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[...] and sex is clearly afoot. Couple that (last bad pun, we swear) with a statement overheard at the 2012 Necronomicon that �the romance fiction genre has outpaced the pornography market,� and�you’ve�clearly got [...]
The Sky is Waiting.
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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New.� A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
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Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth�s shadow is apparent in the image.
30.10.2012: A Weekend of Apocalyptic Fun at the NecronomiCon!
How many Baktuns in a Pectun again?
(Credit: Stone Hill.org).
The �busy �Con season� for Astroguyz has arrived. Sure, it may have came and went with only one event, but what an event it was! Said gathering was the 2012 NecronomiCon, a horror/fantasy/science fiction convention held this past weekend at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel in downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida. This is the last year that the convention will be on the St. Pete side of Tampa Bay, and our second year hosting star parties at the event.
The ‘Con in full swing… (All photos by author).
The NecronomiCon is always an amazing mixture of diversity in all that is speculative fiction. We were interested in sitting in on several panels with Guest of Honor Linnea Sinclair and of course the ever present Timothy Zahn. Our own panel scene was pretty light this year, doing �You Can be an Astronomer� and �Cold Fusion: Has the Dream Become Reality� where we were actually referred to as a skeptic in the wild for the first time! Maybe the Skeptics Guide to the Universe will come calling�
Musings of other worlds…
But as the Sun went down, the action turned to the sky. We had a great turn out with a steady stream of Halo characters, Goths and more all interested to look at the universe. The bright lights of downtown St. Pete (and a Saturday nite soccer game just across the road) restricted us to fairly bright targets, i.e. the waxing gibbous Moon and a rising Jupiter. Hey, the limiting magnitude allowed us to just pick out the Summer Triangle high overhead, and Aldebaran next to Jupiter. Even Albireo was a tough grab, akin to doing astronomy from the Las Vegas strip! Still, we star-partied into the wee dawn hours, discussing libration, interstellar travel, and much more. A big thanks to Tanja from Star Splitter Adventures for providing star maps and a wealth of astronomical knowledge.
Armor + star gazing!
But activities�weren’t�just restricted to nighttime viewing. Saturday afternoon we had a chance to check out the brightest star of all in Earthly skies; the Sun. Sol was a bit bashful at first, hiding behind a thin veil of clouds reminiscent of our view of the Transit of Venus from earlier this year. �Perseverance won out however, and we were able to view sunspots and prominences in both hydrogen alpha and white light.
Practicing safe solar viewing courtesy of Astroguyz.
It was always great to see faces old and new as well as hang out with the crowd. Also a big shout out the Craig MacDougal, who serves as the Assistant Coordinator for the�Jupiter Section of the American Lunar & Planetary Observers� group; it was great to pick the brain of someone so knowledgeable about astronomy. We�re truly not worthy!
A PST view of the Sun.
As for this years� trends, we noticed much more panel discussion on writing romance in terms of science fiction, fantasy & horror. There were lots more discussion on the e-business end of publication, with the Amazon Kindle being the focus of the market.
One day, it’ll be true!
All in all, it was a great 31st year for the event; we hope to make �the 32nd NecromoniCon� (after the world doesn�t end again) in 2013!