The Portable Observatory Kit consists of a re-purposed tent, backpack, blanket, night sky guide book, headlamp, telescope and binoculars. Anyone who is interested in night time exploration for purposes of feild research, creating bonds with other aficionados or leisure is welcome to participate in the project. It may be rented for a period of 1 – 5 days at a time, and activities such as photographing your experience or documenting what you see in the sky through drawings or notes are encouraged.

A portable observatory will be beneficial for those who do not have access to professional facilities or anyone who wants an intimate viewing experience, with the option to take it wherever you wish to explore. It would also be useful for those who live in urban areas, as it may be transported to locations with less light pollution.

 

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

2 different sized terracotta flower pots

1 bolt that will fit in the pot holes

4 washers

2 nuts

something to lift the pots – a baking pan is ideal

1 or more candles – the more flames the better!

1 lighter

First, attach the smaller pot to the inside of the larger one, by inserting the bolt into the hole. Put a washer on every time the terracotta will touch metal. Screw on the nuts tightly. Place candles in the baking sheet. Light them.

Next, place the attached pots upside down overtop of the lit candles. Wait about 20-30 minutes, and it will begin radiating heat. Be safe! Make sure the candles/pots won’t get tipped over easily and that the pots are secured ontop of the baking sheet.

Heating a space without electricity is useful for situations when you can’t afford/don’t have access to adequate heating in your home, to save money, living in a portable shelter such as a car or a tent, or choosing to live “off-grid.” It can be used in black-out situations, or if you ever choose to build a cabin for yourself in the woods. Really, anytime you need to heat a space and don’t want to use/cannot use electricity.

DIY projects such as these are often attributed to the “living off-grid” ideology/movement, but are not restricted to it. You don’t have to have an off-grid lifestyle to implement ideas such as these into your life, or use when it is appropriate for you.

On Monday, Emma and I visited the Hagen Aqualab with Areanna Balbar, one of the execs of the Marine and Freshwater Biology Society.

the first stop on our adventure was checking out the Skates – a creature that looks like a sting ray but is more closely related to a shark. The females lay eggs in a thing called a mermaid purse!

we met many animals. This creature is a green crab, they have the ability to REGENERATE arms and like to fight each other.

these are seastars! They eat mussels – their stomach comes out of their body and they liquify their prey, changing its chemical composition so they can slurp it up! They can also regenerate arms.

this seastar has 10 arms instead of 5.

this large sea star is beginning to go limp. This is because it is losing water, and this is its natural reaction as a way to retain water.

Many students research and perform experiments in the Aqualab. There are a variety of freshwater and saltwater creatures.

The Marine and Freshwater Biology

This club meets once a week and talk about related courses, hold study sessions, and sometimes host events such as Movie in the Pool.

In 1998, Olafur discovered that uranin, a readily available nontoxic powder used to trace leaks in plumbing systems, could dye entire rivers a sickly fluorescent green. Olafur conducted a test run in the Spree River during the 1998 Berlin Biennale, scattering a handful of powder from a bridge nearMuseum Island. He began introducing the environmentally safe dye to rivers in Moss, Norway (1998), Bremen (1998), Los Angeles (1999), Stockholm (2000) and Tokyo (2001) — always without advance warning.

 

The Canary Project is comprised of “art and media that deepend public understanding of the anthropocene.”

An installation by Jon Santos titled “Sublimation of Ice”  consists of “Photographs of ocean landscapes alternate with mountain glaciers in a video loop that meditates on the transformation and redistribution of water – an issue at the core of climate change. The video is paired with a staged melting event in which 300-pound blocks of ice slowly turn to water.”

http://canary-project.org/2010/08/sublimation-of-ice-2/