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Enjoy TAO in another Language (we have a big planet):
In doing radio astronomy, TAO supports the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA), a node of IYA 2009. Feel free to copy and share -- great for home school applications. If you have questions, come to TAO on our public nights. |
Moon Phase
Save Roane Starry Skies is in its Second year! Formed Nov. 4, 2007
or if you have a comment or questions Enter it here, or email your query directly to InfoStarrySkies@yahoo.com
Solar Photos Here are photos from Heather Fries showing the sunset, and some of our visitors.
This (below) is an earlier photo of (multiple science fair award winner) Katie Sloop, together with the visiting Dinkins family, learning radio astronomy at TAO.
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Scholarships
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Joey models the Starman shirt from TAOAS student astronomy group.
POD comes to TAO
We have a new POD dome at TAO (on loan from DR). The POD is big! Here is the POD with some of the admiring astronomy students:
Sometimes the POD actually glows.
Eye patches for Dark Adaptation
I used to wear an eye patch to dark adapt but later, decided to simply close an eye when needed. I was wrong.
Itt turns out that pirates were on the right track in wearing eye patches. I had thought that they should just have closed their eyes to dark-adapt to go below-decks but no -- blood transmits wavelengths (heavy curve) that bleach ocular rhodopsin (light curve):
Shiver me timbers and belay any discard-patch advisories. Wearing an eye patch for dark adaptation is a good idea.
Sunspots Today
Are associated withCoronal Mass Ejections
That Change the Planet
and its Aurora
Feb. 20 Eclipse -- here is what we saw:
That's the moon at 1024h, with Saturn at 7 o'clock and Regulus at 11:30 o'clock positions.
Blount County Zoning for
Light Conservation
Conguatulations to Blount County for protecting its skies, minimizing light trespess, and setting a standard for responsible lighting. They have passed the Blount County commercial/industrial zoning regarding outdoor lighting section Section 7.14 part D can be found here
The intention of this regulation is to preserve the Rural Character of Blount County, and requires that a site plan be filed for new developments. The full text (from the Oct. 25 meeting) is here

Image of Saturn by Michael McCulloch
Friendly local astronomy groups:
TAOSON (TAO Solar Observation Network) Signal (issues)
Check the premier International
Dark Skies site
and the new Dark Sky Institute
site
Carpe Noctem! Let's keep our little TAO dark with stars in the sky. In the map, all red areas have lost their night sky while blue areas have dark skies. Please support our dark skies. We are darker than Knoxville, but WE DO HAVE A PROBLEM from light pollution.
Past TAO Events
Click for Astronomy Lab Photos
Antenna
searches
Retriever's nose in the wind
Ether's far secrets.
-- Haiku by Corporal Shaftoe,from Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
SARA Conference of June 2008
Several
TAO astronomers participated in the Society
of Amateur Radio Astronomy (SARA) Conference at the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV. The crew from TAO consisted
of Bill Marshall, Melinda Lord, Linda Fippin, David Fields, Bill Seymour,
John Mannone, Larry Robinson and Bill Lord.
Here's one of us (David Fields) beside the base of the big radio telescope. David is on the board of SARA and is working with NRAO to develop a new education program called "Radio Navatators."

M33 by Roy Morrow
IDEAS
Perspectives on good astronomy occasionally appear on the Bad Astronomy Blog, at http://www.badastronomy.com/intro.html
The STEREO solar mission is discussed
at the following sites:
http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/launch.shtml
http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/new.shtml
TAO astronomy students visited UT and built a scintillation detector containing several plastic scintillators and 4 photomultipliers. The complete cosmic ray detection system is now in place and TAO is part of the TEnnessee Cosmic ray Observatory Project (TECOP).

Our
15m radio astronomy sytem responds to changes in D-layer density.
If the greyline(grey
area on the map) is above TAO then we get terrestrial transmitter
interference in our Skypipe Jupiter/Solar monitor receiver. Signals
which travel inside the grayline region often experience significant
improvements in propagation because of the loss of ionization in the
D-region as the Sun sets. However, because the higher F-regions of
the ionosphere remain strongly ionized for longer periods of time,
signals with higher frequencies are able to travel to greater distances
with less attenuation when they are within the grayline. The current
solar position is shown in the yellow area. Click on the image for
more informaton.
TAO proudly supports the NASA Night Sky Network through our associated astronomy clubs in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Soddy Daisy

Contacts: For optical /radio astronomy
information, please contact Dr. David Fields at Roane State Community
College at 865 882-4533. For class or RSCC information, please ask for
Kathy or Donna at that number.
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