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The corn is starting to dry out, so it must be time for the Fall semester to start up again. Here at JCCC, though, the work doesn’t stop just because its Summertime. This past summer term, I had an honors student that worked on astrophotography and differential photometry. Both were fun projects, and I’ll write [...]

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Rather than using the SBIG ST-8 CCD camera, I opted for my Nikon D90 for these photos. In some respects its better, in other ways not so much. First stop: The Sun. In this image, you can see the Sun’s chromosphere and a small prominence on the left side of the image. The camera doesn’t [...]

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The Evening With The Stars this spring had a great turn out. Thanks to all who came out. Leo gave a great talk, and I’ve heard from many of the attendees that they really enjoyed the evening. Unfortunately, the weather was not as cooperative and clouds ruined our planned observing. We’ll try again in the [...]

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The JCCC Science Division presents anEVENING WITH THE STARS April 4th at 7:00pm in the Craig Auditorium, GEB 233 Leo “Bud” Johns of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City will give a presentation on Kings and Queens; Myths and Monsters: A Tour of the Spring Sky Followed by night sky observing, weather permitting, with Prof. [...]

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More physics and fluid dynamics! YAY! Ok, actually less physics and fluid dynamics theory, and more on their role in game design. The first talk was How Sackboy Learned To Love Physics by Dave Smith co-founder of Media Molecule which produced the triple-award winning Little Big Planet. The talk wasn’t so [...]

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Wednesday marked the beginning of the main part of the conference, which also means that the population density surged significantly! The local cell grid also took a serious hit! Service for me was spotty all day long. 20,000 geeks all trying to hit the same cell tower all at once [...]

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We’ve been very lucky this week. Its been sunny and warm every single day, and is likely to remain that way for the duration! This also means that there’s been some terrific lighting for pictures in the morning (the one time I’ve actually been free). Here’s a picture of the Moscone Center [...]

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Spending all day in one room, one very bland room, was tough! At least the seats were comfortable. A serious letdown and change from previous GDC events was the lack of any breakfast snacks! In the past, there had been stale bagels and muffins, but this year nada. Fortunately they did [...]

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The Ulysses spacecraft is slowly dying, but its not quite finished yet! Its demise was slated for July 1, 2008, but even without its primary X-Band transmitter whose heatsink doubles as the heater for the fuel lines, its been surviving. Here’s the latest update on the health of the only spacecraft ever to explore the [...]

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