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Enjoy TAO in another Language (we have a big planet):
Sunspots Today
Are associated withCoronal Mass Ejections
That Change the Planet
and its Aurora
TAO Public StargazesMay 3, 2008 Come to our Public Stargaze -- TAO opens at 1900 h
(7 PM) Inside presentations are planned for 7:30 PM. We will have comments by the astronomers and several demonstrations. Objects of interest include Saturn, Mars, La Superba, and Luna. Radio telescopes will also be used. We’ll have observatory tours and classroom presentations, rain or starshine. Presentations will begin in the classroom about 1930 h (7:30 PM). Bring your telescopes and binoculars, red flashlights, and snacks to share. This Public Stargaze should be an excellent evening for citizens of Roane County to visit and enjoy astronomy. Astronomers and visitors have many difficulties lately from local lights that shine upward and threaten the ability to see anything beyond the brightest astronomical objects. The Light Conservation citizen's group has a new website. Our Meade LX-200 telescope is now mounted in the POD, compliments of DR, Roy and David. The telescope was a generous gift from Roy, while the POD is borrowed from DR. Thanks, Guys! Here's our first astrophoto from the LX-200 in the POD, after additional help from Larry and Katie:
Fortunately the ORION nebula shown here was well above the horizon. The depressing light pollution news continues -- we have had another temporary setback in trying to bring dark and starry skies back to our community and preserve our Tennessee Heritage of beautiful skies. The RC Industrial Development Board has refused to consider our request to hold a Light Conservation Workshop. Their members did not attend our earlier Public Workshop, held at the request of the Long Range Planning Commission. We will continue working for Light conservation. See RoaneViews for some comments and progress or the Save Roane Starry Skies website for more information. ....... Here's Larry Robinson's gazing ball image from 5/19. Note the heavy light pollution along the horizon and illumination of the classroom by the light trespass (click for full size image). This is a 11 PM photo and the light pollution prevents viewing around the horizon.
Tamke-Allan Observatory of Rockwood is a treasure of Roane County. It hosts free Public Stargazes on the first and third Saturday evenings of each month. These stargazes have opened the night skies, free of charge to everyone, for almost 10 years. Amateur astronomers bring telescopes and binoculars and offer views of astronomical objects, while visitors are invited to bring their questions and cameras and meet the astronomers. Kids are especially welcome. Too much light causes glare – a hazard on our highways. Directing light downward where it is needed conserves energy and gives us a safer, more secure community. It also keeps our observatory open for education and research. When was the last time that you could see our beautiful milky way? We are losing our Roane County Heritage in the glare of unshielded lights. Guests for the evening will include members of Oak Ridge Isochronous Observation Network (ORION) and Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society (SMAS) who will bring and share their telescopes. Star Party Etiquette * Bring a red flashlight and avoid using any white
light after dark. |
The mission of Save Roane Starry Skies is to recover and preserve the beauty of the night sky in Roane County Tennessee by encouraging responsible outdoor lighting for security, energy conservation and aesthetics. They are a volunteer group of citizens with officers almost entirely from Roane County, Tennessee, and are trying to preserve the starry skies through light conservation in Roane County. New members are welcome. Memberships to the new group are Free ($0), Helping ($10), Supporting ($25) and Sustaining ($100). Contact them at Save
Roane Starry Skies
or if you have a comment or questions Enter it here, or email your query directly to InfoStarrySkies@yahoo.com SARA Activities In July, 7 TAO affiliates (2 students and 5 non-student astronomers) contributed to the SARA (Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers) meeting at Green Bank, WV. They were David, Carl, John, Bill M. and Bill S., Heather and Tyler. SARA is a very active group and membership cost is low. New members are welcomed. SARA has during the past 3 years helped support research and meeting costs for 3 of our students. Thanks, SARA! You can request a copy of the most recent issue from editor@radio-astronomy.org.
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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Subscribe to ORIONastronomy discussions |
Joey models the Starman shirt from TAOAS student astronomy group.
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. On Nov. 14, they passed the new 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:
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.
April 8 Partial Solar Eclipse (below) from Solway, TN, with handheld telescope, filter, and camera, by David Fields. The bottom photo shows light scattering by clouds.
Past TAO Events
READ Jan. 5, 2006 Roane County News -- Dark Skies
READ April 18 Knox News-Sentinal article - Losing the Sky
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 2006
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 (in two
cars) consisted of Tyler Moore, John Mannone, Stan Kurtz, Wanda Diaz,
Carman Pantoja, and David Fields.
Tyler received a free membership in the society and meeting discounts! The group photo is here -- don't miss it! 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).
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.
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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.
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 Mary at that number.
Save
Roane Starry Skies is New Light Conservation Group For Roane County
