Have you glanced at the moon lately? We’re going back next year.

| December 6, 2023

Read the full article in Phys.org Ok … so it is not “manned,” but check out these physics facts from Discover Magazine anyway 😉  Q: Why does the moon always present the same face to us? I find it impossible to believe that this could happen by chance. — Michael Connelly, Toronto A: Nope, not […]

Will you be able to see the “ring of fire” eclipse?

| October 12, 2023

Mark your calendar for a couple of chances to see the Moon cast a shadow as it crosses the contiguous United States during the annular solar eclipse: October 14, 2023 and then a total solar eclipse in the spring on April 8, 2024 (images above from The Old Farmer’s Almanac). These dark paths across the […]

The Super Blue Moon and HOT summer days in the yard #TBT

| September 7, 2023

To make this a Throwback Thursday #TBT post, here’s a photo from Summer 2022. I used Brenda’s iPhone14 to capture the brilliant Super Blue Moon at the end of August … not bad. It was so bright that it basically lit up the flowering bushes off the rear porch.  The late summer heat (90+ degrees […]

Audiobook – Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American Dream by R. Christopher Whalen (published 2010)

| February 28, 2023

This past month on our trip to Florida, I downloaded an audiobook on Hoopla from the library in order to save on iPhone data (our Mint Mobile plan has a 4GB limit). I started it on my AfterShokz headset while on the beach, but Brenda soon wanted to listen with me … so we both […]

Nice night in SW Ohio, but not in South Florida

| November 9, 2022

It was a clear, still night to take a walk around the neighborhood, but not so much on the east coast of Florida. I can’t help but pay attention to the wind, rain and surge associated with Hurricane Nicole as it comes ashore tonight. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

Filler Friday: Do you enjoy photos of our moon? #space

| October 7, 2022

Not that I’m trying to promote astrophotographers (although have mentioned this photographer before) or the selling of things on my blog, but since I enjoy maps and space photography … check out this from Andrew McCarthy (see Sunrise on the Highlands).

Archive: SpaceX rocket launches and successes continue #video

| May 22, 2022

It is difficult to ignore the success of the private space industry and admire companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX as it launches and re-launches rocket after rocket. From satellite launching to shuttling astronauts to and from the International Space Station, SpaceX definitely has the potential to land astronauts back on the moon and to be […]

NASA’s new mega moon rocket crawls to the launch pad

| March 24, 2022

It was exciting to see the new Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule move toward Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B this month as space-nerds anticipate NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission. The sight of such a large rocket “crawling” toward the launch pad brings back the Apollo program of my youth and the Space […]

Stargazing on a cold and crisp evening out the back door

| December 6, 2021

I took a quick photo as the Moon and Venus are lit up by the sun well down in our evening sky in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Cold, clear and beautiful. Be watching for Saturn and Jupiter!

Over the Moon … for my granddaughter Ellerie

| August 21, 2021

This content is restricted.

New Shepard Blue Origin launched with Jeff Bezos this morning

| July 20, 2021

Most news outlets are covering the Jeff Bezos and crew launching the few minutes delayed Blue Origin first crewed 11-minute space flight on the anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon landing in 1969. The New Shepard spacecraft launched flawlessly and was a beautiful site … although, shockingly short, for $28 million dollars per passenger.   Interestingly, […]

Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse and our new Half-Moon Window

| May 25, 2021

The final new “half-moon” window was installed on Monday this week with the proper wagon-wheel spokes (photo below) .. which coincides with this week’s  “Super Moon.” What makes this one somewhat unique is that there will also be a lunar eclipse where the earth shadows the moon. A total lunar eclipse completely blocks the moon, […]

Music Monday: The Who – “I Can See For Miles” triggered by an astronaut Alan Shepard memory

| May 10, 2021

The Who was never at the top of my music listening list, but like all who grew up in the 1960-70’s era, we all knew the music. This past Wednesday was the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard‘s flight into space and as a boy who grew up mesmerized by our NASA space program (still am) […]

Happy Easter 2021 – He is risen. He is risen indeed.

| April 4, 2021

For Christians, there’s no more celebrated day than Easter … for without a risen Savior, no other day in Christianity would matter. He is risen indeed!  BUT … why does the day always change? I mean, we’ve assigned December 25th to celebrate Christmas and most other holidays on our calendar at least fall in the […]

The Great Conjunction: Saturn and Jupiter align on Dec 21st

| December 20, 2020

For those who enjoy astronomy, space exploration or just looking at the night sky, an event know as Saturn and Jupiter’s Great Conjunction is happening on December 21st (although look in the southern sky shortly after sunset  any night this month). A “conjunction” is an event that happens every 20 years for these two planets […]

Great night sky viewing of the moon, Saturn and Jupiter

| September 28, 2020

This content is restricted.

A moon rising iPhone 7-plus photo worthy of archiving

| June 3, 2020

Every once in a while when seeing what cellphone cameras can do, I wonder why I even bother to ever grab my camera bag and relatively expensive DSLR camera anymore? Last night the weather in Cincinnati was clear and humidity low. The moon was large and rising in the sky in the southeast and looks […]

Music Monday: That sorrowful bluegrass sound from Alison Kraus – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Catfish John” for the slew of bad news

| March 9, 2020

This content is restricted.

A story with 2 of my favorite subjects – photography and space

| July 27, 2019

A lot of things needed to go right when NASA sent three astronauts rocketing towards the moon in July of 1969 … but one real close call happened after their safe return to earth. It seems, some of the iconic photographs were “almost lost to posterity,” explains Zeiss, the company that provided the lenses for […]

Anniversary: 50 years ago we landed on the moon – July 20, 1969

| July 20, 2019

As has been highly celebrated and reported in every form of media this week (and mention in not just one, but two earlier blog posts), today is the 50th anniversary of the landing a man on the moon. It was the historic Apollo 11 eight-day mission to the moon and back with the goal of […]

Fifty years ago NASA launched Apollo 11 in our race to land a man on the moon in the 1960s

| July 16, 2019

In the space race with the Soviet Union (USSR) during the 1960s, the United States “rocketed” ahead on July 16, 1969 as NASA sent the three men of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins into space at 9:32AM EST. The Apollo command module and Lunar Module (LM) sat atop the huge 363-feet […]

From “One Giant Leap” boldness, to “Interstellar” brain cramps

| June 15, 2019

Brenda and I watched the movie Interstellar (2014) once before, but we watched it again this past week, and as often happens, we picked up on a few more interesting facts that made our brains hurt … well at least mine: General relativity, The Science of Interstellar, Black Holes and Time Warps. Thankfully I could […]

Another great night for viewing our neighboring planets

| July 23, 2018

The moon and Jupiter circled from my iPhone on Sunday night July 22, 2018 I have fond memories of sitting out with Katelyn when she would get out her telescope and was learning astronomy … but I do also still enjoy special nights like last night to "try" to capture the amazingly bright and large […]

Books: Robert Kurson’s Rocket Men and my very own Moon Rock

| May 24, 2018

A moon rock? Yes, my very own moon rock … or perhaps "rock" or even "stone" is too big a word – maybe moon chip or flake is more appropriate? Nevertheless, the publisher’s promotion to encourage social networking assistance in marketing Robert Kurson’s new book Rocket Men, The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the […]

Impressive Crescent Moon so toyed with the Lumix GX8 #video

| March 12, 2018

It was a crisp and cold night for March in Cincinnati and with a pitch black sky at 6 AM (after the Daylight Savings time change), the Waning Crescent Moon (see Lunar Phase) gave me a chance to see if my Lumix GX8 and 100-300mm lens was up to the task. I’ve tried still photos […]

Once in a lifetime event – a supermoon trilogy

| January 31, 2018

  A Supermoon chat with John Rowe & Mike Hasking – 1/31/2018 Tonight is your last chance to witness a once in a lifetime lunar event. A super blue blood moon will be visible in the night’s sky for just over an hour, from 11.50 tonight. It’s the third in a trilogy of large, red […]

The Apollo 14 mission and a long distance technical support call

| September 3, 2017

What a great story told by YouTuber Scott Manley about the early days of NASA, their Apollo 14 computing problem and a "tech support call" to a programmer (video below). The story is longish and likely only of interest for those on the geeky side who work with computer or are programmers — it would […]

Ready to check out the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse?

| August 21, 2017

The last time our continent had a total solar eclipse was 1991 and so getting a chance to view 2017’s is a rare opportunity. Not everybody will be traveling to the “belted area” across the country, but most will have a chance to see a partial eclipse. According to NASA, “an estimated 500 million people […]

Enjoying the night sky and the EXTRA Supermoon this month

| November 16, 2016

The autumn Supermoon of 2016 has certainly been a beautiful sight in the night sky these past few days. The last couple of evening I’ve enjoyed the view and "attempting" to capture the using only my iPhone 5s since my son has my DSLR for an upcoming trip to Hawaii; I’m hoping he will practiced […]

Neil Armstrong memories … he would have been disappointed

| November 11, 2016

A lot has changed in the 11 years that have passed since I posted on “First Man” Neil Armstrong … but after re-watching the 60 Minutes clip and pondering going “back to the moon and to Mars by 2018,” Armstrong would have been disappointed as a lot hasn’t changed. Click for post from 11/11/2005 WHY […]

Obituary: We lost one of our best in Neil Armstrong

| August 26, 2012

Neil Armstrong  was not only the first astronaut to walk on the moon, but a brilliant science minded and steely-nerved pilot who’s skills were the envy of his peers … as well as this small town Ohio boy. He grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio, went to Purdue University in Indiana, flew 78 combat missions in the […]

The lunacy of the super perigee moon

| March 14, 2012

Interesting educational video explaining the super moon a little over a month away in May 2012. A couple of the points were interesting, such as the word “lunacy” (lunar) coming from the folklore of strange things happening under a full moon. The couple centimeters of tidal change also surprised me. It was less than I […]

Photography: Eclipse of the moon photos from South Africa

| July 12, 2011

In keeping with my previous theme of photography and space, my sailing acquaintance Fred Roswold currently working on his sailboat in South Africa posted his photo the June eclipse of the moon. His did a little Photoshop composite work after taking a series of shots 10-20 minutes apart. Great image Fred. The settings, for any […]

“We choose to go to the moon” speech is 50 years old

| May 29, 2011

Amazingly … President John F. Kennedy’s speech setting the goal for the United States to “go to the moon”  was given 50 years ago. Most in this country has heard parts of this speech and JFK’s delivery is burned into memory of many of my generation. For those too young to have heard the entire […]

A misty sky and a Cincinnati area “Supermoon” photo

| March 20, 2011

Although my ‘supermoon’ photo from Saturday night isn’t one of the better ones from across the country, I did head outside to admire the “brightest moon since 1993.” The moon appear in its full phase just 50 minutes shy of the orbit that brings it closest to the earth … perigee. According to what I’ve […]

A beautiful moon rise through the trees tonight

| February 19, 2011

The moon was full and extraordinarily large as it rose above the road in front of me while driving home tonight. Unfortunately the Palm Pre lacks a bit in the camera department (photo below) and I pulled my DSLR out at home. The moon had already risen a bit further and lost some of its […]

Neil Armstrong vindicated in grammar debate

| October 10, 2006

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog