April 2008 - Taking time to look skyward at Griffith Observatory (roll mouse over each image...)

Still lots of daylight as we make our way to the planetarium show.
Waiting in line to look through the big telescope.
Twilight begins to take away the day's sunset.
Twilight fades to night on the roof of the observatory.
I'll probably never look through a larger telescope.
The dome of the planetarium overlooking the city.

One of the most notable landmarks overlooking Los Angeles (besides the Hollywood sign) are the great art deco domes of the Griffith Observatory.  In 2002 the doors closed for a 4 year renovation after 67 years.
More info: http://www.griffithobservatory.org/

A year after its whopping reopening and resulting crowds we headed up on a gorgeous Friday night after work.  The new planetarium is phenomenal, complete with super comfy & loungy seats.  The show was great - and afterwards headed up to the roof to look through the giant telescope.

While waiting in line, the staff got everyone's attention to make a special announcement. At exactly 7:03pm a satellite would be making an orbit just overhead. It not only would be visible to the naked eye, but the solar reflectors would be catching the last rays of sun, and reflecting those rays in visible 'glint' as it passed over. Cool!

All heads craned upward as slowly the line for the telescope pushed Virginia and I closer to it's entrance. I feared that we'd be inside the telescope dome at the time of the satellite event.  But just before we got inside, we heard 'ooooos' and 'aaahhhhhs' we looked up and saw the large pop of light in the sky. 

Inside the telescope dome, they allow you a few moments to take a look. The scope was trained on a certain crater of the moon. The intensity of the scope allow them to zoom in so close - and get so much detail, the sight was just amazing.

We wandered outside on the big observatory front lawn, and the staff had wheeled out several more very large telescopes each pointing to a different celestial body.  We waited a short time at each scope to take look while staff stood by and answered all questions you might have about the night sky.  The best view was from the telescope that was zoomed in on Saturn.  The rings, the colors of the planet looked unreal through such magnificent magnification!

Related:  Have you heard about the latest software program from Microsoft? It's called World Wide Telescope, and is very very amazing.  If you've got a robust computer (lots of memory and a good processor) you'll love the 3D view of our universe.  The images are provided by NASA and are super high resolution. 

Yet as cool as it is by itself, World Wide Telescope is primarily a teaching tool, allowing educators to use it as a sort of celestial power point to create different 'tours' of our universe.  You can add your own text and animation. And the best part - It's FREE.

Lots more info: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/ 

Springtime at My House  (roll mouse over each image)

These Jasmin have their traditional thick sweet smell.
I don't know if these are Lilies, but they stay soft in the mild spring sun.
Close up of a Lemon Bottlebrush, a humming bird favorite.
Some hybrid roses. They're very fragrant.
Dove chicks in a nest near the trash bin.
Luckily here in Southern California beautiful things just grow on their own each spring. I don't lift a finger to do anything except take a picture!

Book Reviews

Thanks to Dave Billett and Sandy Burne for submitting their book reviews.  It's taken a while to get them posted but have been looking forward to getting them on line.

Dave is grinding through the process of obtaining his PHD in Education.  To give us a glimpse of what sort of bizarre world he has during his quest, he's submitted a review of "Instructional Technology: The Definitions and Domains of the Field" - and is willing to loan you his copy...!

Sandy sent a review of what I believe to be an incredibly important subject:  Our youth are growing up without finding valuing the natural world.  "Last Child in the Woods" will be on my reading list for sure.  Thanks Sandy - you touch on something very close to my everyday life.

Here in the foothills of Los Angeles, my neighbors and fellow residents are constantly fighting the city to stop developing the last of our open spaces.  The city only sees open space as wasted land that if built upon would increase tax revenue.

This short sightedness strikes at the heart of this subject.  If our children cannot count on the leaders of the community to save open spaces and natural wonders around us, why should they ever care about saving such places when they grow older?

Jump to the Book Reviews here.