astronomy

Summer Star Parties at Utah's Cedar Breaks National Monument

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Green

Summer is the best time to let your inner space geek run rampant, but a truly dark night sky is hard luxury to come by -- most of the United States suffers from extravagant light pollution.

Overcome this challenge and head to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. At over 10,000 feet of elevation, it's got a view on a perfectly dark sky and on nine nights this summer, throws a Star Party. You can bring your own telescope (which you could do any night on your own), but they'll take you to Point Supreme Overlook and let you look through their powerful telescopes, accompanied by park staff an astronomy volunteers to answer your questions.

The 2010 Star Party dates are July 8, 10, 12, August 7, 9, 11, September 6, 8, 10 and are free of charge. Be sure to dress warmly!

Tags: astronomy, cedar breaks national monument, light pollution, stargazers, stargazing, stars, utah

View the Total Solar Eclipse From 40,000 Feet

by Amy Cortese (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Events

Been there, done that? How about total umbral immersion 40,000 feet in the air?

For thrill seekers, that's the pitch from Rick Brown, a self-described "eclipse-chaser" who has chartered an Airbus jet that will fly into the path of a total eclipse of the sun set to occur on July 11. (And you thought that was just a Carly Simon lyric).

Total eclipses typically occur only once every year or two. And viewing them can be a challenge: they are often only visible from remote parts of the Earth, and even if you make the trek, clouds or weather can obscure the view. On July 11, for example, the moon's shadow, or umbra, will sweep across the South Pacific in a narrow band, only making landfall on Easter Island and a few atolls in French Polynesia. The "totality," as the period when the sun is completely blocked by the moon is called, will last just four minutes on the ground.

Enter Rick Brown and his EFLIGHT 2010. The forty or so eclipse-chasing passengers high above the clouds will watch as the moon's shadow approach them from over 200 miles away before basking in the darkness of the lunar shadow and gazing at the sun's pearly white corona for nearly 10 full minutes - which Brown says will be a record viewing time.

Tags: adventure travel, Airbus, astronomy, Easter Island, Eclipse Chasers, jet charter, polynesia, private jet, solar eclipse, tahiti

Continue reading “View the Total Solar Eclipse From 40,000 Feet”

Are Observatories The New Must-Have?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

Now here's a trend in luxury home design that I really get: observatories. For some people a beautiful view of the stars is becoming just as important (if not more so) than a view of the ocean or the beach. And thanks to technology observatories are more fun in places they never used to be, and people are putting them in as additions to their home and taking up astronomy as a regular hobby. But they aren't cheap, obviously, because in addition to the space involved the telescope alone can cost several hundred thousand dollars.

I would love to have an observatory in my home! Forget waiting for the weatherman to say there's a certain star or planet that might be visible at 3am on a random Monday, I'll just pop upstairs and see the stars whenever the mood strikes.

Source

Tags: astronomy, home, homes, observatories, observatory, space, stars, telescope, telescopes, trend, trends

Richard Mille Planetarium Tellerium

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

The watches from Richard Mille always dazzle and now the watch company has enlisted master watchmaker Stephen Forsey to create this fascinating device, the Planetarium Tellerium. The 21st century version of this classic device is made of titanium, wood, steel, brass, 18kt gold, sterling silver and red rubies. The device shows the time and a perpetual calendar as well as showing the rotation of the Earth over an axis, the rotation of the Earth in relation to the Sun, the angle of the Earth, the rotation of the Moon over an axis, the rotation of the Moon in relation to the Earth, moonphases, the complication knows as the equation of time, and the positions of Mercury, Venus and the Sun. For practical and aesthetic reasons the Earth is not rendered in scale (in reality it is 109 times smaller than the sun). The planets are also not to scale. The planetarium is wound with a lever system, and it has a power reserve of 15 days. The Richard Mille Planetarium-Tellerium will be unveiled at The Hour Glass' Tempus Event on September 4.

Gallery: Mille Planetarium