Web, photos and assorted geekery
I admit, it was a pure stroke of luck. I was walking home, looking forward to an evening of volleyball, when I happened to look up and saw a lovely new crescent moon. The light was still good so I took its picture, not paying much attention to the nearby bright spot. But it turns out, it’s Venus.
I admit, it was a pure stroke of luck. I was walking home, looking forward to an evening of volleyball, when I happened to look up and saw a lovely new crescent moon. The light was still good so I took its picture, not paying much attention to the nearby bright spot. Turns out, that bright spot is Venus.
Absolutely gorgeous. I had no idea where Venus was supposed to be located that night. And hey: the first photo on this here blog published exclusively on Flickr!
Last night I attended a meeting of the Center For Inquiry Vancouver, with invited guest Dr. Jaymie Matthews, mission scientist of the MOST project. MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars/Microvariabilité et Oscillations STellaires) is Canada’s first space telescope, studying minute variations in stars’ light output to understand their inner structure, as well as detecting any planets that may be orbiting them.
Last night I attended a meeting of the Center For Inquiry Vancouver, with invited guest Dr. Jaymie Matthews, mission scientist of the MOST project. MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars/Microvariabilité et Oscillations STellaires) is Canada’s first space telescope, studying minute variations in stars’ light output to understand their inner structure, as well as detecting any planets that may be orbiting them.
In the over 5 years since its launch, MOST has studied hundreds of star systems, upending a few theories, confirming others, and generally expanding our understanding not only of others stars, but our own as well.
The event was named What if Galileo had a Space Telescope? in reference to Galileo’s groundbreaking observations of celestial bodies, which forever altered our perception of the universe and our place within it. Dr. Matthews argues that we are currently going through a similar revolution, what with new cosmological theories like dark energy (to explain why the expansion of the universe is still accelerating), and our continuing quest for Earth-like exoplanets, further putting our home in its proper perspective.
Unfortunately, MOST’s imaging technology doesn’t lend itself to pretty pictures like, say, the Hubble Telescope. Still, the words, simple graphics and animations are enough to fire the imagination. This is head-spinningly exciting science! I’ve read up on some of it over the years, but I’d never heard of MOST and had no idea so much was being done right here in Canada!
… and it wasn’t what I expected. Then again, I didn’t really know what to expect, since I’d never seen a lunar eclipse and wasn’t too clear on the actual mechanics. So the dark red moon, covered by a fuzzy circular shadow, took me a bit by surprise.
… and it wasn’t what I expected. Then again, I didn’t really know what to expect, since I’d never seen a lunar eclipse before and wasn’t too clear on the actual mechanics. So the dark red moon, covered by a fuzzy circular shadow, took me a bit by surprise. I was like, “Whoah! Did the Apocalypse start already?… oh, right, the eclipse. Cool!”
I was lucky. The sky was clear (a miracle for Vancouver at this time of year!) and I had to work late, which means I saw the bloody eclipse on the way home. Otherwise, I hate to say it probably would have slipped my mind. I got home a little late (around 8PM, the moon was just coming out of totality), but that didn’t stop me from grabbing my tripod and looking for a relatively dark spot. You can see Saturn to the left, and Regulus above.
