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Bad Astronomy
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Dragons and stars


I hear tell that there are still a few tickets left for the pre-Dragon*Con star party, where Pamela Gay and I will regale you with tales of heavenly wonders, then we’ll take you outside and show you stuff. Not only that, but the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society in honor of my friend Jeff Medkeff who died last year from liver cancer.

If you’re going to D*C anyway, why not have some food and drink in good cause with some science-lovin’ skeptics, too?

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August 25th, 2009 2:22 PM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, SciFi | 15 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

15 Responses to “Dragons and stars”

  1. 1.   Les Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    Will you be attending MileHi con in October?

  2. 2.   Nicole Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    *Excited*

  3. 3.   Mary Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    I would in a tiny heartbeat. I’ll send my friends there if I can.

  4. 4.   Egaeus Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

    If I was able, I would in a heartbeat, but I can’t justify spending the money for gas and tickets, as I’m quite unemployed at the moment.

  5. 5.   Glen Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    I’ll be there. Look forward to meeting you Phil.

  6. 6.   Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    I’ll be there! So to will be “The Noisy Astronomer” who puts the rad in radio astronomy!
    :^)

  7. 7.   MadScientist Says:
    August 25th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Any more tales of heavenly wonders and my head will explode; I just got caught between two cosmologists this morning. I don’t know how it happened, after all they’re obviously not from planet earth, but to find two in the same corridor?

  8. 8.   Paul Duffield Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 4:57 am

    Oh, I so badly want to go. Can you do this sort of thing frequently so I get the chance to attend at some point?

  9. 9.   Matthew Ota Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 6:41 am

    One of the biggest joys in amateur astronomy is to share your telescope with the public doing astronomy outreach. It is a very rewarding experience.

    For the amateur, it also compels you to learn as much astronomy as you can so you can answer questions correctly.

    Have fun in D.C.!

  10. 10.   Nicole Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am

    LOL, thanks Richard.

    Now what did I do with my green laser pointer…

  11. 11.   here Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 11:08 am

    Hey, I didn’t know there was an observatory at Agnes Scott. I’m surprised given that it doesn’t seem ideally located wrt light pollution. How is the viewing around that area?

  12. 12.   Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Here’s a great link for finding the light pollution level at your favorite observing site:

    http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/

    Agnes Scott’s observatory is in the white zone.
    :^(

  13. 13.   LookUP | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    [...] was just thinking yesterday that it might be fun to see if we could look for some asteroids at the Dragon*Con Star Party (there are a few tickets left, too!), since the get-together is in honor of asteroid hunter Jeff [...]

  14. 14.   here Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 10:29 pm

    Thanks for the great link Richard. That is about what I figured about Agnes Scott. There looks like some decent viewing an hour or so east of the city at least.

  15. 15.   John Paradox Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    @Richard:

    Took at look at S. AZ, and was somewhat gratified to see that Sahuarita (see: Green Valley, south of Tucson) isn’t too bad (considering proximity to Tucson). I used to go to the Town Council meetings there (part of my former job) and was always glad to hear the Council supported Dark Skies, ripping one shopping center for overlighting their parking lot. (Since GV is a ‘retirement community’, most stores close fairly early compared to Cities.)

    J/P=?

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