Monday, November 5, 2007
Pulled my 6″ Dobsonian out of the garage to take a look at Comet P17/Holmes. The comet has been known for more than 100 years, but at the end of October it suddenly increased in brightness by over 1/2 million times (technically from magnitude 17 to 2.8). Currently part of the constellation Perseus and was easy to see with the naked eye once we knew where to look and was pretty cool in the telescope.
This isn’t one my pictures — It came off of a NASA site — but it pretty much duplicates what we saw tonight. My first comet and if you know someone who knows the constellations, it’s a pretty easy find. A once in a lifetime opportunity.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Friday, August 24, 2007
Now that I’m back to regularly scheduled days off (Wednesday and Saturday), I’ve been able to plan things a bit better.
This past Wednesday I went to see Body Worlds 3 at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
It’s a mostly interesting, sometimes bizarre exhibition of human bodies. Dr. Gunther von Hagens invented a process called Plastination that basically replaces soft body parts with plastic like substances. There has been a bit of controversy in the past about where the bodies were obtained, but OMSI seemed to be satisfied enough with the exhibition to promote it.
My use of the term bizarre is mostly on the way that some of the bodies were posed. Hard to explain, but if anyone has seen this or any of the other 2 Body Worlds, you probably know what I mean. One of the exhibits was of an adult camel. The body’s sides were open to show internal organs — ok — but the head and neck were split in thirds, with one third touching the ground, one third fully raised and the middle third at a halfway point between the two.
One of the most intriguing was a display named ‘The Skin Man’. A skinless cadaver, standing with his right arm outstretched and his complete skin draped over his right hand. Really, not as disturbing as it sounds.
Overall, I enjoyed the exhibition. Even with the sometimes strange poses, the bodies were treated respectfully and I actually learned quite a bit about our inner workings.
Popularity: 46% [?]
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Since I’m in a knitting slump - Haven’t knit a stitch in over five days - and since I’m an astronomy and science geek - along with all the geeky things I am - I thought I’d pass along a link to NASA’s Blue Marble - next generation site. The latest, detailed pictures of our ‘Blue Marble’ with a possible resolution of 500 meters/pixel.
Definitely makes one feel small and insignificant.
Popularity: 15% [?]
