Odds and Sods

What could be finer than a total lunar eclipse viewed from the tropics?

I’m pretty excited about this and I think it’s going to be lot of fun. I’ve been asked to speak on the Cosmic Trails cruise that Sky&Telescope and Insight Cruises have put together. The cruise goes all kinds of really interesting places (including the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, and Aruba, to name but three) and runs from December 13th to 23rd this year. And on the night of the 21st we’ll get to see a total lunar eclipse from sea.

My book, Binocular Highlights, has floated to the top of its category at Amazon.com. This is actually the second time since Amazon replenished their stock a few weeks back, so this ranking is no doubt partly due to some pent up demand. Still, it's nice to see. (For those of you unfamiliar with the book, you can look it over here at Amazon.com.)

I was recently interviewed for the Houston Astronomical Society’s newsletter GuideStar. I’ve been interviewed a few times before and have found that the quality of the resulting article depends hugely on the interviewer. Prep is everything. And in this case, Clayton Jeter was a real pro. His questions were thoughtful and interesting, and clearly the result of having done his homework.

The complete interview appears after the jump.

Waiting for twilight's end at the Table Mountain Star Party.

As an editor for Sky & Telescope magazine, I’ve traveled to most major (and quite a few minor) star parties in North America. They’re fun events and tend to have a number of things in common. Here’s a rundown of my top ten star party perks.