With Eileen Collins at Tulsa Air & Space Museum

by JonathanNo Comments
Saturday March 25 was one of those days when I pinch myself and say, “I can’t believe I get to do this.” Eileen Collins and I signed 300 copies of her memoirs today at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. EVERY child in attendance received a free, personalized copy of the book, thanks to the generosity of Spirit AeroSystems. What a remarkable way to inspire the generation who will take us to Mars and beyond in their lifetimes! Eileen and I also spoke in the planetarium about her career and answered questions from the audience. Thanks to Tonya Lewis Blansett for inviting us to be part of this event, to Dayle Kenyon and Lois Huneycutt for crowd control and taking photos, to Bill Moore for his fascinating perspectives on Oklahoma aerospace history, and to the staff of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum for treating us like royalty. Signing books and welcoming the public!...
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The Hidden Galaxy, IC 342

by JonathanNo Comments
You need a strong tolerance for chaos to survive serious astrophotography. I lost nearly two years while troubleshooting an issue, which I thought was with my telescope, but turned out to be a power supply. Suddenly, there was a six-month period where things seemed relatively stable. And then, Windows decided to explode on my laptop, requiring a complete reinstall -- none of the backups worked! I had to reinstall and reconfigure all of my apps and get them talking to the finicky hardware again. Four hours under the sky one night verified that everything was more or less functional again. Then I had to wait for the next clear, moonless night for my chosen target -- the Hidden Galaxy, IC 342. Located in the constellation Camelopardalis, IC 342 lies right along the Milky Way's equator. That means we are looking out through the disk of the Milky Way at this galaxy -- our galaxy would appear edge-on to them. Lying along the...
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