Stephen Kennedy's Rants

Archive for the ‘Cool Stuff’ Category

17pholmes1a

Originally uploaded by sysguy_2000

Photo of Comet 17P/Holmes Taken with Canon 30D, 30 Second Exposure ISO1600 through Celestron C6S ASGT Unguided. Oct 30th. This comet suddenly brightened on October 24th 2007 and can be found in the Northeastern sky in the constellation Perseus. Naked to the Visible eye. View in early evening. Coma is not apparent unless using binoculars

On the way home from soccer practice tonight, there was a message on my cell phone. I checked the message and it was from my daughter’s astronomy course teacher, Blair. His message was for her to check out the naked eye comet 17P/Holmes in the Northeastern sky, as they were going to be discussing it in class this weekend.

The comet which is periodic (comes around every 6 to 7 years) usually is not very bright. It is normally considered to be a magnitude 17 comet, meaning that you need a very powerful telescope (and dark skies) to see it. Suddenly on the 24th of October, 2007 the comet brightened about a million times to approximately a magnitude 3 object. For an example of magnitudes, Vega the star that is virtually overhead in the summer is a magnitude 0 star and Sirius (the star to the lower right of the constellation Orion) is a magnitude -1.42 and is one of the brightest stars in our skies. The larger the magnitude number the fainter the object.

No one knows what caused the brightness this time, but theories are that there may be ice under the surface, or that a piece broke off or it cracked and is now a pinpoint star surrounded by a glowing halo. The comet also displayed some of these characteristics when it was discovered in 1892.

Currently the comet is located in the constellation of Perseus. If you are looking North find the constellation that looks like like a large W (Cassiopeia), then start looking further North and East of Cassiopeia. While it could be considered a Naked Eye object, from our part of the city it is difficult to see as there is a major shopping center just northeast of us, including a large Wal-Mart. Unfortunately the sky glow from the shopping centre really washes out the sky.

Anyway while the kids were getting ready for bed, I went out with my 10×70 binoculars and tried to find it. It took me about 20 or 30 minutes but finally I caught of glimpse of a large fuzzy object. Once I found the comet it was very easy to find it again. I brought out one of my telescopes (SkyWatcher 102mm ED) and a portable mount, found the comet and got the kids. Everyone came out and had a look at something that you don’t get to see very often in most peoples lifetime. The comet appears to be a bright object surrounded by a large round halo. There is no real hint of a tail as the comet is moving away from the earth so if there is a tail we cannot see it.

If you want to see some images of it visit this site as it shows recent brightening Nasa Astronomy Picture of the Day You can see the comet’s orbit here; Comet 17P/Holmes Orbit

The comet should stay in the constellation Perseus for a couple of months now. Unfortunately we don’t know how long it will remain visible. If you get a chance to check out this comet in the next few days I encourage you to do so. Check out the Friday Night Deck program at the Telus World of Science where, every Friday night where volunteers from the Calgary Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society if Canada man telescopes for free public viewing. I am sure there will be more than one scope trained on this fantastic object.

If Halloween night is clear, I plan on setting up a couple of scopes in the driveway as well as a tripod mounted pair of binoculars and offer the little trick or treaters and their parents a special little treat from the sky!

Back in June we saw a news story on TV about the Walking with Dinosaurs live experience show. It looked really cool with Life sized robotic Dinosaurs taking over a hockey rink and roaming around. We found out that there were only two Canadian stops for the show. Toronto and Edmonton. Looking at the schedule we saw that the show opened the 25^th of July in Edmonton Rexall Place. We juggled a few travel plans around and then purchased tickets on TicketMaster’s web site.

The show uses about 2/3’s of the arena surface as a stage, and we ended up getting our tickets pretty high up in the stands for the opening night performance. I can honestly say I am not sure if the lower bowl seats would be any better than the higher seats. Ticket price was 40.00 CAN + service fees to get in for our seats

You are led back in time over 150 Million years by a Paleontologist that serves as your guide. They talk about the different periods in time and the continental drift. As we approach each error we are introduced to several Dinosaurs from the era. These Dinosaurs are life sized robots (or puppets) that move around like a real dinosaur would. The detail on the dinosaurs is incredible and they truly look lifelike. The smaller dinosaurs are played by people in costumes although at first I did not notice the human legs in the smaller dinosaurs although they are quite obvious. Once I saw that though I always saw them, although it did not affect my ability to enjoy the show.

The larger dinosaurs are mounted on flat bases that have a driver hidden underneath. While these platforms do drive around the legs of the dinosaurs move as if they were walking. It is very easy to get immersed in what is happening on the stage and forget all about it.

We see quite a variety of dinosaurs (15 total) in all different settings, including a flying Pteradon. We are introduced to several herbivores and it not long before the first carnivores arrive. The first of the Brachiosaurs is actually quite large. During its encounter with an Allosaurus we find out that it is only a youngster and one of the adults comes out. This dinosaur is huge! We see several more types of dinosaurs and the end of the show brings the star attraction T-Rex.

If you are familiar with the Walking with Dinosaurs TV series you will definitely recognize some of the story lines that are used from that show.

All in all the show is very enjoyable. The first half is 45 minutes followed by a 15 minute intermission and then another 45 minutes of show. This show was well worth the drive to Edmonton to see it. IT is playing with two shows per night until July 28^th. It will also be playing in Toronto from August 8^th through 12^th 2007.

As for the seating, I don’t know if I would want to sit closer to the stage (floor), I think that you could easily be overwhelmed by the size of the dinosaurs and may miss out something. Sitting up higher gives you a complete field of view so you can catch all of the action all over the floor.

I have some pictures that I took during the show available here:

http://photos.chinookcity.com/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=11230&g2_GALLERYSID=2b1a65752cfff74f506d50c252532f44

You can also learn more about the show and dates for the city nearest you at:
http://www.dinosaurlive.com

I did manage to shoot a little video on my new RCA SmallWonder EZ201 video camera. I will post those soon and add a link to this post.

On a side note I was a little upset with the hospitality shown by the Edmonton Journal. When I purchased my tickets through TicketMaster it indicated that there would be a souvenir poster available. We saw the table where they were handing out the posters and IK stood in line with three ticket stubs to get a couple of posters. When I got to the front of the line they checked the tickets and said I could not get a poster because these weren’t Edmonton Journal pre sale tickets. I indicated that Ticketmaster said there would be a poster but was told that was a mistake. I sent my 6 year old son that wanted to see the show with a ticket stub to get a poster (who could resist those Puss n Boot eyes) but again he was told no. He immediately started crying and some very nice man who had three posters gave him one. Many thanks to the gesture of kindness from that gentleman and thumbs down to the Edmonton Journal that cannot give a poster that is worth .25 to a little boy. Maybe if they had been nicer I may have bought a paper the next time I am there. Believe it or not I will remember that for a long time!

Stephen

 

For the next few Friday nights you can head down to the Telus World of Science down on 6th Ave and 11 St SW and take a peek through some telescopes. Members of the Calgary Centre of RASC are down there on the observing deck. Viewing goes on nice Friday nights (clear and above -20C) for the next few weeks. Admission is free but you do have to pay for parking. Families welcome.

Mar 9th 2007 7:30PM – 8:30PM
Mar 16th, 23 and 30th, 2007 9:00PM -10:00PM

Bring the family down for a peak at the stars

 

When I was younger (in my teens) I was (and still am) a big fan of The Who. When they announced that they were coming to Calgary with this tour I bought my tickets right away. It was a great concert and Pete Townshend was amazing, Roger Daltry’s voice is starting to show a little age.

Anyway after the concert they announced that you could purchase CDs and DVDs of the concert via a site called http://www.themusic.com. The next day I logged on. bought the CD and DVD combo and waited. I recieved a shipping notice on the 9th of November and today my package showed up.

The DVD looks great. It is a production DVD and not a DVDR and is professionally edited with exceleent video and sound quality. A nice little souvenir form the show that I was at. Better deal than T-shirt at 55 USD for both + shipping as T-shirts were 40.00 CDN.

Signing off to keep watching!