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Notable Observations and Accomplishments
- Conducted a survey of
meteorites
and
micrometeorites
at and near the South
Pole and on the Union
Glacier
in the Ellsworth
Mountainsof Antarctica
as part of the
2011
Expedition to Antarctica.
- Observed shadow bands during the 2010 July 11 Total Solar Eclipse.
- Published "The Instability of Jupiter's Moons",
Sky and Telescope,
April 2010, Pages 30-31.
- Searched for Vulcanoid asteroids during the
Libya 2006
Total Solar Eclipse Expedition,
the Gobi China 2008 Total Solar Eclipse Expedition, and
the Enewetok 2009 Total Solar Eclipse Expedition.
- Presented "The search for Vulcanoid Asteroids
at the
Solar Eclipse Conference 2007
(SEC 2007).
- Published
"The search for Vulcanoid asteroids"
(Sky and Telescope,
Jan 2006, Pages 87-89)
to encourage amateur astronomers to search for vulcanoid asteroids
during total solar eclipses.
Note that the link to the article
is a revised version (2008 May) of the original article and is available
by the kind permission of
Sky and Telescope.
- Calculated the mean
Sun/Earth distance -
using the 2nd & 3rd contact
timings of the 2004 June 8 Transit of Venus
149596765 km ± 3543 km (0.0237% uncertainty) -
AU error (ΔAU): 2437 km (0.0016%)
Solar parallax (Π): 8.79432" ± 0.00018" (0.0020% uncertainty) -
parallax error: (ΔΠ) 0.00010" (0.0011%)
- Confirmed Henry Norris Russell's 1874 claim that a
transit spot can be seen on Venus during transit -
Sky & Telescope: Nov 2004, p.80
- Detailed analysis of the F0V star HD 354069 -
1.6 solar mass,
1.77 solar radii,
407 parsecs - 2004 Aug 28
- Demonstrated that it is possible to observe a 0 second old new moon -
Observed the surface of the moon during middle of 2003 Nov 23
Total Solar Eclipse over Antarctica
Obtained the record for the sighting of the youngest moon possible -
Observed 0 second old during middle of
2003 Nov 23 Total Solar Eclipse over Antarctica:
Sky & Telescope: May 2004, p.121
- First to report that a
fire
Destroys the Mt. Stromlo Observatory to
Sky & Telescope: January 19, 2003
and helped raise donations for the
Mt. Stromlo
Redevelopment and Bushfire Relief fund.
- Coined the term meteor squall to describe a significant but
not quite storm level meteor shower -
Sky & Telescope: March 2002, p.102
- Leonid 2001 meteor squall -
Observed Peak count of 2408 count/hr at the
Fremont Peak Observatory
- Observed effect of the 1999 Aug 11 total solar eclipse on ants -
Sky & Telescope: Nov 1999, p.122
- Sighted impact fireball of
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Fragment R
Collision with Jupiter -
Fremont Peak Observatory,
1994 July 21
- Visual identification of the Crab Nebula Pulsar -
Fremont Peak Observatory, 1987
- Observed
Supernova
1987A from Canberra Australia on 1987 Feb 24 (20 hrs after discovery) -
Observed color change and an increase in brightness
- Measured timing on numerous Total, Annular & Partial
Solar Eclipses -
Also recorded temperature changes, wind direction changes, sky condition
changes
during partial phases.
- I have observer the following solar eclipses (total, annual, hybrid, partial):
- 1970 Mar 07 - USA (total)
- 1972 Jul 10 - USA (partial)
- 1974 Dec 13 - USA (partial)
- 1977 Oct 12 - USA (partial)
- 1979 Feb 26 - USA (total)
- 1980 Aug 10 - USA (partial)
- 1984 May 30 - USA (annular)
- 1989 Mar 07 - USA (partial)
- 1991 Jul 22 - USA (total)
- 1992 Jan 04 - USA (annular)
- 1993 May 21 - USA (partial)
- 1994 May 10 - USA (annular)
- 1999 Aug 11 - Turkey (total)
- 2000 Dec 25 - USA (partial)
- 2001 Dec 14 - USA (total)
- 2002 Dec 03 - Australia (total)
- 2003 Nov 23 - Antarctica (total)
- 2006 Mar 29 - Libya (total)
- 2008 Aug 01 - China (total)
- 2009 Jul 22 - Enewetok (total)
- 2010 Jul 11 - French Polynesia (total)
As of
$Date: 2010/12/31 03:41:08 $
above list includes 2187.3 seconds of totality!
Thankfully, (and by careful site selection and paying attention to the weather)
I have not been clouded out on any eclipse.
In fact, with the exception of a few seconds at 2009 Jul 22 - Enewetok,
and a few seconds at 2009 Jul 22 - Enewetok, I had not had any
totality time impacted by coulds.
- Tracked outer moons of Jupiter, Saturn & Uranus -
Fremont Peak Observatory: 1987 to date
Fremont Peak Observatory
Miscellaneous Astronomical Tables
Astronomy Vita
See my
Astronomy Vita
for a detailed
history of my work in Astronomy.
Miscellaneous Astronomy
- 37 Gemini
- Good chance for extraterrestrial life around another star
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