Great skies and some great astronomy for this weekend - and great company from Kirk Bender, J.P and his 18" Dobsonian scope, and Dave McKulle as well, who all drove down to celebrate the night skies and teach students the wonders of the universe. It was a good group of students, and many had good questions for me, especially on the Saturday night lecture on the evolution of galaxies, and the origin of the Universe, Inflation, and the current thoughts on the Multi-Verse. Kirk Bender has been doing a great job of photography for several years now on my trips, and I've come to rely on his great skills and ability to position himself while I'm occupied. His Flickr page for our weekend is here. A couple of his images are below, to encourage you to explore the rest of his fine portfolio.
My thanks to Dave McKulle, JP, and Kirk for being gracious volunteers to help our students learn the stars by seeing them up close and hearing their stories....
I've put together a separate page documenting my 18 mile run on Saturday, which was a bit of a milestone as it's the longest run I've done since my surgery in 2007, and because I always love having pictures to remember times when I'm in the wilds and thinking about the natural world.
