Man, I’d hate to be near this thing when it goes off. I freak out when I get zapped on a cold dry day.
The Z-Machine just has to be used in some movie. It would be such a shame not to. Too bad it’s a “highly tuned scientific instrument.” Blah blah blah.
Today I came across this very interesting article on the Sky and Telescope website:
It’s really quite an interesting thought, that scientists have developed a much more accurate model for the solar cycle! It is also personally interesting to me, because I happened to buy a solar telescope just a few years before the solar cycle hit its minimum level of activity. Which was quite a bummer for me, needless to say. All that money, and bupkis to look at! “Note to self: Before buying the next solar telescope, check the solar cycle…”
But now it looks like we are getting back to the up-swing in a couple years, so it will be good to hang onto my solar telescope and see all of the increasing activity through it. Maybe I will even get some good photos. I’ll have to go up to the mountains if I want to get any really good photos; there’s just too much atmosphere down here near sea-level.
It also got me to thinking that, just like telescope sales jumped right before the 2003 Mars opposition, maybe we’ll see a jump in the sales of solar telescopes over the next 3-5 years. I’m not exactly sure how I could take advantage of that, though…
Last night I actually felt like getting out the ol’ telescope for once. Saturn is high in the evenings now, as is M42, and this is the only time of year that I get to enjoy those guys without getting up at crazy hours.
Unfortunately, it was hazy all day, and by the time I went out to start setting up the telescope, there was a thick cloud-cover.
So, maybe tonight or tomorrow night will work out.
This is one benefit of moving my schedule to match the students’ schedules - I’m more apt to pull out the telescope, because I’m already going to be up late!
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