Julian Starfest 2009

August 25, 2009 by John Wohlfeil
Filed under Astro Trips, Events, Featured, News

August 20-23, 2009 was the 2nd annual Julian Starfest at the Menghini Winery in the small mountain town of Julian, CA – and the MBS Astronomy Club set up to camp all four days.

Tags: astronomy, Camping, Dark Skies, GMARS, HoTech, Julian, OCA, OPT, Orion Starshoot, Star Party, StarkLabs

Will Mars Appear as Big as The Full Moon?!!!

August 13, 2009 by fuadramsey
Filed under Don't Miss This!, News

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“Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.”
That direct quote is from an email forwarded to me today. The sender was asking me if it was true. I noticed in the email that it was also sent to about two dozen other people. These were all mostly business associates, so [...]

Tags: astronomy, Mars, Moon

NASA Image of the Day
Snapshot of the International Space Station

On March 13, 2008, the International Space Station passed across the field-of-view of Germany's remote sensing satellite, TerraSAR-X, at a distance of 195 kilometers, or 122 miles, and at a relative speed of 34,540 kilometers per hour, or more than 22,000 mph. In contrast to optical cameras, radar does not 'see' surfaces. Instead, it is much more aware of the edges and corners which bounce back the microwave signal it transmits. Smooth surfaces such as those on the station's solar generators or the radiator panels used to dissipate excess heat, unless directly facing the radar antenna, tend to deflect rather than reflect the radar beam, causing these features to appear on the radar image as dark areas. The radar image of the station therefore looks like a dense collection of bright spots from which the outlines of the space station can be clearly identified. The central element on the station, to which all the modules are docked, has a grid structure that presents a multiplicity of reflecting surfaces to the radar beam, making it readily identifiable. This image has a resolution of about one meter (about 39 inches). In other words, objects can be depicted as discrete units--that is, shown separately--provided that they are at least one meter apart. If they are closer together than that, they tend to merge into a single block on a radar image. Since this image was taken, the station has expanded and is more than 90 percent complete, including a full complement of solar arrays. Image Credit: DLR
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Julian Starfest 2009

Will Mars Appear as Big as The Full Moon?!!!

NASA Image of the Day

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