Holy Planets, Batman!

Quick, my young ward, run outside and view the planets!

No seriously!  Get outside, soon!  There are three planets currently gracing the early evening skies, and you do not want to miss this.

I've been waiting to post this because we've had a serious stretch of rainy weather here in Virginia, and it seemed cruel to write a post telling everybody about the amazing stuff they can't go outside and look at.  But this past weekend was brilliant, and hopefully some nice weather is here for a little while.  So let's talk planets.

Jupiter has been shining bright in our evening sky for some months now.  It's a dramatic, white star-like object high on the western side of the sky in the early evening.  You can't miss it.  It's the brightest thing out there, assuming the Moon is nowhere around.  Grab a pair of binoculars or a small telescope for a real treat - a quick zoom-in will reveal the colorful cloud stripes on the planet and as many as 5 moons orbiting the giant world.

Jupiter and its four largest moons as seen through a small telescope.

Looking more south-southwesterly, you still have time to catch the orangey glow of Mars before it fades away into the distance.  Mars made a close approach to us in April, and is now getting further and further away from us with each passing day.  A good-sized telescope will reveal a mottled surface and possibly a bit of a polar cap on our tiny next door neighbor.  Mars is only half the size of the Earth, so seeing any detail on the planet is difficult.  With Mars being a bit closer now than it normally is to us, here's your best shot at seeing some Martian surface detail for a while...the next close approach will be in about two years.

Mars as seen in a larger telescope during its close approach in April 2014.

Finally, lower in the southwest you will find the golden glow of Saturn.  Here's the big payoff for your binoculars or telescope - those oh-so-spectacular rings.  If you are using binoculars, you'll need to hold them very steady - a tripod will be your best bet.  Remember, you're looking at something about a billion miles away.  But oh, that view is so worth it!

Saturn as seen through a larger telescope.

Don't have a telescope or binoculars?  Not sure exactly where to look?  No worries.  Come on out to the Virginia Living Museum on Saturday May 10 and we'll do the leg work for you.  Our telescopes will be set up (weather permitting) and all you'll have to do is bend your eye to the eyepiece and stare.  Trust me, you'll be glad you came!  For more details on our monthly star party and laser light nights, please visit our website at www.thevlm.org.  And if you can't make the star party, get out there and look up anyway.  No matter which way you face, the universe has a lot to offer!  Enjoy!

Until next time...
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

Comet ISON Post-Mortem

*sigh*

No, it's not the holiday blues...it's the lack of a comet.

Sadly, it looks like Comet ISON did not fare too well in its first ever (and probably last ever!) trip around the Sun.  The comet was brightening dramatically as it approached the Sun, but then even before perihelion (it's point of closest approach to the Sun) the comet suddenly dropped in brightness...not usually a good sign.  It often heralds a breakup of the object.

Thanksgiving Day saw ISON directly behind the Sun from our view at perihelion...and then, it came back!  But sadly it was much, much dimmer than when it rounded the Sun, and then it proceeded to continue to dim rapidly.  Whatever is left of Comet ISON will not be bright enough to put on any kind of display in our skies this December.

A movie of Comet ISON plunging toward the Sun and then emerging, much diminished, on the other side.  Courtesy NASA and the SOHO Spacecraft.

Ah well.  It was exciting to hope for...but it wasn't meant to be.

We've got holiday fun to cheer us up though - Star of Wonder: Mystery of the Christmas Star and Laser Holidays are back in the planetarium for the rest of this year.  And of course, the December Star Party (December 14) will feature not only those two shows, but also a free concert by the United States Salvation Army Brass Band.  And hopefully the skies will be crisp and clear so we can enjoy the natural celestial show as well.

Still, a nice bright naked-eye comet would have been a wonderful early Christmas present.  Maybe if we're lucky, the Geminid meteor shower will consent to give us a few good meteors on December 14th, despite the nearly Full Moon.  Come join us and find out!

More from the world of astronomy in two weeks...until then...
Carpe Noctem!
Kelly

Politics - The Art of the Possible

The titular phrase of this post references a saying by Prince Otto von Bismarck, Germany's fabled Iron Chancellor.  It's also a wonderful song in the musical "Evita."  It's also something I wish our Congress would get around to remembering.

Politics, at its best, should be a way of blending together various viewpoints to bring about compromises that please the vast majority of the people involved...in our case, us, through our elected representatives.  Sadly, right now, our Congress is behaving like a toddler who's been told he has to eat his Brussels sprouts - mouth tight shut, eyes closed, head in the air, and completely refusing to listen. 

*sigh*

I've seen numbers estimating the number of people affected by the government shutdown at around 800,000.  Sorry, I think that's a gross underestimation.  Though I guess it depends on how you define "affected."  My guess is they are thinking only of federal workers furloughed.  But the shutdown trickles down into everything.  Here's a case in point.

This Saturday, here at the Virginia Living Museum, we are hosting our monthly Star Party and Laser Light Night.  We were planning on a big event, in celebration of International Observe the Moon Night, which is also Saturday October 12.  NASA Langley planned to join us, with some awesome exhibits about current missions to the Moon and what we hope to do in the future.  The Blue Aces Air Force Band was also going to come out to play some great music on the lawn and get everyone in a great mood for the evening.

Sadly, because of the government shutdown, neither of those things can happen.  NASA is effectively closed (except for essential ongoing mission operations) and the Air Force can't really say that having a band play a local event is essential either.  But it is going to affect us, as many people who might have come out to enjoy these things will now stay home.  We're not federally funded here at the VLM...but we're affected, nonetheless.

On the good side, we'll still be here, doing our regular Star Party thing!  We're hoping to have some extra help on hand viewing the Moon (assuming the weather cooperates!) from the good folks of the Langley Skywatchers and the Virginia Peninsula Astronomy Stargazers.  And there will be the usual slate of planetarium and laser shows to enjoy (ticket purchase required for shows - stargazing is FREE!).  I hope we'll see some of you here for the fun!

In other news,  Comet ISON is improving, and may soon be visible to the unaided eye!  It is a wonderful target for backyard telescopes at this time, and is beginning to show color!  Check it out...

Comet ISON as photographed by Michael Jaeger of Weissenkirchen Austria.  The greenish glow is caused by cyanogen and carbon in the comet's coma.  Courtesy Spaceweather.com 

Look for ISON in the early morning, just before sunrise.  You'll need a telescope, as it is not yet visible to the unaided eye.  Mars will serve as a wonderful guide to finding the comet over the next few days.

Finder chart for Comet ISON on October 9, 2013.  Courtesy Spaceweather.com

Enjoy! Hopefully by next month we will be enjoying a naked-eye comet and a reopened government.
Until next time,
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

WOAH...Look at the time!

Holy moly, has it been two weeks already!?!

Okay, well I'm going to make this quick, as we are in our busiest season here at the Virginia Living Museum.  Summer is a-comin'...and we are all working like crazy to be ready!

So...here's a primer on what you'll find here if you come visit this summer!

The big news is our big exhibition - Bodies Revealed - a fascinating exhibition of specially preserved human specimens of the kind usually reserved for medical students.  The exhibit will take you on an incredible journey through the various systems of the body, plus allow you to see exactly what happens to a body afflicted with various kinds of diseases.  It is truly incredible - the human body is a marvel to behold, and this exhibit really brings out the incredible complexity of our inner workings.  The exhibit opens to the public on Saturday - members only can visit on Friday!

In the Abbitt Planetarium, you can explore the inside of the body with a fanciful look into the future of medicine with Microcosm - a fantastic voyage into the body as only a fulldome theater can bring it to you.  The show makes an excellent companion to the Bodies Revealed exhibit and will be offered at 11:30am and 2:30pm every day beginning on Friday.

Journey inside the human body with Microcosm.  We'll also explore the parallel history of astronomical and medical advancements.

For those with a more historical bend, we'll also be featuring a program to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg address later this year.  Before he was president, Abraham Lincoln was a well respected lawyer.  In his most famous case, he successfully defended a man against a murder charge by introducing scientific evidence about the Moon.  For many years, historians have argued over whether Lincoln actually had science on his side, or whether he faked his "evidence" to free his client.  Discover the answer with our new program Abraham Lincoln: The Case of the Missing Moon, showing every day at 12:30pm beginning this Friday.

If you're hoping to learn about what's going on in the evening skies, you'll really enjoy our Virginia Skies program.  This live discussion of the current evening skies will be shown every day at 1:30pm, starting this Friday.  One of our staff astronomers will take you on journey through the current constellations, planets, and other celestial objects appearing in your night sky.  Don't forget to bring your questions!

Finally, if you're looking to just kick back, relax, and rock out for summer, we've got you covered at our 3:30pm laser show.  Beginning this Friday and running through June 30, enjoy an eclectic mix of movie tunes, rock and pop with Laser Mania.  Celebrate our magnificent country all through the month of July with Spirit of America.  From August 1 through Labor Day weekend, get dancy with a wild selection of electronic dance music in ElectroLaze.  All our laser shows feature amazing laser light splashed all over our 30 foot dome to accompany excellent music selections.  You can check out playlists for our shows on our website.

Of course, summer also brings summer camps, and we are really excited about our offerings this year.  We do classes for kids having completed kindergarten up through grade 5 - and each week is packed full of incredible science, fun, games, activities and planetarium shows!  We do have a few spaces remaining in some of our camps - check online for current openings, or call (757) 595-9135 and our lovely ladies in reservations will help you out. 

Well, the unofficial start of summer is this weekend, and I plan to spend it with friends and family.  I'm really looking forward to checking out the new Star Trek movie! 

Ah, the reboot of Star Trek.  I confess I much enjoyed the first one, despite my best efforts.

All right, my time is up!  Back to work.
Until two more weeks have passed...live long and prosper!
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

It's The End of the World As We Know It...

...and I feel fine!

Actually, I seem to have caught the delightful virus that's been making the rounds here in southeast Virginia.  On week 2 of the darn thing and I am ready to be done with it.  But back to the matter at hand...

Holy cow!  The world is coming to an end this Friday!  The Mayan Long Count calendar says so!

The Seven-Day Forecast for this week.  Found on Facebook by my friend Jim Drummond.

Actually, it doesn't say anything of the kind.  It's a calendar.  All calendars end...that's how the calendar companies stay in business.  In all seriousness, when the calendar we use today, the Gregorian calendar, comes to the end of a cycle, no one worries that the world will end too...they just go buy a new calendar.  The Mayan Long Count calendar is no different - a new long count cycle will begin on Saturday, and life will go on.

Doomsday predictions and fears have been a common theme in humanity's long history.   It is not, by any means, a modern thing.  In fact, the first known "prediction" for the end of the world dates back to 2800 BC!  An Assyrian clay tablet dating to those times was found with the inscription "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption are common."  Just in case you thought that bribery and corruption were something invented in the modern era as well...clearly, we've always been good at those things.  Perceived degeneration of morals has long been seen as an indication of the coming end of the world.

There's a long tradition of apocalyptic destruction coming from space as well.  One of the earliest space-related predictions for the end of the world was made in the 1180s, when John of Toledo circulated a letter stating that the coming planetary alignment in Libra on September 23, 1186 would signal the end of the world, and only a very few people would survive.

Comets have long been seen as harbingers of doom.  One of the first comets to be directly associated with the coming end of the world was seen in 1532.  The prediction was made by a Viennese bishop, Frederick Nausea (!), after he heard numerous reports of bizarre occurrences, including bloody crosses being seen in the sky alongside the comet.  One wonders if this is the origin of our use of the word nausea today.

"Astronomical Chart of the path of the Comet of 1532", artist unknown.  From the Gedden Museum.

Sometimes the astronomical predictions get really exciting.  Tomasso Campanella, a Dominican monk, predicted that the Sun would collide with the Earth in 1603.  You'd think we'd have seen that one coming.

Obviously, none of these doomsday predictions came true.  But the long history of man's fascination with the end of the world is, in itself, quite fascinating!  Not being a psychologist, I can't really say why we are so fascinated with the concept of the end of the world.  But I wonder if it doesn't indicate a desire on our part to be involved in something greater than ourselves.  Even if that something gets a little scary at times.

So all in all, Friday should boil down to little more than Mayan New Year.  And you know what New Year's means...it's time for a party!  We're having an End of the World Party at the Virginia Living Museum, and everyone is invited!  We'll be scanning the skies with our telescopes, searching for any killer asteroids (weather and disasters permitting), plus we'll have some fun activities and games going on in the Wason Education Center.  Activities and observing are FREE!  Plus, we'll be having some fun in the cafe, and you can grab a last meal, snack, or even some beer or wine.  In the planetarium, we'll have shows throughout the evening, including Star of Wonder: Mystery of the Christmas Star (6pm), Laser Holidays (7pm), 2012: The End of the World? NOT! (8 & 10pm) and Lasers at the End of the World (9 & 11pm).  Shows are $6 each, or two for $10.  Make it an End of the World Combo: any 2 shows and a $5 cafe gift certificate for $12!  Members always pay half price!  Stick around until midnight and help us end the world with a bang...or ring in Mayan New Year...whichever comes first.

As this will be my last entry of 2012, let me take a moment to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and a joyous and blessing-filled 2013.

Carpe noctem!
See you in 2013,
Kelly

Something's Coming...

Come on in, don't be shy, meet a guy, pull up a chair!

Okay, you know it's been a tough day when I break into show tunes.

Seriously, good things are happening around here at the Virginia Living Museum.  It's getting kind of exciting.

First of all, we're getting pretty close to being done with flood recovery!  We hope to have the lower level of the museum reopened very soon.  So watch the museum's webpage for an official announcement on that score, hopefully before the end of the year.  It's been a long, slow recovery process, and we're very excited to get the museum fully opened again.  I hear tell there will even be some new exhibits coming downstairs, which is also pretty exciting!

Naturally, this is an exciting time of year in general, with the holidays in full swing.  I have an 8-year-old daughter at home and that makes Christmas extra-special, I can tell you.  Our annual trip to Christmas Town is coming up this weekend (can't wait!), plus all the decorating and visiting and baking and whatnot the season brings.  The Virginia Living Museum is all decorated up for the season, too.  In the planetarium lobby the tree has a lovely silver and blue theme this year which I think suits us well.  And of course, holiday programming continues in the theater until the end of the year, so don't miss out on that!

Jupiter and its largest moon, Ganymede.  Courtesy STScI.

Most exciting in my book is that this Saturday is our monthly star party and Laser Light Night!  It's a special one, too.  Jupiter is just past its opposition, so the giant planet is close to the Earth and looking fabulous even in a small telescope.  Rising close to sunset and remaining visible all night, we're hoping for the clouds to part and show us a fabulous view!  Ten times larger than the Earth, Jupiter shows an amazing amount of detail with only a small amount of magnification.  Probably the most wonderful thing about viewing Jupiter is that you usually get to see a few of its moons as well - most notably the four Galilean satellites.  These four largest moons of Jupiter were first spotted by Galileo Galilei (hence the name Galilean satellites) in the early 1600s.  He called them "the Medicean stars" since at the time of his discovery of them, his bills were being paid by the prominent Medici family (Galileo was no fool!).  Later, all of the moons of Jupiter we renamed for various lovers of Zeus/Jupiter.  Today, the four largest moons of Jupiter are known as Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io.  It's a fair bet we'll get a glimpse of all four of them this weekend, so be sure to join us.  Remember, observing is always FREE!

An artist's conception of an eruption on Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io.  A new panoramic wallpaper will be installed in the lobby of the Abbitt Planetarium this January based on this poster.  Courtesy NASA Langley.

 
 In addition, we'll be celebrating the hard work of the many good people who helped raise funds for the museum's flood relief campaign during Walktober!  This dedicated group of walkers raised over $8000 and counting!  And you can help by purchasing a Walktober Flood Relief T-shirt for only $5 this Saturday during the Star Party.  To thank our walkers, we've got extra shows on the docket, and everyone is welcome.  Check out the schedule online.  Shows in the theater, whether planetarium or lasers, are $6 each, or 2 for $10.  Members always receive half off.

Many other things are coming down the pike for the remainder of the year, so I'd better get back to work!

See you in two weeks! And until then...
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hooray!  The election is over!

Okay, sorry, I couldn't help myself.  Whether your favored candidate won or lost, I think we can all agree it's been a long and rough election season.  I confess I am happy to be done with political ads, phone calls, and mail.  The holidays are just around the corner, and that is indeed my favorite time of year.

But before we get into the holiday season, we've got something fun coming up this Saturday!  Yes, it is once again time for our monthly Star Party and Laser Light Night here at the Virginia Living Museum.  While the flood damage has stopped us from using our lower level, the observatory is in great shape, and the planetarium is running just fine.  So we hope you'll be able to join us for some great sky watching and planetarium and laser shows this weekend!  Here's a quick preview of what we'll be looking at in the night sky (weather permitting, of course!).

Actually, I can pretty much sum it up in one word - Jupiter.  The largest planet of the solar system has once again returned to the evening skies and we cannot be more excited!  Mars (technically) remains low in the southwestern sky after sunset, but let's face it...it's nothing to write home about.  Even on the flattest western horizon you'll have difficulty finding our little neighbor planet.  It's not very bright, it's a dull orangey color, and at only half the size of Earth it's not particularly big, even in a telescope.  On the other hand, Jupiter is the second brightest of the planets (behind only Venus, now dominating the early morning skies), at ten times bigger than Earth it shines like a brilliant white star and shows amazing amounts of detail in a telescope, and rises in the early evening to then spend the rest of the night crossing the sky.  You can bet we'll have a telescope or two trained on Jupiter throughout the star party.  Join us to see how many Jovian moons we can spot, whether the Great Red Spot is facing towards us, and how many dark cloud bands can be seen on the face of the mighty planet. 

Jupiter, largest planet of the solar system.  Courtesy NASA

We often spend time hopping around various deep sky objects as well...galaxies, globular clusters, open star clusters and nebulae are frequent sights in our eyepieces.  There's also a chance you might see something impressive without even needing a telescope.  The North Taurid meteor shower will peak in the wee hours of Monday November 12...but it's not unthinkable that we might see a few early shooting stars on Saturday November 10.  The Taurids occasionally produce some brilliant fireballs, so if we do see a meteor, it's likely to be a doozy. 

A Taurid Fireball from 2005 photographed in Japan.  Courtesy NASA.  Photograph by Hiroyuki Iida

In the planetarium we'll be featuring the night sky and lots of great music.  At 7:30pm, I'll take you on tour of the evening sky with Virginia Skies.  Once you've seen the stars in the planetarium, step outside and check out the real thing!  Bring the kids for our 8:30pm laser show: iPop.  It's a great mix of some of today's hottest pop stars...including some of those super-popular teens from the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.  Hoping for some music more to an adult's taste?  No problem - stick around until 10pm for the psychedelic sounds of Laser Doors...and keep the trip rolling on with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at 11:30pm.  It all kicks off at sunset with FREE observing of the night sky...shows are $6 person, or any two for $10.  Members always get their tickets half price.

Okay, in the interests of full disclosure...there's another reason why I'm so excited for the star party this month...it's happening on my birthday, which I share with two wonderful people...a dear friend of mine (Happy Birthday, John David!) and Martin Luther, architect of the Reformation.  I suppose I could nail my doctoral thesis to my church door...nah, it wouldn't make much sense...plus the doors are made of glass anyway...

Until next time...
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

I'm starting to feel a little like Han Solo here...

You know...every time he desperately needs to get away in the Falcon, the darn hyperdrive fails.

Well, as I was anticipating writing a long, lustrous update this week...circumstances conspired against me again.  There's been major flooding here in our part of the world...including right here at the Virginia Living Museum.  We took a very serious flash flood last weekend, with water flooding the lower level of both of our museum buildings.

Water pours over the tops of our floodgates and through the doors to the lower level of the museum.  Approximately a foot of water entered overall in the main museum building.  The Wason Education Center took on about 3 feet of water.

Fortunately, the planetarium was spared any major damage.  Unfortunately, little else was.  We've reopened the museum to the general public, but the lower level exhibits remain closed.  To offset this, admission has been reduced by $5 and the planetarium is included in your general admission ticket (that saves you another $4!).  So if you've ever wanted to stop by and check out a show...now's a great time.  Plus your admission fee and any donation you can make will help us rebuild the lower level of the museum.  Estimates of the total damage are still being made, but believe you me, there's been a lot of damage.  Another great way to support us is to come on out to our Star Party & Laser Light Night on September 8th!  The planetarium and observatory are still in great shape, so we'll be open and hopefully enjoying some clear skies and some great music.

Also uppermost in my mind as I hastily update is the painful loss of Neil Armstrong this past Saturday.  Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the Moon, and his death at age 82 has made me realize that soon there will be very few people left who remember seeing the Apollo Moon landings, and even fewer who actually participated in them.  In fact, of the 12 men who walked on the Moon, only 8 are still alive today (besides Neil Armstrong, James Irwin died in 1991, Alan Shepard died in 1998 and Pete Conrad died in 1999).  As this generation passes, and the American space program shrinks into obscurity,  we run a greater and greater risk of forgetting how to accomplish these amazing achievements...or even disbelieving that we ever did.  Already polls show that some 6% - 20% of Americans do not believe we ever landed on the Moon.

Neil Armstrong 1930 - 2012.  Courtesy Wikipedia.

Such numbers are a slap in the face to the 12 brave men who actually did indeed walk on the lunar surface.  I hope we'll be able to get ourselves back into the space race in the not too distant future.  I hope that our first tentative steps out into the solar system won't turn out to be our last.

And finally, Godspeed, Neil Armstrong.

I'll try again in two weeks.  You hear that, ship?  Hold together!
Carpe noctem!

Happy Independence Day!

Hello everyone!  Just a quick post todqay, as it's a holiday, and I'm home with my family.

In a little while I'll be heading to the museum, as we'll be running our brand-new laser spectacular, Spirit of America, for the holiday tonight.  Come check it out!  But get your tickets soon - they are going fast!  Our 6pm show is already sold out!  Here are the details:

Spirit of America
6pm (SOLD OUT!), 7pm, 8pm & 9pm
TONIGHT! July 4th
$6 per person ($3 for museum members)

You can check out the playlist for the laser show online.  It's a great mix of patriotic and uniquely American music.  A fun show for adults and kids alike!  Plus no bugs, no parking problems, and it's indoors and air conditioned!

Also - if you purchase your tickets in advance, you get free laser 3D glasses when you come in!  So call the museum at (757) 595-1900 now and purchase your tickets by phone with a credit card.  We'll have them and your laser glasses waiting for you at the door.

An just in case you thought there was nothing particularly spacey about the Fourth of July holiday, allow me to offer these:

These are Hubble (left) and Spitzer (right) Space Telescope images of the North America nebula.  The visible light image (Hubble) shows how the nebula got its name.  Spitzer's image (in infrared) shows just how different things look when you see in different wavelengths of light.

This image is from the Hubble space telescope and looks remarkably like fireworks bursting in the night sky, doesn't it?  It's rather unromantic name is NGC 3603 and it's located in the constellation Carina.  I think the Fireworks Cluster would be a much better name, don't you?

So enjoy the fireworks tonight, either in the planetarium, or live, or on television, or even on the Hubble website.  Happy Fourth of July!

See you in two weeks...and until then...
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

Listen...Do you smell that?

But more importantly...did you see it?

Wow, the transit of Venus was amazing!  Weather locally here at the museum almost killed us...but just at the eleventh hour, the clouds parted a bit, and we got a decent view of the Sun.  We had 5 telescopes trained on it and got views of Venus in all five.  Plus we had the live stream from Mauna Kea in Hawai'i thanks to NASA.  It was an amazing evening, and I think our sold-out crowd really enjoyed themselves!

It's been a crazy day here at the Abbitt Planetarium, trying to recover from our big event, but I wanted to share a few photos with you all.  All of these shots were taken by one of our wonderful volunteers, Eric Hedden.

First, some of our telescopes:

In this image, you can see our 8" Celestron, our Coronado Personal Solar Telescope, and our Sunspotter Keplerian telescope.  We also had our 4.5" Orion refractor in use, plus another couple of our great volunteers brought their double-stacked solar scope for a truly excellent view.

Some images taken quickly through our 4.5" using nothing more than a cellphone:

These were taken with a white-light filter on the 4.5".  If you look closely, you can see not only wisps of clouds going by, but also one or two tiny sunspots in the images.

Finally, a shot through the PST:

This image is red because the PST uses a hydrogen-alpha filter, meaning that only red light is passed through the telescope.  Note that although the image is smaller, the dot of Venus is still quite clear.  It's also mirror reversed compared to the images from the 4.5".  This too was taken simply by holding up a cellphone camera to the eyepiece of the PST.

Aren't they amazing shots!  Just you guys wait until we get our new cameras from Orion up and working!

We might be ready to do some testing with them at the upcoming Star Party and Laser Light Night this Saturday!  Join us for solar viewing early (weather permitting) and evening viewing after sunset (probably starting around 9pm).  Observing is FREE!  Come and enjoy!

We'll also have a great selection of laser and planetarium shows for you.  For summer, we're adding an extra early family laser show so even the little ones can get in on the fun!  At 6:30pm enjoy Laser Beatles, at 7:30pm we'll run Saturn: The Ringworld, at 8:30pm you can rock to Laseropolis, at 10pm get psychedelic with Laser Doors and keep the mood going at 11:30pm with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.  Hope we'll see you then!

Until next time,
Carpe Noctem!
Kelly

Welcome to Mesozoic Park

Honestly, when you get right down to it, that's what eccentric billionaire John Hammond should have named his theme park.  Let's face it - not all dinosaurs lived in the Jurassic, but all dinosaurs lived in the Mesozoic. 

So what's up with the dinosaur talk, you ask?  Well...summer is nearly upon us.  I can't believe it, but this weekend is the unofficial start of summer (Memorial Day Weekend) and the beginning of the long crazy summer schedule we run here at the Abbitt Planetarium until Labor Day rolls around.  This summer is certain to bring three things to the Virginia Living Museum...heat, humidity, and Dinosaurs!

Indeed, as the days lengthen, the dinosaurs are moving in to the changing exhibit gallery.  We'll once again be featuring the big moving and roaring critters that have always been so popular here at the museum.  An added bonus this year...non-dinosaurs!  You might not be aware of this, but all dinosaurs lived primarily on land.  Flying reptiles, like pteranodon, we not dinosaurs.  Neither were marine reptiles like elasmosaurus and mosasaurus.  You can see all three of these "dino-buddies" at this year's exhibit.

1916 Pteranodon painting by Harder.  Courtesy Wikimedia.

Want some extra dinosaur fun?  Consider joining us overnight on June 1 for Dinosaurs!  The Camp-in!  Yes indeed, you'll get to sleep overnight in the museum and learn more about dinosaurs than you ever thought possible.  It's going to be a whole lot of fun.  To get more information or to register, call Betty or Julia at (757) 595-9135.  There are only a few spaces left available - trust me, you don't want to miss this.

The planetarium will be getting in on the dino action as well, with our featured program "Dinosaur Prophecy."  We've got a brand-new opening segment focusing on the wonders of the summer night sky, and then we investigate four fossil sites to learn how dinosaurs lived and died, and what their demise might say about the fate of humanity.  It's a pretty amazing show...especially the parts where dinosaurs thunder across the dome thanks to some amazing animations!

For those not ready to walk with dinosaurs, we've got some other options in the planetarium as well.  With this year being the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we take you on a journey through the final days of the doomed vessel with "Night of the Titanic."  As always, "Virginia Skies" will take you on a live, guided tour of the evening skies for the day of your visit.  Rounding out the planetarium offerings through the end of June will be an all-new laser show especially for kids - "Here Come They Might Be Giants."  If your kids like the albums and videos produced by these awesome rockers, they'll be entranced by this laser show.  And if you've never experienced TMBGs kid-friendly music...don't miss this show.  You're in for a real treat.

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention the successful launch of the Dragon capsule currently in orbit around the Earth by private space exploration company SpaceX.  Currently America's only means of getting into low-earth orbit, we're excited to see this program moving forward.  Watch the news on May 25th, as the Dragon capsule will be attempting to link up with the International Space Station on that day.  Best of luck for a smooth docking, guys!

SpaceX's Dragon capsule launches with their Falcon 9 rocket on May 22, 2012.  Courtesy NASA.

There's a lot happening here at the museum this summer, astronomically speaking and otherwise, and I'll be posting updates as needed to keep you informed about it all.  If you're not already signed up to receive updates from my blog, you might want to do that now, as I might be running a bit off my usual every other week schedule for a while.  But right now, I've got more work to do to get ready for the dinosaurs.  See you in two weeks!

Carpe noctem,
Kelly

Mars Attacks!

Well, actually, when you get right down to it...we're the ones attacking Mars.

Even as I write, the latest in a long series of robotic explorers is on its way to the Red Planet.  The Mars Science Laboratory, with its already-famous rover, Curiosity, launched toward Mars on November 26 of last year and is expected to touch down on the Martian soil in the wee morning hours of August 6, 2012.  If you're a devotee of Mars-exploring robots, you can sit up and watch the landing at the Virginia Air & Space Center, NASA Langley's Visitor Center.  Some folks from the Virginia Living Museum will be on hand too, discussing the ever-popular question of whether life ever got a foothold on Mars.

Mars is a tough planet to land on.

The road to Mars is a hard one, and landing on the surface is an even greater challenge.  Kind of like the superstitions surrounding the Scottish Play in the theater world, there's a long-held fear of Mars in the space exploration community.  It is definitely picky about what probes it chooses to welcome.  Half of all the missions ever sent to the Red Planet have ended in failure.

Russia's Phobos (meaning fear; also the name of one of Mars' two moons) 1 and 2 both suffered from the "Mars Curse."  Phobos 1 died of a software glitch - it lost its lock on the Sun, and since it was running on solar power, that was the end of that.  Phobos 2 seems to have suffered a similar fate - after a successful Mars orbit insertion and just prior to the scheduled release of two landing probes, contact was lost and never regained.  While the official explanation is an onboard computer failure...the subject of alien tampering was raised, and has never really been silenced.

The last image taken by the Phobos 2 spacecraft.  The dark object is often claimed to be a UFO responsible for the loss of the craft, but is most likely a distorted shadow of the craft itself on the surface of Mars.

The U.S. craft Mars Observer was also mysteriously lost.  Three days before a planned Mars orbit insertion, engineers lost contact with the spacecraft.  We'll never know exactly what happened, but the most likely cause seems to have been a ruptured fuel tank which sent the craft into a massive tailspin.

Russia tried again with Mars 96, with disastrous results.  The fourth stage of the rocket failed to ignite, and the whole kit and caboodle came crashing back down to Earth.  The bulk of the craft seems to have landed in Chile, though no pieces of it were ever recovered.  Russian telemetry on the rocket was severely limited, and no specific cause for the crash was ever identified.

The Japanese tried reaching Mars with the Nozomi (meaning Wish or Hope) spacecraft, but a malfunctioning valve resulted in a loss of fuel so great that the poor craft was left with insufficient fuel to reach Mars orbit.  Some science did come out of the mission though - Nozomi was able to make 2 successful fly-bys of Earth and one of Mars.

Probably the most embarrassing loss of a spacecraft goes to the United States and Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO).  MCO was lost when it traveled out of communications by passing behind Mars 49 seconds earlier than expected.  Contact with the spacecraft was never re-established.  Turns out that while the spacecraft software was written expecting flight data in metric units, engineers on the ground were uploading the data in English units.  The spacecraft ended up flying too close to Mars, and likely disintegrated in the Martian atmosphere.  Oops.

We didn't do much better with Mars Polar Lander (MPL).  Contact with the spacecraft was lost during the descent phase as MPL tried to land at the Martian South Pole.  We never heard from the spacecraft again.  No trace of the craft was ever found, but the official explanation for the loss states that vibrations during the descent phase may have tricked the lander into thinking it was on the ground, and it shut off its thrusters, causing it to plummet the last 130 feet or so to a very hard, fatal landing.

Even the British have had trouble with Mars, losing a lander, Beagle 2 (named for the HMS Beagle, the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his famous voyages).  No explanation or cause has ever been agreed upon - the little lander simply disappeared and never made contact after descending towards the surface of the Red Planet.

Clearly, entry, descent and landing (EDL) is a tough time for a Mars-bound spacecraft.  NASA engineers often call the EDL phase the "7 minutes of terror."  This Saturday, we here at the Virginia Living Museum are going to be celebrating Mars with our monthly star party and laser light night...and we've got a special guest planned - NASA!  Exhibits all about Mars and Earth will be available, and Jill Prince, NASA's Mars EDL expert, will be giving a special talk about the 7 minutes of terror.  If the weather holds, we'll be looking at Mars with our telescopes all evening (plus peeking at Venus and Saturn too, I'm sure!), and there will even be a bit of Mars-themed music in the planetarium with Laser Mania!

So come join us for some Mars Mania this Saturday!  Mars activities and exhibits open at 5:30pm, Jill Prince speaks in the planetarium at 6pm, and observing begins after sunset.  All are FREE!  In the planetarium: at 7:30pm enjoy Virginia Skies (with a focus on Mars); 8:30pm see Laser Mania featuring "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars" by Weird Al Yankovic; finish the night with a Laser Pink Floyd double feature: The Wall at 10pm and Dark Side of the Moon at 11:30pm.  All planetarium shows are $6, $10 for any two.  Members are always half price!

Don't forget to watch the news for information on the Mars Science Laboratory landing in August...and let's hope the Great Galactic Ghoul keeps his mitts off this one.

Carpe noctem!
Kelly

The Planets Will Go On

Hey everyone!

So I am already excited for this Saturday's Star Party and Laser Light Night here at the Virginia Living Museum.  It's going to be awesome, for two reasons.  Number one is that we'll be enjoying a Titanic theme!  This Saturday, April 14, 2012, is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  We'll be adding a Titanic flair to the night with a special showing of "Night of the Titanic" at 6:30pm.  Then at 7:30pm, we'll have our regularly scheduled "Virginia Skies" but we'll examine the stars of the Northern Atlantic as well and compare them to what we see here in Virginia.  Finally, at 8:30pm, "Laser Magic" features the theme from James Cameron's "Titanic" - Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."  The punned out version of that title which heads up my post tells you the other reason I'm super excited about this Saturday.

Have you looked up in the early evening sky recently?  There are four - count 'em, FOUR! - planets visible to the unaided eye gracing the sky just after sunset.  It's incredible!  If the weather holds and things cooperate, you've got the chance to see all four of these planets through telescopes at the museum this weekend.  And it's free to boot!  How can you beat that?

Looking to the west in the early evening, you can still see Venus and Jupiter decorating the sky after sunset.  Venus is now substantially higher in the sky than Jupiter - the two have been moving apart steadily since their close encounter in March.  Jupiter is lower and fainter than Venus, so look carefully at the western horizon.  Venus will pop right out at you (it is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon, after all), but look down below Venus for the brilliant jewel of the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter.

Venus above and Jupiter below. Credit: Kevin Jung.

Turning your attention to the East will show you two more planets!  Mars is high in the south-southeast just after sunset, and is a distinctive orange color.  If you turn and compare colors between Mars and Venus, the decidedly orange tinge of Mars becomes very clear.  Mars' unique color comes from rust - the soil on Mars is rich in iron, and over time that iron has combined with oxygen to form rust.  The legendary windstorms of Mars have carried that rusty dust all over the planet, resulting the The Red Planet's characteristic hue.

Look low to the eastern horizon to see the fourth and final planet - golden-yellow Saturn.  If you can join us this Saturday, it will be well worth hanging around until Saturn climbs above our treetops so you can see it through a telescope.  It is quite possibly one of the most amazing things you will ever see!  Even at a distance of roughly a billion miles, the rings are quite distinctive, and with our larger scopes, you might even glimpse a few details in the cloud layers.

Saturn through a moderate-sized telescope.

We'll start setting up our telescopes around sunset (about 7:30-8pm these days) and will continue to observe until about 11:30pm or so.  Observing is free!  Planetarium programs begin at 6:30pm and are $6 for one, $10 for two (members are always half price!).  Make an evening of it and grab dinner in the Wild Side Cafe beginning at 6pm - they'll remain open until 10pm for food, snacks and drinks (both kid-friendly and adult).  It's going to be a "Titanic" night - so come join us!

See you then...
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Oh yes indeed.  Halloween is this coming Monday.  If you have little kids in your house, like I do, your days are filled with costume prep, costume changes, plans to meet friends and trick-or-treat the best neighborhoods (the ones where you can get the most candy!) and hiding the candy you're supposed to give out from your husband.

You might not think of Halloween as a particularly astronomical holiday...but hey, my tag line up at the top says "Connecting astronomy and space science to...well...just about everything."  So...let's look for some spacey Halloween fun.

The celebration of Halloween is often linked back to a Celtic festival held around this time of year called Samhain, which literally means "summer's end."  As the days begin to shorten and the nights lengthen thanks to the tilt of Earth as we orbit the Sun, the residents of the British Isles (and many other places around the world) would hold a final party as the harvest came to an end, and preparations for the coming long winter ended.  During the winter, travel would be difficult, if not impossible, and this last celebration before the months that many people would spend shut in the their homes against the poor weather was a special one.  So astronomy comes into play right from the beginning of this spooky holiday.

But surely there isn't anything spooky about space itself, right?  Well...think again.  Space is filled with creepy and crazy things...mostly hidden in nebulae, those enigmatic clouds of gas and dust found throughout our galaxy (and indeed, all others).  In reality, these clouds are either leftovers from the deaths of stars, or stellar nurseries, where new stars are being formed.  But sometimes, we can't help but see something else in them.  For example, can you see the cackling face in this nebula?

The Witch Head Nebula.  Courtesy NASA.

This is the Witch Head Nebula, and the resemblance is truly striking!  I certainly wouldn't want to see that laughing at me through my eyepiece...well, actually, that would be kind of cool!

Not afraid of wicked witches?  Try this one on for a scare.

The Ghost Nebula.  Courtesy NASA.

This one is called the Ghost Nebula, and those wispy tendrils truly do make it seem as if something is swooping down towards us.  An apparition worthy of a Hollywood movie...except this is the real thing, and located in the Pleiades star cluster, which will soon be gracing our winter evening skies.  Still not convinced space is spooky?  How about one more?

The DR 6 Star Forming Region.  Courtesy NASA.

Now that is one creepy face.  Bearing a striking resemblance to a human skull, this nebula has the unimaginative name of DR 6.  I think the Skull Nebula suits it far better, however.  It sometimes called the Galactic Ghoul...which is pretty darn creepy, if you ask me.

All right, you got me.  Space isn't really creepy...it's our own active imaginations that see spectres and spooks in the skies.  But it certainly is fun, isn't it?  Speaking of fun, I hope you'll join us this Saturday October 29th at the Abbitt Planetarium for some fun in the planetarium as we run Fright Light, our Halloween Laser Spook-tacular.  Showtimes at 7pm, 8:30pm, and 10pm.  Come on down for some terrifyingly awesome music, wicked cool laser lights, and even some sweet treats. 

However you decide to celebrate, have a safe, fun, and spooky Halloween!
Until next time,
Carpe noctem,
Kelly

I'll See You on the Dark Side of the Moon

There is no dark side of the Moon, really.  Matter of fact, it's all dark.

Pink Floyd had it correct, you know.  The Moon doesn't generate its own light...like all the planets and moons of our solar system, it merely reflects the Sun's light.  But what a beautiful reflection it is.  So let's talk a little bit about the Moon.

It's pretty much the easiest thing to observe in the night sky.  It's big, bright, and details can be seen with nothing more than your eyes!  We've been looking at the Moon a long time - ever since man first raised his eyes to the skies.  Every culture around the world has seen things depicted in the patterns of light and dark rocks on the Moon...faces are common, both male and female...and numerous animals have been found cavorting across the face of the Moon.  What you see may depend on your vision, the clarity of the sky when you look, and your own imagination.

(From top) Man carrying sticks, with dog; Rabbit; Human face 1; Human face 2; "The Lady in the Moon" Attributed to Magnus Manske, Wikipedia

When scientists began investigating the Moon, the darker areas were quickly named "mare," Latin for "sea."  Indeed, early astronomers believe that the dark regions on the Moon might be water, filling the low-lying regions of the lunar landscape.  These regions were given names like "Sea of Fecundity," "Ocean of Storms," and "Bay of Love."  Even after men traveled to the Moon and found no water on the surface at all, let alone oceans, seas, and bays, the naming scheme persisted.  There seems to be a permanent connection between water and the Moon

It turns out, there actually is!  The Moon's gravitational influence is the primary reason why we have tides.  The Earth's gravity keeps the Moon in orbit around us.  The Moon's gravity tugs on the waters of Earth, forcing them to move up and down in response to its gravity.  The Sun gets in on the act too, but if the Earth had no Moon, the tides would be all but invisible to us.  Many species of life depend on the constant and regular motion of the tides...and many scientists believe that without the tides, life as we know it on Earth would not be possible.  Turns out those ancient astronomers were on the right track after all - the connection between the Moon and water is extremely important to all of us here on the Earth.

Observing the Moon is easy...just look up!  Okay, well, maybe it's not that easy.  The Moon isn't always visible in our sky - you have to know when and where to look to see it.  The Moon's phases, or changes in shape, are caused by our perspective changing as the Moon revolves around us in its monthly cycle.  We see varying amounts of the daytime side of the Moon depending on where the Moon is relative to the Sun as it orbits around us.  Many people assume the best time to observe the Moon is during a Full Moon, since the entire side of the Moon facing us is lit up.  But that's actually not true, for two reasons.  First of all, a Full Moon, by definition, is exactly opposite the Sun, meaning that it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.  This might sound great - the Moon is visible all night!  But the means that you must wait until around midnight for the Moon to be high in the south, where it is easiest to observe.  And let's face it...most of us are not quite that lunatic.  (Ha!  Fun play on words!)

First Quarter Moon.  Courtesy NASA.

The second reason why the Full Moon is not the best for observing is that during a Full Moon, the light striking the surface of the Moon is coming pretty much from directly overhead, from the lunar perspective.  That means there are virtually no shadows, and very little contrast.  Shadows give you a sense of height and depth - something that really adds to your observing as you look at mountains and craters on the surface and try to get a sense of how high or deep they are.  The best time to observe the Moon is during the First Quarter phase - the Moon is high in the south around sunset, and the dark line the runs across the face of the Moon dividing the daylight side from the nighttime side (it's called the terminator) is perfect for viewing - the shadows there are long and deep, and you get an excellent sense of depth perception when you scan along it with your telescope.

In fact, consider this an invitation to join us here at the Virginia Living Museum on the evening of October 8th.  Not only is that our regular monthly Star Party and Laser Light Night, it also happens to be International Observe the Moon Night, and we will be celebrating!  A First Quarter Moon will be gracing the skies, and, weather permitting, we'll have our telescope trained on it to give you the best view possible.  We'll have some special Moon-based crafts and activities for kids, and the folks from NASA will be on hand with their Driven to Explore exhibit...which includes a rare TOUCHABLE Moonrock!  There are only 8 lunar samples in the world that can be touched - don't miss your opportunity to touch the Moon!  The festivities begin at 6pm, and are FREE to all, except for the planetarium and laser shows ($3 for members, $6 non-members).  We'll see you there!

Until next time...
Carpe noctem!
~Kelly

Closed for Remodeling

Hey, that film's already opened.  I saw that on a marquee just last week.

And if you remember that line...you go all the way back to the A-Team in the 1980s.  Good for you.

So for this installment, I wanted to explain why the Abbitt Planetarium closes down after Labor Day every year.  Let me start by explaining how things used to work.

Back before our renovation, when we were still a "traditional" planetarium (meaning no digital equipment), we closed for 5 different weeks each year.  During those weeks, we would be programming and installing a new planetarium show.  This meant dealing with hundreds of slides, synchronizing everything with SMPTE time code, and then testing and debugging the show for days on end.  We generally got very little sleep during those weeks...and we had to close every time we wanted to install a new show.  Plus, we could only do one at a time.  Ever.

These days, with our digital technology, programming a new show is much, much easier.  We no longer need to close for a full week when we want to get a new program in place.  And having multiple programs that can run during a day is simple!  So...why do we close for three weeks then?

The main reason is that it allows us some time to do all the maintenance tasks that we used to do back in the day when we were closed for show installation - clean the carpets, repair the seats, back up the computers, repair the dome, clean the projectors, remove outdated materials, and all that other stuff that is so much easier to do when you don't have to worry about customers coming in.  Another reason is that we do need some time in the theater to work out programming issues, and September is generally slow, what with kids just back to school and all.  Finally, the Abbitt Planetarium is run mostly by two people, and after a long summer of 7-days-a-week operation, we're pooped!  We generally get to take our "summer vacation" after the summer months, so we can be here during the time when other folks are looking to enjoy the theater on their vacations.

So while we won't really be remodeling, the Abbitt Planetarium will be closed from September 6 through September 30, to spruce things up a bit, and get some more shows ready to go.  So what can you expect to see on October 1?

One thing we'll have going on is a continuation of our summer preschooler program The Zula Patrol: Under the Weather.  What will make it extra fun is that we're partnering with the Children's Museum of Richmond, who will be hosting a Zula Patrol themed exhibit during the fall!  If you're a member of the VLM, you can visit the Children's Museum for free and enjoy the Zula Patrol experience.  If you're a member of CMoR, come visit the VLM for the planetarium show!  You'll receive a discount on your admission to the museum, and the Zula Patrol show for free.

The Zula Patrol.  Courtesy Spitz Creative Media.

We'll also be featuring IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System.  If you've not yet seen this visually stunning show about NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, come join us this fall for sure.  This show will be gone in November, as we'll be transitioning over to our holiday programming by Thanksgiving (which we'll also be working on this September!).  IBEX is studying the region of space where the Sun's influence ends, and interstellar space begins.  Scientists are learning some amazing things about how this boundary keeps us safe as we journey through the Milky Way.

An artist's conception of the IBEX spacecraft.  Courtesy NASA.

And on the weekends, you can always catch Virginia Skies, our classic program about what's going on in skies above us on any given night.  Plus we'll be busy behind the scenes, getting ready for our Halloween event, Night of the Living Museum, and work has already begun on the shows that will premiere in 2012 (A doomsday show?  Oh yes, you bet we'll have a show about the end of the world!).  Can't wait until October for some fun in the planetarium?  Join us on September 10th for our monthly star party and laser light night.  Catch an evening showing of IBEX at 7:30pm, and then stay for some amazing laser shows.  At 8:30pm is Laseropolis, a fun and funky mix of great music for families.  At 10pm is Laser X, a hard-rockin' alternative experience.  Wrap up the night with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at 11:30pm.  We're really hoping for clear weather, after the rain washed out August's star party.  Hope I'll see you there!

So come by and see us this Labor Day weekend.  Take in one of the shows that will be leaving us for a while.  And then stay tuned - more fun will be coming soon!  So until then...

Carpe noctem!
Kelly