Comets and Telescopes

Last week was full of astronomical adventures. Spencer and I had the rare treat of seeing a comet. One evening after dropping off Daddy downtown for SXSW, we returned home to find our neighbor Gail looking into the sky. She told us that the comet Pan-STARRS was supposed to be visible in Austin over the next couple of days.

Well, we never spotted it that night, but the following night after we dropped Daddy off, we were driving down South Lamar and I spotted it. At first I thought it was an airplane, but the streak was not changing or moving and I finally realized what I was seeing. When we got home and realized we could see the comet so well from our yard, Spencer said, "Let's text Gail and tell her to come outside!" I told him that I don't know Gail's number and he replied, "Well, email her then!" I suggested we do it the old fashioned way and knock on her door. As the sun went down, the comet appeared slightly reddish — look closely and you can see it below.

We also got to see a full-scale model of the James Webb Telescope during SXSW. It is the successor to Hubble and the largest space telescope to ever be built — as big as a tennis court and as tall as a 4-story building. 

NASA also had a tent set up with all sorts of educational activities and giveaways.

Looking at sun spots.

Interactive model of the universe.

Thermal camera - that's Spencer on the right. He put his had in a warming glove and in a bucket of ice water to see the difference on the screen.

 We definitely had some fun Spring Break adventures this year!

SXSJ (South by San Jose) and Gin Jars

I took off Friday afternoon and we headed down to South Congress to soak in some of the SXSW excitement. The Hotel San Jose was hosting free concerts all day so we listened to a little music then roamed around. On our way back to the car, we passed by a group buskering on the sidewalk. Spencer was mesmerized by the Gin Jars from the start. There was a banjo, standup bass, slide guitar and fiddle and the group played 1920s style music. We must've been there for 45 minutes - Spencer just didn't want to leave. He plopped himself down right in front of the guitarist and was studying him so intently. Dave and I were joking that 20 years from now, we'll be interviewed about our famous slide guitarist son Spencer and we'll recount the day it all began on South Congress.

Spring Break

I took off Wednesday and Friday this week to spend some time with Spencer since he doesn't have preschool this week. Luckily, Daddy didn't have any SXSW responsibilities yesterday, so the three of us got to hang out together. We had such a fun day exploring on South Congress.

First we went to the parking lot of Hotel San Jose to listen to some live music. Then we walked across the street to Amy's Ice Creams and had a little pre-lunch treat. Then we walked a little further to the food trailer lot for lunch. After that, we had a look around Uncommon Objects - I was surprised that Spencer was so interested in looking at all the old treasures in there. He was so careful about all the breakables, too. It was VERY difficult to resist purchasing one of these fedoras for him, but they were $45! Question to ponder: Were fedoras popular for kids in the 1920s or did men in the 1920s have heads roughly the size of my 3-year old's?

On the way home, Spencer said he wanted to go to Butler Park to ride his scooter, so that's how we ended our little outing. It was a great day in Austin, TX with my boys!