Star Gazer - Jack Horkheimer

I was sad to learn that Jack Horkheimer had died on August 20, 2010.  It has been over a decade since I watched one of his presentations. Watching his quirky astronomy show on Alabama Public Television in the 1980s made him memorable to me. Back then I think his show was called Star Hustler though. Maybe some of the exposure to his shows made me later obtain a telescope. Here is his last show posted on YouTube. Keep looking up!

Plasma Ball

Here are some pictures taken of a plasma ball at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, Tennessee. I must say that have some very nice science exhibits using some cool display technologies in the building. Most of the science center is aimed at small to grade school level children with the exception of the astronomy area.  Highly recommended if you have children in this age group or if you are interested in astronomy .

10 second exposure shot of the plasma ball in action.

100 Hours of Astronomy - Louisville, Kentucky

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and to celebrate that on April 4, 2009 telescopes from around the world will point toward the planet Saturn. This event is called 100 Hours of Astronomy to honor astronomer Galileo Galilei. Thanks to an e-mail that reminded me of this event from this NASA site

Here is a picture I took of the moon yesterday while pruning grapes.

Around the Louisville, Kentucky area there are several events going on. The Louisville Astronomy Society will host an event April 3, 2009 at 8 PM Urban Astronomy Center. Here is their announcement from their website:
"The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first telescopic observations of the heavens in 1609. This program will highlight what Galileo accomplished, what he didn’t accomplish, and how research that is going on right here in Louisville is helping to shed more light on Galileo’s talents as an observational astronomer and telescope maker. Speaker is Professor Chris Graney
The LAS Urban Astronomy Center is located in the Root Cellar Building at the back of E.P.“Tom” Sawyer State Park on Freys Hill Road in Louisville, Kentucky. Take the second park entrance off of Freys Hill Road and go to the end of the road. Clear Skies!"

The University of Louisville's Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium will be celebrating its 47th birthday from 11 AM till 1 PM Saturday, April 4, 2009. Weather permitting, solar viewing will take place to celebrate 100 Hours of Observing. Admission is $5 and includes Skies Over Louisville and a telescope workshop. See their website for more information.

I will get my telescope out as well this weekend and try to catch a glimpse of Saturn and the moon.

Venus at Sunset

The subject is not so exciting in this photograph but all the shades of blue caught my eye. So I took a 10 second exposure shot with the tripod.

Venus is bright but it also seems like a fuzzy white blob in the telescope eyepiece when I look at it.

Venus

Here is a picture of a rather bright Venus in the western sky. I tried to get a picture of the cresent moon but it went down.

Tomorrow I will try to get some pictures of the moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury after sunset.

Moon

Here is a moon picture that my cousin took recently.