The Pithy Amateur Astronomer

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/newsreleases/newsrelease20100329/

Obviously, our planet is not the only one to experience different seasons. MSNBC has put together a small slideshow of "springtime in space".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36018718/displaymode/1247/beginSlide/1/beginChapter/1/beginTab/1/

And that's all I am going to say about that.

Ahh! The better to make you confused and dazed, my dear.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/03/24/2239532.aspx

I always thought it was humorous how dark energy is being studied but (to my knowledge, which is little) how much we don't know about it.

When I was in 4th grade, my teacher said we know more about space than we do the ocean. While that was true, I've come to believe that we know equally as less about one as we do the other.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1621.html

I made a post a few weeks ago about "Bigfoot on Mars" and how I personally see it as a Tuscan Raider from Star Wars. Well, sticking to that same silly thought pattern, this can be called Jabba the Hutt.

Sorry for not updating. I've been real busy.

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of the Sun (Sol) and a feature called a prominence.

Source: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100323.html

Explanation: Dramatic prominences can sometimes be seen looming just beyond the edge of the sun. Such was the case last week as a giant prominence, visible above on the right, highlighted a Sun showing increased activity as it comes off an unusually quiet Solar Minimum. A changing carpet of hot gas is visible in the chromosphere of the Sun in the above image taken in a very specific color of light emitted by hydrogen. A solar prominence is a cloud of solar gas held just above the surface by the Sun's magnetic field. The Earth would easily fit below the prominence on the right. Although very hot, prominences typically appear dark when viewed against the Sun, since they are slightly cooler than the surface. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The next day, the same prominence looked slightly different.

Some other comparisons:
http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/monster_031710.html
http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=18&month=03&year=2010

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/solarsys/scale.html has a nice image on how the other planets look in comparison to the Sun.

I just downloaded the new Firefox update (3.6) and learned that there are personas. Personas are basically themes but seem to be a bit more personal (Wow...That sounded a bit redundant, didn't it?). I went and searched for some space personas and though I would share the ones I really like.

The one I am using now is the Hubble NGC http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/74585

The second favorite one of mine is http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/116

Both of these are irrelevant unless you just like to customize your browser. I have to say my personal favorite is the Hubble NGC (it is of NGC 2818 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2818 for reference because I don't think the persona has the details listed).

I have no idea what galaxy is in persona 116 but if I figure it out I will let you know (or you can always post your best guess).

I tried to photograph Saturn again tonight. I had it perfectly aligned on the telescope and it was a clear night. The view was so clear, I could even see a moon (that I haven't identified yet).

However...the images are horrible. I have yet to purchase a proper camera mount. If I had the mount and aligned Saturn to show up in the center like I did tonight, a simple 30-90 second video would yield great quality. But alas, things in life aren't free.

Here are my pictures that I had to heavily doctor up just so you could see SOMETHING that looked like rings even though they are a blur in the photograph. Trust me though, it is cooler to see in better quality.

This picture was taken a few years ago but it is still humorous. Apparently, bigfoot has been sighted on Mars. I know that it's not bigfoot because he's too busy getting back at people eating Jack Link's Beef Jerky.

According to Fox News (I lost the citation, sorry):

The "alien" is actually a blurry detail in a huge panoramic photograph snapped on the edge of Mars' Gusev crater by NASA's Spirit rover in early November, and posted on NASA's Web site on Jan. 2.

For more of an interesting and comical read, check out http://www.universetoday.com/2008/12/31/the-return-of-little-bigfoot-on-mars/

Source: http://www.space.com/spacewatch/venus-is-back-100226.html

Here shortly, Venus will be back in the evening sky. For a while, the monster Jupiter was in the evening sky (of course, so was Saturn in my back yard, But alas, I do not have the money for a camera mount just yet so you all will have to make do with other pictures).

This article discusses all the details of how to spot Venus and when one can find other Planets in the evening.