Winter Star Party

My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last weekend. While we were making plans on where to go I noticed an event that has been on my life's "bucket list" - one of the largest amateur astronomy events in the US.

Imagine gazing at the night time sky, temperatures in the low 70's, on a sand beach with the ocean 30 feet away. You can see why the Winter Star Party - http://www.scas.org/wsp.html in the Florida Keys is so popular. This is the first major star party of the year in North America, attracting over 500 participants. Astronomers from all over the world leave the snow and cold to eat fresh seafood, listen to renowned speakers and observe all night long.
Star parties are popular throughout the world as amateur astronomers gather in some of the darkest, most remote locations to observe truly dark skies.
Some of the nearby star parties:
Heart of America Star Party near Kansas City - http://www.hoasp.org/
Nebraska Star Party - http://www.nebraskastarparty.org/
Okie-Tex Star Party - http://www.okie-tex.com/

Many bring large computerized telescopes. I had the chance to observe through 2 "monsters" - a 32" and a 25" (size of mirrors). The 32" stood about 15 feet high and the 25" stood about 12 feet high. You obviously need a ladder. I spent 3 nights observing galaxies, "exploding" stars (supernova), "exploded" stars (planetary nebula) and the "coolest" planet in the skies - Saturn. Not only are the rings big and beautiful but counted 6-8 moons around the ringed planet. Since Cape Canaveral is so close we had many speakers from NASA updating on the latest discoveries.

Interesting fact - Did you know at the beginning of the Civil War the Union Navy controlled Key West? Matter of fact more cannons were stored there than any place in the US. The citizens of Key West voted on which side they wanted to support - Union or Confederate. Voted Confederate. The Union Navy told the residents they would aim all their cannons at the city. Key West had a re-vote - Union won this time!

Key West - only city where residents enlisting as Confederates had to travel NORTH!

Next blog - next week.

Answers - Are You Smarter than a Middle Schooler?

Have you seen the TV show - Are You Smarter than a 5th grader? It's one of my favorites! I feel dumb when I can't answer the 3rd grade geography question. I kick myself when I don't know the answer to a 5th grade science question!

This was my 3rd year writing the astronomy tests for Middle and High school age kids at this weekend's Northeast Kansas Regional Competition of the Science Olympiad:

National website - http://www.soinc.org/
Ks website -  http://webs.wichita.edu/scienceolympiad/

These kids are the future of America. Some of the best and brightest. At this year's event there were 22 categories ranging from Ecology to Disease Detection to Mousetrap Powered Vehicles. Winners go to the State Championships in Wichita. The National Championships are held in Madison, Wisconsin.

I've taken 3 questions from the Middle School test - not too easy/not too hard to see if you're smarter than a Middle Schooler.

Here goes:

1) Earth rotates...
A) Clockwise
B) Counter-clockwise

Answer - B

2) All the planets in the solar system orbit the sun in the same direction.
A) True
B) False

Answer - A

3) Which planet in our solar system has the most moons discovered so far?
A) Uranus
B) Neptune
C) Saturn
D) Jupiter

Answer - D-  Jupiter has 63 moons.

Also, which schools were the overall winners?

Middle School Division

1st - California Trail Middle School  2nd - Leawood Middle School

 

High School Division 

1st - St. James Academy  2nd - Olathe East High School

So.... Are you REALLY smarter than a Middle Schooler? Be honest!

Next blog - next week

Are You Smarter than a Middle Schooler?

Have you seen the TV show - Are You Smarter than a 5th grader? It's one of my favorites! I feel dumb when I can't answer the 3rd grade geography question. I kick myself when I don't know the answer to a 5th grade science question!

This was my 3rd year writing the astronomy tests for Middle and High school age kids at this weekend's Northeast Kansas Regional Competition of the Science Olympiad:

National website - http://www.soinc.org/
Ks website -  http://webs.wichita.edu/scienceolympiad/

These kids are the future of America. Some of the best and brightest. At this year's event there were 22 categories ranging from Ecology to Disease Detection to Mousetrap Powered Vehicles. Winners go to the State Championships in Wichita. The National Championships are held in Madison, Wisconsin.

I've taken 3 questions from the Middle School test - not too easy/not too hard to see if you're smarter than a Middle Schooler.

Here goes:

1) Earth rotates...
A) Clockwise
B) Counter-clockwise

2) All the planets in the solar system orbit the sun in the same direction.
A) True
B) False

3) Which planet in our solar system has the most moons discovered so far?
A) Uranus
B) Neptune
C) Saturn
D) Jupiter

Answers - next couple of days.
Also, the NE KS Middle and High School winners.

Answers to Great Backyard Bird Count

upload.wikimedia.org

The answers to this week's Backyard Bird Count surprised me. I would have missed both if I hadn't looked them up. Answers below:

The Bird Count still has 1 more day before it ends. What species in Kansas has the largest number sighted so far the last 3 days?

A) Mallard
B) House Sparrow
C) Canada Goose
D) Snow Goose

Answer - Snow Goose - overwhelmingly!


The Canada Goose had the largest number of birds reported in Kansas for 2010. What species was the 2nd largest the same year?

A) Red-winged Blackbird
B) American Goldfinch
C) Dark Eyed Junco
D) Snow Goose
Answer - Red-winged Blackbird

Next blog - next week!

Great Backyard Bird Count

http://www.science.smith.edu/

The Great Backyard Bird Count - http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/  is an annual 4 day event that includes bird watchers all over North America. The Bird Count begins Feb. 18 and ends Feb. 21.

Just submitted the checklist from my backyard. In a 1 hour time period saw 1 American Goldfinch - that's all. Actually, saw 3 damn squirrels, but those don't count!

So, here's my trivia questions:

The Bird Count still has 1 more day before it ends. What species in Kansas has the largest number sighted so far the last 3 days?

A) Mallard
B) House Sparrow
C) Canada Goose
D) Snow Goose

The Canada Goose had the largest number of birds reported in Kansas for 2010. What species was the 2nd largest the same year?

A) Red-winged Blackbird
B) American Goldfinch
C) Dark Eyed Junco
D) Snow Goose

Answers in the next several days

Birding Quiz

upload.wikimedia.org

This weekend I attended an interesting birding presentation at the Overland Park Arboretum by Dr. David Seibel. Dr. Seibel is a native Kansan and lifelong birder. He holds a Ph.D. in ornithology and is a biology professor at Johnson County Community College, author, poet, and popular lecturer as well as an avid nature photographer. Dr. Seibel also is a coauthor and contributing photo editor for the authoritative Birds of Kansas to be published this spring by the University Press of Kansas.
http://www.davidseibel.com/


http://www.birdsinfocus.com/


Birds of Kansas (May 2011)
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/thobok.html


Anyway, Dr. Seibel mentioned several interesting facts that surprised me. Since so many of our bloggers are from Kansas I thought I'd challenge you with these questions.


The US has over 800 species of birds.
How many species have been seen in Kansas?


A) 211
B) 283
C) 367
D) 473




Everybody knows cardinals are red.
Actually, cardinal plumage (feathers) sometimes have several abnormal colors, including all the following except one. What color is it?


A) Pink
B) White
C) Yellow
D) Green


See cardinal picture at bottom of page for the answers.


Next blog - next week

Snow Bacteria - Answers

Pseudomonas syringae - www.knowledgebank.irri.org

 

We all know (or should know) that eating dirty or yellow snow is a big “no-no”. Those of us who are parents (and live in regions where there are regular snowfalls) teach our children this lesson as quickly as possible.

Back in 2008 scientists were surprised to see a large amount of a specific bacteria in snow - even in "pristine" snow in places like Antarctica and the Yukon. Scientists discovered that there may be a relationship between ice-forming, air-borne bacteria and global rainfall patterns. For those of you who don’t know, the formation of ice in clouds is required for snow and most rainfall. Although dust and soot particles serve as ice formation particles, bacteria ice nuclei are capable of  freezing more quickly at much warmer temperatures. Bottom line:  Bacteria in the atmosphere may affect the processes that trigger precipitation. 

So...... here's my trivia questions:

 

 

What's the bacteria discovered that is so common in snow?
A) Plant bacteria
B) Ocean bacteria
C) Urine bacteria

 

Answer - A  Plant bacteria. Pseudomonas syringae causes diseases on various plants. It also produces proteins which cause water to freeze at fairly high temperatures, resulting in injury to plants. Since the 1970s, P. syringae has been implicated as an atmospheric "biological ice nucleator". Recent evidence has suggested that the species plays a larger role than previously thought in producing rain and snow. 

And now the most important question - how much snow can you safely eat?
A) Don't eat any
B) A little won't hurt
C) You can consume a lot

Answer - B  C'mon - you can eat snow!

Next blog - Next week