Iron Mountain...

Hiked to Iron Mountain, last Sunday.. Its been a while, I have been for a hike.. so Iron mountain was refreshing..

Approx 20 mins drive from home, next to Poway, 5.6 miles round-trip and 2500 ft high (1000ft gain).. so it was an easy hike.. still we returned with some body achings :) !!

The long hill range on east indeed gives the feeling why wildfires can become so scary.. Small patches of burnt dark-colored land, next to our trail, are indeed reminiscences of witch creek fire from '07.

From top of the peak, the view is marvelous.. 360 deg panoramic view of SD county. With clear sky and sunny day, anything from Pt Loma on west, Tijuana on south, San Vincente reservoir on south-east to Ramona on east was visible. Also QC bldg AQ was an easy catch thru binocs. The never-ending pacific ocean on west was simply breath-taking.. I wondered how the skydiving view from 15000ft would be..

Back to pavellion within 3 hrs :) !!

Can We? Yes.. We Can !!

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

- Barack Hussein Obama

New Eyes..

On Diwali, bought a new telescope. time to upgrade from 6" bazooka to 10" canon. I was using Jon's 10" dob for a while, but now.. bought my own... Orion Intelliscope XT10 Dobsonian.

Mirror: 254mm, 10"
Focal Length: f/4.7, 1200mm

I have realized that, for a beginner, lil bit experienced, the dob with 10" aperture is perfect. It can fit all my needs and will serve me well atleast for couple of years. More objects I learn abt, dob always gives me a glimpse... More magnification I put, dob always show me details.. atleast to keep me satisfied.

After learning heavy star-hopping thru Jon's 10" dob, I have realized that for some of the objects it was lil bit tricky to locate few that don't have any reference stars nearby.. or bumping accidentally into new objects while star hopping and wasn't aware abt what i am looking at.. so I also bought a object locator.

Today I tested the whole system and its pretty good...

Time to begin cosmos hunting soon thru my new eyes.

Burnham's Night..

Midnight.....
There is no sound in the forest -
only the phantom murmur
of the far wind
and the wind's shadow drifting
as smoke
through ebon branches; there a single star
glistens in the heart of night....
A star!
Look skyward now...
and see above...INFINITY
Vast and dark and deep
and endless....your heritage:
Silent clouds of stars,
Other worlds uncountable and other suns
beyond numbering
and realms of fire-mist and star-cities
as grains of sand....
drifting...
Across the void....
Across the gulf of night....
Across the endless rain of years....
Across the ages.
Listen!
Were you the star-born you should hear
That silent music of which the ancient sages spoke
Though in silent words...
Here then is our quest
and our world
and our Home.
Come with me now, Pilgrim of the stars,
For our time is upon us and our eyes
shall see the far country
and the shining cities of Infinity
which the wise men knew
in ages past, and shall know again
in the ages yet to be.
Look to the east....there shines
the Morning Star...soon shall the sunrise come...
We await the Dawn,
Rise, oh eternal light;
Awaken the World!
With trumpets and cymbals and harp and the sound
of glad song!
And now...
The clouds of night are rolled away;
Sing welcome to the Dawn
Of the bright new day!

- From Burnham's Celestial Handbook, by Robert Burnham Jr., 1978.

Berkeley campus..

Visited UC Berkeley campus last weekend. After visiting impressive Stanford or Princeton campus, I was really eager to see Berkeley campus. Standford campus is really beautiful.. full of palm trees and lush green lands... while Princeton campus is full of old architectures and somehow I saw too many things related with "theology" on Princeton campus :)..

The UC Berkeley school campus itself is really good.. next to mountain, with lush green land.. The campanile, a bell-tower, erecting from center of the campus. They have some interesting things on the campus. e.g. There is piece of circular land next to bookstore which says its not owned by any country :) OR they had all world newspapers headline page, in poster format, outside library..so it was fun standing there and reading some of them..from Indian newspaper DNA, they put up colorful advt of Jodha Akbar movie :) OR there were just too many Fraternities buildings on the campus.

There were few weird things also. When I visited auditorium, I saw a crowd of long-hair guys & gals in filthy appearances, attending a rock concert (Sector9). They seemed to be really young.. obviously being in Berkeley, I was expecting too many "geeks" around, but considering their appearances, I was really confused if they were really UC geeks or Hippies...They must be students.. But, when I was passing by football stadium, there were so many real hippies..some of them staying on the sidewalk.. that too next to a business & law school.. I was lil bit shocked.. Quick googling confirmed that Berkeley is indeed a hometown for hippies since 60's .. and students mentality is also changing into hippies :)

There is really something spooky abt Berkley..or probably..I am not used to it !!

Blackhole In The Sun..

Did u watch the solar eclipse? Obviously you didn't.. Me neither. I wish I would have been on north pole or in china atleast..

Here is the (live) webcast of the solar ecplise from China. Check the one with 60 minutes & the commentary. Start around time 35:00 and enjoy next 10 minutes.

The celestial event of 132 seconds is so impressive that the mere video of it poped up a "wow" factor in me!! The corona is fabulous... Its like... black-hole with wings :)

Have u seen movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which mentions abt precise moment of planetary alignment, where all nine (?) planets line up perfectly... That must be the "greatest" view (really ??).. hssh.. but Angelina Jolie wastes time in the cave fighting with stupid people :)

Any way, any such nine(?) planetary alignment is never possible (stupid movies :D) so lets just enjoy our two neighbors aligned, atleast next time, on 22nd July 2009 from India.

The Red Pill..

...I wish it would have been as simple as taking a "red pill"..

The quest for matrix is hard.. Forget the realization.. Its hard to focus on it while "experiencing" it... there are so many "interesting" things within it, that an "abstract thought" of the "illusion" is really agonizing & piercing.. But.. the "red pill" is "probably" the right way, like warmhole in cosmos.. who knows... and quest for it, itself destroys all "practicality"... seems like, loosing both ends..

..Where the hell are you Morpheus??