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East Texas Earthquakes Start Again A swarm of relatively minor earthquakes rumbled through portions of east Texas near the town of Timpson during the late spring and early summer of 2012, then subsided. Could a new swarm be brewing? If so, they have begun with a 4.1 earthquake that struck around 1:10 AM on January 25. The seismogram below is from Delta Community College in Monroe. It was not felt here, but was felt as far east as Shreveport.
Transit of Venus Right on schedule, venus appeared on the solar disk at 5:04:33 CDT. Some 50 to 75 people visited the Delta campus to view the event which will not occur again until December, 2117! Fortunately the weather cooperated for the most; however, viewers had to endure temperatures that reached 99 degrees. Below are some of the photographs from the event. Thanks to Adam Taylor, Heather Miles, Mike Colvin, the local media outlets (KNOE, KTVE, and The News Star) and many others for their help in making this event a success. Click on the images below for a larger view courtesy of Adam Taylor.
Returning the Favor - Lunar Eclipse One month after our stunning partial solar eclipse, the earth comes between the sun and moon casting its shadow on the moon. Once again we had to settle for a partial view; however, that view is still quite stunning. Click on the images below for a larger version.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! This is the solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 at sunset over Monroe, Louisiana. The eclipse began at 7:31PM local time and was in progress at sunset. West Texas was the closest area to Monroe that would be able to view the annular portion of the eclipse. Click the image for a larger view.
The photo below is from Twin Falls, Idaho - Courtesy of Mike Ridgeway
Second Earthquake, Magnitude 4.3, Shakes East Texas and Northwest Louisiana The second in a series of tremors shook east Texas and northwestern Louisiana overnight (May 17, 2012). One minor injury was reported along with incidents of broken windows and dishes. Texas geologist are still attempting to find the causes of these quakes. The short period seismograph is the best one suited for detecting the local events. The short period helicorder can be found HERE. All other seismic information can be found by clicking HERE.
3.7 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles East Texas A minor earthquake rattled portions of east Texas this Thursday, May 10. The quake was centered near the town of Timpson northeast of Nacogdoches or 58 miles southwest of Shreveport, Louisiana. No damage was reported but the event was felt by residents near the epicenter. Below is a seismogram of the earthquake as recorded by our seismograph at Louisiana Delta Community College here in Monroe, Louisiana.
Delta Astronomy Photograph Published
A rare photograph of a distant supernova taken by Professor Don Wheeler of Louisiana Delta Community College was published in Understanding Our Universe, a new college level astronomy textbook released this past autumn. The supernova, an exploding star named 2005cs, occurred in galaxy Messier (M) 51 in the Big Dipper some 37 million years ago. Because of the immense distance between M51 and earth, it took that amount of time before the light from the explosion could reach our world. Dunn and Wheeler along with Brad Farrington of the Ouachita Valley Astronomy League were fortunate enough to take the pair of pre- and post-supernova photographs so close together. The actual supernova was discovered by a German amateur astronomer, Wolfgang Kloehr, in June of 2005. “Our photograph was taken in early August of 2005,” said Wheeler. He added, “At the time, we did not know the supernova had occurred and it was just luck we were photographing M51 that night.” Farrington had photographed the same galaxy a few months earlier in March which showed no supernova. The two photographs were published on Delta’s science website, www.ladeltascience.com, where it was noticed by authors of the textbook. This is the second college level astronomy textbook in which Wheeler has had a celestial photograph published.
Click on the Astronomy Link at the left for more information. |
