Determine your Longitude: the Lunar Eclipse Method Part II

(All Photos by Author).
Hopefully, you had clear skies at your locale. My luck was pretty good… mostly clear skies through-out! My initial impressions were that of a very bright eclipse; the southern rim of the moon seemed especially bright. The color ranged from a dark blood red on the northern edge to an overall brownish glow. [...]

Determine Your Longitude: the Lunar Eclipse Method Part I

A Ruddy Lunar Eclipse. (All photos by Author).
We’re back now with a new look! Hopefully, it’s less of an eyestrain for our loyal legion of readers… and just in time for this months’ Lunar Eclipse!

Getting an accurate fix on your position has long been a bane of the world traveler. Long before Global Positioning Systems, [...]

Astro-Themed Drinks for Cloudy Nights

To drink…(and/or) observe? (Photo by Author).
There is a long tradition of alcohol in Astronomy. Tycho Brahe was a great imbiber. Beer Crater (actually named after the imminent selenographer, Wilhelm Beer) on the Moon may well be ultimate site for a brewery one day. But when the cirrus starts getting thick, what’s one to do? [...]

Measuring the Circumference of the Earth: the Eratosthenes Method

  This is one I duplicated in High School that I first heard about on Carl Sagans’ Cosmos series.  Way back in the 3rd Century BC, the Greek philospher Eratosthenes of Cyrene devised a method of calculating the circumference of the Earth.