Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Openings for This Friday's Overnight Camp!
The Overnight Camp this weekend has openings! If you're interested in attending please send an email with the following information.
Camper's Name:
Age:
Parent or Guardian Name:
Phone Number:
Normal price is $43.00. Blog readers and Frequent Flyers can come in for $38.00 payable on arrival Friday night with a check or cash. The camp is open to everyone between the ages of 10 and 14 years old. Starting Time: Friday 7:00 P.M. Camp ends Saturday at 10:00 A.M.
Thank you!
Mr. Williamson
Sun Size and Altitude
Photographer: Rob Ratkowski
Summary Author: Rob Ratkowski
Astronomers are frequently asked why we have our observatories on high mountain tops. A big part of looking into deep space has to do with atmospheric transparency and freedom of particulates along with heat that causes blurring. A simple but effective understanding of this 'seeing' is to put a finger at arm’s length in front of the Sun and observe the aureole that’s produced. Held at arm’s length, a finger tip subtends about one half of a degree of sky – nearly the same amount of space that both the Sun and Moon take up. At sea level, observing is often compromised by the build up of heat, dust, moisture, haze, pollution, and aerosols that include ash and even salt. Higher up, there’s less of this to deal with since there’s less atmosphere to peer through. These three photos were taken on the Hawaiian island of Maui at (left to right) Baldwin Beach, Kula and Haleakala Observatory, respectively. The disk of the Sun is completely hidden by my index fingertip at 10,000 ft (about 3,050 m). Note, I can positively verify that my finger didn’t increase in size as a result of the thinner air.
- Coordinates:
- Baldwin Beach: 20.913502,-156.394544
- Kula: 20.79222, -156.32694
- Haleakala Observatory: 20.70825, -156.256678
- Related EPODs
- Earth Observatory
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Goodbye to Winter
And Now a Story About this Picture Written by Bracken and the folks at his Creatorium :)
Jack: The Snowman Hunter
Very little is known about the history of Jack Frost. In the early 1900's his legendary hunting skills moved him into a position of fame. Later, in the late 1970's, he became immortalized in a stop-motion movie about the beginning of Santa. But, in all reality- Jack was a snowman hunter, and a very good one at that.
Before Jack- Snowmen weren't the cute, cuddly creatures they make them appear to be on television. In fact- Frosty isn't like his actor portrayed at all. I know they made Jack Frost appear bad, but in all reality, they were switched in roles. Frosty was causing the blistering cold that was causing global freezing- starting in about 1883. Global freezing was scaring environmentalists, they were afraid that all the world oceans would freeze, and our precious water resource would vanish, until a massive flood would wipe everyone out (please refer to the documentary called ICE AGE, put out by my agency for more information).
Frosty was behind it. He had created a machine that would spiral the freezing cold weather out of control. It was a terrible problem for everyone around. Nobody knew that the source of the problem was actually a machine- most people were blaming el nino at the time.
Jack was working for an organization called the counter-freezing unit (CFU). He worked with several other people attempting to counter the freezing cold. A snowman attempted to blow up their headquarters, and that was the end of it. Jack was instantly on the job. He was able to take care of multiple global freezing threats. (For a completely revamped version of these missions- please watch the hit television series "24". The character Jack Bauer is based on Jack Frost).
This trophy wall- even though it looks evil, and sadistic- holds the heads of the snowmen that were attempting to freeze the world. Because of this trophy wall though, Jack Frost will forever be considered "evil"... Even though he saved all of us from an certain doom.
Just remember troops. Never judge a book by it's cover.