equinox). After the sun reaches its northern most position, it turns around and heads south again. When it reaches the halfway point on its journey back south, that is the begining of fall (fall equinox). The four seasons, then, can be marked by these three positions of the sun. To make a medicine wheel, an old way of predicting the seasons, alighn two stones to point at these key positions of the sun, when it sets. The best way is not with compass and line, but simply to place the stones over the course of a year, when the sun is in each of these positions. The medicine wheel you see, was constructed at Pine Mountain Observatory, on the hill just above the telescopes.

Epsilon Aurigae (Pine Mountain Mentioned)

LookSmart's FindArticles - A 'brickbat' in the sky; the multiple star system Epsilon Aurigae fascinates astronomers every 27 years

Science News, March 9, 1985, by Dietrick E. Thomsen

Janov Pelorat was a cosmic archeologist in Foundation's Edge, and in Foundation and Earth, by Isaac Asimov, searching for Earth. Humanity spread throughout the Galaxy, such an archeology could become very realistic. I have found the ratio 9/5 in the most humanly held sacred aspects of nature, gold, silver, sun, moon, water, air,... and in other things like the most massive planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, pointing to the earth where that ratio is concerned, and in the human body temperature. I am also showing Arthur C. Clarke to be tuned into something deeply meaningful. Back to cosmic archeology, here is my bit of cosmic archeology:

http://my.opera.com/eanbardsley/blog/index.dml/tag/tarot

Also this post has elements of cosmic archeology:

http://my.opera.com/eanbardsley/blog/index.dml/tag/monolith

My basis of cosmic archeology:

http://my.opera.com/eanbardsley/blog/index.dml/tag/enigma

fireballs

If a shooting star (meteor) is big enough, you get what is called a "fireball". While working at Pine Mountain Observatory, eyes skyward all night, every night during the summer, and on winter weekends, I have seen several. Here is a photo of one captured by a photographer in Japan.

meteor showers

As a comet orbits the sun, it leaves behind debris in its orbit, small rocks and pebbles, when the earth flies through the orbit annually, it flies into the rocks and pebbles, as they burn up in the atmosphere, the friction excites the atoms of the air, ionizing it, so as to cause it to emmit light, leaving a luminous trail, commonly called a shooting star. Shooting stars can happen anytime, but when we fly through the orbit of a comet, we have a meteor shower. If the meteor is big enough as not to burn up before hitting the earth, then we can often find the rock, called a meteorite. In August, we fly through the orbit of a particular comet, that provides for what is usually the most spectacular meteor shower, the perseids. It is called the perseid meteor shower, because the meteors tend to emmanate from the constellation persied, because that is the direction the earth is moving into, during that time of the year. This point is called "the radiant", and if you point a camera at it and leave the shutter open for an hour or so, you will get an image much as in this photo.

star parties

When I was at Pine Mountain, amateur astronomers would set up their telescopes, and shows tourists celestial bodies with their often homemade telescopes. We showed tourists celestial bodies through the observatory telescopes as well. There are amateur astronomy clubs throughout the world, that aside from holding star parties, hold workshops on making your own telescopes. Amateur Astronomy is one of the few fields where amateurs make contributions to a profesional field, discovering comets, and providing a greater observering power for an otherwise immense universe, for which not nearly enough observervatories exist to monitor everything.

cygnus x1 and epsilon aurigae

the trip

It is about a three to four hour trip from the University of Oregon to Pine Mountain Observatory. It begins along the McKenzie river, then up and over the Cascade Mountain Range, then down into the town of Sisters (which has an old west theme in its architecture) then out to Bend, the last town before reaching the mountain of the telescopes situated in the high desert. Here are pictures of these key points in the order presented above.

pine mountain circa 1986

polarimetry