General Interest

We often receive questions about viewing meteor showers, such as: Where is the best place to view a meteor shower? When they say the peak occurs at 1AM on the 12th does that mean staying up late on the 12th and viewing into the 13th or waking up early on the 12th? Why do meteor showers peak in the wee hours of the night? You can comfortably watch meteors from many places, assuming you have a dark sky: like your…

Your First Star Party By Ian Hewitt Have you recently acquired the observing habit?  Or the even more addictive astro-imaging bug?  If so, then you may be considering going to a Star Party.  Star Parties are a great way to enjoy amateur astronomy and they offer things like networking with other amateurs, see presentations from professionals and advanced amateurs, observing sessions in remote places in safety (if not comfort), and just to have fun.  However, many people are intimidated about…

(This article originally appeared in the second quarter 2007 STAR Newsletter and was written by Mark Gibson. -I) An Introduction to the Itty Bitty Telescope by Mark Gibson While attending the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) in Green Bank, WV, I was introduced to the Itty Bitty Telescope. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the SARA are spearheading an effort to get school children involved in Radio Astronomy. The design of this telescope allows the user to find…

(This article originally appeared in the first quarter 2007STAR Newsletter. -I) There’s More to Re-sizing than Meets the Eye by Mike Etkin Those of you who process digital images know about resizing. If most of you are like me, your exposure to resizing is probably limited to reducing file sizes to something that would be easily transmitted over the Internet – something on the order of 80 to 100 kilobytes. My exposure increased considerably when I was getting some images…

(This article originally appeared in the Q1 2002 STAR newsletter and was written by Jeff Polston. -Ian) The Moon Illusion by Jeff Polston I think just about everyone is familiar with seeing the moon or the sun near the horizon, seemingly looking larger than normal. The moon can really look kind of eerie. It hangs above the tree tops, usually an orange color. And it looks huge! (though I admit that the image you see here is one I artificially…

(This article originally appeared in the Q2 2000 STAR news letter. -Ian) Indulgence In Obscurity Part III – The Summer Planetaries by Eric Honeycutt Ever since last October, I have been waiting in earnest for the Summer Milky Way to present itself in an early enough hour to spend appreciable time hunting down the many wonderful and obscure objects that lie behind its structured and highly detailed, star-strewn belt. Now, of course this isn’t to rule out the many wonderful…

(This article appeared in the Q1 2000 STAR news letter. -Ian) An Indulgence In Obscurity – Part II. The Spring Sky by Eric Honeycutt Finally, Spring is here! After a winter that brought record snowfall and quite a few cold observing sessions, the Triangle is beginning to warm up. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, the grass is growing and greening up, um…the pollen count is rising, the humidity and dew are getting heavier, and there has been…

(This article originally appeared in the Q4 1999 STAR newsletter. -Ian) Indulgence in Obscurity by Eric Honeycutt The following is a scenario that I would like to present and see if it sounds at least somewhat familiar to you: It is a Saturday evening in late January. Temperatures are hovering around freezing and Greg Fishel promises that skies are going to be “clear as a bell”, dew points and humidity are going to be extremely low, and water vapor imagery…

(This article originally appeared in the first quarter 1997 STAR Newsletter and was written by Eric Douglass – Ian) Geologic Processes on the Moon by Eric J. Douglass I – INTRODUCTION This article discusses the processes that form the features we see on the moon. Its sister paper, ‘The Geologic History of the Moon’, deals with how each of these processes fit into the moon’s The primary geologic processes that shaped the moon are the formation of craters, volcanic activity,…