News
August 12, 2018 - A reminder that tonight will be the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. My local area and my dark viewing site are currently both under a heavy cloud of forest fire smoke, so I won't be able to post any photos or videos this year, but for those in other regions it should be a fun night out!
July 27, 2018 - For those who are interested in astronomy, tonight will mark the closest that Mars has been in fifteen years, and should provide for some very good viewing opportunities. In some parts of the world (but not in most of North America) there will also be a lunar eclipse tonight, which is also worth viewing. So if the weather permits, why not get out there tonight and have a look!
July 12,2018 - After weeks of speculation, today the IceCube Neutrino Observatory revealed their big news - they have now proven that at least some high energy cosmic rays, which have been detected for over a century but whose source was previously unknown, are being generated by distant galaxies that form around massive black holes, and known as blazars. The full press release can be viewed
here.
July 1, 2018 - HAPPY CANADA DAY!!
June 17, 2018 - Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and grandfathers in the world!
June 14, 2018 - After many years of wanting to take my robotics projects to the next level, today I have decided to start the long term project of building my own astromech droid, based on the design published by James Bruton of
XRobots. Details and updates will be posted
here.
June 11, 2018 - When I returned this afternoon I discovered that one of the websites that I am webmaster for,
IntergalacticVisuals, was no longer rendering properly and had been replaced with an older, rough draft. At this point I do not know if it was a glitch in the hosting server, or vandalism by an outside party, but I can assure everyone that no private information has been compromised. I will endeavor to restore the site as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
June 7, 2018 - I will be leaving tonight for a long weekend conference. Anyone who needs anything urgently should contact me before the end of business today.
May 11, 2018 - Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Richard Feynman, and while I do not usually mark such events on my websites I feel that the many and varied contributions of Feynman to modern physics warrants a mention. He is considered one of the five greatest minds of the twentieth century, as well as a legendary teacher of physics, and he deserves a place of honour in the pantheon of scientists. Happy Birthday Dr. Feynman!
May 6, 2018 - Happy centenary to the Plaskett telescope and the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory! Most people in the city of Victoria,BC do not realize that at one time we had the largest telescope in the world (technically though it is only the second largest, due to a flaw in the construction delaying its use until shortly after a larger telescope was launched at Mount Wilson). One hundred years ago today it collected its first light, and for the past century it has been used for a wide variety of interesting research projects, and has served the scientific community well. So those in the area should make an effort to go out to the Center of the Universe outreach center and participate in the festivities!
May 2, 2018 - Yet another interesting volunteer science project is looking for assistance this week. The
Space Warps-HSC project is asking citizen scientists to analyze their images and search for gravitational lenses, and are hoping to complete one million images before Friday. It is a simple but interesting project, and worth a look for those who are interested in serious astronomy and astrophysics.