Friday, January 23, 2009

Astro Bites

A lot of interesting things have come my way through the Intertoobs this week, so I thought I'd just list them for your astronomical web surfing pleasure. After all, the weatherpeople are calling for cloudy skies all weekend in the Kansas City area.

1.) Good news! The Kansas legislature is considering a bill to protect and clean up Kansas' night skies (in other words, an anti-light pollution law). It looks like a pretty good bill to me. If you live in Kansas, and you think it looks good too, contact your reps in Topeka and let them know.

2.) "One stop shopping" for planning your observing sessions at NASA.

3.) A la Jeff Foxworthy, there's a new group on Facebook called "You know You're an Astronomer When..." I don't do Facebook so I won't be joining the group, but the group's front page has a pretty good list of things that might indicate you're an astronomer.

4.) Tuesday morning (1/27) from 10:05 to 10:25a.m. the International Space Station will be talking to schoolchildren in Parnell, MO via ham radio. I'll be listening. If you have a 2-meter ham radio or a scanner you can listen too on or around 145.800 MHz. Remember to account for the doppler effect. The frequency will be higher as the ISS approaches and lower as the ISS moves away. If you can't listen you can watch on NASA TV.

5.) And last, but not least, some actual observing... Check out a thin crescent moon approach Venus Thursday evening (1/29) and then be on the opposite side of Venus the next evening.

Till next time...Clear skies!

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