Texas - Part 1

Houston

Many months ago on a day when I felt unusually energetic we spontaneously made a decision to witness the last total solar eclipse occurring within the continental USA in our lifetimes. Sites in Texas had the best chance for clear skies, so we signed up for a week-long eclipse tour with TravelQuest International, a company we had good experiences with in the past. Four days before the eclipse we arrived in Houston for the beginning of the tour.

As the transport SUV drove us from the airport to our downtown hotel we were glad to have this service provided as part of the tour package. The bewildering array of signs, lane changes, off ramps, and incredible fast moving traffic would have been a nightmare to negotiate on our own. We were delivered to the palatial 26-story hotel in late morning and checked into our 19th floor room. Here are views of the hotel atrium.

After grabbing a late breakfast we had free time before the tour officially began with an evening welcome dinner. We walked a couple blocks in lovely warm 80-degree weather to nearby Sam Houston Park where we enjoyed strolling among old houses, sculptures, and monuments placed in the midst of surrounding high rise buildings. The pastoral 1900's look of the park made an interesting contrast with skyscrapers in the background.

The Saint John Church in the previous picture was built by German and Swiss immigrants in 1891 and moved to its present location.

This shaded sculpture of three coyotes around a water hole was one of the nicest on display.

I enjoyed inspecting the armillary sphere among roses. The sphere's gold-tipped central diameter, parallel to Earth's rotational axis, points to the north celestial pole at Houston's latitude. It acts as a sundial gnomon. The wide circumferential band with golden markings in a plane perpendicular to the gnomon is parallel to Earth's equatorial plane. The outer surface of the equatorial strip is decorated with zodiac signs, although the actual zodiac constellations are in the ecliptic plane (Earth's orbital plane), not Earth's equatorial plane. The inner equatorial strip surface is marked with hours upon which the gnomon shadow falls as the Sun progresses across the daylight sky. With appropriate corrections provided by a detailed plaque on the base the time of day can be read from this sundial.

The park featured a number of old restored houses from the 1800's and early 1900's. Except for one house not pictured here, all these houses were acquired, moved to the park, and restored. One of the most interesting was the 1868 Pillot House whose wonderful dog sculptures greeted visitors entering the grounds. The original sculptures were cast iron and ordered in the 1870's. The present replicas are bronze.

The yellow 1868 San Filipe House was another attractive residence.

The oldest restored house on the grounds was the 1823 cabin built by one of Stephen Austin's original colonists.

By holding my camera up to grimy windows I was able to get two images of the interior.

The yellow 1850 Nichols-Rice-Cherry House also had a restored interior which I was able to view through dirty windows.

On this day, four days before the solar eclipse, the sky was blue without a single cloud. We hoped in vain these good conditions would last. We returned to the hotel and rested a bit before the tour's official welcome dinner that night.

The next morning we headed by bus to NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center. It took four separate buses to transport 135 people in our group, the largest group we had ever experienced on TravelQuest tours. The drive to NASA revealed a rather unattractive side of Houston - incredibly heavy traffic on expressways 5 or 6 lanes wide with rundown depressing buildings often lining the roadway.

Eventually, we arrived at the Spaceflight Center and initially sat in a large room for a talk by a retired astronaut. I expected a possibly disappointing lecture, but the astronaut, instead,  only answered audience questions for 1.5 hours. His funny, self-deprecating, naval aviator dialog was entertaining and informative. I sensed he could have gone on for another half hour and no one would have minded.

After the astronaut finished we went outside to view an actual plane that ferried space shuttles across the country. A panoramic photo was necessary to capture this enormous pair. This plane had accomplished 167 ferry flights! Standing beneath this giant combination it was hard to imagine how all this mass could ever fly, but science works!

Next, we boarded a tour tram and headed out to see other things located around the sprawling complex. Along the way we passed some longhorned cattle on NASA grounds. It would have been a shame to be in Texas and not see one of the famed longhorns.

We first stopped at a building housing a complete Saturn V moon rocket. This equipment was "flight ready" at one time after the last moon landing. It would have been Apollo 18, but never flew because the moon landings ended after Apollo 17. I've seen full-sized Apollo rockets before, but it's always amazing to stand next to one in awe of the size.

The next three pictures show the third, second, and first stage rocket engines respectively. The mind boggling complexity of pipes and pumps is on full display.

The big first stage F-1 engines were incredible. Each one of these produced 1.5 million pounds of thrust. The five engine combination on the first stage produced a total thrust of 7.5 million pounds burning kerosene and liquid oxygen. This controlled explosion lifted the huge Apollo moon rocket to a height of 38 miles and a speed of about 6,000 mph before burning out. You can judge the size of this enormous device by comparing with the man standing next to it.

Our next stop was the simulation building where astronauts train in simulated components of the International Space Station as well as in various space capsules like the Orion capsule and Boeing's Starliner. The next two panoramic pictures show the layout we saw spread out below us as we strolled on a walkway above.

The second picture shows the Zarya and Zvezda Russian modules of the Space Station. Zarya means dawn or sunrise in Russian and was the first module launched. It's also known as the (less poetic) "Functional Cargo Block" and is now used mostly for storage. Zvezda means star in Russian. It was the third module launched and provided living quarters and life support.

Our next stop was the Mission Control Center. The simulation building was the first real time operating facility we saw. I hoped we would see a real time operating control room, but that didn't happen.

Instead, we were ushered into an accurate restoration of the actual Apollo mission control room of 1969. The restoration was so good it even included ash trays full of cigarette butts, a sign of how ubiquitous smoking was in 1969 compared to today. Check out the old telephones and pencil and papers - relics of the past. Virtually everyone in the 1969 room would have been a white male with short hair wearing a white shirt and tie. It's nice to see more diverse control rooms these days.

I was surprised by what happened next. The whole restored room was activated and set to display what actually appeared on screens as Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in July, 1969. A good portion of the final moments of the first moon landing was played out in front of us with all the displays and screens changing in real time as they did on that famous day. I found myself caught up in the drama and had an unexpected emotional reaction to reliving this iconic moment for the second time in my life.

From the mission control building we returned to the visitor center for some hours of free time to get lunch and see the museum there. The noisy cafeteria was very crowded with limited food choices. We were lucky to find a table to sit. After lunch I quickly tired of the museum displays. They didn't offer much new for me because I follow NASA information regularly. In addition, the museum was packed with jostling kids and a cacophony of loud competing sounds. We retreated outside to more peaceful shaded picnic tables to await the return of our tour bus which eventually took us back through more horrendous Houston traffic to our hotel. 

We were free to find our own dinner, so we walked several blocks to a food court where I negotiated several spicy menu minefields to find something I could eat. Along the way we passed the interesting wall mural shown below.

The next morning we left Houston for San Antonio. Sunny weather continued for our journey, but a dreadful cloudy forecast for the upcoming solar eclipse day was unchanged.

Quick Pics

Spur of the Moment Images

As I've mentioned before, one of the best things about the Seestar 50 is how quickly it can be carried outside and set up for imaging. On March 29th the sky was unexpectedly clear and all my neighbors' lights were off. I made a spur of the moment decision to hop outside and get some pictures. The first target was galaxy M64 in the constellation Coma Berenices. This galaxy is called the "Black Eye Galaxy" because a dark dust lane is prominent near the galactic center. After some initial focusing difficulty I was able to capture M64 in the following 40-minute exposure.

Many of my Seestar galaxy images don't seem to show much improvement after the first 20 or 30 minutes of exposure. The 40-minute exposure of M64 above worked fairly well for my suburban sky conditions. An even shorter 20-minute exposure did a good job on the "Leo Triple" shown next below. These three galaxies happened to be well positioned to fit within Seestar's rectangular field of view.

Edge-on galaxy NGC 3628 is at top left, spiral galaxy M65 is on the right edge, and spiral galaxy M66 is at bottom center.

Continuing with relatively short exposures, I moved next to globular cluster M3 in the constellation Canes Venatici. This globular showed well in the following 15-minute exposure.

Galaxies in the Coma Galaxy Cluster were very dim and small. They were not showing up well in my next attempt, so I decided to delete the image I had been accumulating and move to another target. Giant globular cluster M13 was an obvious choice nearby. Unfortunately, Seestar's battery was beginning to run low, so I did the shortest exposure of the night - a 12-minute exposure of M13 shown next.

With battery level well below 20 percent I was too tired to dig out an extension cord for real time recharging. So I shut down and quit for the night.

About two weeks later, on April 15th, another opportunity for quick imaging arose. The Sun was covered with a bunch of modest sunspots. It only took about 15 minutes to set up, grab a 90-second video, and bring the telescope inside again. There were at least 22 sunspot umbras, large and small, spread across the Sun this day which you can see on the imperfect image below. Enlarging the image by clicking on it will help in the sunspot count.

In the absence of a permanent observatory the Seestar is hard to beat for convenience and ease of use! 
 
  
 
 

Huge Sunspot Group

Poor Seeing

Sunspot group 3615 had grown to enormous size a few days before March 24th. I took my Seestar to a nearby field to see if it would properly operate far outside local wifi Internet range. Things worked well, and I captured the following solar image on March 24th.

Giant sunspot group 3615 is slightly right of center. The image above was made by stacking the best 100 frames from a 1,000-frame video. During 90 seconds of video recording strong wind gusts rocked Seestar causing the live display to shake. In spite of this, there were at least 100 decently steady video frames available to produce an acceptable picture.

Visible above are seven sunspots arranged along two diagonal lines. On the upper diagonal line, from right to left, are sunspots 3621 (small), 3614, 3619, and tiny spot 3622. On the lower diagonal line, from right to left, are sunspots 3615, 3617, and tiny spot 3620. (Click on the image to view the smaller sunspots on an enlarged disc.)

Although wind diminished significantly the next day on March 25th, troublesome gusts still buffeted my equipment from time to time. By afternoon temperature had risen into the low 50's and no clouds were present. I hauled out my dedicated hydrogen-alpha solar telescope for the first time since last November. When everything was finally ready for video capture the live laptop screen view was disappointing. Seeing was particularly bad causing the displayed image to waver like crazy. It was hard to focus precisely. Nevertheless, I did manage to get some reasonable pictures by stacking 400 frames from 4,000-frame videos. The next image shows big sunspot 3615 along with companion sunspot 3617 in the upper left.

The diagonal line connecting the two sunspots is tilted up to the left instead of down to the left as it is on the full disc image above. The orange full disc Seestar image shows 3615 in the photosphere. The hydrogen-alpha image immediately above shows 3615 higher up in the chromosphere above the photosphere. Poor seeing made small details fuzzy.

The next two-panel mosaic shows a wider view including sunspots 3614 and 3619 in the upper frame.

A slightly wider view is shown in the next 7-panel mosaic which includes two smaller sunspots near the left edge.

Atmospheric turbulence made prominence imaging impossible. The solar limb looked like a wavy rope when I decided to quit!

Soldiers From the Past

Military History Through the Ages 2024

I've attended this huge reenactor exhibit at the Jamestown Settlement Museum several times over the past few years and always find something new and interesting each time. This year I found three Polish reenactor groups I'd never noticed before. First, and historically oldest, was Sobieski's Vanguard from 1683.

This group, in period garb, displayed the unique feathered armor worn by Polish Winged Hussars under King Jan III Sobieski during their victory over Ottoman Turk forces during the 1683 siege of Vienna.

One of the reenactors posed next to chain mail armor worn by the infantry while other reenactors sat in the tent behind.

Moving forward through history by more than two centuries, another group portrayed Polish soldiers in World War II.

The slogan on this displayed poster (according to Google Translate) says, "To Arms! Together and united we will overcome the enemy."

Another large poster described actions of the reenactor's unit in WWII. (Click on images to enlarge.)

I noticed the Polish word, Ulhan, in the title on the left poster top. Google Translate says it means, "12th Podolian Lancer Regiment". This evokes a memory of my great grandfather, Jan Ostrokolowicz, who I know only from this late 1800's picture. According to writing on the photo, he poses in the uniform of the Polish Ulhani "Organization".

Perhaps the reenactors were portraying the same regiment my great grandfather served in about 50 years earlier than 1939.

Another group portrayed heroic Polish fighters shortly after World War II. Their sign says Brygada Smierci, or Death Brigade. This underground partisan brigade fought against communist takeover of Poland, but were ultimately defeated. The unit originated and operated around Vilnius in Lithuania which explains the image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn displayed on the flag at the reenactor site. This icon from the 1600's was mounted above the Vilnius city gate and was believed to have miraculous power against enemies.

A final group that captured my interest was the 2nd Coldstream Guards from 1882 whose display of authentic British Victorian aristocratic life was palpable.

The officer's mess, called the Djin Club, illustrated upper class military camp lifestyle. In particular, check out the elaborate table setting by enlarging the last of the following three pictures.

Looks like officers lived quite comfortably during this campaign! The next two pictures show an officer's tent with contents that seem to be delivered into the present by a time machine! One of the reeanactors showed me how all the tent contents could be folded up into small portable rectangular packages. Many of these wooden cases had beautiful inlaid brass decorations. Enlarge the second image to see what the time machine delivered.

Here is the officer's mess "kit".

I imagined a good number of servants or ordinary soldiers were required to pack up and transport all the equipment needed to keep officers comfortable. When I asked the reeanactor how ordinary soldiers lived he told me one smaller round tent nearby might house 12 or more soldiers who would sleep on the ground with bodies arranged like spokes radiating from the center tent pole. No fancy beds, tables, dining clubs, or sweets for them, apparently. So it was great to be an aristocraic upper class officer in this military unit, but not so great to be an ordinary soldier.