After what feels like an eternity of cloudy weather I got to see comet Holmes.
A bit of clear sky appeared , and the comet was just visible to the unaided eye here (the sky is heavily light polluted where I live).
Without any optical instruments it looks like a star to me - maybe it would be fuzzy in a darker sky.
Using a pair of binoculars at 15x magnification the comet is much like the pictures as seen here , with the exception of the faint green haze outside the brighter disk.
It looked bigger than I expected, and I noticed thet in order to get the most from the view, I had to use "averted vision" that is focusing the view a bit away from the comet. The brighter core is a little elliptic looking and a little offset from the centre of the disk.
If you have a pair of binoculars, you should go out and take a look. The Sky and Telescope link above gives you what you need to find the comet.
This is the third comet I have seen, only Hale-Bopp in April 1997 was bright enough to be clearly seen in the heavily light polluted skies of the western Netherlands, but this unexpected view is much better with a pair of binoculars , or better a telescope using a not too high magnification 20 - 50x should be fine.
Good luck comet hunting.
Monday, 29 October 2007
Friday, 26 October 2007
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Comet bursting into the sky.
Two days ago Comet 17P/Holmes was an insignificant piece of ice barely visible in amateur telescopes under dark skies.
Yesterday all that changed . If you have a clear sky, take a look in the constellation Perseus, there you will find an extra "fuzzy star" - visible to the unaided eye. With a visual magnitude og between 2.5 and 3 it should be about as strong as the stars in the "Big Dipper", "The Plough", "The big Wagon" or whatever you may call the most well known constellation in the Northern sky. The increase in brightness is about a million times in about 24 hours - quite amazing.
Take a look at Spaceweather.com for more information - and a star map to find the comet, and Cometography for a bit of history of this comet.
Stop Press: Latest estimates are now magnitude 2 .... even brighter ... so the outburst is still in progress.
Here's hoping for a little clear sky at my place i The Netherlands ...
Good luck with comet hunting.
Yesterday all that changed . If you have a clear sky, take a look in the constellation Perseus, there you will find an extra "fuzzy star" - visible to the unaided eye. With a visual magnitude og between 2.5 and 3 it should be about as strong as the stars in the "Big Dipper", "The Plough", "The big Wagon" or whatever you may call the most well known constellation in the Northern sky. The increase in brightness is about a million times in about 24 hours - quite amazing.
Take a look at Spaceweather.com for more information - and a star map to find the comet, and Cometography for a bit of history of this comet.
Stop Press: Latest estimates are now magnitude 2 .... even brighter ... so the outburst is still in progress.
Here's hoping for a little clear sky at my place i The Netherlands ...
Good luck with comet hunting.
Monday, 22 October 2007
Radio Astronomy and SETI
On 11 october a new radio telescope started operation. The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in Hat Creek, CA is planned to be extended to an array of 350 dish antennas with a diameter of 6m (20ft) The inauguration was done with the first 42 of these dishes.
The ATA is built to do simultaneous radio astronmical observations and SETI work.
More detail can be found at the website for the SETI institute ATA ppress release.
I am quite excited, since the data collected from the ATA is *much* more than from traditional single dish telescopes , and more than will come from the VLA (Very Large Array) - and for a cost much loser than for older (traditional) radio telescopes.
For more about SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), take a look at at the websites :
SETI Institute
SETI League
SETI@home
The ATA is built to do simultaneous radio astronmical observations and SETI work.
More detail can be found at the website for the SETI institute ATA ppress release.
I am quite excited, since the data collected from the ATA is *much* more than from traditional single dish telescopes , and more than will come from the VLA (Very Large Array) - and for a cost much loser than for older (traditional) radio telescopes.
For more about SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), take a look at at the websites :
SETI Institute
SETI League
SETI@home
Monday, 15 October 2007
50 years of the Space Age
October 4th, 1957 saw the first successful launch of a satellite into space.
The (then) USSR lauched "Sputnik 1" becoming the first country entering the Space Age. Its characteristic "beep-beep" sound was heard by radio enthusiasts all over the world on approx. 20 MHz and 40 MHz. MOre information and a recording of the beeps can be found at the Wikipedia page concerning Sputnik 1 . (link at the bottom of the page)
One month later, on November 3rd, a second launch of Sputnik 2 with the first living being put in orbit. The dog Laika, unfortunately, had no way of returning alive to earth.
The first satellite launched by the US was Explorer 1 , on January 31st, 1958.
This marks the beginning of the "Space Race", which continued through the 1960's and 70's.
The Space Age has had a lot of "ups and downs" , and I will come up with some highlights in later posts.
The (then) USSR lauched "Sputnik 1" becoming the first country entering the Space Age. Its characteristic "beep-beep" sound was heard by radio enthusiasts all over the world on approx. 20 MHz and 40 MHz. MOre information and a recording of the beeps can be found at the Wikipedia page concerning Sputnik 1 . (link at the bottom of the page)
One month later, on November 3rd, a second launch of Sputnik 2 with the first living being put in orbit. The dog Laika, unfortunately, had no way of returning alive to earth.
The first satellite launched by the US was Explorer 1 , on January 31st, 1958.
This marks the beginning of the "Space Race", which continued through the 1960's and 70's.
The Space Age has had a lot of "ups and downs" , and I will come up with some highlights in later posts.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
My little contribution to the Eurocon
A family member of mine in Denmark is a young writer (my niece). It does not come from strangers, both her parents have books published.
She writes short stories in the SF and Fantasy genre - and as far as I know, she is writing on a fantasy novel. She has had a few short stories published in Denmark - in collections with other writers.
In 2004 and 2005 she won a Danish SF award in the category 17 - 20 years old writers - and in 2006 at the Eurocon in Kiev the Danish delegation made a presentation on her behalf, and she was awarded an Encouragement Award for New Writers. I had to find thet out by looking into the list of award winners, because she never told me. Imagine my surprise at seeing only two Western European names among the long list of Eastern European writers, one of them hers.
At the Eurocon 2007 she was asked to contribute an English language short story for a "Fanzine" short story collection to be released in connection with the Eurocon. Since she does not write very well in English, she asked me to assist with a translation. The story is only 6 - 7 pages long, so I got started. Not as easy as most people would think, since I wanted to translate the sense of the story, not just the words.
So there you have it - my own little contribution to the Eurocon 2007.
The book has the title "Science Fiction - The Danish Fanzine!" (Issue 15/2007)
On another note, I was talking to another participant of the 'con and, since he had the book, I mentioned the story and he immidiately went to my young niece and asked her to sign the book. He argued that young writers should be encouraged. I should have been quick with the camera (I wasn't), because this was a first time experience for her.
As an aside, she had another short story in a book released at the 'con , albeit in Danish. That book is titled "Lige Under Overfladen" (Just Below the Surface) and is a collection of short stories from young European writers (not yet well known, but who knows if and when ?)
Actually I made a second contribution by taking photos at the convention and delivering 2 CDs with all pics taken on the Friday and Saturday of the convention.
A large selection of those have been published here .
She writes short stories in the SF and Fantasy genre - and as far as I know, she is writing on a fantasy novel. She has had a few short stories published in Denmark - in collections with other writers.
In 2004 and 2005 she won a Danish SF award in the category 17 - 20 years old writers - and in 2006 at the Eurocon in Kiev the Danish delegation made a presentation on her behalf, and she was awarded an Encouragement Award for New Writers. I had to find thet out by looking into the list of award winners, because she never told me. Imagine my surprise at seeing only two Western European names among the long list of Eastern European writers, one of them hers.
At the Eurocon 2007 she was asked to contribute an English language short story for a "Fanzine" short story collection to be released in connection with the Eurocon. Since she does not write very well in English, she asked me to assist with a translation. The story is only 6 - 7 pages long, so I got started. Not as easy as most people would think, since I wanted to translate the sense of the story, not just the words.
So there you have it - my own little contribution to the Eurocon 2007.
The book has the title "Science Fiction - The Danish Fanzine!" (Issue 15/2007)
On another note, I was talking to another participant of the 'con and, since he had the book, I mentioned the story and he immidiately went to my young niece and asked her to sign the book. He argued that young writers should be encouraged. I should have been quick with the camera (I wasn't), because this was a first time experience for her.
As an aside, she had another short story in a book released at the 'con , albeit in Danish. That book is titled "Lige Under Overfladen" (Just Below the Surface) and is a collection of short stories from young European writers (not yet well known, but who knows if and when ?)
Actually I made a second contribution by taking photos at the convention and delivering 2 CDs with all pics taken on the Friday and Saturday of the convention.
A large selection of those have been published here .
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (5)
Sunday : Anne McCaffrey and Zoran Zivkovic readings :
Anne McCaffrey chose to read the short story "The Ship Who Sang" (is the title afaik) , a beautiful and very emotional story that I had not yet heard or read. The story, she told, was written in response to the too early death of a close relative, and she told the audience that this was the first time she could read through the story without breaking down.
For me the surprise of Sunday was the reading of Zoran Zivkovic from Serbia. A BBC recording of his story about a conversation with God (though strictly speaking not quite Science Fiction) was very humorous, and I will try to get some more of his work for reading.
Finally a talk by Lene Kåberbøl, a Danish author of childrens books and fantasy books. What she said about the role of translators of stories struck a cord with me, since I have attempted such a thing myself - and know some of the difficulties of making a good translation - not of the words - but of the essence of the story.
Anne McCaffrey chose to read the short story "The Ship Who Sang" (is the title afaik) , a beautiful and very emotional story that I had not yet heard or read. The story, she told, was written in response to the too early death of a close relative, and she told the audience that this was the first time she could read through the story without breaking down.
For me the surprise of Sunday was the reading of Zoran Zivkovic from Serbia. A BBC recording of his story about a conversation with God (though strictly speaking not quite Science Fiction) was very humorous, and I will try to get some more of his work for reading.
Finally a talk by Lene Kåberbøl, a Danish author of childrens books and fantasy books. What she said about the role of translators of stories struck a cord with me, since I have attempted such a thing myself - and know some of the difficulties of making a good translation - not of the words - but of the essence of the story.
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (4)
Saturday (2) : More Anne McCaffrey :
An hour long Q&A session and the speech as Guest of Honour with Anne McCaffrey again showing us a *very* lively "Dragon Lady", telling her story as an author and as a person.
I took the opportunity to get a single book signed by this excellent author : "The White Dragon" , the 3rd book of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and in my view one of the very best of the extensive series.
Also the "Trekkies.dk" had an open coffee meeting . The rest of the day - until the banquet was spent chatting along with other fans - getting to know some new people.
Since I did not have a ticket for the banquet I was watching a quite amusing film about convention goers and their quirks. The title esacapes me, but it was a BBC production.
An hour long Q&A session and the speech as Guest of Honour with Anne McCaffrey again showing us a *very* lively "Dragon Lady", telling her story as an author and as a person.
I took the opportunity to get a single book signed by this excellent author : "The White Dragon" , the 3rd book of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and in my view one of the very best of the extensive series.
Also the "Trekkies.dk" had an open coffee meeting . The rest of the day - until the banquet was spent chatting along with other fans - getting to know some new people.
Since I did not have a ticket for the banquet I was watching a quite amusing film about convention goers and their quirks. The title esacapes me, but it was a BBC production.
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (3)
Saturday :
A good lecture on the mysterious "Dark Energy" , which is thought to take up ab0ut 70 % of the Universe . Most of the remaining part of the Universe is "Dark Matter" , so all we can see of the totality is about 5 % of it . A bit scary, isn't it ?
In the presentation we heard that two teams had - at the same time - found some surprising results during surveys of supernovas in the furthest corners of our universe. This particular type of supernova was known (or assumed) to have a rather limited range of luminousity - and a lot of light coming from them - meaning that the distance to them could be estimated with a rather good certainty. Other sources of error (such as dust clouds) could be eliminated, and the result was that the expansion of the universe looks like accelerating in stead of slowing down - as we would expect due to gravity. So what we have is a sort of anti-gravity - but only on very large distances. Later other surveys in different fields gave similar results , so the scientists are rather certain that the effect exists. There is just no clue as to the cause of it. Rather exciting to listen to.
More on the Saturday later ...
Jan from Denmark
A good lecture on the mysterious "Dark Energy" , which is thought to take up ab0ut 70 % of the Universe . Most of the remaining part of the Universe is "Dark Matter" , so all we can see of the totality is about 5 % of it . A bit scary, isn't it ?
In the presentation we heard that two teams had - at the same time - found some surprising results during surveys of supernovas in the furthest corners of our universe. This particular type of supernova was known (or assumed) to have a rather limited range of luminousity - and a lot of light coming from them - meaning that the distance to them could be estimated with a rather good certainty. Other sources of error (such as dust clouds) could be eliminated, and the result was that the expansion of the universe looks like accelerating in stead of slowing down - as we would expect due to gravity. So what we have is a sort of anti-gravity - but only on very large distances. Later other surveys in different fields gave similar results , so the scientists are rather certain that the effect exists. There is just no clue as to the cause of it. Rather exciting to listen to.
More on the Saturday later ...
Jan from Denmark
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (2)
This was only my second Scifi convention, the first one being a Star Trek convention in Fresno,California about 15 years ago.
Thursday night :
Already on Thursday evening at the pre-registration there was convention activity. The organisers were quite happy that I offered to make some photos at the con, so they are receiving a CD with photos for every day of the con.
A nice talk with frequent convention goer - and volunteer - Wilf from the UK was already a good start for me. A quite knowledgeable fellow with a solid scientific angle as well.
Friday :
Panel with Guests of Honour. Anne McCaffrey arrived a little late and, when asked, insisted on going up the stairs to the stage (in spite of the handicap) - hats off. A few words from the guests of honour. Harry Harrison is a veteran guest of con's and has quite a few stories to tell.
Anne McCaffrey, too is very experienced in conventions and could tell of her first con's where she had good advice from (then) experienced writers, and expressed her advice to new writers : in short , if you want to write , make youself sit down and write ... every day.
Scientific lecture on Solar eruptions. This has had my interest for a long time, being a licensed radio amateur. For me the content was not new, but a condensed version of what I already knew. Only difference was - this came from a scientist's point of view.
There were lots of other presentations during the day , but these stand out for me. A lot of time went with meeting other fans and discussing science fiction, science and fantasy .
A little fun thing is a photo I made : Anne McCaffrey is also involved in the "Writers of th Future", a quarterly competition, where the winners get their stories published in collections. One moment a Star Wars Stormtrooper in full gear was "standing guard" right behind the famous author, link to the picture .
more to come ...
Jan from Denmark
Thursday night :
Already on Thursday evening at the pre-registration there was convention activity. The organisers were quite happy that I offered to make some photos at the con, so they are receiving a CD with photos for every day of the con.
A nice talk with frequent convention goer - and volunteer - Wilf from the UK was already a good start for me. A quite knowledgeable fellow with a solid scientific angle as well.
Friday :
Panel with Guests of Honour. Anne McCaffrey arrived a little late and, when asked, insisted on going up the stairs to the stage (in spite of the handicap) - hats off. A few words from the guests of honour. Harry Harrison is a veteran guest of con's and has quite a few stories to tell.
Anne McCaffrey, too is very experienced in conventions and could tell of her first con's where she had good advice from (then) experienced writers, and expressed her advice to new writers : in short , if you want to write , make youself sit down and write ... every day.
Scientific lecture on Solar eruptions. This has had my interest for a long time, being a licensed radio amateur. For me the content was not new, but a condensed version of what I already knew. Only difference was - this came from a scientist's point of view.
There were lots of other presentations during the day , but these stand out for me. A lot of time went with meeting other fans and discussing science fiction, science and fantasy .
A little fun thing is a photo I made : Anne McCaffrey is also involved in the "Writers of th Future", a quarterly competition, where the winners get their stories published in collections. One moment a Star Wars Stormtrooper in full gear was "standing guard" right behind the famous author, link to the picture .
more to come ...
Jan from Denmark
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (1)
I have been attending the Eurocon 2007 in Copenhagen this year , and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The con had just over 400 registrered members , and some people just came and registrered on the spot, so possibly about 700 - 1000 people in total attended.
For me the main reason was the visit by Anne McCaffrey, who appeared on a panel discussion, at an interview, for a book signing and finally a reading by the author herself.
I took quite some photos at the con and will post a few of them when they are ready.
Other Guests of Honour were Stephen Baxter and Zoran Zivkovic and the artist David A. Hardy. Harry Harrison was there as well.
Several lines of presentations, readings and also scientific lectures were in the program.
I enjoyed lots of talks with other fans en between , but after 3 days of 10-24 (or more) con activity I am rather tired and will continue my "Impressions" in the coming days.
The con had just over 400 registrered members , and some people just came and registrered on the spot, so possibly about 700 - 1000 people in total attended.
For me the main reason was the visit by Anne McCaffrey, who appeared on a panel discussion, at an interview, for a book signing and finally a reading by the author herself.
I took quite some photos at the con and will post a few of them when they are ready.
Other Guests of Honour were Stephen Baxter and Zoran Zivkovic and the artist David A. Hardy. Harry Harrison was there as well.
Several lines of presentations, readings and also scientific lectures were in the program.
I enjoyed lots of talks with other fans en between , but after 3 days of 10-24 (or more) con activity I am rather tired and will continue my "Impressions" in the coming days.
Monday, 17 September 2007
"The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester
Back online after a few days (travel and a visit to a friend)
On a long trip by car I listened to Alfred Bester's novel "The Demolished Man".
The story depicts a society where the police has telepathic detectives ("esper"s) solving crimes - or even act to prevent crimes.
The "Esper's Guild" divides telepaths into firsts , seconds and thirds according to the strength of the telepaths.
Ben Reich, who is very critical of the Esper's Guild, decides to eliminate a financial competitor and attempts to escape the telepathic detectives by hiring another telepath to block his thoughts.
After many twists and turns the prosecutor (a computer) dismisses tha case because of insufficient evidence.
In the end he is, after all punished by the Esper's Guild (in spite of the aquittal) , and has his mind wiped and reprogrammed - a process called "Demolition"
The story has some nice twists and turns , and a surprising "inner journey" which I like.
The story was published in 1953 and exhibits some of the predudices opf the time, eg relating to women's "place" in society , but if you can see through that´, the story works on its own premise , though seems a bit dated in our day and age. Also - Venus is depicted as a habitable world , something which is now known to be incorrect.
In any case I enjoyed the story, notwithstanding those weaknesses
Also - in the Series "Babylon 5" JMS (J.M. Straczynski) pays hommage to the story by naming his villain telepath ("Psi-Cop") Alfred Bester.
I would rate the story 7/10.
Wikipedia entry for "The Demolished Man"
On a long trip by car I listened to Alfred Bester's novel "The Demolished Man".
The story depicts a society where the police has telepathic detectives ("esper"s) solving crimes - or even act to prevent crimes.
The "Esper's Guild" divides telepaths into firsts , seconds and thirds according to the strength of the telepaths.
Ben Reich, who is very critical of the Esper's Guild, decides to eliminate a financial competitor and attempts to escape the telepathic detectives by hiring another telepath to block his thoughts.
After many twists and turns the prosecutor (a computer) dismisses tha case because of insufficient evidence.
In the end he is, after all punished by the Esper's Guild (in spite of the aquittal) , and has his mind wiped and reprogrammed - a process called "Demolition"
The story has some nice twists and turns , and a surprising "inner journey" which I like.
The story was published in 1953 and exhibits some of the predudices opf the time, eg relating to women's "place" in society , but if you can see through that´, the story works on its own premise , though seems a bit dated in our day and age. Also - Venus is depicted as a habitable world , something which is now known to be incorrect.
In any case I enjoyed the story, notwithstanding those weaknesses
Also - in the Series "Babylon 5" JMS (J.M. Straczynski) pays hommage to the story by naming his villain telepath ("Psi-Cop") Alfred Bester.
I would rate the story 7/10.
Wikipedia entry for "The Demolished Man"
Sunday, 9 September 2007
Second Hugo Award (2007) for Doctor Who
Last year the Doctor Who series received a Hugo Award for the double episode "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" . The award was for the best short dramatic presentation (less than 90 minutes).
The episodes were written by Steven Moffat, and are among my favorites from the new Doctor Who series.
They have done it again ...
This year's Hugo award for the best short dramatic presentation was awarded the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" - also writen by Steven Moffat - and also one of my personal favorites.
The same TV series receiving Hugo awards for two years in a row is quite rare - the last time I know of was when the "Babylon 5" series did that in the 90's.
It will be interesting to see if The Doctor can make it to a third consecutive award....
You can find the complete list of Hugo winners 2007 here
The episodes were written by Steven Moffat, and are among my favorites from the new Doctor Who series.
They have done it again ...
This year's Hugo award for the best short dramatic presentation was awarded the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" - also writen by Steven Moffat - and also one of my personal favorites.
The same TV series receiving Hugo awards for two years in a row is quite rare - the last time I know of was when the "Babylon 5" series did that in the 90's.
It will be interesting to see if The Doctor can make it to a third consecutive award....
You can find the complete list of Hugo winners 2007 here
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Live Journal
From now on I will be posting occasionally to Live Journal as well as here - some entries may be identical , but not all
link to my Live Journal page
I like the "adding a friend system"
link to my Live Journal page
I like the "adding a friend system"
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Eurocon 2007
The European Convention on Science Fiction and Fantasy takes place in Copenhagen on 21 - 23 September.
For me the most interesting guest of Honour is Anne McCaffrey. The "Dragonriders of Pern" series is one of my favorite SciFi book series, well written and with an interesting plot.
The first book of the series ,"Dragonflight" was published in 1968 , and since then a steady flow of sequels (and prequels) have come out.
You can find out more at their website Eurocon 2007
If I can find the time (and an Internet connection) I might make a few posts during the days of the Eurocon
For me the most interesting guest of Honour is Anne McCaffrey. The "Dragonriders of Pern" series is one of my favorite SciFi book series, well written and with an interesting plot.
The first book of the series ,"Dragonflight" was published in 1968 , and since then a steady flow of sequels (and prequels) have come out.
You can find out more at their website Eurocon 2007
If I can find the time (and an Internet connection) I might make a few posts during the days of the Eurocon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)