Welcome

As many followers of this site are aware, this site started as a simple weekend project for me to learn how to develop web pages on a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). I needed some data for the MySQL database and my astronomy observing log book was close at hand. I typed a few log entries into the database and started building PHP scripts to extract the log entries and display them on a web page. That was six years ago and my tinker-toy project grew into something far beyond its humble beginnings.

When you are building proof of concept applications (my professional term for tinker-toy projects) you don’t necessarily follow traditional development processes or develop the project to the end level. For example, I never built an online editor to post these blog entries to the database. I write the blog entries in a text editor, add the HTML markup by hand, and then add the record directly to the database. I repeat this process for every log entry, blog entry, object description, etc. that you read on this site. If I want to link two pieces of information (e.g. a log entry to an object in the database), I have to look up the record ID’s for each item and enter those by hand. As you might surmise, this is a time consuming task.

Now I am looking to expand my observing log and take some features to the next level, but I need to employ new technology to make that happen. To make the next leap, I am moving the log off of the LAMP stack to an ASP.Net application connected to a Microsoft SQL database. The database conversion is already well underway and I am approximately 90% complete. For the past few weeks, I have been making updates in both databases (MySQL and MSSQL) but that is going to end soon. It doesn’t make sense to do double work. I will be concentrating on making all future updates in the MSSQL database from this point forwards. Additionally, I will be moving the site to a new server which may cause availability issues during move.

If everything goes as planned, you will see a smooth seamless transition from the old site/technology to the new site/technology but keep a watch out for those unexpected bumps along the way.

The opposition of Mars is always an exciting time for planetary observers as it allows us the best view of our smaller neighbor. The opposition of Mars during this apparition occurs on January 29, 2010 at 19:27 UT. Unfortunately, the opposition of Mars this year (and the next opposition in 2012) will occur when Mars is near aphelion in its orbit, which occurs on March 30, 2010. Conversely, the Earth just passed perihelion in its orbit on January 3, 2010. Thus, even though Earth and Mars are passing close to each other in their respective orbits, they will pass by one another at a staggering distance of approximately 99,400,000 km. (This is nearly double the distance of the historic close approach in 2003 at a distance of approximately 56,000,000 km).

This year the closest approach of Mars to the Earth will occur on January 27, 2010 at 19:02 UT. At this time, Mars will lie at a distance of 99,329,832 km from the Earth and have an apparent diameter of 14.1 arcseconds. With steady skies and some magnification, observers should still have plenty of surface detail to observe. Syrtis Major and the Hellas Impact Basin will cross the central meridian of Mars approximately three hours before the closest approach. Use Sky and Telescope’s Mars Profiler to determine what features are on the central meridian during your observing time.