Keep your eyes on Mars

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An Asteroid Hurtles Toward Mars – TIME

According to a report in TIME, there’s a 1/75 chance that an asteroid will impact Mars in late January. That’s obviously not a very large chance (about 1%), but if the small rock does manage to hit the red planet it could well be a spectacle worth watching. Mars is currently as close as it’s going to get to Earth until 2040, so we’ve got front row seats for the event.

update: JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) has revised their prediction to give the asteroid a 1-in-25 or 4% chance of hitting Mars in January.

My first WordPress widget

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I’ve taken my first swing at writing a WordPress sidebar widget. Ever since upgrading to WordPress 2.2, I’ve wanted to convert some of the static elements of the old blog theme into widgets. Last night I was inspired to do that for my recent flickr photos section. You can see the result to the right.  If you have a WordPress blog and think this would be useful, please feel free to download my Flickr widget and use it on your site.

Christmas eve window shopping

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The cat and the baby are fast asleep as Nan and I sit here with our computers warming our laps on this quiet Chrismas Eve. Only an hour to go… I’ve been doing a little virtual window shopping, looking at a lens/eyepiece or two for my telescope. I’m hoping to get a pair of Tele Vue Plossls, perhaps an 8mm and a 15 or 20. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but a random desire to take pictures of the Orion nebula a few nights back has really inspired me to take the plunge. I had been debating the possibility of a 2x teleconverter and a 500/600mm catadioptric lens for my D80, but I’m convinced the pair wouldn’t be able to resolve the features I’m interested in imaging. (mostly planets and nebulae) The teleconverter and lens for the camera would cost less than a pair of Plossls and would be more stable than my 3 1/2′ long newtonian scope, but if it doesn’t work for astrophotography, then it would be a waste. (plus I’d rather save those photo pennies for a nice wide angle lens)