Tehachapi Skywatch: Who is this guy, anyway?
Tehachapi Skywatch: Who is this guy, anyway?
By: Dale Hawkins
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Posted by editor Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:21:32 PDT
Viewed 446 times
0 responses 0 comments This month marks a whole year that I've been writing this column. I don't get a lot of fan mail — and thanks goes out to all of you who do write — but I hear through the grapevine that my column does get widely read. I've told you a lot about the sky, and I've gotten to know some of you. Now I think it's time to tell you about me.
As you may have surmised, I am a First Class Space Cadet. I've been fascinated by aerospace ever since I went to a Blue Angels airshow in 1964. There I had an opportunity to sit in a Mercury spacecraft simulator. My imagination soared as I actually developed a sense of vertigo. I vaguely remember some of the Mercury flights and I closely followed all of the Gemini and Apollo flights, as well as every Space Shuttle mission.
I also became a first-generation Star Trek fan, traveling thousands of miles by bus at fifteen years old to attend some of the very first Star Trek conventions, and was a minor leader in the campaign to revive the series. It has, of course, become the most successful television/motion picture franchise in history and has gone a long way toward uniting the world toward a common future of peace, cooperation, and improvement of the human condition. Indeed, one of the greatest distinctions of my life is that I knew Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry. I also had occasion to meet and correspond with Isaac Asimov, my favorite author.
I began studying astronomy when I was about ten, eventually reading every book on the subject in our public library. At thirteen, I finagled my way into a ninth grade Earth Sciences class (which included three months of astronomy) while only in seventh grade. That teacher, Wayne Halling, became the father I never had. We are still very close; indeed, he was here in Tehachapi for most of April and May.
Studying astronomy has been a very rewarding experience. When I started, the best pictures we had of even the closest heavenly bodies were blurry at best. I've been thrilled to witness the revelations from many space probes, the Apollo astronauts, dazzling photos of distant vistas from the space telescopes, and now even more exciting data from earth-bound telescopes with ten meter apertures. Even more importantly, our understanding of the universe, its history and our place in the cosmos has improved more in the past fifty years than in the previous fifty thousand years! Indeed, I dare say that there will never again be such a period in which we learn so much in so little time.
One of the reasons I moved to Tehachapi was the stupendous night sky. Though it has become increasingly polluted by the prison and the expansion of the city, the Tehachapi Valley still has the best night sky in civilized California (civilized being defined as being able to use your cell phone to call for pizza while using your telescope).
After high school, I joined the Naval Submarine Service. Unfortunately, I developed an illness that rendered me unfit for active service and was medically retired. I then went on to become an electronics engineer. My greatest claim to fame as an engineer was the privilege of leading an effort to design a medical infusion pump for use in space. At this very moment one of my designs is circling overhead aboard International Space Station Alpha.
I continued my public service after leaving the Navy as a Coast Guard Auxiliary officer, retiring in 2003. However, I'm in the process of putting the uniform back on to serve as a military recruiter for the Tehachapi Valley.
I also became a pilot, eventually earning my commercial, multiengine, instrument, and flight instructor ratings, as well as earning my wings as a Coast Guard Auxiliary Aviator. I was hired as an airline pilot for a short time. However, the September 2001 attacks caused a meltdown of the airline industry and abruptly ended my aviation career. I've been consulting and writing ever since.
I enjoy martial arts, having recently attained my third-degree black belt in Shaolin Gung Fu under the leadership of Tehachapi Grand Master Curtis Phillips. I also enjoy chess, poker, and luaus!
I have a family - my wife Patti is a registered nurse, and our daughter is going to college in Santa Clarita.
Enough about me — let's see what's up in the sky.
Manned Space Watch - Endeavour preparing for next space station expansion
With Atlantis's safe return last week, NASA is preparing Endeavour for another construction mission to Space Station Alpha. Launch is “targeted” for August 9th.
Space Probe Watch — Dawn ready for launch
Space Probe Dawn is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral on June 30 on an eight year mission to two major asteroids. Dawn will fly by Vesta in October 2011 and then travel on to Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Solar System. It should arrive in February of 2015.
As a rule, all asteroids are irregularly shaped — boulders cruising around the sun. However, Ceres is large enough for gravity to have crushed it into a sphere. That gravity at the surface is about 1/30 of earth's gravity - your drink will stay in your glass and your glass will stay on the table. In my book, that makes Ceres a true “world.” I look forward to the close-ups four years hence.
Night Sky Watch
With a full moon on Friday, the skies won't be dark until early morning. However, the sky should be clear — great for moonlit walks.
Venus is still the most dazzling object in the evening sky, continuing to brighten until mid-July.
Congratulations to Jay Jolly for being the first to report a daytime sighting of Venus! And thanks to three others who came in later.
Saturn is high overhead at sundown, with Jupiter just rising in the east and at its best this month.
Sunrise/Sunset (PDT)
5:42 AM/8:12 PM
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