Morris Museum

Last Friday, I had a chance to drop by the Morris Museum. Haven't been there in quite some time. It is one of those little museums which, even with their limited resources and exhibition space, can still harbor a golden nugget of wonder.

In this case, it is probably one of the best exhibitions this museum has ever had - Musical Machines and Living Dolls: The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata.

Fascinating excurse into incredible mechanical prowess of XIX to early XX centuries. The "living" dolls were like little snapshots of their time period. But the musical machines were particularly interesting. I loved the timeline presented at the end of the hall, placing the mechanical musical machines as the forefathers of the music carriers that followed (i.e. vinyls, tapes, CD's).

Super Perigee Moon

How cool is that, and I quote: "Saturday's full moon will be a super "perigee moon" -- the biggest in almost 20 years."

Update: Yes, it was a sight to behold - the Moon felt almost unnatural, a giant bright disk floating above dark trees!

Lunar Eclipse in December 2010

When I have just started this blog, the very first post I wanted to be in it was going to be a post about the December 2010 Total Lunar Eclipse. But somehow the holidays have intevened :).

Anyway, it was quite a sight! A very special event - a total lunar eclipse falling on a winter solstice (and my birthday!). Last time an eclipse like this occured when Galileo was still alive! And, counting this one, there have been only two winter solstice total eclipses in the modern era so far!

Below is the best result out of all my pitiful attempts at lunar photography:

The 43rd Annual Rutgers Geology Museum Open House

The 43rd Annual Rutgers Geology Museum Open House is on Saturday, January 29th. I cannot wait!

The very first Open House I went to was the 34th one, if I remember correctly. It was one of the most wonderful things I have discovered in my alma mater. I have been to almost every single one of these since. Interesting lectures and lots of fun looking through mineral specimens.