Preparing for total solar eclipse – in Rockwall

Preparing for total solar eclipse – in Rockwall

ROCKWALL, TX (Jan. 24, 2024) Unless your head has been in the sand, under a rock or you just don’t pay attention to things happening around these parts, there’s a total solar eclipse happening IN Rockwall on April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse can be an awe-inspiring celestial event that drastically changes the appearance […]

Science in Action: If you detect something, do something

AstroDad makes potential discovery of new planetary nebula (ROCKWALL, TX – Sept. 25, 2017) On Friday night, 22 September, 2017 at my observatory in Oklahoma, I imaged the Pisces galaxy cluster with my deep sky galaxy setup. This equipment consists of an 11-inch Celestron XLT schmidt-cassegrain compound telescope and a Quantum Scientific QSI-583WSG cooled CCD astronomy […]

Eclipse viewing at the Rockwall County Library Monday

(ROCKWALL, TX – August 20, 2017) The 2017 eclipse is upon us here in Rockwall. First contact is at 11:40 and last contact is at 2:40…that’s a fancy way of saying when it starts and finishes.  It will be darkest around 1:10:43.2 seconds…give or take a few microseconds (astronomer humor!) Most of my astronomy colleagues […]

Counting down to the Eclipse in Rockwall

(ROCKWALL, TX – August 2, 2017) Last month when I introduced the 2017 eclipse to viewers in Rockwall (see column here), I explained that our event will last from 11:39 in the morning until 2:39 in the afternoon.  The Sun will be in deepest eclipse of the Moon at approximately 1:09 in the afternoon, shortly after […]

The Great American Eclipse Comes to Rockwall (partially)

(ROCKWALL, TX – June 20, 2017) Astrodad (that’s me) is proud to announce that on Monday, August 21, the Rockwall County Library and I will present  a local event of the 2017 Eclipse Across America. Thanks to excellent support from NASA, I’ve got a great “eclipse kit” with safety glasses and information on the event. […]

Walking on the edge with AstroDad

ROCKWALL, TX (June 22, 2014) Gentle readers, I’ve been procrastinating over this column because I really wanted to capture an awe-inspiring image of our own galaxy, The Milky Way, to demonstrate that galaxies in our Universe share a common thing…..dust. That’s right – not only does dust abound under our kid’s beds, but it is […]

Springtime astronomy unveils timeless journey

ROCKWALL, TX (April 6, 2014) It’s not easy being people. From the middle school hallways where the first signs of social  friction between jocks, nerds, dweebs, debs and loads (my lexicon is probably dated) becomes apparent, to our rise into adulthood, we all struggle at different levels.  Eventually we deal with things like jobs and […]

Trip to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab

ROCKWALL, TX (March 24, 2014) Our family enjoyed a wonderful Spring Break in Huntington Beach, CA visiting my son and his lovely wife at their home. After graduating from Texas A&M in 2012, our son took a job at Boeing, working on America’s next manned spacecraft. I’m so proud of him. Since this column is […]

What you should know before buying a telescope for Christmas

What you should know before buying a telescope for Christmas

ROCKWALL (December 11, 2013) If you are a parent interested in purchasing a telescope for your child as a Christmas present, the Golden Rule is: DO NOT BUY A TELESCOPE AT A DEPARTMENT STORE OR BIG BOX STORE. If you are busy and/or don’t like to read very much, then you just have to read […]

Advice for those considering a career in space science

(ROCKWALL – October 14, 2013) If you are the parent of a high school junior or senior, or if you’re a student considering a career involving some aspect of space science, then please read this. Every year,  tens of thousands of  incoming freshmen enter colleges and universities intent on studying some aspect of space or […]

1 2 3 4