The “Great American Eclipse” lived up to it’s name

The “Great American Eclipse” lived up to it’s name

When I was asked last week about how many eclipses I’ve seen, I must respond define ‘seen’. Ultimately, I’ll answer with “1.5.” My very first total eclipse adventure in 2010, had our group missing the eclipse by 500 feet. Huh? The drivers hired to take us to the viewing site in Patagonia planned four years earlier, decided at the last minute that they had a better place for us. With totality being a scant 1 degree above the horizon, there was...

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Northern Lights from North of the Arctic Circle

Northern Lights from North of the Arctic Circle

I’ve been back from Norway for a couple of weeks, but for the first week was too wacked out from jet lag to do much of anything. I was thinking that were I to do a coding marathon of 30+ hours, skip one night’s sleep then get to bed at a “normal” time, I could do a hard reset of my internal clock. Nope. Didn’t work. Screwed me up (well, more than normal). The trip was terrific, but too short. While I don’t...

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Aboard the MS Finnmarken north of the Arctic Circle

Aboard the MS Finnmarken north of the Arctic Circle

Aboard the MS Finnmarken north of the Arctic Circle. A couple of things I have always wanted to do were: go on a cruise (not one of those gaudy drink-yourself-to-the-emergency-room kinda cruises, but something a little more mellow), and to see the Northern Lights. What fun when I discovered that there was a cruise to see the Northern Lights (not to be confused with Friday Night Lights, that was a different network). I signed up almost...

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Nov. 13 Eclipse video (at last!)

Nov. 13 Eclipse video (at last!)

I finally slogged my way home from Cairns, Australia, where I went to see the Nov. 13 eclipse. The WiFi was too crappy or expensive in most of the hotels that last thing I needed to do was upload a something to YouTube. I shot two videos, one with my old iPhone 4 that had already been eclipse tested (for your safety) and hardened at the great Patagonia-almost-eclipse in 2010. The other was using my iPad-Mini. Watch how the Moon’s shadow...

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Eclipse Day!

Eclipse Day!

Eclipse Day! Finally here! My very first total eclipse. Many in our group have seen 5 or more. My roommate is on his 7th. I never thought much of going halfway around the world to see something that lasted in this case, a mere 2 minutes, 9 seconds. People who do this are called “eclipse chasers”. But finally had some sense knocked into me when I realized that the eclipse is just a part of an otherwise fascinating journey. Each spot in the world...

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M42 by Rogelio Bernal Andreo

M42 by Rogelio Bernal Andreo

With all of the new technology coming on line over the past 20 years, few fields of endeavor have been more visible changed then that of astrophotography. Improved optics and manufacturing processes have put telescopes that would have been previously  available only to researchers into the hands of even casual amateur astronomers. Imaging hardware and software not even available 10 years ago have trumped the “old” chemical film...

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