Bart Bear's Blog

 

Labels: astronomy, Cairns, Queensland

We cruised home from Hawaii on our favourite ship "Radiance of the Seas". The ship stopped at Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Wellington and Picton. The Oldies worked on the cruise. Dad gave talks on astronomy every day at sea and Mum also answered questions from the passengers and was ready to show them the sky at night, but the sky was cloudy most of the time. Their "boss" was the Cruise Program Administrator, Michael. He is the best one they have ever had and he is now one of my Official Uncles; Hi Unka Michael, I hope you are still having fun. We did a working cruise along this route 7 years ago, but most of the passengers (including Mum) got pretty sick and we missed seeing most of the shore stops. This time we saw everything we could. First picture is me saying "A hui hou" (until we meet again) to Honolulu. The next 2 are the ship at Moorea and Bora Bora. And if you ever wonder how the Pacific Ocean got its name, the last picture tells it all. This is how calm the sea was until we got to higher southern latitudes near New Zealand. The Tasman Sea between NZ and Australia was, as usual, the roughest part of the cruise. I watched for whales and other ships all during our 12 days at sea and didn't see any of either. I did see some absolutely beautiful ships in and near the islands we visited. Images of them and the islands coming soon.

Labels: astronomy, cruising, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti

Mid-way through our stay on Oahu, we flew across to Maui for a couple of days. Flying out of Honolulu to other islands you sometimes get great views of the Oahu coast. Mum took lots of photos on the way and despite the dirty windows of the aircraft she got some good ones. Here's one of Diamond Head and suburbs between it and the Koolau range. If you click on the image to get a larger zoom, you may see the lighthouse (on the coast, mid-image) and two of the old gun sites (higher up to the right). Maui is actually 2 shield volcanoes (classed as dormant) joined by a low plain. In the second photo you can see Haleakala shield volcano, a wide rounded mountain rising 10,020ft. There were 2 locations the Oldies wanted to see, Lahaina the old capital of Hawaii, and Haleakala Observatory. Being astronomers, their first target was the observatory. You can just see the white domes of the observatory on the closest volcano, above the cloud. The observatory is 10,000ft above sea level and is the forth-highest observatory in the world. The drive to the summit of Haleakala (House of the Sun) is steep in places and has great views over the island. We were above the cloud while we were there so the view below the summit was not visible, but on a clear day there are spectacular views of the crater and cinder cones of the volcano. The domes in the images house telescopes of the University of Hawaii, the USAF Space Surveillance Complex, and overseas observatories. The largest dome will house the 4m Daniel K Inouye solar telescope, due to be completed next year. Daniel Inouye was a Hawaiian war hero; the Honolulu international airport is named after him. The lower slopes of the volcanoes have some spectacular scenery, lava slopes and canyons. We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort, a great spot to relax on the lanai, sipping cocktails and watching spectacular sunsets.

Labels: astronomy, Hawaii, lighthouse, telescopes

One of the favourite beach suburbs of Perth is Cottesloe. As you can see from the first photo, it is just north of Fremantle. This photo was taken from a headland at the southern end of the long sandy strip of the beach. On the headland I noticed a strange-looking structure and headed down a convenient path to see what it was. If I had been tall enough to read the signpost at the start of the path I would have seen that this is the Cottesloe Bicentenary Sundial. It is very different to the small garden sundials you often see. It is actually two sundials, a morning one and an afternoon one. The big limestone ramps are gnomons, which throw their shadow onto the curved brass strips. These strips are engraved with time markers. The curvy markings show the difference needed to correct the time shown by the shadow to Western Australian Standard Time, which is set at Kalgoorlie, 4.3 degrees east of Cottesloe (click on the photo for a larger view). We were there at 3:17 pm and the sundial and Dad's watch agreed on the time. This sundial is similar to the giant 18th century ones at Jaipur in India. The beach? Well, it's not bad, but in my opinion we have much better ones in the eastern states.

Labels: astronomy, beach, Western Australia

The iconic radio telescope at Parkes is probably known to most people from its central role in the movie "The Dish". Well, the movie is almost accurate, just a few very small changes to history which those who were astronomers at the time can tell you about. Dad was a very junior astronomer then, but he gets a giggle or two watching the movie. Well, the telescope looks just like it does in the movie, apart from a new focus cabin (that's the white cube at the top of the three legs). Dad used the telescope for several research programs and has climbed all over, under and through the structure. Over the years the control desk was upgraded several times. The 1960's control set  was resurrected for the movie. It was the set that Dad learned to drive the telescope with and he was quite nostalgic seeing it on display in the visitors centre. Yes, has actually played cricket on the dish, like in the movie, but that was decades ago and it is not allowed now. And just in case you want to see the Town Hall shown in the movie, that is actually in Forbes, the next town south of Parkes.

Labels: astronomy, New South Wales, telescopes

We are just back from a 4-day road trip to two of the places where Dad used to work before he became a retired astronomer. The top photos are of Siding Spring Observatory (SSO), in the Warrumbungle Mountains of New South Wales. Dad was based at Mt Stromlo Observatory, near Canberra, but most of his research observations were made using telescopes here. In fact, he helped commission 2 of them, the big one in the square building and the small one on the left of the second image. The small one is a 24" diameter one that was specially designed to measure magnetic fields in space and Dad's team were the first to map the field of our Milky Way galaxy (MW) and the Magellanic Clouds (MC) using this telescope way back in the 1970s. The big one is a 2.3m that went into operation in 1984 and Dad made the first science observations with it. The team he was part of used it to work out how the MW and the MC were interfering with other, and to measure the large-scale structure of the Universe. The building shows signs of the bushfire that hit SSO in Jan 2013. The telescopes survived with some repairable heat and smoke damage. Dad's favourite telescope was a 40" that was sold just after he retired, and he also used the big 4m one that you can see in the background of the second image. The last 2 photos are the famous "Dish" at Parkes in central NSW. Most people know it from the movie, but Dad used it for just about all of his projects. The little dish in the background was also important. His group used it to map the Magellanic Stream, the first clue that the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds are an interacting system. Mum has helped with some projects at SSO as well, but in the days before me. I am actually quite proud of my clever Oldies, but I'm not going to tell them yet, and it was great to visit these places with them.

Labels: astronomy, Canberra, New South Wales, telescopes

One of the highlights of our trip to Hawaii, back in October 2013, was the visit to Mauna Kea Observatory. This huge collection of telescopes is at the top of the tallest mountain in the world, measured from its base on the sea floor to the summit. The mountain is an old volcano, hopefully extinct. It should be OK, because the Hawaiian islands are drifting north over a hot spot in the Earth's crust, and have been formed when the hot spot is volcanically active. Hawaii, the big island, is still growing as lava is still flowing from the vents on Mauna Loa, the mountain to the south of the observatory. You can see the results of old eruptions as you drive up the road. The landscape is what you could imagine the Moon or Mars looking like. I had a bit of trouble seeing things at the top because the Oldies kept getting in the way. Fortunately, somebody had put in a line of stakes that I could climb to see over the obstructions. In the picture I am looking towards the largest telescopes in the world (at present; there are bigger ones being built). The most interesting telescope for Dad was Gemini North (top right image). This has a mirror 8m in diameter and started operation in 1999. It is operated by an international combine of astronomers from the USA, Canada, Australia, Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Dad actually had a small part in the program just before he retired. The smaller telescope in the background is operated by a combine of observatories from Canada, France and Hawaii. There is lots to see in Hawaii, and I need to get back there again.

Labels: astronomy, Hawaii, telescopes, volcano

Last night was extremely exciting for a small bear. The Australian National University, Mt Stromlo Observatory and the Canberra Astronomical Society combined to attempt the world record for the biggest number of people stargazing from a single site. As both Oldies used to work for ANU and Stromlo and are members of CAS we just had to be part of this. The attempt was based at one of the large sports ovals at ANU; the top image gives you an idea of the size. As the time for the attempt approached the oval filled with thousands of people. Lots of them had telescopes, many had binoculars, and there were small souvenir telescopes sold as well. As people arrived and the oval filled, the clouds got thicker and thicker and tension grew. Then it was time. The lights around the oval were turned off and some breaks opened in the clouds. For the required 20 minutes of the attempt it was possible to observe the Moon and many southern stars. Some people managed to see star clusters as well. Well, WE DID IT! The official count was 1,869 registered participants. There were, unfortunately, another couple of hundred people who for, one reason or another, didn't register. I reckon there were well over 2,000 people there. An hour later there was an attempt on the record for the maximum number stargazing simultaneously from sites all across the nation. The results for that will not be in for a few days, but there were groups registered from many cities and even the Australian territory of Macquarie Island. And guess what? The souvenir telescope that Mum bought is just the right size for me. Of course it is tiny and not really very powerful, but it will let me see craters on the Moon and birds in the bushes, so I really like it.

Labels: astronomy, Canberra

Yay!!!!! The time has come for us to pack our bags and head off on another cruise. This weekend we join "Radiance of the Seas" in Sydney for a cruise to New Caledonia and back. Dad is the enrichment lecturer on the cruise. He will be giving talks on astronomy every day at sea. If you ever happen to be on a cruise where Dad is lecturing, go and hear him; he is actually pretty good (but never tell him that I told you so). I love the days at sea, particularly when the sea is calm and the Sun is shining. Mum and I always try to get a "Kate and Leo" picture on every ship we sail on. Even when the weather is a bit rough I like it, you can get really moody photos then. I can't decide if I like the tropical parts of the South Pacific better than the colder bit around New Zealand. The ports of call are always pretty and interesting. The photo here is of islands in the huge lagoon at Noumea. We will be back there on Wednesday and this time I will make sure that the Oldies take sand-fly and mozzie repellant with them.

Labels: astronomy, boats, cruising, New Zealand, Noumea, South Pacific

So many pictures from so many trips. The only way to show them is to do them 4 at a time. Still, it will be a while before we go overseas again, so there is a slight chance of catching up. I love old buildings, and we saw some beauties on our New Zealand cruise in 2012. The top images are of the railway station in Dunedin. It was opened in 1906 and was NZ's busiest railway station for many years, but today it is pretty quiet apart from tourist trains. The station is now home to the NZ Sports Hall of Fame and the Otago Art Museum. Both inside and out, the architecture is spectacular and you should put it on your bucket list for NZ. In the Botanic Gardens at Wellington there are two observatories. The lower left image is of Carter Observatory, which was the main research observatory in NZ from 1941. Nowadays it's focus is more on public astronomy education as the lights of Wellington make the sky too bright for research work. The older observatory is the Dominion Observatory, built in 1907 for the task of calculating NZ Standard Time and tying it into the worldwide timekeeping network. The astronomical work finished early in the 20th century and the building is now private offices. From 1916 it has also been a seismological observatory, the seismometers being housed in one of the underground bunkers of the old Garden Battery. The building actually covers part of the battery and some of the guns are displayed nearby. The fun way to get to the gardens, observatories and battery is to take the cable car from central Wellington; search the blog for my photos of that ride.

Labels: astronomy, cruising, New Zealand

One of the things that you should do when you visit Uluru is to take one of the outback dinner tours. We did the "Sounds of Silence" one. This first takes you out to a dune where you have a good view of sunset on Uluru while being served champagne and nibbles. My less-than-couth Dad saluted the Rock in true Aussie style. After sunset you move down to a flat area at the base of the dune for dinner. This gives you a chance to try "bush tucker". If you are not game to try kangaroo, camel, emu or crocodile and sauces and condiments made from native plants, there is plenty of "ordinary" food as well. Some people didn't use the tour bus, they arrived from Yulara by camel. There was also a couple of cute but unwelcome guests, local dingoes who were hoping for scraps. It is not a good idea to feed dingoes. They become real pests around camping and picnic areas and in some parts of Australia where people have been feeding them they have caused serious injuries and some deaths when people didn't feed them quickly. Don't Feed Dingoes! During dinner some of the local people entertained with traditional dances. The highlight for the Oldies came after dinner was finished. The lamps were turned off and a "star talker" pointed out some of the interesting things in the sky. Being astronomers, the Oldies didn't learn much from him. However, they were blown away by the sky ablaze with stars. Central Australian skies are brilliant to the naked eye, even if they are too unstable for large telescopes. With binoculars and small telescopes they are truly mind-blowing. This dinner under the stars is one more for your bucket list.

Labels: astronomy, Central Australia, Uluru

Last weekend was a 3-day one in all of the states of Australia except Western Australia. We call it the Queen's Birthday weekend, even though it is not exactly the Queen's birth date. I love long weekends because the Oldies always find time to do more interesting things than they can manage on ordinary weekends. Mostly we stay around Canberra because the roads are full of people driving fast and crazy. This weekend was even better because the weather was much warmer than it usually is at the start of winter. Saturday night we finally got the chance to learn how to drive Mum's new telescope. Actually, it was delivered 3 years ago and we have been waiting for a clear night with no other commitments to slowly learn the operating system. I have to say that the 'scope is a little beauty. It fits into our car easily, takes only a few minutes to set up and another 15 to calibrate, then it automatically finds whatever you ask for. Dad is particularly impressed. He spent his working life using huge telescopes and now we have a small one that finds things just like the big ones do. I can see a lot of cold nights outside under the stars coming up. On Sunday we drove up to Bredbo because the Christmas Barn has just opened for the year. This is a magic place for small bears. It is full of Nativity and Santa stuff. Speaking of Santa, the Bredbo clone was still snoozing in the Sun, just where I saw him last year. Hopefully he is sneakily reporting to his boss and Santa thinks of the same thing that I am thinking would go well towards completing my vehicle collection.

Labels: astronomy, Canberra, Christmas, Santa

The highest I have ever been without flying is the summit of Mauna Kea, the world's highest mountain (measured base to summit, the base is deep below the ocean). At 13,800 ft the summit is nearly 10 times higher than the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa. In fact, it is so high that people often have trouble breathing up there and have to be taken down the mountain to recover. Unless you have a licensed guide you can't go to the summit, it is too dangerous. Here are some pictures of the top part of the summit road. You can see that it is unsealed, just graded rock. A small bear to help look out for sharp rocks and gullies is a big help to the guide. The scenery on the summit road is spectacular. No plants or animals, just multi-coloured volcanic rock. In the top right photo you can see the road twisting up to the summit where the telescopes are. The bottom left shows some of the many cinder cones that cover the mountain, and that most of the clouds are below us. If you look carefully you can see one of the telescopes of the Millimeter Array. The bottom right proves that we made it! The telescopes in the background belong to many different combines of countries, and include Gemini North, a 'scope that Australia shares time on. I am very proud of making it to the summit, not many small bears ever get there.

Labels: astronomy, Hawaii, telescopes

As well as the memorial to Captain Cook, there are other memorials at Venus Point. The photo on the left is of the Bounty Stone,remembering the crew of HMS Bounty and their Tahitian wives who left Tahiti after the mutiny in search of a new home safe from discovery. They left Tahiti in 1789 and eventually settled on Pitcairn Island. The faces on the monument are believed to be Pitcairn islanders John Adams and Martha Young. Most of the Pitcairners eventually moved to Norfolk Island and I have met some of their descendents there. How about that? I have been to the spot where they left Tahiti and to the spot where they landed on Norfolk. I've even seen the graves of some that left Pitcairn and died on Norfolk. That's great for a small bear with an interest in history. I have no idea what the anchor in the ring commemorates. If anybody knows I would be glad to hear. I can tell you that it is a fine climbing frame for small bears. The building in the background is a "modernised" version of a Tahitian longhouse. It is in fact a souvenir and craft shop. Mum bought a small model of the lighthouse here. We found that it was full of smelly oil but it was easy to empty and clean out and it is our best souvenir of Venus Point.

The delay between this post and the last one is, unfortunately, not because I have been away somewhere interesting. I have been looking after Mum. She had a large greebly  dug out of her foot last week. It looked like a wart on the side of her foot but we couldn't get rid of it. When the doctor cut it out it looked more like a big transparent slug. Yucky!!! She is almost better now.

Labels: astronomy, boats, Captain Cook, climbing, Norfolk Island, Tahiti

When "Celebrity Millenium" docked in Tahiti, the Oldies and I grabbed a taxi and visited a place that is very important to the history of both science and Australia. The place is Venus Point, the most northern point of Tahiti, 10km east of Papeete. The early European explorers anchored their ships offshore here in Matavai Bay. One of them was my hero, James Cook. He set up a camp, Fort Venus, here in 1769 to observe the Transit of Venus. This was important science. At the time astronomers knew the relative distances between planets but had no measurement to give them the actual distances between planets and the Sun. Cook's measurements helped to give the first measurements of our Solar System, and they were surprisingly accurate when compared to today's numbers. Following the Transit he set sail to find and map New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. Of course both of these were known to the native inhabitants, but Cook "put them on the map". There is a small monument on the spot where Cook made the Transit observations. Nearby is a magnificent lighthouse. It was built in 1868 by Thomas Stevenson, the father of Robert Louis Stevenson. Point Venus is a popular picnic and swimming place for the locals, but the beach is black volcanic sand and the sand flies there are the worst in the known Universe (according to Dad who had his legs severely bitten by them). Despite the sand flies, I am completely thrilled to have visited this historic spot and to have to sat where Cook sat to make those vital observations.

Labels: astronomy, Captain Cook, heroes, lighthouse, Tahiti

One place that we just HAD to see during our time in Hawaii was Mauna Kea Observatory. This is one of the best sites in the world for telescopes. It is high above most clouds and is dry and usually calm. At 13,800 ft altitude it is one of the highest observatory sites in the world. It is certainly the highest this small bear has been without flying. The telescopes in the picture (from left to right) are the Japanese 8.2m Subaru, the twin 10m Kecks (the largest telescopes in the world at present) and the NASA 3m Infra-red telescope. Note that the NASA 'scope is operating; at this altitude the daytime sky is quite black at I-R wavelengths. There are lots of other telescopes at the Observatory, so expect more photos.
On the way up the road to the telescopes you have to stop at the visitors' centre. In fact you can only go higher if you have a driver with a permit. At the centre is one of the funniest signs I have ever read. We didn't see any cows on the way to the top, so I guess they must really be invisible. I didn't see any grass either, so maybe the invisible cows eat invisible grass. Evidently funny things live at high altitude.

Labels: astronomy, Hawaii, telescopes, volcano

Only two days now until we head off to Hawaii, and I am making a list of things that I want to make sure the Oldies take me to see. Volcanoes of course. Mum has been wanting to get close to one for as long as I can remember, and the active one in Hawaii is easiest to get to. Pearl Harbour because we are history nuts. The Arizona memorial, the chance to walk on the submarine "Bowfin" and the mighty battleship "Missouri", and an aviation museum that has some aircraft types that we have never seen. Mauna Kea Observatory; Dad never managed to get there while he was a working astronomer but Mum and he have this one on the top of their list. It is really high, over 14,000 ft, and the Oldies may have problems with altitude sickness. Small bears never do. And after a week of checking these places out, touring around Oahu, and the inevitable shopping, it will be great to board our ship and settle in for the 18-day cruise back to Sydney via Tahiti, Fiji and New Caledonia. Only two more sleeps!!! So hooroo (that's farewell in Australian) until I get back, or as they say in Hawaii, "A hui hou kakou".

What's this????? I just found on the web that there is a place called Teddy Bear World! Now that just has to be on my list.

Labels: aircraft, astronomy, boats, cruising, Hawaii

This has been a great weekend in Canberra, although there are huge fires burning around Sydney. I am sad to hear that lots of the Blue Mountains are burning. You can see pictures of my holiday there if you search the blog. Here it was warm and sunny but with a lot of smoke from the fires. On Saturday we got all of our telescopes out for a group photo. There are a 10" Dobsonian, 6" and 8" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrains, a special Coronado Personal Solar Telescope, and a 60cm Meade spotting scope. It looks like a bit of overkill, but each one has its own special use. And they make good climbing frames when the Oldies aren't looking. On Sunday we met Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki for lunch at a cafe in the riverside park in Queanbeyan. This park has had a lot of work done to it since I was there last. The gate is made of old tools welded together. I found hammers, spades, shovels, rakes, horse shoes, rabbit traps and some things that I don't know the name of. Another area has an old plow and bits of farm machinery. I couldn't quite work out what the wheel on the plow did. The strangest thing was a ginourmous snail. This thing was taller than the Oldies. I managed to climb up and grab one of the eye-stalks but couldn't get the snail to move. Sunny days in parks are one of my favourite things.

Labels: astronomy, Canberra, climbing, family

Last week was busy. We had two late nights of astronomy; Thursday was the monthly meeting of Canberra Astronomical Society (CAS) and Friday was a joint CAS/Stromlo public night. CAS provides lots of telescopes and astronomers and Mt Stromlo Observatory provides the site and AV gear. The Scope Cafe is kept busy doing coffee and fodder. We always help on public nights. This year there have been huge crowds attending, between 500 and 800 on most nights, over 1100 one night. The lawns between the cafe and the ruins of the 74" telescope (destroyed in the firestorm of 18 Jan 2003) are absolutely packed with people looking at the Moon, planets, nebulae and star clusters. The top picture shows some of the telescopes being set up during twilight, before the crowds arrive. The Oldies have special jobs. Mum is head of the "sheepdogs", CAS members who escort visitors safely between the cafe and the telescopes. Dad gives non-stop talks about the Universe and there is usually standing room only during his talks. Mind you, I think the old guy is being a bit clever. He is inside in the warmth while the CAS guys are out in the freezing Canberra nights. What do I do? I watch out for kangaroos on the roads and sit in the car and count people.

Labels: astronomy, Canberra, telescopes

It seems like ages since the eclipse in Cairns. A lot of exciting stuff has happened in the meantime, particularly our New Zealand cruise. So for a while there will be a mix of photos, hope you can sort them out. Anyhow, here are Scruffy and I waiting for the eclipse to start. Our balcony at Amaroo had a table in just the right place to give us a good view across the ocean and to the side of the Oldies. We spent the time before the start of partial phases with a glass of breakfast champagne and our Kindles. Actually, I use Dad's Kindle because he has lots of great S-F stories on it; Scruff uses Mum's because he is getting interested in ancient Egypt too. Of course, when the eclipse started we had to wear proper protection to look at the Sun. Once the Moon completely covered the Sun during Totality we could look with our unprotected eyes, but before and after Totality we used eclipse goggles. We are getting quite a collection of these goggles now; this is our second eclipse and Mum likes the different designs. Whatever else you do, make sure you see at least one Total Solar Eclipse in your lifetime. You will never forget it.

Labels: astronomy, Cairns, eclipse, Queensland