“Observations of Variable Stars by the American Association of Variable Star Observers”
One would expect there’s no better-qualified group for the task.
Variable Star Observations
Author: Brian Garthwaite
Ranger 4
We have several boxes of NASA press releases from the height of the space age, for the simple reason that it’s easier to pack things away than to sort and dispose of junk. None of them are worth much, really, but they can be entertaining. Take this, for example, a summary of the Ranger 4 launch. Not mentioned here, but interesting: Ranger 4 was the first US spacecraft to reach another solar system body.
By crashing into the Moon, as intended. You can read more in a brief summary by Leonard David, or by skimming Wikipedia.
Entertaining bits gleaned from the Space Activities Summary:
- “Major Objectives Impact Moon”
- “Major Results Impacted Moon”
- Velocity is listed as “At lunar impact, 5,963 mph,” but can safely be assumed to be zero very shortly thereafter.
- The “rough-land survivable seismometer” likely didn’t, although the fact that it crashed on the far side means we’ll never know.
- There may have been “[n]o scientific data obtained,” but they did slam a space probe into the Moon, and before anyone else.
Nichrome
Hundreds of 50cm lengths of #30 AWG nichrome wire, all twisted up and ready to go? Must be toy kit time!
Nichrome – so named for its mostly-nickel-some-chrome alloy composition* – has a fairly high electrical resistance, high melting point, and the added bonus of its tendency to develop a chromium oxide finish which prevents wee bits from sputtering away when it gets blackbody-in-the-visible-spectrum hot. Hence why it’s used inside toasters as a resistive heating element.
* Depends on the specific alloy, technically. Can be as low as 35% nickel, but an 80-20 alloy is common.
Big Dipper
A surprise discovery on a hallway bulletin board at the Observatory: a push pin Big Dipper!
It’s good and charming and subtle, and we can forgive that this version has eight stars instead of the night sky’s seven. (Not counting the visual double of Mizar and Alcor where the handle kinks.) Someone did this on a whim, and now it’s hard to resist the idea of putting up others all over campus to see who notices.
Have a great semester break!
Safety Warning
There are many, many reminders in a workshop to wear appropriate protective equipment, and the first time you watch a flying piece of material bounce off of your safety glasses, you’re ever so grateful. This one’s one of our favorites.
Yeah, when you see enough of them, you get opinions on label design quality.
Reticle Wire
Making an ‘X’ across your telescope’s eyepiece is a handy thing, letting you mark the center instead of eyeballing it. There are all sorts of reasons you might appreciate that little bit of assistance, provided it doesn’t actively interfere with seeing things. So you use as fine a wire as you can. Which is going to break, of course, so keep some spares in the desk drawer.
How thin? This is AWG 53, all of 0.0007 inches thick (0.0178 mm). Enough to make even the finest human hair seem chunky in comparison.
The Old Observatory
Our Observatory is the second on campus, a replacement for the 1887 original. That one was constructed to house our antique Clark refractor telescope, an early gift from William Bucknell, because it’s really not the sort of instrument you set up on the front lawn when the skies are looking decent.
Here we see the building’s layout as of June, 1959, presumably as discussions were underway regarding the renovations that would begin in 1962. During which one of these walls would collapse, necessitating a relatively hasty pivot to create the current Observatory to maintain the astronomy program. (We’re very grateful for that, sixty years later.)
Should we expect restrooms in an 1889 structure? Which way is north? Did the individual drafting up these plans just not like drawing doors? What’s that unlabeled space “south” of the office? When transitioning a class from the classroom to the observation dome upstairs, do you lead the students through your office or make them go outside? So many questions.
Stopper Knots
There are a handful of occupations and/or hobbies which reward those interested in the craft of knot-tying. The big ones include boating, camping, climbing, and fishing. (There may be hobby overlap.) Arborists, equestrians, and surgeons need specific, functional knots, too.
Turns out so do lab technicians.
We’re slowly adding knots to our repertoire, for all manner of purposes. Pictured above: a doubled-up double overhand stopper. (A single knot was insufficiently stopper-ing given the thread diameter and pendulum bobs on hand.) Alpine butterflies, bowlines, non-slip mono loops, trucker’s hitches. Now we just want an excuse to use the Double Dragon Loop!
Colorful Prizes
Thanksgiving break is nearly upon us, and the student body is desperate to extend their week-long break into something even longer. But classes are still in session! There are still amazing and exciting things to learn!
And we have toys to give away!
Annual tradition to encourage our introductory physics to stick around: problem session prizes. Puzzle games, fidget spinners, stretchy rubber toys, and some other unidentifiable plastic oddities that came in the variety packs. It’s a literal grab-bag of eye-searingly bright toys.
Have a happy Thanksgiving break!
Doppler Ball
An electronic buzzer buried inside a foam ball, on a long cable with a switch and handle at the end. Flick the switch, and a piercing 2,500 Hz signal begins. Whirled in a big circle around your own head, the tone persists. For everyone else in the room, it creates a cyclic Doppler shift, a repeating weeee-oooo, weeee-oooo that sticks in the brain even after it’s done, like when you see phosphene images behind your eyelids after catching a glimpse of something way too bright.
We can’t overstate the wonderful modifications to the original object, back in 2010, which added the cable and switch. Your bog-standard Doppler ball – available from several scientific apparatus purveyors – requires one to open up the ball, turn on the buzzer, then close it back up. Tossing it back and forth between students illustrates the concept.
Then, when you’ve had quite enough and just want it to stop, you have to pry it open and shut the whole thing off. (This vintage version, pre-mod, required full-on battery removal.) The Doppler ball: it teaches us all kinds of new lessons!