13 March 2006

The other day I was checking out my Frappr! map for my occultations site and thought about astronomy blogs. I didn't see a Frappr map for astronomy bloggers so created one called AstroBlogger.
I tried to embed the map here but apparently Blogger isn't amenable to that.
So I have had to settle for a link to the map. I am the only person on the map right now. The idea of the map is that astronomy bloggers will post a link to their blog so others can find it. It would be like an astronomy blog ring. It is a little ironic that I should even create the map since I don't make my blog public because of some if the copyrighted content I include it it, which is there for my reference and I consider Fair Use. But the copyright holder and his/her lawyer might not agree with that interpretation.

[This is strange. Frappr! is based on the Google Maps API and when you go to the map that is what you see. But when you use their code to embed the map in your page it uses the new Yahoo Local Maps API.]

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Observing Location	NYC
Observational Period
Atmospheric Conditions	I think CSC has gone crazy. They have a block marked at 40% cloud cover and beneath it say that it is too cloudy to predict transparency. And the next block is also 40% cloud cover but transparency is supposed to be poor. Looking at tomorrow for the eclipse I see a block marked 40% cloud cover and it being too cloudy to predict transparency but the hour before the cloud cover is supposed to be 80% and they say the air will be transparent. Looking one square to the right it is alsp 40% cloud cover but is also transparent. I don't understand how you can predict transparency with 80% cloud cover when it is too cloudy to predict it when there is only 40% cloud cover. It is completely overcast here tonight. Since CSC was predicting 40% cloud cover I will say conditions are worse than predicted.
Instruments
Observing Party

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I have seen some early rumbles about the Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium device. It sounds interesting. You look through the eyepiece at a "bright" star and it will ID the star for you.

Tonight I saw an ad saying you can preorder it so I clicked on it to see what the cost is. This thing isn't even available yet and already everyone is discounting it 35% from the MSRP of $617.95 down to $399.00. (Do I smell price fixing going on? Maybe these dealers know that I am a good guy and all just want me to have this device for less that its true value and all, coincidentally, came up with the price of $399.00.) Celestron says it will start shipping in May06.

I wonder if it can do what they say it does. There is a database that is supposed to identify 6,000 stars. It uses GPS to figure out where it is and when it is, planetarium software to figure out what is out, and "3 axis sensors measuring gravitational and magnetic fields to determine the true orientation of the SkyScout to the earth". Celestron lists about a half-dozen awards it has received, but none of them from astronomy organizations or publications.

The specs tell you all about how many objects are in its catalog but neglect to mention how much magnification, if any, is in the optical system or how long the batteries last. One picture I saw shows a guy with it mashed right up against his eyeglasses and another in the same ad has a guy without glasses holding it about a foot away from his face. It looks like you look through it and there appears to be a lens on the front end. But all the Celestron specifications talk about is the resolution of its LCD screen, which might be the one on the side of the unit or could be some kind of heads up internal display. I am wondering if this is something you look at with one eye while looking at the sky with the other and your brain has to superimpose one image on the other.