First Year in Amateur Astronomy (early spring 2007-2008) So, I’ve been at it for more than year now, and what I have seen and learned is astounding. From a historical account I have always been interested in the cosmos since I was a single digit old, and took the boyhood dream of wanting to become an astronaut. Now, I may be no astronaut but I do have a decent income. It then hit me in the head, “Why don’t I…
My first serious look at Radio Astronomy came at the 2007 Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers convention at Green Bank West Virginia. There they had speakers from the beginner like me to the more serious advance. It was there I signed up to learn how to operate the 40’ Student Radio Telescope. Tom Crowley introduced the group to radio astronomy by assigning teams and then giving each team a task. We learned how to find a radio source. Then we…
There has been a lot of discussion in the news regarding green laser pointers. The great concern recently has been that a terrorist might attempt to cause aircraft to crash by spotting one with a laser. This seemed ridiculous to me for a number of reasons, but because laser pointers are so commonly used by the amateur astronomy community (including myself), I wanted to understand the facts better. The following is what I found.
