Archive for December, 2009

6 results.

too cold for wind?

Dec29
by kevin on December 29, 2009 at 06:37 and modified on January 11, 2010. at 11:14
Posted In: weather

We had a lot of wind blow through last night… yet the weather station reports everything as calm calm calm.
#*&(@(& wind speed sensor is iced up again. Such is life. It did go from above 0 to -20 or so overnight as well.

Updated: 2010 Jan 11:
Turns out I broke one of the three arms of the wind speed sensor when attempting to deice and dislodge it.
The replacement part is about $150 so instead we will try some epoxy and shrinkwrap tubing.
Maybe putting the wind sensor wayyyy up the clothesline pole was not such a smart thing to do after all..
Now I have to dig a trench through the snow and put up the step ladder to access it and then attempt the repair whilst balancing 2metres in the air.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking about a Stephenson screen for the temperature sensor and add on the wind and rain sensors to it as well. From the article linked above:

The traditional Stevenson Screen is a box shape, constructed of wood, in a double-louvered design. However, it is possible to construct a screen using other materials and shapes, such as a triangle. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) agreed standard for the height of the thermometers is between 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) and 2 m (6 ft 7 in) above the ground.

Hmm.. good to know! Time to move it down from the post… it is about 4m off the ground at the moment.

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solstice time!

Dec22
by kevin on December 22, 2009 at 12:12 and modified on December 22, 2009. at 12:12
Posted In: astronomy

Winter Solstice came by yesterday (Monday Dec 21, 2009) at 12:57pm EST. We did a little dance around the fire to celebrate… ok.. it was the BBQ. But we still did celebrate!

From Phil of the bad astronomy site:
“The winter solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. However, it’s not when the Sun rises latest and sets earliest! The Earth has the unfortunate habit of orbiting the Sun in an ellipse, which screws things up a bit when it comes to timing.”

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The winter holds special gifts

Dec20
by kim hay on December 20, 2009 at 12:30
Posted In: Uncategorized

Christmas time is a a happy time, but sometimes, it can be a sad time as well. After loosing a good friend over a week ago, I stopped by his place of rest, and saw that the name plate was in place, and Norm’s resting place was etched in snow. I looked up into the sky, and the sun shone through a hazy cloud, there was a hint of a solar halo, Norm was present, in this place of peace.

I thought there is so much you may not know about a person, and you only find out after they are gone. So the moral of the story, love each other, learn about each other, and share the good times and the bad.

I came home and observed the sun, through the haze to see the final phases of Sunspot AR1035, feed the birds, felt the warmth of the sun on my face, as it reaches Winter Solstice on December 21, the longest night of the year, share the time with a loved one.

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winter is coming

Dec15
by kevin on December 15, 2009 at 09:39 and modified on December 16, 2009. at 10:45
Posted In: astronomy, weather

It has been pretty mild up to now… only one big storm with 20091208-07snow and then rain and then freezeup, but all in all not too bad.
In the next few days we get a taste of -15 C at night… time to haul more wood inside and keep the fires going.

We missed a -10 fireball on Saturday afternoon with the allsky camera system… The fireball went by around 17:54 and the camera did not start imaging until 6 minutes later, at 18:00.
This has since been fixed.. now starting at 17:00 and the dome heater has been taken off the timer and is now on 24/7.

The geminid meteor showed, peaking on Monday morning around 01:00 was a bust as we were clouded right out. The fireball from Saturday evening was almost certainly not a geminid from its path across the sky.

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Snow*

Dec08
by kevin on December 8, 2009 at 11:15 and modified on December 18, 2009. at 14:02
Posted In: astronomy

* The first real snow (that which stays overnight and into the next morning).
It snowed yesterday, last night and this morning. IMG_1049[1]. A beautiful, clear and silent morning.

And also a sad one. We lost Norm Welbanks last night. Norm was a standup guy, a standup SkyGuy, who lost his fight early this morning.
20090701-15
Norm was an astronomer and a truck driver. Not sure which he did the most but it was pretty close. He stepped up to serve on the Board of the RASC Kingston Centre a few years back when he was needed and really enjoyed the public outreach side of what we do, showing the skies to newbies and talking about it.
We’ll miss you Norm!

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Birdseed

Dec02
by kevin on December 2, 2009 at 06:10
Posted In: Uncategorized

Ever wonder where your birdseed goes? Especially after filling up a feeder with small feed meant for chickadees, finches and the like and finding it empty the very next morning?

Sorry, no photo, but the problem was a deer. One of those young four footed critters. We spotted it during dinner, sticking its head up to the feeder, tipping it and licking out the birdseed.
Only a yearling? but didn’t mind us watching it in a lighted window, in the middle of some lighted up decorations and an inflated snowman among other things.

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