Total Lunar Eclipse - TONIGHT

After nearly 3 years absence, North America will have a NICE lunar Eclipse with the earliest traces beginning at 12:55 AM. The first signs of the 'dark shadow' or umbra starts at1:33 AM, while totality begins at ~ 2:41 AM and lasts until 3:53 AM. This is nice, slow and majestic event - and one that can be enjoyed with ( Read more... )

OK, so how hot is it? In good old Atlanta-land, it supposed to hit close to 100 degrees F today. Not the hottest day I've ever seen (118 in Phoenix is my personal record) - but still, damned hot. During June there was almost 3-weeks straight of +90 degree weather - foretelling what the rest of summer will be like ( Read more... )

Yee New Telescope Mount..On Monday, the essentially new (a floor model) CGEM (= Celestron German Equatorial Mount) arrived via UPS. I bought this substantial beast for $999 plus s/h - a major discount on new models ($1399) or lightly used ones listed on AstroMart. So after LOST's weirdness, I finally pulled all the contents out of the boxes and ( Read more... )

According to one of the local weather gurus, only three states: Georgia, Florida and Louisiana have no snow cover. The rest of the country (including Hawaii - remember the big volcanoes are over 13,000') has snow and LOTS of it ( Read more... )

The temperature is now 65 F - and still rising. Wow, what a difference from earlier in the month when the temperature never rose above 32 F for over a week (the last time a cold snap was this persistant was over 40 years ago ( Read more... )

..from the Great White South!

OK - it's only an inch of snow at most. But underneath is a thin sheet of ice and it is THIS fact that causes all the massive school/government and work closings. Right now it is 20 degrees F and won't likely go above freezing most of the weekend.

Here's a few pictures:

Shedimus Maximus and the tarped 12-inch scope ( Read more... )

Crawl space flooding ( Read more... )

Or, how does one appease the Sky Gods?

For almost a week, the sky gurus have been forecasting clear skies for Thursday night. Today's forecast - the prediction of clear skies for the evening. But like a vast nebulous octopus - broad cirrus and middle cloud 'tentacles' have started working their way up from the Gulf Coast.

The verdict - Sky F** ( Read more... )

When it rains ..it pours, or moldsI just got a call from the mold mitigation service for my new house. The news isn't good - first, the crawl space is flooded with over a foot of water. The last batch of torrential rains (at least 6-inches on already water-soaked soil) has made a real mess of things. Even though the back was landscaped, plus ( Read more... )

If you live in the southeast, you are like feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Ida. For Northern Georgia, this means another 3 to 5+ inches of rain during a likely record settling Autumn (and year). Flood watches and warnings (surprise!) have been posted yet again for the region. Blah.

The Inept Parking NaziToday's commute was rather soggy, but ( Read more... )