Discoveries in the Physics & Astronomy shop | Science, curiosities, and surprises
At some point, this little adapter for converting a single electric wall receptacle into three seemed like a clever and useful idea. And, let’s note: despite the fact that it screams “Peanuts Xmas tree fire hazard,” it is, in fact, still in good or at least unmelted shape. Not that anyone’s plugging it in to test.
In cleaning out the Observatory, there are endless collections of observing notes from years past. Each a sheet, filled out by hand, with brief remarks on what was observed, the group in attendance, and anything else that seemed salient at the time.
Here, one of many sheets during the long period – about a year and a half – when comet Hale-Bopp could be seen in the sky. Of particular note, and still an issue for Observatory use today:
“Good obs of Hale-Bopp despite the Football lights”
Yup. More than a quarter-century later, and still the same issue with the football lights.
Before the night stars appear, there’s Venus setting in the west. Holy cow, is she ever bright.
In our cabinet of meteorites – because everyone has one of those in an odd corner, right? – we have a number of surprisingly-dense space rocks. You can’t really hurt them, considering they’ve already been dropped far harder than any puny human can manage, so occasionally we get to pass them around.
Here we have the Plainview meteorite, from Hale County, Texas. Discovered in 1917, the original find weighed over 400 kg (a lot!), and our little chunk is a mere 184 g. Isn’t it adorable?
In the process of clearing space, you come across all manner of ancient and fascinating things. Desktop computers. Inkjet printers. CRT televisions. Slide projectors. Old motors and control gear to approximate sidereal motion.
Well, okay, reverse sidereal motion. The reason telescope mounts cost more than telescopes, because keeping stars and deep sky objects fixed in the field of view is no small task.
We’ll pop some of these open, gut ’em for any good parts, and move the remainder on to e-recycling. It’s the cycle of e-life!
It is possible to snap a photo of the moon through the antique Clark refractor telescope. It’s just not very easy.
It’s only one story up, and not the highest open view on campus, but the view from the top of the Observatory roof is special in one important way: virtually no one else gets to climb up and take in the sights.
On a breezy January day, it’s best to make one’s appreciation brief, sun or no sun. Brrr.
Some storage containers simply have more entertaining labels than others. Case in point: the cardboard box labeled “Astronauts & Space Toys,” which is neither large nor sturdy enough to contain a real astronaut, let alone several.
A find like this is just begging for exploration. We refer to a lot of things around here as “toys,” but these are the real deal.
There are buckets – buckets! – of astronauts inside! Or possibly pieces of astronauts. It’s unclear.
There is a choking hazard warning. One can reasonably assume that choking hazards in space are worse than here on Earth.
The jackpot: toys! Fewer astronauts than advertised, but a substantially higher proportion of Lunar Module Eagles and Hubble Space Telescopes than expected. (Always entertaining to write those as plurals.) Chalk it up in the win column.
If this is how you convince the next generation that astronomy is cool, sign us up.
Frost outside, frozen condensation inside. Welcome to December!
The moon enters totality, as viewed from the SkyCam, 4:55 to 5:20 am. Not nearly as cool as in person, but eclipses are always cool.