Starting April 15, 2014 with the first total lunar eclips, three other total lunar eclipses will follow. The takes place in September '14, April '15 and September '15. Having four consecutive total lunar eclipses are called a Tetrad. This is rather rare but this century it will happen a couple of times.
All of these will be visible in North America and are not visible in the BNL.
See also this nice video from Science@Nasa
Friday, March 28, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Cumulus 1.9.4 for WMR200
Software review Cumulus 1.9.4 - Sandysoft
The weatherstation WMR200 from Oregon Scientific running on Cumulus 1.9.4 from Sandysoft.
After downloading, the software on OS W7 was installed in the root as mentioned in the read.me files. The help file was used to configure the station aswell as the internet options.
Twitter accounts works easy and fast. The internet connection to Wunderground was also done.
As the data from the logger was used no data could be uploaded when the PC was disconnected from the weatherstation. Even after date change in the cumulus.ini file, no data could be uploaded.
Setting of the weatherstation was changed to 15 minutes in order to generate more memory capacity. This still needs to evaluated.
So so far so good and I appreciate the twitter updates aswell as the connection to Wunderground.
The weatherstation WMR200 from Oregon Scientific running on Cumulus 1.9.4 from Sandysoft.
After downloading, the software on OS W7 was installed in the root as mentioned in the read.me files. The help file was used to configure the station aswell as the internet options.
Twitter accounts works easy and fast. The internet connection to Wunderground was also done.
As the data from the logger was used no data could be uploaded when the PC was disconnected from the weatherstation. Even after date change in the cumulus.ini file, no data could be uploaded.
Setting of the weatherstation was changed to 15 minutes in order to generate more memory capacity. This still needs to evaluated.
So so far so good and I appreciate the twitter updates aswell as the connection to Wunderground.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Software for WMR200
Since March 1 I'm the owner of a new weatherstation from Oregon Scientific. The WMR200 model is equipped with rain, wind and outside temperatures gauges. And the model can be connected with your PC. The software delivered with the WMR is outdated but the website of Oregon brings you to the download site for software running OS W7.
This is an evaluation up to today of different I used for my WMR200.
Weather OS 1.2.01
This software is downloaded from the Oregon site and once installed it's only a matter of connecting the weather station to your PC.
The software picks up the WMR200 rather slow (2 minutes) and shows the most important indicators. The setting for the region is limited to neighbour cities and can not be changed to your own city.
Within the menu you can view the long term data from all recorded indicators. This data is also easely to export using CSV files.
The systems is a standalone system without internet connection for updating websites or email.
Virtual Weather Station Base Edition 14.01
This software is recommended by Oregon and is aswell offered from the Oregon site. After installation free registration is needed which is delivered by oregon.
After connecting the Weather station is takes aswell a couple of minutes to have the readings.
The display can be set according your own preferences and for all availbable indicators. This looks very professional. The recorded data shown in the graphs are limited to 15 minutes which limites viewing trends. In the base version no data can be exported aswell no internet connection is possible. For that a upgrade is needed and need to be payed.
Sandysoft Cumulus 1.9.4
Easy and free installation from the website. Same as with other software, connection with WMR200 takes some minutes before showing all data.
Nice and clear overwiew and I liked how the winddirection and speed is presented.
Long term data is shown on graphs. It's not clear if this data is gathered from the weather station or from the data captured during the time the system is connected to the PC. This could not be figured out. This system makes it possible to connect with the internet and even with Twitter.
Overtime I will try avaluating this software again - when I'm having some more time:)
WMR Data Logger Sniffer
Download and installation was easy. However I could not start the system once connection was made with my Weather station. I tried different settings but unfortunately no connection could be made with the sensors.
Conclusion
My journey finding the software I need and is fullfilling my needs is still ongoing but looks promissing.
This is an evaluation up to today of different I used for my WMR200.
Weather OS 1.2.01
This software is downloaded from the Oregon site and once installed it's only a matter of connecting the weather station to your PC.
The software picks up the WMR200 rather slow (2 minutes) and shows the most important indicators. The setting for the region is limited to neighbour cities and can not be changed to your own city.
Within the menu you can view the long term data from all recorded indicators. This data is also easely to export using CSV files.
The systems is a standalone system without internet connection for updating websites or email.
Virtual Weather Station Base Edition 14.01
This software is recommended by Oregon and is aswell offered from the Oregon site. After installation free registration is needed which is delivered by oregon.
After connecting the Weather station is takes aswell a couple of minutes to have the readings.
The display can be set according your own preferences and for all availbable indicators. This looks very professional. The recorded data shown in the graphs are limited to 15 minutes which limites viewing trends. In the base version no data can be exported aswell no internet connection is possible. For that a upgrade is needed and need to be payed.
Sandysoft Cumulus 1.9.4
Easy and free installation from the website. Same as with other software, connection with WMR200 takes some minutes before showing all data.
Nice and clear overwiew and I liked how the winddirection and speed is presented.
Long term data is shown on graphs. It's not clear if this data is gathered from the weather station or from the data captured during the time the system is connected to the PC. This could not be figured out. This system makes it possible to connect with the internet and even with Twitter.
Overtime I will try avaluating this software again - when I'm having some more time:)
WMR Data Logger Sniffer
Download and installation was easy. However I could not start the system once connection was made with my Weather station. I tried different settings but unfortunately no connection could be made with the sensors.
Conclusion
My journey finding the software I need and is fullfilling my needs is still ongoing but looks promissing.
Evidence on how our universe began
This week scientists realeased the news of evidence how the universe began. The theory explains that a fraction of a second (read 10-32s after the big bang) the universe rapidly expanded which we call the inflation. In this period quantum effects are still dominant so no real direct evidence to prove the theory. Indirectly however scientics could observe the afterglow using the Bicep2 observatory at the south pole. This afterglow is the cosmic microwave radiation (CMR) which could have all data when travelling through space. Observers found specific polarazation (B-Mode) of the CMR which can be explained from gravitazional waves. And these gravitazional waves are the first withnesses of our early universe.
This image provided by the BICEP2 Collaboration shows slight temperature fluctuations, indicated by variations in color, of the cosmic microwave background of a small patch of sky and the orientation of its polarization, shown as short black lines. Researchers say since the cosmic microwave background is a form of light, it exhibits all the properties of light, including polarization. The changes in a particular type of polarization, indicated here, are theorized to be caused by gravitational waves. These waves are signals of an extremely rapid inflation of the universe in its first moments. (AP Photo/BICEP2 Collaboration) -Ref. Phys.Org
If you want to read more see BICEP2 2014 News release website
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Astronomical start of spring
Start of the astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Exactly @ 17h5, March 20th the sun crosses the equinox. Day & night are same in length.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Virtual Weather Station Display
Still experimenting with different software. This is the display from Virtual Weather Station.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Weather Station WMR200
Weather station with winddirection, windspeed, temparture, humidity & solar panel
My new weatherstation from Oregon, WMR 200 is installed. The mounting of all gauges are easy and well explained within the manual.
No real issues experienced when connecting with the base station. The only one time was connecting with the real time clock. This was solved after resetting the base system.
As I'm running the OS Windows 7 no software was delivered and for that I currently try out the Virtual Weather Station. This software is promoted by Oregon and for the WMR 200. I will evaluate this to see if it fits my need.
Some findings. The temparture and humitidy are comparable with the readings from my other station Oregon Bar928. The only difference I noticed is about the pressure. The WMR has higher levels (5hPa) then the readout of the Bar928. I still need to find out what this exactly causes. Difference in altitude and new batteries in the old station did not yet solved the problem.
So all in all I'm satisfied and will get on evaluating the software and learn more all aspects of the station.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Reading stuff
Learning and reading about astronomy can be fun. Starting to understand some of dynamics of the big cosmos can help you to even more enjoy the evening sky. See some of my recommendations reading material.
My Library
English books
Philip's Complete Guide to STARGAZING, Robin Scagell, 2006
Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas, Roger W. Sinnott, 2006
Deep Sky Companions The Messier Obkects, Stephen James O'Meara, 1998
Atlas of the Messier Objects Highlights of the deep sky, Ronald Stroyan, 2008
The Cosmic Gallery, Gilis Sparrow, 2013
A guide to the stars, constellations and planets, Antonin Rukl, 2000
The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking, 2010
From Quarks to the Cosmos, Leon, M. Lederman, 2000
Dutch books
De kosmisch symfonie, Brian Greene, 2001
Het universum, Stephen Hawking, 2001
Het heelal, Stephen Hawking, 1989
Sterren en planeten, Robin Kerrod, 1979
Astronomie, Inleiding in de sterrenkunde
Basiscursus Sterrenkunde Deel 1& 2, Urania, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Oregon Scientific WMR 200
Today I received my new weather station from oregon Scientific. I finally made my choice and ordered the WMR 200 with touch screen display, wind, rain, temperature gauges and solar panel. Choosing for oregon was not easy. First, some web sites have made references about WMR 200 not meeting the intentions and having some problems. Looking at other weather systems from other manufacturers are usualy, when you look further, as good, or as bad; it's the way you look at it. From a cost perspective the pro weatherstation are not that cheap and for some, like the Davis one - not everything is included within the price. My decission however was mainly driven by the fact I currently have a basic weatherstation from oregon without any problem uptill now. So for this reason, price/quality and the fact that other system's references are not statistical better, I choose to buy this WMR 200 system.
Now that I knew what to buy, next question is where to buy. For me the best deal at the moment was amazon.fr but the info wasn't clear the WMR package was full included. For that reason the order was placed with amazon.de. The package was delivered 4 days after ordering at my neighbours home .... no one did sign off. So far so good and the next days I will start to unpack and install my new weather station.
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