lumpy darkness

Observation notes (with equipment details), photos, sketches, reviews, random thoughts, from my amateur astronomy sessions.

SATURday, MARCH 6, 2010

welcome to the off-site area

These pages contains companion material to my lumpy darkness blog (over at blogger.com). The pages are stored on my corporate server (for a variety of reasons).

Below, you'll find links to presentations I have delivered and the handouts provided.

The telescope links on the right access separate 'scope pages for my Mom and me. We keep detailed information and photographs here of equipment and accessories.

In the tradition of naturalists, birders, and astronomers, I keep "life lists" of astronomical sightings and accomplishments.

You'll find reference materials in the "other" area. For example, if you need to include Greek characters in your web pages, see my notes.

Finally, I've included a variety of links to web sites: magazines, retail stores in Ontario, clubs, weather and sky condition sites, space telescopes, and so on. Not an all-encompassing list by any stretch, just ones I regularly use...

dark skies,
Blake
astronomy at computer-ease dot com

 

MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010

magnitude life list

Created a new page which shows my career magnitude limits, noting location, equipment used, etc.

 

FRIday, Feburary 19, 2010

switched computers and versions

Some boring behind-the-scenes useless information that you don't need to bother reading, really. I moved the local host "master" copy of the companion lumpy darkness material to a different computer, John Smallberries, from an old computer, Lord John Whorfin, that I am slowly retiring. It was on Whorfin that I was using my terribly old version of Dreamweaver for Windows; Smallberries has a somewhat less old version. Should not affect how these pages look, per se, in theory, I hope (he says, eye twitching). If anything, the XHTML/CSS should be a bit cleaner...

The main reason? Convenience.

Fring benefits? The CSS is rendered better as I edit. I can see Greek characters displayed! Me me me.

 

Sunday, February 14, 2010

'scopes in space

Previously, in the science page, I had a couple of links to space observatories, notably Hubble. But with all the space telescopes and space probes out there, I thought this might merit a separate page. Not hooked into the menu yet...

 

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Stellarium 0.10.2 software demo

Try Stellarium. It's a very good astronomy program for teaching, planning, review. Best part, it's free! Below is a copy of the handout I provided during a presentation to the RASC Toronto Centre. It notes the features of Stellarium, some gotchas, where to download it. It is saved in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

Stellarium 0.10.2 handout (255 KB)

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

occultations page added

Now that I've taken an interest in asteroid occultations, and have already participated in a couple of events, I realised I needed to log these incidents.

 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

DIY TFOV template presentation

Make your own True Field Of View rings for your star charts so to better use your eyepieces in your telescope(s). This presentation was delivered at the RASC members' night meeting (on 15 Oct 2008). Originally, a PowerPoint 2003 file; converted to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

  • DIY: make your own TFOV template presentation (450 KB)

Enjoy.

 

Thursday, March 20, 2008

OneWorld weather station presentation

Below is the presentation from the RASC members' night meeting (delivered on 19 Mar 2008). This slide show featured the OneWorld tws1000 portable weather station (available at Canadian Tire). Originally, a Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 file; converted to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Also included is the handout comparing Oregon Scientific eb313hg and the OneWorld units.

  • OW weather station presentation (640 KB)
  • OS and OW compared (60 KB)

Hope you enjoy them.

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Oregon weather station presentation

Uploaded the presentation from the members' night meeting (delivered on 19 Sep 2007). This slide show featured the Oregon Scientific eb313hg portable weather station. Originally, a PowerPoint 2003 file; converted to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

  • OS weather station presentation (390 KB)

Enjoy.

 

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Awenda presentation files

Uploaded the presentation files from the Awenda Provincial Park astronomy lecture (delivered on 16 Aug 2007). Originally, PowerPoint 2003 files; converted to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

  • fun facts "pre" presentation (1.9 MB)
  • main information presentation (1.7 MB)

Enjoy.

 

Monday, January 15, 2007

library page added

Having added a few new books to the collection lately, I thought it high time I document all of them.

 

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

new pointer

Slight change to the menus in this site: created a "pointer" to emphasise which page you are presently viewing. Hope you like it!

 

 

 

links

    lumpy darkness sites:
    blog proper
(*)   lists home
   
    telescopes:
    my cat
    Mom's newt
    accessories
   
    life lists:
    planets, moons, etc.
    constellations
    notable stars
    double stars
    Messier objects
    other deep sky objects
  eclipses
  occultations
   
    other lists:
    Greek alphabet in HTML
    judging angular size
    atlases, books, software
    what's up for the year
    meteor showers
    with just your eyes
   
    web site links:
    magazines
    sky conditions
    science and research
    double stars sites
    retail stores
    clubs and associations
    DIY observatories
    miscellaneous