Greetings!
We took a much needed trip this last week driving around Arizona and New Mexico. The kids deserved an adventure. We wanted them to have an immersive opportunity to learn about geology and culture of the south west. Saw so many beautiful sites. Met interesting people. Visited a few friends scattered around the desert.
On our trip to Arizona, Phillip signed up for an astrophotography class at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The subject of the class was photographing the Helix Nebula with a 17" Telescope & monochrome camera that has three filters attached to it: Hydrogen Alpha, Oxygen-3 and Sulphur-2. In our eyes, naturally we perceive that sulfur-2 gas glows dark red, while hydrogen alpha shows up as deep red and oxygen-3 as blue & green.
After capturing multiple long exposure images with each filter, the photographer then stacks all of the images in a software known as Pixinsight to produce one high quality image and assigns colors and intensities to each element (red/green/blue) to produce a final product.
We are in the process of upgrading our 12" telescope to be able to re-create this exact process so we can explore the entire universe with you this fall.
Hydrogen Alpha.
oxygen
Sulfur
Layered photo
Ready to get back to the farm work. Looks like a lot of weeding ahead. The carrots need to be thinned, The tomatoes are finally producing, ready to be picked and processed. Sowing spinach and cilantro on Tuesday.
Volunteer Hours this week:
Tuesday, Friday, Sunday
4:00pm-Sunset
I’d love to serve you dinner if you want to help.
Tuesdays-Bean tacos, Friday-Pizza, Sunday-bread and soup. If there is bad weather we will cancel. Reach out if you plan to come so I can be prepared.
Astronomy this Week
-Comet Nishimura Can be visible during Dawn just above the Horizon in the north east sky through September 11th. Then see it in the West-Northwest horizon in the evening the following days.
The season shift means we will start seeing Cassiopeia high in the North East sky in the evening.
Just as the night gets dark, look West. There you will see Arcturus, the fourth brightest star, reaching 36.7 light-years from Earth. It will go lower as days pass. To the North West, just right of Arcturus, you can see the Big Dipper. Arcturus belongs to the constellation Boötes. It forms a kite shape above the star. Hold your arm out toward the bright star and make a fist. The constellation reaches roughly two fists up to the right.
Vega, slightly dimmer than Arcturus, can be found in the East. Will be rising higher over head through Fall. Visible in the North West sky by winter evenings. It belongs to the Constellation Lyre.
Our Sun is 50 times less bright than Vega. We can’t quite experience its largeness because it is 25 light years away. It has a bluer hue because it is closer and very hot, much hotter than our sun. This extremeness will cause the star to die quicker.
In the Southern sky you can see Altair, the brightest star. Look to the left and you can see Delphinus.
Thursday, 9/14 at 9:40pm is the New Moon. The constellations Sagittarius and capricornus will be high in the sky with the Meridian (The imaginary line running from north to south) running between them. There you can see a small constellation called Herman’s Cross. It is a set of four stars forming a cross. Also called The Dog’s, derived from Chinese stories.
The crescent moon can be seen Sunday at twilight in the southwest sky above the horizon. Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, can be seen with binoculars just below and to the right. Keep moving your scope to the right a little and you can spot Comet Nishimura.
Space Flights News
9/11-15 SpaceX plans to have 2 launches of Starlink sats from Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral.
9/15 Russia’s launching 3 Astronauts, Russian commander Oleg Kononenko, Russian flight engineer Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara to the International Space Station.
SpaceX has made steps to being closer to launching their Starship. The FAA closed their investigation of the 4/20/22 failure. With a few alterations and improvements Starship will be launching from Starbase in Boca Chica TX soon!