http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog Collected nebulous thoughts from the Budget Astronomer Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:00:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So, after a month of brutal clouds, I get a few clear nights in a row to run th enew scope throught it's paces. I am really enjoying the sharp, contrasty image this little scope throws. I was able to easily resolve the four main trapezium stars - at 23x! ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=44 In my last post I mentioned, ever so subtly, that I had a want-on for the WO Anniversary scope. Well, as luck would have it, one came up for sale in time for an early christmas present! Woohoo!  Since I name all my scopes, I think I will call this one Ruby, for obvious ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=43 It has been a while since I have posted on this blog, and much has changed - apart from yesterday's US election. I have installed an HEQ5 mount in the POD, and have the C8 mounted on that, allowing for computer control, go-to and autoguiding. In the city, the trees ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=42 Unleashing the Inner Child Who doesn't love kindergarten. Crafts, colouring, and learning new things makes for an enjoyable time, what's not to love? Now, replace "kindergarten" with "glycolysis", and you have a conversation killer. The process of cellular respiration - glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation - has been glazing eyes of ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=40 I recently heard about Wubi - the windows installer for Ubuntu. This utility is listed as a beta release, but it seems fully functional. The very special thing about Wubi is that it allows one to install Ubuntu Linux onto an existing Windows partition. The end result is a dual-boot configuration, ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=36 My son is writing a novel. The amusing part is that he doesn't know it. At some point a couple of years ago, when my son was 11 or 12, he was introduced to lego fan forums by one of his friends (who, by the way, he plays with every night, ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=35 ... and Friday was one of those nights! I got up to my dark sky site near Meaford for the first time since labour day, and the sky was clear and dark, and the waning crescent moon stayed out of sight. On the "how dark was it" scale, it was ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=34 To those unacustomed to the wonders of astronomy, it is a little speck of light. But this comet is really remarkable, and has the amateur astronopmy community abuzz. The puff of gas and dust is spreading out rapidly, so the appearance is changing nightly, if not hourly. Some have reported rapid ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=32   Comet 17p/Holmes was an unassuming, minor short period comet until a few days ago. At magnitude 17 it was invisible even in large amateur scopes. This comet has an orbit that brings it no closer to the sun than Mars, and no farther than Jupiter. Although discovered in 1891, it was ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=30 Adding to its popular Google Earth, the search engine and software giant has turned its gaze skyward with Google Sky. Accessed from within the Google Earth desktop application, Sky allows users to peruse the night sky, identify stars, constellations, and a variety of deep sky objects. An information bubble pops up ... http://budgetastronomer.ca/blog/?p=28