Krioma.net

Last night me, Geord and Kat went to the Flapper and Firkin in town to see some live music. It was a good night out. The first band would have been good if they could string together more than two words at a time. The main reason we went was to see Sixer. The reason why, well that is because one of the girls who does physics is their lead singer and so Geord said we would go. I was interested and thought it sounded like a good night out / good to go out and support bands.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself - they did a good set. I like their songs.. Zoe's voice was penetratingly good. They had a bit of an evanescence / lacuna coil (at times) feel about them. Excellent set... wouldn't mind seeing / hearing more. See their site: http://www.sixermusic.co.uk

On Thursday night I had a great time... well up to about 1am when on my way home I fell quite badly. Result: lots of pain and a trip to Selly Oak Hospital! Luckily I haven't broke my ankle. Initially suggestion off the doctor was that I had. It probably didn't help that I passed out when he was assessing the condition of it. It was quite painful. It still is. I have uploaded a photo of this but Alex has banned me from posting this directly on the page. So you have to go here. This was taken this morning.. the bruising is getting slowly worse and the swelling has gone down a bit. This low res photo doesn't do it justice but you get an idea. The pain is constant.

My friend Jordan sent me this (http://world-cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/11/30/bush.arrest/index.html) interesting article. Unfortunately this is not the case but makes for interesting reading.


As for George W. he has paid of his debt to Kelloggs for their support during his campaign for re-election, good to see he keeps his word about some thing's. (see: http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/29/news/newsmakers/commerce_secretary/index.htm)

Unfortunately my foot hasn't recovered much yet... I think it is actually looking worse. The bruising is stronger. The pain has dropped a bit but all I can say is thank god for codeine! For the gory detail see: foot2.jpg

It appears as if the article about George W Bush being arrested in canada was not only a hoax but on a hoax server... no longer available.. argh!

Today the NAM 2005 website went live.. yipee. I have spent
too long on this. It is all working and looking brilliant at http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/nam2005/

If you want to waste some of time that you should be working, in my case writing a project proposal, playing around then try this rather festive game: http://www.speedysanta.com/

You may or may not know, if you have ever looked at my site before you probably do know, that I am a strong Liverpool FC fan. Last week I couldn't believe the way we played against Arsenal - showed true character. Tonight on the other hand looked liked it was going to be back to the old days of no fight - especially when we seemed to give up after going a goal down - thus meaning we needed 3. Then came half time. I don't know what Benitez said to them but it worked. On came Pongolle and with it came some fight. He scored within 2 minutes of being on the pitch. During the whole second half we seemed to have more fight. We lost our way a little. On came Mellor - goal 2-1. Now then we have a chance and like a perfect script up stepped Steve Gerrard from a Mellor lay off - bang, GOAL! 3 - 1. Liverpool are through and have some fight at long last. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4068163.stm for more.

The Cassini space craft has been in orbit around Saturn for a while now (I think since back in July) and its producing some absolutely stunning photos. Here are a few of my favourites.. so far. (all photos are Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute; follow links for larger versions and more info)

Moons...

Dione... look at that detail... almost like a small telescope photo of the Moon..


Titan - looks like a sea in those photos, wow!


Phoebe - looking more like an asteroid everyday

Rings...

Saturn...

not forgetting the wonderful planet at the centre of all of these images!

Ever wanted to see a comet with your naked eye? Well Comet Machholz is now offering you the chance. Just look up in the sky and you might see it. I expect that there might be some media attention to this wonderful object. This was originally discovered by Don Machholz in late August of this year. It is now rather bright! It is going to get brighter and the best time to observe it from the UK is going to be in early January. For more about its discovery see: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0410/b.html - the discoverers page about it!


Oh and this is what it looks like (image by Jimmy Westlake from Colorado) this:





The ephemeris can be found here: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2004Q2_1.html


Sky Chart (looking south; click for larger):

I was Barney Rubble for the University of Birmingham Astronomy Society's Children in Need event. There is more info about this here: http://students.bugs.bham.ac.uk/astrosoc/pictures/cin181104.htm Oh this is me and Steve (who was Fred Flintstone in costume!):

This was originally written for the University of Birmingham Astronomical Society's website, http;//www.astrosoc.org.uk

Quick Info:

Discovered by: Don Machholz

Official name: Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)

When: August 27, 2004

Where: Southern California, USA

What with: 6-inch, f/8 reflector Criterion Dynascope, from 1968 it cost $200! This is a reflecting telescope and was one of the favourite telescopes in use at that time.

Orbital Period: 120,000 Earth Years (approx)!

Orbital Size: 2419 AU (astronomical unit - distance between the Earth and Sun)

Mass: 7.37^10+14 kg (Earth's is over 1 000 000 000 times greater!)

What does it look like:

by Jimmy Westlake from Colorado

by Mike Holloway

by Jimmy Westlake from Colorado

Just by doing a quick search on google.co.uk will reveal even more wonderful photos of this object.

Background on the discovery:

Machholz has spent more than 7,000 hours searching for comets since 1975. It took him 1,457 hours since his previous discovery. The comet was at 22 degrees south declination at discovery. So it is very strange that southern hemisphere observers did not see it first since it was better placed for observations by them.


So far Don Machholz has discovered 10 comets. More information can be found about the discovery on the discoverers web entry at: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0410/b.html

How can I observe it?

Well as I write this the comet is "naked eye" visible (i.e. you do not need a telescope or binoculars) and so by looking in the southern sky about 20 degrees about the horizon at 10 o'clock should reveal it.

Not enough info? OK, below is a sky chart which show the comets position in relation to some of the more obvious constellations (Orion is one of them) over the next few weeks.

The comet will get brighter and brighter over the coming month and so will be easier to see in early January. At this point it is expected to reach a brightness of 3rd magnitude (the brightest stars are magnitude -1 and so the scale decreases with increasing brightness, the Sun is about -26.8).

Oh you need to find a relatively dark spot. Preferable not in an urban area - this is hard to do. You should be able to see it through the haze of the city especially as it gets brighter in early January.

If you have a small pair of binoculars around then you view will be increased dramatically. You might even be able to make out the tail when it is brighter with the eye but it is doubtful. With binoculars you will get a nice view of the tale and through a telescope it will look wonderful.

Position in the sky?

The comet will be well placed for Northern Hemisphere observers when at its best in January, a naked-eye object (possibly up to 3rd magnitude) from suburban and most urban skies. It is currently 5th magnitude.

It will loop north, gradually accelerating in December as it passing from Eridanus into Taurus. Into January it will get brighter. On the night of January 6-7, it will be just 2.5 degrees from the Pleiades (M45, the seven sisters). At this point it is predicted to be about 3rd magnitude. During January it will move from Taurus through Perseus into Cassiopeia.

It will pass 0.35 AU from the Earth in early January, and reach perihelion (the point nearest the sun in the orbit of a planet or other celestial body) on January 24 at 1.20 AU from the Sun. It will be nearly opposite the Sun at that point making it easily observable.

Around March 10, the comet will pass within 5 degrees of Polaris (the North Star) and will be below 6th magnitude and thus not visible by naked eye observers.

Sky Chart:

Position of comet (click for larger):



All sky chart (click for larger; for December):








More information?

An introduction to comets:

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/comet.htm

Comet Observation Homepage:

http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/

BBC Introduction to comets:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/comets/index.shtml

Society for Popular Astronomy: (useful for general observing)

http://www.popastro.com/

Federation of Astronomical Societies (find you local astronomy group):

http://www.fedastro.org.uk

BAA Comet Section:

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/

More advanced finder charts:

http://www.shopplaza.nl/astro/comets/comets.htm

Heavens-above.com (excellent and user friendly charts):

http://www.heavens-above.com

Last night I kept sending Alex odd URI's. Now it was her turn.

This is what she came out with: Man dies because of "cooking" lava lamp -
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/11/30/lava.lamp.death.ap/index.html


Crows as Clever as Great Apes - very interesting.. -
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1209_041209_crows_apes.html

Homo floresiensis - dubbed "hobbits" -
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18498

Well they are all beating the odd adult material based ones I sent her! :-) No I sent her stuff about Comet Machholz, which I went on about a little too long last night!


Here is one of my own. Cassini does another flyby of Titan -
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/041214titanflyby.html

From what I here the Geminids are putting on a nice show. Can't see bugger all here again. The clouds have taken the sky and I fear will remain there for the foreseable future. Well not the worst case scenario at least some people have seen the shower and they have been busy taking photos! One of my favourite so far is taken by Mark Vornhusen (from Switzerland on Dec. 13, larger version here.):




More pictures can be found at:
http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_13dec04.htm


I love meteor showers but I have been unfortunate with my observing. In fact I have tried to observe the Leonids (strongest shower in November) for 8 years now... still none seen!! I actually only saw my first meteor 3 years ago. A wonderful streak over the Tennis Courts - a complex of student flats where I used to live. Was one of my most memorable experiences of the first year at Uni... apart from all the normal student stuff. Actually I don't remember all of them... wonder why!


Well what are the Geminids?


The Geminids are a meteor shower that appears to radiate from the constellation of Gemini - in fact you see them all over the sky but the majority appear to come from Gemini. They are a fantastic sight. Two years ago me and my girlfriend, whilst in Maidenhead (Berkshire), where given a fantastic show. We, I think, saw about 20 in all of an hour! Was wonderful. The Geminids are different to most meteor showers since they are not created by comet debris but in fact that of an asteroid. The asteroid is 3200 Phaethon. This is normally within the Asteroid belt. It is believed that the meteors are due to a collision between 3200 Phaethon and a neighbour. This caused it to change it trajectory and caused debris to follow it on its orbit around the solar system. This is just a theory. There is another one which suggests that 3200 Phaethon is a dead comet. Comets pass close to the Sun and the tails are caused by the vaporization of the comet due to the suns "rays". Repeated experiences of this kind might cause the comet to lose its icy exterior and just leave behind the rocky skeleton and "comet dust" in its trail As we pass through the debris left by 3200 Phaethon the particles collide with the atmosphere causing the meteor shower.

I am a big fan of the Ordinary Boys and I think their album will come out to be one of my favourite of the year. I even saw them live at Reading and wow they were excellent. Today I went on to their website (http://www.theordinaryboys.co.uk/) and I was in for a treat they have a rather fun advent calendar on there!! Any one who likes the band will like it. If you don't well it is a bit of fun - give it a go! Oh and listen to them, they are great!

Today a wonderful photo of the Tarantula Nebula was posted by ESA. Here it is (larger here, Image credit: ESA/NASA, ESO and Danny LaCrue):






What a site! This is a lovely image - the detail of the gas clouds is almost ghostly. The new born stars can also be seen well. The Tarantula Nebula itself has one of the highest rates of star formation in the local Universe. This is where stars are born. It is also known by the name 30 Doradus and is over 170,000 lyrs (light years) away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) (in another galaxy! - the Milky Way is only 100,000 lyrs wide or so).


More info: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0416.html

Back in 1181 Chinese and Japanese astronomers were able to observe a spectacular sight - a supernova explosion! I bet lots of predictions of the end of the world came with this. These are forecast by most astrologers who don't have a clue about the world around them (I am not saying they all of them don't). I don't have much respect for that field but, I guess, each to there own. Anyway back to my main theme. 3C58 is the remnant of that explosion. Something that is not visible to the eye. In fact it is not at all interesting in the visible part of the spectrum.

The interesting stuff comes when you look in X-rays - what the Chandra space telescope does! This is what you see in the visible (from DSS, http://stdatu.stsci.edu/dss/ ):





but in the X-ray band... (from Chandra; Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane et al.)




Doesn't that look better!


This image is a very long exposure by Chandra (in fact 4 days and an hour!) This shows a central pulsar - a rapidly rotating neutron star that was formed when the progenitor star blew up. This is surrounded by a bright torus of X-ray emission. This sort of thing is taught and mentioned a lot but it is not often you actually get to "see" such an event - even if it is in X-rays!


For more: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/3c58/

Normal weather on a Thursday night would be cloudy and gloom. Not what you need when you have your astronomy groups meeting! I am the Chair of the University of Birmingham Astronomical Society and can speak from experience - Thursday nights are a no go for observing, In Birmingham anyway.


Tonight was different. We were not meeting as term has finished. So I am at home. No telescope to use as this is at Uni with the society's. So I grabbed my mom and her binoculars. Binoculars can provide some excellent views of the night sky. The sky in Birmingham is pretty light polluted making the first 20 or so degrees above the horizon a no go. I thought I'd take a look at Comet Machholz. I didn't think I would find it due to it being faint at the moment and quite low down. I was correct I didn't see it. Well I may have but nothing convincing. It I think it one for a telescope in the urban environment of Birmingham. If I was in the countryside then it wouldn't have been a problem. Well I decided to carry on and show my mom a few things that she may or may not have seen in detail before.


I get more enjoyment in showing people the night sky than actually seeing it myself so I was quite pleased about this opportunity. We started off with the obvious. The Pleiades - M45 (the Seven Sisters). There are many more than seven stars when you use binoculars. In fact the whole glory of this open cluster is fully shown (see: http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m045.html). A wonderful sight one that I will never get bored of. We then looked at the Hyades - also is Taurus. This is not as spectacular as M45 but is pretty nice. M39 in Cygnus followed. Then finally the wonderful nebula of Orion in his sword. Wow! Even through the small binoculars its nebulosity could clearly be seen.


All in all a good nigths observing... shame other Thursday nights arent this clear.

Want a free Hubble Space telescope calendar?
ESA have put one together, get it here:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/bin/calendar.pl?string=2005

Today I had the privilege (if that's what you can call it!) to be interviewed by BBC West Midlands. It is definitely a privilege if not a little daunting. I don't mind doing this sort of thing. I find it quite interesting and I just love to promote astronomy to as many people as possible.


Both me and my mate Steve (who they interviewed about extrasolar planets) got on. They asked me about Comet Machholz and some other stuff such as the Gemininds. It wasn't bad. I was quite pleased.


I have had quite a bit of media interaction this year. Firstly I was asked to comment on a press release for the IoP (Institute of Physics), then I was interviewed on the same topic for the Mail on Sunday (see: http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_05_17.php#000251. This lead on to a media frenzy for the Venus transit. Gosh I can't remember how many journalists etc I spoke to on that day. I did live interviews on Radio WM for this. I will put these online soon - I meant to put them up before. I also was interviewed by the BBC but for some reason they thought Greenwich was more important than us! :-)


All fun!

Tonight has been a strange one. One minute it was "cats and dogging it down" (i.e. raining heavily) and then it was beautiful crisp, clear night. I couldn't miss out on this so I got out some more powerful binoculars I had with me. WOW! I got a fantastic view of the Orion Nebula (M42) and the regions around it. De Mairan's Nebula, part of Orion Nebula (M43) looked clear as well. Was wonderful.

I then went comet hunting in the orange, light polluted skies of Birmingham. I managed to (with my mom) see the Comet C/2004 Q2 - otherwise known as Comet Machholz. It wasn't as clear as I would have hoped but it was identifiable as a comet. I am going to observe this as often as possible and hopefully in early January get an even better view.

As always the sky was full of lots of treasurers. I turned my attention to one of my favourite objects - M42, the seven sisters and then down to the Hyades. I then did a general look around the sky to see what else I could see but I ended up spending more time looking at Comet Machholz.



More:

+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462

+ Orion Nebula - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m042.html

+ De Mairan's Nebula - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m043.html

Firefox have put their advert in the New York Times.. about damn time. Excellent news though. They better keep it up. It is by far the best web browser available. I love it. Much better than the crap that Microsoft have to offer. How hard is it to create a web browser that conforms to the internationally agreed standards. Maybe one of the thousands of Microsoft employees can answer that. I doubt it - they are too busy making up there new version of xhtml. It is not entirely Microsoft's problem. Netscape started this.



As Firefox goes - I *want* one of their t-shirts:
http://www.mozillastore.com/products/clothing/launchtshirt

More:

+ Mozilla Press Release - http://www.mozilla.org/press/mozilla-2004-12-15.html

Fancy some free web hosting? Try http://www.port5.com/port5/support.htm I have seen a few people using this to store so astronomical images they have taken. So if you are looking to do something similar then this might be what you need. I don't know what they are like etc and so would not claim that they are good. I use phpwebhosting.com - who I pay. They have been excellent over my 3 years with them so if you want a bit more advanced package I would recommend them.

I was reading Alan Boyle's column (well blog) on MSNBC and was intrigued by the title of his latest entry "Remaking the calendar". So I read and it was an interesting article about calendar reform. The newly proposed one is called Common-Civil-Calendar-and-Time and is proposed by Dick Henry. I am not impressed by it.

If I am deadly serious I think this calendar is a waste of time and I just don't see the point. It has the same problems as the gregorian system and we don't get the nice change in days. Isn't it nice to have your birthday falling on the same day as they day you were actually born on? How about the fun that you can have because it is Friday 13th? I love to wind people up on those days! Also this idea of "Newton Week" is crazy. Basically an extra week just to cover up for the fact that the calendar is, like the Gregorian system, flawed. At least the current system doesn't have these extra "months" pop up from time to time.

He also wants to initiate this by 2006 - now the guy is being silly.

More:
+ Alan Boyle's article - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6699413/#041217a
+ Dick Henry's site - http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/calendarDir/calendar.reform.html

It's that time of year.. time for my favourite tracks of the year. Katherine introduced this idea to me last year. That's when I realised that I didn't actually pay much attention to newly released music. I have endeavored to change that this year. I have been and seen more bands and tried to listen to more new and unknown music that I ever have before. Obviously I have accomplished this. I have found some excellent bands over the past year. Some on my own back. Some due to Kerrang 105.2 FM and the rest (probably the majority) through Katherine. Actually we have both come across a few by accident. Such as Mohair (no singles or album yet) who were a big shock at Reading. Anyway it is now time for my top 50 of the year. I will do a semi countdown (an idea I probably stole off Katherine - sorry!). Oh and all of the songs are ones that have been released as singles. I think they all have been in the shops though one or two may have been internet ones (I tried not to include these but might have).

Here we go, 40 - 50 in my top 50!



40. William Shatner - Common People

41. Agent Blue - Something Else

42. The Departure - All Mapped Out

43. The Zutons - Remember Me

44. Scissor Sisters - Laura

45. The Futureheads - Decent Days And Nights

46. Jet - Get Me Outta Here

47. HIM - Solitary Man

48. The Shins - So Says I

49. Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting for

50. Kasabian - L.S.F.(Lost Souls Forever)

Today I found out that a new website full over pictures of Birmingham in the past has just started up. It is using Fuji Photo Film technology and seems quite user friendly. It has pictures that span many generations and they are all of good quality. Not only can you see them but by using Fuji's services you can get prints made. Don't think I will but I am sure there are people out there who would like some. Actually a few of them might be nice as a picture of the wall. One that would not be is of the Bull Ring as I remember it from growing up. It isn't the best for good quality pictures you can download but is a nice gallery.

The site can be found at: http://www.fujifilmtimeframe.com/index.php

Birmingham's electric cinema has just reopened! In fact it did so on Friday. This is excellent news. I loved the old place. It has the real old cinema feel to the place. Well it was an old cinema! It has now been refurbished and given a full on art deco feel. As soon as my ankle is a bit better I think I will be taking a visit to their.

The cinema is Birmingham's oldest and opened in 1909 so is almost a 100 years old. It was such a shame that it shut down in 2003. I was really concerned that it would either get turned into a very modern cinema or something completely different (such as houses). So this news is very pleasing. One thing I doubt they will continue is the excellent email I used to get off them telling me about the films they were showing. They mostly show independent films and I saw the excellent Spider there. Ooohh I hope they still sell cakes!

More:
+ BBC Article -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/features/2004/03/electric_cinema.shtml
+ The Electric Website - http://www.theelectric.co.uk/

Here comes the next installment of my tracks of the year..


30. Ordinary Boys - Week In Week Out

31. Jet - Rollover DJ

32. Seether feat. Amy Lee - Broken

33. Razorlight - Golden Touch

34. The Others - This Is For The Poor

35. Thirteen Senses - thru the glass

36. Lostprophets - Last Train

37. Goldie Lookin Chain - Guns Don't Kill Rappers Do

38. Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire

39. Distillers - Hunger

Since the Sun appears in the day time most "backyard" astronomers forget about its presence. After realising what a glorious day it was today I decided to go out and see if I could see some sunspots.


Before I went out I went to the excellent spaceweather.com to see if there was any that had been observed by spacecraft. The case was yes but only small ones near the limb (the edge) of the solar disc. I thought what the hell and decided to go out


The first and most crucial thing about observing the sun is that you NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN! if you want to get a good view you can use binoculars or a telescope but only use the projection method NEVER LOOK THROUGH THESE AT THE SUN. If you are around professionals who have the appropriate setup - with solar filters etc then it might be appropriate but only in those situations.


The projection method is possibly the easiest to do. You get a pair of binoculars and you aim them at the sun, remembering not to look through them (it is probably best to cover over the one side you are not using). Aim the image on to a white piece of paper and then look at this image. You can get some stunning views of the sun this way. This way actually provided some excellent images of the recent Venus Transit (there are lots of photos of this on the astrosoc website).


What did I see today? Well not much. I think there were a few small sunspots on the edge of the solar disc but nothing prominent. Fun though.


More:

+ Solar Safety - http://www.eclipse.org.uk/safety.htm

+ Projection Method - http://www.vt-2004.org/mt-2003/mt-2003-projection-normal.jpg

+ Spaceweather - http://www.spaceweather.com/

+ University of Birmingham Astronomical Society - http://www.astrosoc.org.uk

+ Venus Transit Photos -
http://students.bugs.bham.ac.uk/astrosoc/pictures/venustransit2004.htm

A wonderful picture has been released by NASA showing the layered atmosphere of the Titan. This is truly a wonderful image and shows a far more complicated system than was initially suspected.



More:
+ Image Release: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06160
+ More about Titan: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Titan

This afternoon I decided that it was an ideal chance to go outside (into my parents garden) and take a few photos. The sky was a deep blue and the horizon was a golden orange due to the Sun setting. It was quite gorgeous. Well here are my attempts at taking photos of this (more and larger versions are available here [Image Gallery].

It appears that two new planets have been discovered and they are both similar to Neptune in mass. This is a step in the right direction since the majority of the planets already discovered have at the least the mass of Jupiter and lots have been very massive, approx 10 times the mass of Jupiter!

This news is slightly out of date but I just got reminded since the papers have appeared in this months Astrophysical Journal. This helps to increase the total number of extrasolar planets found. I think there is now 138 planets known. According to exoplanets.org. This is really intriguing. Ever since my group studies last year I have been rather interested in this field. Lots of stuff to do, learn and discover. Oh and before anyone asks no its not at the point of hunting for "little green men". To get atmospheric data would be a gift.. nevermind evidence of life. One day though.

More:
+ Exoplanets.org - http://www.exoplanets.org
+ Butler et. al., to appear in Dec 2004 ApJ - http://exoplanets.org/neptune_web/gl436.pdf
+ McArthur et. al., to appear in Dec 2004 ApJ -
http://clyde.as.utexas.edu/SpAstNEW/planets.html
+ Links from my site - http://extrasolar.krioma.net/links.htm

Here we go... almost into the top 20...



21. Muse - Sing for absolution

22. Ash - Meltdown

23. The Hives - Walk Idiot Walk

24. Keane - Bedshaped

25. The Crimea - Baby Boom

26. Snow Patrol - Chocolate

27. The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now

28. Franz Ferdinand - Matinee

29. Ash - Starcross'd

It was lovely and clear here again last night. Well up till about 12 it was. I decided to go and do some more observing and I am very glad I did. The moon as always was a fantastic sight and was not too bright so I was easily able to make out some wonderful detail of craters along the terminator. I then went down to Orion where I spent a while looking at the Orion Nebula another object I could stare at all night. The nebulosity was very clear and offered a wonderful sight. This is quite an easy object to see but you do need binoculars or a telescope. Basically all you do is find Orion and then find his sword (or dagger or whatever you want to call it). This is found by following a diagonal from the middle star (Alnilam) of the belt down to the bottom left hand star (Saiph; see star chart below). It is a nice object to see and is a very good example of a diffuse gas nebula and can be seen with the naked eye but not in the light polluted skies of Birmingham.


After spending a while with Orion I went on to the other classic objects; the hyades, the Pleiades, Saturn (not much detail through the binoculars). I really wanted to see the Hercules cluster but alas it was just too low at its highest point and was suffering heavy light pollution due to someone's idiotic back garden light! I then convinced myself that I could see a trail of Comet Machholz (but am not entirely convinced). After this I went to Auriga and hunted out M38 and M36, not the most spectacular objects through binoculars but were just obvious and was nice to see them.


More:

+ Orion Nebula Info - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m042.html

+ Orion Sky Chart -


+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462

The phenomenon of light pillars is new to me. I only came across it the other day on spaceweather.com but immediately I was intrigued by this. It is a beautiful phenomenon though in many cases is due to the pollution in large cities - for once pollution gives us something rather amazing to see than just destroying it. An excellent photo was posted on spaceweather.com (Image credit: Andrew Eaton, Canada)



More:
+ Atmospheric Optics - http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/pillar.htm

11. Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Godhopping

12. The White Stripes - There's No Home For You Here

13. The Darkness - Love is Only a Feeling

14. Franz Ferdinand - Michael

15. Green Day - American Idiot

16. The Crimea - White Russian Galaxy

17. Lostprophets - Last Summer

18. Snow Patrol - How To Be Dead

19. Razorlight - Stumble And Fall

20. Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart

Yesterday was Winter Solstice, the official start of Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. This point is when the Sun drops to its lowest altitude in the sky. It is also the shortest day of the year, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year. Nothing particularly special occurs due to this.. except that it is normal quite cold! It was today. There is some cultural and religious stuff associated with this but I am not someone able to comment about that in more detail than say there is some significance! (see below for relevant link)

I decided to go out and do some observing of the sun via the projection method that I described the other day (remember sun safety!). It was quite a nice day and I got a few interesting shots. I got a good view of a sunspot through a pair of binoculars (1st photo below) and unfortunately, due to me leaving the bar to attach my counter weight to my 3" Newtonian telescope, was not able to get my telescope aimed at this. I did get a good shot of some trees in the way of the solar disc though (2nd photo below). I was quite pleased and was glad to come inside as it was quite cold.





More:
+ Winter Solstice - http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/WinterSolstice.html
+ Solar Observing - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_19.php#000480
+ Cultural Stuff - http://www.candlegrove.com/solstice.html

Today I wrote a php script to grab the latest image taken by MDI (The Michelson Doppler Imager) the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. This a wonderful space craft and is responsible for many of the best pictures seen of solar flares and also finds the odd comet. You can now see this feed on the top right hand corner of my homepage and now I know it works I will integrate this into the rest of my site.

More:
+ PHP - http://www.php.net
+ SOHO - http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
+ MDI - http://soi.stanford.edu/

Time for my top 10 of the year...



1. Ordinary Boys - Talk, Talk, Talk

2. Ash - Orpheus

3. Snow Patrol - Run

4. The Killers - Somebody Told Me

5. Agent Blue - Sex, Drugs And Rocks Through Your Window

6. Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

7. The Killers - Mr. Brightside

8. Morrissey - First Of The Gang To Die

9. Muse - Butterflies and Hurricanes

10. The Strokes - Reptilia


I will post the full line up from 1-50 later.

The other day I was thinking to myself about censorship. I can't remember why I started to think about this and I wondered how Google must deal with the bogus entries that pop up on the internet. It would be conceivable that these could easily overrun their search engine and become top all the time. Then I thought well actually I wonder if google censored and if so what google censored. A quick search around brought up http://www.google-watch.org/ a website that seems to be dedicated to pointing things out about Google's actions. I gave it a read. It was quite interesting and some of the things they suggest have some founding. I especially like the about the Abu Ghraib torture case - search for images and you get 1, yahoo.com have loads but I guess this could just be google being on the safe side but I guess this is censorship. I also feel they have the right to censor images results if they see fit - it is their site! Google does not censor the page links though and if you follow them you can find some rather distguisting scenes which I am not going to go into (otherwise I would have a big rant about the USA army and Donald "not as smart as the duck" Rumsfeld).

After further looking at this site it became clear to me that Google has some sort of censorship, but I feel that they are entitled to this. They have never really stood up and proclaimed themselves as the freedom for sharing information alliance (or something along those lines). They are a commercial organisation and they can do what they want. It does also appear that the person behind this site is disgruntled at google for the way his original site was dealt with their pagerank system. For more see: http://www.google-watch-watch.org/.

End of the day, though Google may appear to have some censorship - so what. Even with the case of the Abu Gharib prison you can still get the information via the search engine. It is up to them what they keep on their servers, isn't it? One final thought - remember Google doesn't always have the answer. It is not God (unless God is a bunch of computer servers and scripts.. interesting though!)!

More:

+ Google - http://www.google.co.uk/

+ Google Watch - http://www.google-watch.org/

+ Google Watch Watch - http://www.google-watch-watch.org/

+ Wiki Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Watch

Yesterday I went out into my back garden just as the Sun was setting and wow it was wonderful. I just can't think of many things more poetic than a sunset. I love the orange glow that the atmosphere has the depth of the colours is wonderful. From where I am in Birmingham every night the sun sets over the city centre - this is a sight that can be breath taking.

I took a few photos of this just as the sun was finally disappearing and there was a lovely red glow present (larger versions can be found in my [Image Gallery].

I love looking at NASA's astronomy picture of the day website and though I don't visit it on a daily basis I go to it quite regularly. Yesterday was not one of these days and I looked back today to see an absolutely miraculous image. This picture has it all, a comet (Comet Machholz), a meteor (from the Geminids), a nebula (in this case the rather red looking Orion nebula) and finally lots of stars (in particular the lovely Sirius is bright). Here it is in its true glory: (Image Credit: Wally Pacholka (Astropics))



More:
+ Larger Picture -
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0412/machholzsky_pacholka_big.jpg
+ Astronomy Picture of the Day - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462
+ The Geminids - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000464

I finally have that Christmas feeling - courtesy of the Pogues and Fairytale Of New York. I love that song has to be my favourite Christmas song. Apart from that Christmas songs have driven me crazy over the years. I think I have heard enough last christmas' to last me ten lifetimes!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!

Well I didn't think it would but it did. It snowed in Birmingham on Christmas day. It really makes Christmas feel right! I took some photos of the snow coming down.. so I canprove it to everyone!

Images:


More:
+ BBC Weather Birmingham Christmas Snow -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2004/12/15/weather_christmas_snow_feature.shtml

It is very cold in Birmingham and the ground is becoming very slippy so it was not the best idea for me to go out in the garden for long tonight. I didn't want to risk damaging my ankle further. It is getting better - slowly.

My parents brought me a pair of binoculars for Christmas. They are very good. They are not a pair that would cost silly money and I believe were very reasonably (so are well within the reaches of the normal person just wanting to give astronomy a go!) priced. I am glad they brought them for me as what with I have seen recently I have become a convert to binocular astronomy. It is quite interesting and something that you can do very easily and very quickly. My knowledge of the night sky was pretty good but it is getting better and better now that I am using binoculars.

Tonight I observed M52 (not entirely convinced), M29, M39, NGC 457 (Owl cluster) and I think M103. I also went for the normal objects that I look at during my observing including getting probably my best view ever of the Orion Nebula. Comet Machholz was easily observable with my binoculars and I am not convinced that it has particular increased in brightness yet. Lets hope it does soon otherwise I will be deemed as lying! :-) (see below for sky charts).

M29 is a 7th magnitude open cluster and lies in a region of high dust absorption. It is about 7,200 light years away and contains about a dozen clearly visible stars. It is not the best example but is still quite a nice sight. This object lies just below Sadr in Cygnus.
M52 is a rich open star cluster and contains about 200 stars. It is easily visible through binoculars and can be found in Cassiopeia. It also has the name "the Scorpion".
NGC 457 (Owl cluster) is again a rich star open star cluster in Cassiopeia. It has several thousand member stars and through large telescopes shapes can be picked out in this.
M103 again an open star cluster in Cassiopeia. Some say this resembles a Christmas tree. I wasn't convinced though my binoculars. Well I wasn't convinced I could see it to be honest. Either way it made me feel Christmasy!

Sky Charts:

NGC 457, M103 and M52:



M29:



More:

+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462

+ SEDS NGC 457 - http://www.seds.org/~spider/ngc/ngc.cgi?ngc457

+ SEDS M103 - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m103.html

+ Astrosurf M52 - http://www.astrosurf.com/jwisn/m52.htm

+ M29 Amateurs View - http://members.aol.com/kdaly10475/M29.html

+ SEDS M29 - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m029.html

In true thunderbirds style (well my fake count down of a title at least!) Huygens is go! Yep that's right Cassini has let go of its load! The Huygens probe has the left the nest and is off to pastures new. Well to be more scientific it is heading to Titan so it can crash into its surface, ok maybe that wasn't very scientific but you get the idea. Huygens is an ESA probe and is to study the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan. It is intending to plunge into the moons atmosphere on Jan 14th after leaving Cassini on Christmas eve. Lets hope all goes well as it should return some very interesting science.
More:
+ ESA Press Release - http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVR53AR2E_index_2.html
+ Astronomy Now Article - http://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/041224huygens.html

1. Ordinary Boys - Talk, Talk, Talk 2. Ash - Orpheus 3. Snow Patrol - Run 4. The Killers - Somebody Told Me 5. Agent Blue - Sex, Drugs And Rocks Through Your Window 6. Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams 7. The Killers - Mr. Brightside 8. Morrissey - First Of The Gang To Die 9. Muse - Butterflies and hurricanes 10. The Strokes - Reptilia 11. Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Godhopping 12. The White Stripes - There's No Home For You Here 13. The Darkness - Love is Only a Feeling 14. Franz Ferdinand - Michael 15. Green Day - American Idiot 16. The Crimea - White Russian Galaxy 17. Lost Prophets - Last Summer 18. Snow Patrol - How To Be Dead 19. Razorlight - Stumble And Fall 20. Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart 21. Muse - Sing for absolution 22. Ash - Meltdown 23. The Hives - walk idiot walk 24. Keane - Bedshaped 25. The Crimea - Baby Boom 26. Snow Patrol - Chocolate 27. The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now 28. Franz Ferdinand - Matinee 29. Ash - Starcross'd 30. Ordinary Boys - Week In Week Out 31. Jet - Rollover DJ 32. Seether feat. Amy Lee - Broken 33. Razorlight - Golden Touch 34. The Others - This Is For The Poor 35. Thirteen senses - Thru the glass 36. Lost Prophets - Last Train 37. Goldie Lookin Chain - Guns Don't Kill Rappers Do 38. Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire 39. Distillers - Hunger 40. William Shatner - Common People 41. Agent Blue - Something Else 42. The Departure - All Mapped Out 43. The Zutons - Remember Me 44. Scissor Sisters - Laura 45. The Futureheads - Decent Days And Nights 46. Jet - Get Me Outta Here 47. HIM - Solitary Man 48. The Shins - So Says I 49. Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting for 50. Kasabian - L.S.F.(Lost Souls Forever)

I was looking back at some transit of Venus stuff earlier and I came across something I would like to try: Transit of Venus Sunrise Ale. Shame it is brewed in the USA - don't think I can easily get it exported. I might give it a try when I am more awake tomorrow though! Doesn't hurt to ask and I am sure the beer could last the journey though customs would probably seize it as a dodgy liquid - especially with the title "Transit of Venus Sunrise Ale" they will probably think that it is some sort of codename.
Oh take a look at it at: http://www.mishawakabrewingcompany.com/TransitoVenus.html

Firstly my thoughts go out to the millions affected and to the 100,000 or so lives lost during this unbelievable tragedy. The scenes are more reminiscent of a hollywood blockbuster than reality.
The full extent of the disaster can be seen on the digitalglobe website . The images displayed on this site are quite remarkable and the devastation can be well seen.
More:
+ DigitalGlobe - http://www.digitalglobe.com/press/images_media.shtml

I decided to look up a bit of space history today. I was reading some comet stuff (inspired by Comet Machholz) and the name of a space probe "Vega" came up. This was a Soviet Union probe that went to Venus and then on to visit Halley's comet. It seems that the mission was an overall success. One thing that can be noted about scientific missions to Halley's comet is that there has not been one NASA probe to this object. Back in the mid 1980s the USSR, Japan and Europe sent craft to intercept it. While researching the Vega space probe I came across an absolutely wonderful website of the topic of Soviet exploration of Venus: http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm.
This has an astonishing amount of material and is very informative and in my opinion very interesting. If you ever wanted to know about past Soviet spacecraft then I would highly recommend this site.

I also came across some interesting stamps produced by the USSR about Vega: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/ssp/vstamps.html. I think I may even have a few of these!

More:

+ Soviet Exploration of Venus - http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm

+ Comet Halley - http://www.solarviews.com/eng/halley.htm

+ NASA Stardust Vega I & II - http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/vega.html

+ Vega Stamps - http://www.iki.rssi.ru/ssp/vstamps.html

+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462

Oh I meant to post this before but what with Christmas I completely forgot. On Christmas eve I became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and thus am able to use the letters FRAS after my name :-).
More:
+ RAS Website - http://www.ras.org.uk/

Today I got my new phone a Nokia 7600. It looks more like a handheld video game but I rather like it. I have very much enjoyed playing around with it - except locking myself out by stupidly typing in the pin number incorrectly. I called 3 at just gone midnight on the off chance and yeah was able to get it all sorted though. I think I was redirected to India!
More:
+ Nokia 7600 - http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,8764,56327,00.html

1. Ordinary Boys - Over The Counter Culture

"Talk, Talk, Talk" topped my single chart and so it is not surprising that this album would also do well. Though "Talk, Talk, Talk" was number one in my single charts probably my favourite song off the album is "Over the counter culture" and if this had been released this year would have easily headed my single chart. This album is one favourite after another and their is no way anything could have knocked this from the number one spot! I will not comment more on this.. listen to it!
2. Snow Patrol - Final Straw
This is an absolutely storming album. At times quite melodic - a good thing. It has a combination of slower "chill out" tracks like the absolutely excellent"Run" and some that you could just bounce along to all night, "Wow!" and "Spitting Games" would be a good examples. I actually think I did end up bouncing along all night at their gig!
3. The Crimea - Tragedy Rocks
"who knows!" - probably the most memorable lyric from this album. This is from "White Russian Galaxy" and what a way to kick off an excellent album from start to finish I was in musical heaven whilst listening to this. They have a nice range of music in this album. They even slow it down a bit for "Miserabilist Tango". If you haven't heard of the Crimea yet then you are missing out. Oh and an instant favourite of mine was "Opposite Ends" but then this album is full of great songs.
4. Greenday - American Idiot
The album kicks off with "American Idiot" probably the most notable single they have released from this album. It has a strong anti-american government feeling. They even said at Reading that they were going to go back home and get this redneck out of power. It is a shame that they and many other bands were not able to motivate enough people to get that certain redneck out of power. The song is good and I remember many times moshing to this whilst out. This album has been called rock opera and the length of some of the tracks do have this feeling. One of these is the second track and probably my favourite of the album "Jesus of Suburbia". This one goes on for 9 minutes! It could probably have been easily split into different tracks due to the different styles used within it but it works well together and I don't think that if bits of this song were put together to form separate tracks it would work. The album has a typical Greenday feel to it. A big improvement over Warning.
5. The Killers - Hot Fuss
Instantly loveable. The Killers combination of indie rock and an electronic feel give them a distinctive sound. They are a club classic band and on no more than 3 occasions have I heard multiple songs of theirs played whilst out. This is the band I *need* to see in 2005. I missed them this year. Lets hope they play Reading. The album is full of upbeat songs with very bouncy beats. To choose a favourite would be hard. I love the electronic sound of "Smile Like You Mean It" and then the just wonderful lyrics and dancy feeling that "Somebody Told Me" has. These lyrics include "I'm breaking my back just to know your name" and "heaven ain't close in a place like this" - very appropriate in most clubs. My favourite probably has to go with this. A wonderful song.
6. Ash - Meltdown
Ash were back this year with an excellent album. They still have their upbeat feeling but a slight reinvention on the parts of the drumming has given them a heavier feeling though I don't think that "Clones" is as heavy as people say it is. "Clones" is far from my favourite and there would be lots of competition for my favourite. It was good to see Ash back with something new. I managed to see their album set twice this year and they were brilliant on both occasions. "Orpheus" came second in my singles chart and so probably merits my favourite song of the album but there are so many good ones to choose from.
7. Lostprophets - Start Something
This starts off with a bang and yes it does have a feeling that they are about to start something. The first track just gets going from the start full of heavy guitars and at times what can only be described as screaming. It works though. I think that this song is one for the fans of their previous album "The Fake Sound of Progress" and is aimed at showing that they haven't forgotten the past. The album is not just about heavy rock they also have some more melodic songs however the heavy feeling still persists through these. The typical melodic 'verse' and heavier 'chorus' comes through. Probably my favourite on this album is the song I heard the first - "Burn, Burn". One thing that bugged me about this song for ages was that I thought it was a cover. It is not in the true sense though the tune throughout resembles one used by Seal in "Killer" - don't remember the "solitary brother" line? My favorite track on this album has to be "last summer". I would also highly recommend seeing them live they really can get the crowd going.
8. Franz Ferdinand
Mercury Prize winners Franz Ferdinand seem to have been around for ages and due to this I initially forgot that this was released in 2004! How do you forgot such a memorable album one may ask. My answer would be I don't know. It is a wonderful album. "Auf Acshe" is possibly my favourite and I remember dancing around too "Matinee" and "Micheal" on various drunken occasions.
9. Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
The album starts off with an oil drum sound and at first I was not sure what to expect of the rest but I was very impressed by their use of different types of percussion. Probably my favourite track on this album is "Nearer than Heaven". The lead singers voice is piercing whilst an excellent song is played through out, excellent harmony of sounds. Then there is the storming "Long Time Coming" and I have to say I think the percussion really makes this song. Oh and not to forget "Satellites Lost".
10. The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
"see that idiot walk!". Excellent album. Wonderful live. Some instantly catchy songs are produced on this wonderful album. "A little more little you" has a very swingy feeling. In general I do think they have been misplaced from the middle of the last century. Not that I am complaining! They also sound like they have not been over produced - something bands can do. Oh and I love "Two Timing Touch and Broken Bones" - one to dance along to all night. The favourite probably has to go to "Walk Idiot Walk".
11. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Melodic, wonderful, delightful. I think that describes this album quite well. I missed their live gig at the Birmingham Academy earlier this year and I only stuck around for half of their set at Reading so I could go and see the darkness. I wish I had watched the end of their set now. This album follows on well from their excellent "Oh, Invented World" album.
12. The Libertines - The Libertines
It is a shame that this wonderful band look like that they are on their way out. A great album. It has some outstanding individual tracks. Ones that come to my mind has to be "Music when the lights go out" and "Can't Stand Me Now".
13. The Zutons - Who Killed The Zutons
Not to be forgotten. The Zutons made an excellent impression on me this year. The album is very good and the banjo sounding song "Moons and Horror Shows" is probably my favourite off the album.
14. U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
This is a late entry and "Vertigo" would have probably have gotten in to my single chart if I had been paying attention! This is a cracking album. The 'old men' still have it in them I see. "Vertigo" and "City of Blinding Lights" are currently my favourite tracks off this album. It has a nice combination of heavier songs and more laid back tracks.
15. Razorlight - Up all night
Probably one of the more fashionable rock outfits at the moment. They are good. Absolutely excellent live. This album is definitely indie and never gets very heavy. My favourite of the album might well be "Rip it out" but "Golden Touch" has to be close.
16. Thirteen Senses - The Invitation
I first properly came across them at the Radio One: onebigweekend gig in Birmingham. They were excellent though I did recognise one of their songs. I must have heard it on the radio beforehand. They are very melodic and I love the use of the piano throughout. Possibly my favourite track is the last on the album "Automatic". This is a very slow one and has a good combination of a piano and some penetrating singing.
17. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
At first I couldn't stand them. They came across as pretentious and irritable. Then I actually sat down and listened to the whole album. It is not my favourite but it is quite good. It has a very strong dance feeling throughout it and I get the impression that they are more of a dance outfit than a rock group! I do like the instantly loveable "Comfortably Numb" with some catchy lyrics "hello, hello is their anybody out there". One thing I can't believe is the high pitched voice that the male lead singer has!
18. Futureheads - Futureheads
This album kicks off with the excellent "Le garage" and it keeps going with probably my favourite song of theirs "Robot". They also did an excellent set at Reading. See them if you get chance.
19. Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin
Something makes me like this album and in general Avril Lavinge's music. It does have a very typical teeny music feel at times. I do like the sound of her voice though. "how does it feel" is probably my favourite off the album but I do really like the melodic "slipped away". The slower songs sound less teeny though - a good thing.
20. Goldie Lookin Chain - Greatest Hits
Musically this is far from the best. Quite the worst in fact. Lot of fun though and instantly memorable. Songs include "Gun don't kill people rappers do" something I must have said one too many times to my house mate! Oh and you can not forget "Your Mother's Got A Penis" - "its the truth man his mother has actually got a penis". Then of course there is the surreal"Half Man Half Machine". Oh the lyrics are at best obscene! This is more comedy than music!